The part about dumpster diving reminded me of when I used to help a friend of mine slop his pigs. He had arrangements with a few restaurants and old folks homes for their leftover food and we would drive around, pick it up in these large plastic garbage bins and feed it to his pigs. It would always surprise me when he would often pick over the food before we gave it to the pigs, looking for things like chicken legs which he would summarily devour. I never could bring myself to do it.
How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
51–60 of 136 posts
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the meals I listed are actually pretty balanced. If I listed 'eat mac and cheese and dollar menu items' I would be right with you, but salads, eggs, PB&J and rice and beef are pretty good staples to build any diet off of. I'm not advocating anyone goes near as far as I did, but something to keep in mind for that friend that eats like shit out every night spending 10x what you could by making a healthier optio…
I'm one of those "nuts" who insists that fresh produce comprises about 80% of what I eat, so that's my major source of disagreement. I have never found a way to eat like this for even 5x what you're recommending. Salads and frest fruit are definitely good staples to build any diet of. Eggs, PB&J, rice, and beef, OTOH are compromises. But that's another whole debate outside the scope of hn. If I ate like most people t…
I've been able to eat a diet of 80%+ fresh produce on $90/month.
A lot of it involved getting the reduced-almost-bad produce and cooking it day-of, state-level farmer's markets, and dumpster diving, though. Plus, being a college student where every week you can find something free...
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#53As a poor college student I'm currently on a food budget of < $40 per month. I rarely buy anything but bread, bacon, peanut butter, cheese, bananas, eggs, yogurt, and butter. It's a bit monotonous, but I was surprised how quickly I got used to it.
Ditch the bacon and throw in rice and beans (since you can have more variety that way, while not spending any more). Also, experiment with cheap veggies. I get sick of PB&J, so I stick things like cucumber slices or mushrooms in there, and it seems totally different to my taste buds. Cucumbers are dirt cheap, mushrooms less so, but either way, not breaking the budget. I also enjoy a zucchini sandwich (between buttere…
Ever since I moved to the US I've gotten into the habit of packing half my restaurant dinners for tomorrow. If the average American actually finishes these things regularly, then you guys have got a real problem.
(Exception runs for certain restaurants of course. The more "mainstream chain" it is the bigger the portions get...)
Hell, I've even had to cut down on my portion size. Find good, nutritious food that is filling, and go for stuff that is slower to digest. I've now just about halved my carb in take and replaced it with vegetables, and I haven't felt better.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, I don't really buy into the idea that getting your protein from a mix of beans and grains will somehow cause you to end up making up the cost difference in medical bills due to the amount of carbohydrates you're ingesting, given the huge number of people on this earth who do so and who appear to have perfectly fine results from this sort of diet. Just make sure you're getting some exercise (which you should…
Traditionally, poor people who couldn't afford meat have been much worse off health-wise. And the biggest health decline in human history occurred when we switched from hunter-gathering lifestyles to farming (see Jared Diamond). Further, the Keyes hypothesis about the dangers of fats -- weren't you the one suggesting refined beans? -- are not well supported (see Gary Taubes).
Poor people who couldn't afford meat have been much worse off health-wise because they weren't eating well in general, because they don't have access to medicine, because they don't have access to supplies for hygene.
Put another way: poor people are worse off for a great number of reasons, but I don't think that proves that rice and beans will kill you.
Jarad Diamond (among others) showed that switching to civilized society shortened lifespans. You're not advocating becoming a hunter-gatherer and neither am I, so it's not really germane. Civilized society has a lot of factors that contribute to earlier death, such as population density helping the spread of disease. To draw from his work that carbohydrates will send you to the hospital is to draw a totally unsupported conclusion.
"Weren't you the one suggesting refined beans?" I was the one who replied with a recipe when you suggested that the diet was lacking fat and protein.
You don't address the issues of cost and you still haven't shown that the level of carbohydrates present in beans are a problem. My point is that most foods present trade-offs and you should probably eat a reasonably balanced and varied diet.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#55...for varying definitions of "comfortable" and ignoring certain opportunity costs
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it sounds like he ate pretty healthy, but stuff like this really freaks me out: Lard is the highest calorie per cent food you can buy. That just seems to be the epitome of penny-wise and pound-foolish for 99.9% of people, who would be far better off trimming their budget in other categories so they could eat healthier instead of viewing food as just a source of calories.
