Eating on the cheap

[The Atomic Ass]

It has come to the point where I have so little income as to want to maximize it's use. New gear purchases are breathing down my neck to be made.

Right now I'm taking home <$100 weekly. My major expense, therefore, is food. I'm trying to come up with a healthy, cheap diet that also jives with my desire to not spend time cooking.

My first thought was plain rice (white or brown), but this would probably be nutritionally-lacking in some aspect, most notably protein. So, I'd like to know what people here think would be essential to a low-cost diet. Anything that could be cooked with rice would be a plus, and I have no food allergies, though I prefer to avoid yellow corn. White corn is fine, though.

I'm also going to try to have only stuff that can be kept at room temperature, so I can unplug my fridge. That isn't a set-in-stone requirement, though.

So, any suggestions?

[The Grief Hole]

Rice is pretty devoid of nutrition but I guess it fills a hole.

Firstly try and stop eating convenience store snacks, packaged foods etc. They can eat holes in your pocket. Eat a banana or an orange instead of candy or chips. a banana can fill you up and will slowly release energy into your body. Also you can keep most fruit and things like eggs and bread at room temperature.

I eat a lot of tinned sardines on toast with sliced tomatoes and ketchup. The sardines are really good for you. Tomatoes are good for the heart and ketchup tastes good. (But most people hate them).

[Thrashmanzac]

potatoes and sausages - poor student food

[jymellis]

neighborhood animals.

[MUTANTOID]

Originally Posted by jymellis

neighborhood animals.

Cause they are good for the hands...

[Scar Symmetry]

Chilli Con Carne + rice.
Peri peri Chicken + rice.
Sushi.

Basically what I live on.

[EtherealEntity]

The cheapest rice and pasta in the store. The cheapest oatmeal for breakfast. That area should be just penies per day.

The expensive part will be fruit and veg, though that can still be cheaper than a lot of things people eat!

You mentioned protein, no protein rich food is cheap, really. The cheapest source of protein is whey protein, by a mile. If you can stand eating dinners with no 'main course' such as rice with no chicken.

[Aaron]

Ramen.

[Blake1970]

I just had ramen the other night and added two eggs

Originally Posted by Aaron

Ramen.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by The Grief Hole

Rice is pretty devoid of nutrition but I guess it fills a hole.

Firstly try and stop eating convenience store snacks, packaged foods etc. They can eat holes in your pocket. Eat a banana or an orange instead of candy or chips. a banana can fill you up and will slowly release energy into your body. Also you can keep most fruit and things like eggs and bread at room temperature.

I eat a lot of tinned sardines on toast with sliced tomatoes and ketchup. The sardines are really good for you. Tomatoes are good for the heart and ketchup tastes good. (But most people hate them).

After going to an organic diet, CS snacks went bye-bye. I still eat some packaged foods, but not much. I bought a bag of oranges once. Lets just say I fail at oranges, even with Google, and leave it at that.

Bananas are going on the list. I've been looking around for bread recipes to see if it's cheaper to make my own bread, or just buy it pre-made. As for sardines, I'm a little wary of seafood at the moment. (and probably for a good few years yet).

[Guitarmiester]

Buy a big back of boneless chicken. It should last a few days and your options are limitless, from stir fry with rice and vegetables, chicken Parmesan, chicken cordon bleu, shrimp chicken, chicken gumbo, chicken chicken, bubble gum chicken...

Bananas are great source of potassium and energy and usually dirt cheap by the pound. The other week they were $0.49 per lb. As a runner, they make for a great, cheap "snack." You can make your own protein bars, which is way cheaper than buying them. Oats are dirt cheap, too. Whey protein can be a bit costly, but still beats out paying $2-$4 per protein bar.

[ry_z]

Rice and lentils. Extremely cheap, ridiculously versatile, and together they're a complete protein.

[Razzy]

I was in a similar situation when I was in California, and this is a nifty trick to make Ramen noodles not taste like shit.

Ramen noodles, cook in microwave, drain the water, throw the seasoning packet away, mix with refried beans, and reheat it.

If you can afford it, cheese is a nice addition, but I was so poor in California, I couldn't afford it.

[ellengtrgrl]

When I was a poor college student a long tim ago, and also when I was going through rough financial times between 1999 & 2004, I used to eat quite a few peanut butter sandwiches. Peanut butter has a fair amount of protein, and you don't have to spend a bundle for it. You can get all high fallutin about the bread, but you don't need to. Ditto for macaroni & cheese. You can use milk to make it, but you don't have to.

