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Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

grocerycouponguide.com

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Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#31

Post by hedgehog »

paulgerhardt wrote: post #11

This is the most frustrating post because the majority of the text is telling you something is possible without telling you how to do it. It reads like a timeshare brochure or coupon book sales pitch. It's easy enough to live off $2 a meal though. Breakfast: Oatmeal with Bananas/Raisins/Cinnamon (no sugar though - it will make you hungry sooner) and tea or coffee from whole beans bought at IKEA. Eggs. Lunch: Beans an…

You can also reduce costs and increase quality if you have low cost whole vegetables nearby (like Milk Pail in Mountain View) and if you like to cook the minutes spent in prep are a good break and time for discussion.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#32

Post by megablast »

adrianwaj wrote: post #13

If you truly want to save money shopping, you need to learn how to create your meals from what you already have in your house and then buy the best deals each week to replenish what you have on hand. This allows you to purchase food at the best prices as opposed to what they happen to be when you go to get the ingredients for your menu. This simple change should instantly cut your grocery bill by 50% or more.

This is what I do. Go to the shop, see what is on special, make something out of that.

Although lately, I just cook up loads of brown rice (after soaking it in water for 24 horus), and mix it with something. Skipping breakfast and lunch helps cut down on the cost as well.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#33

Post by JacobAldridge »

mkramlich wrote: post #27
JacobAldridge wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that assumes you are willing to work in that hour and had the work available, but chose not to do it because your were implementing the system. If you do this instead of watching mindless TV, factoring in the opportunity cost is inaccurate.

Good point! But for folks who already don't watch mindless TV, or who have other opportunity projects or investments that monetize better, the argument still holds. For example, instead of putting an extra hour into one's day job, you could put an hour into making some new product or service which will in turn make you back more money than you would have saved if you did his extreme food cost reduction scheme. Or lea…

Nicely said, and I totally agree. I just like to pull up examples of the opportunity cost fallacy. After all, it also overlooks the maxim that 'a penny saved is a penny plus taxes and expenses earned'.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#34

Post by scotty79 »

jarek wrote: post #23
scotty79 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure that he was doing that? I didn't read through whole thing day by day but on day 1 he uses his food money to purchase non food items because they give him coupons worth more than what he had to pay for them in cash: http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-...

Oops, sorry, I was misreading http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-... One wonders if he should have included gas burnt driving to all the places which had stuff on sale, and I definitely support all of the opportunity cost comments.

On one hand it's not the most economical use of your time if you can sell the time you spend on doing this. On the other hand if you can save 5$ by sacrificing one minute you can get pretty decent hourly rate on your effort.

Also this guy seems to be having a lot of fun gaming 'the system' and blogging about it.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#35

Post by thefool »

ggruschow wrote: post #3
thefool wrote: post #2

What actually more interesting is that he is able to make money from coupons: http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-...

It's the same story. He worked for his groceries rather than working for money to spend on groceries.

yeah but in working for his groceries, it doesn't seem as though he created any value to anyone in the process.

I guess he was brand loyal, but it seems like the work didn't benifit anyone else in society, which is in contrast with actual work.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#36

Post by olliesaunders »

megablast wrote: post #32
adrianwaj wrote: post #13

If you truly want to save money shopping, you need to learn how to create your meals from what you already have in your house and then buy the best deals each week to replenish what you have on hand. This allows you to purchase food at the best prices as opposed to what they happen to be when you go to get the ingredients for your menu. This simple change should instantly cut your grocery bill by 50% or more.

This is what I do. Go to the shop, see what is on special, make something out of that. Although lately, I just cook up loads of brown rice (after soaking it in water for 24 horus), and mix it with something. Skipping breakfast and lunch helps cut down on the cost as well.

Why do you soak it in water first?

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#37

Post by psyklic »

Does he buy en masse, then claim that he ate for $1/day even though he has an inordinate amount of leftovers? I don't understand how he can possibly have 32 boxes of cereal (among other things) at the end. I've never seen a box for less than a dollar, and already that is over his budget.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#38

Post by melvin »

I'm quite sure that I could accomplish that. Bulk brown rice, lentils and beans are extremely economical. Combined with some greens and fruit/vegetables from my own garden plus the bounty of nature (you can walk outside and pick raspberries here, for instance).. well, that's how I eat anyway. I'd just have to give up the bags of chips and jars of salsa.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#39

Post by albertsun »

paulgerhardt wrote: post #11

This is the most frustrating post because the majority of the text is telling you something is possible without telling you how to do it. It reads like a timeshare brochure or coupon book sales pitch. It's easy enough to live off $2 a meal though. Breakfast: Oatmeal with Bananas/Raisins/Cinnamon (no sugar though - it will make you hungry sooner) and tea or coffee from whole beans bought at IKEA. Eggs. Lunch: Beans an…

There's a long series of posts detailing exactly how he did it.

http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-...

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#40

Post by megablast »

olliesaunders wrote: post #36
megablast wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I do. Go to the shop, see what is on special, make something out of that. Although lately, I just cook up loads of brown rice (after soaking it in water for 24 horus), and mix it with something. Skipping breakfast and lunch helps cut down on the cost as well.

Why do you soak it in water first?

This is called the GABA method, "This process stimulates germination, which activates various enzymes in the rice."

It also makes it cook quicker, since brown rice usually takes longer than white rice to cook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice

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