I don't think I would ever eat lard, but some proponents of the low-carb diet surely would approve.
I may be wrong, but I think lard has less saturated fat then butter and possibly even cream cheese. So while not good for you in anything other then tiny quantities, it may be less bad for you then other stuff you have problem putting on your bagel.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the audience on here, I doubt that internet is considered "non-essential". It sounds to me that he ate a pretty balanced diet. Not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but plain, and for the most part, healthy food.
I agree that it sounds like he ate pretty healthy, but stuff like this really freaks me out: Lard is the highest calorie per cent food you can buy. That just seems to be the epitome of penny-wise and pound-foolish for 99.9% of people, who would be far better off trimming their budget in other categories so they could eat healthier instead of viewing food as just a source of calories.
In fact, you can eat all "unhealthy" food and be far healthier than 95% of the people around you by keeping a calorie budget and exercising enough.
In my case, I buy vats of lard at the local grocer and use it liberally. It tastes delicious.
I also work out at least an hour a day. No one feels the need to moralize about people failing to work out an hour a day, and yet that will have 10 times the benefit of micromanaging the nutrients in your diet. I'm strong and fit and my cholesterol is low.
Despite the fact that everyone knows I'm fit, they still say, "Imagine how much healthier you would be and how much more energy you would have if ate "better"?"
!!
Since, I'm the one who's fit, shouldn't you be asking me for advice?
Moralizing about people's diets is part of the same line of thinking as the Progressive movement that sprung Prohibition on us. And, of course, the Progressive movement can trace its philosophical lineage to the Puritans, so there you go.
Eating lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat foods is not a good in and of itself. A diet is only healthy or unhealthy to the extent that its quality is reflected in your own health.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it sounds like he ate pretty healthy, but stuff like this really freaks me out: Lard is the highest calorie per cent food you can buy. That just seems to be the epitome of penny-wise and pound-foolish for 99.9% of people, who would be far better off trimming their budget in other categories so they could eat healthier instead of viewing food as just a source of calories.
In fact, you can eat all "unhealthy" food and be far healthier than 95% of the people around you by keeping a calorie budget and exercising enough. In my case, I buy vats of lard at the local grocer and use it liberally. It tastes delicious. I also work out at least an hour a day. No one feels the need to moralize about people failing to work out an hour a day, and yet that will have 10 times the benefit of micromana…
In fact, you can eat all "unhealthy" food and be far healthier than 95% of the people around you by keeping a calorie budget and exercising enough.
So you're telling me that if you eat McDonald's for every meal for thirty years, you'll experience no health issues as long as you exercise enough? Tell you what: let's have this conversation again in thirty years, provided you're still around.
An anecdote about a personal experience over a relatively short period of time is of limited value to me. Study after study has shown that the western diet has severe detrimental effects in the long run, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Can you mitigate some of that by exercising more? Absolutely. But thinking that you can put whatever you want into your body with no ill effects as long as you exercise enough is ridiculous.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#59Something that always amazes me is how people are willing to sacrifice quite a bit when it comes to monthly food costs, when in reality these costs are incredibly low compared to the benefits you get (nutrition and health). Why don't people reconsider getting trashed on Friday and Saturday nights, where bar bills can run up to $20/night or find less convenient housing and save themselves $50/month. Or how about getti…
Super-mega-lol at $20/night as bar costs. Maybe if you and your date have a drink each.
Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've gone dumpster diving on a couple of occasions with some friends of mine. I actually think most people should, at the very least, watch other people dumpster dive at least once. You will be absolutely amazed at the amount of perfectly good food that gets thrown out. Go to a bakery right after they close. There will be garbage bags full of bread (and nothing but bread so it's relatively sanitary) that was baked th…
When I was a poor starving student and worked in a supermarket the managers had to put all the expired cakes and cookies in the trash compactor to stop workers taking them. Not sure if this was so we would buy from the store instead or in case we sued if we got ill
I believe the reason is actually to avoid intentional over production. If the employees know that they'll be able to take home any left overs, then why not bake a few extra cakes... that kind of stuff.