Cold cereal is another good low cost meal. You don't have to eat it just for breakfast. And, if you stay away from the high sugar, and high fat content types (like granola), and stick to the house brand instead of namebrand (Kellogs, Post, etc.) cereals, you can get by surprisingly cheap.

In general, unless it tastes absolutly awful, try to avoid buying namebrand food products. If you want fresh, get it from a farmer's market, it's cheaper, and and fresher than the stuff at the supermarket. Also, try to stay away from the deli counter, since the stuff sold there is kind of pricey. Specialty stores like Whole Foods sell cool natural/organic stuff, but it's uber pricey IMO, so I stay away from them.

[Overtone]

Try eating vegetarian foods made from scratch. For starters you should learn how to make sauce from canned tomatoes... that way as long as you have canned tomatoes, garlic, seasoning, a splash of oil/butter and one more ingredient (say pasta, or green beans, or eggplant) you can make a meal. Also learn to prepare dried beans... it's easier than it sounds, and they are one of the cheapest ingredients available. Try... spicy black beans, cannelini bean dip with garlic, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil, cannelinis cooked with canned tomatoes and greens (kale or swiss chard preferably), and bean salad (one to three types of beans, plus diced onions, peppers, cilantro/parsley, vinegar, olive oil, cucumber/tomato optional). Potato salad is another easy one... try doing it with a homemade mustard vinaigrette (cheaper than mayo), diced shallots and parsley. That reminds me, learn to make your own salad dressing, it's easy. Finally I agree that lentils are great. They cook faster than beans and are just as good. I like an Arabic dish called mujadarra a lot, but lentil soup and daal are both great as well. Eggs too are cheap and easy.

Having most of your meals be based around legumes, grains, etc. will make it so you don't have to spend as much on dairy and meat.

Finally think about Costco if you can get the fee money together.

[Gryphon]

Originally Posted by ry_z

Rice and lentils. Extremely cheap, ridiculously versatile, and together they're a complete protein.

Yes, you don't hear enough about this.

[cwhitey2]

Originally Posted by Thrashmanzac

potatoes and sausages - poor student food

i live on this shiz


also buy spices...you can cook the same thing all week and just change the flavor thats what i do

[highlordmugfug]

Rice, lentils, and potatoes are awesome and cheap.

There are tons and tons of chili variations that you could make that cost ~$20 and would last 4 days (assuming you have a big enough pot and a fridge that can hold it).

[eclipsex1]

Get girlfriend who can cook and hang out at her house all the time?

Have you checked to see if you qualify for foodstamps or any other sort of welfare?

[SirMyghin]

Try not to eat too much grains, grains are pretty worthless nutritionally. Rice,pasta,oatmeal, etc are all high starch and calories, but overall not too grand. Oatmeal (whole oats) is probably the most nutritious on the list.

[Overtone]

If you're on a budget calories for cheap isn't so bad.... better to get it from whole grains than from processed food. Brown rice, barley, quinoa are all pretty nutritious. Finally rice is filling and when you combine it with beans/lentils you get a complete protein. There are so many rice + ____ dishes where you can cook one thing and some rice and you have a whole meal.

[Pooluke41]

Make shitloads of soups. Veg soup is Cheap and you can add powdered soup to THicken it.

Add your Lentils to it Onion some Taters and maybe carrots few spices. Boom taste explosion.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by eclipsex1

Get girlfriend who can cook and hang out at her house all the time?

Have you checked to see if you qualify for foodstamps or any other sort of welfare?

First suggestion is good, second, not so much. Government, (aside from being a conspiracy theory), is unstable, and ultimately unreliable.

Now if I can only find a woman to cook for me... Damn that's gonna be tough.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Potatoes are pretty much the go to poor food.

[Mordacain]

I agree with the rice, lentils and the dried beans. Since part of your requirements were not too labor-intensive (in the kitchen anyway) you can get by with canned beans. Making sauces from canned tomatoes is super-easy. I used to get by on $25 a week when I first moved out on my own.

Doing it healthily is not difficult, but you will need to spend more time in the kitchen then you are used too.

Cheap veggies are onions, celery and green peppers and are all very good for you and are usable in just about everything.