Live data from Hacker News

How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

andrewhyde.net

71–80 of 136 posts

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#72
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 persona…

According to one 32,000 person study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999), "fit persons with any combination of smoking, elevated blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol level had lower adjusted death rates than low-fit persons with none of these characteristics". The same study found that aerobic fitness had a far more important impact on longevity than obesity did.

Fantastic Voyage, Kurzweil and Grossman, Chapter 22.

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#73

The numbers you're using sound wrong now. In the last year or maybe 2 years food prices have skyrocketed. I'll go to store to pick up a few things and end up with a bag or two of groceries, and the bill is like $100 -- I know I could scrimp and figure out ways to spend less, but it wasn't always like that. The same stuff costs way more now. If you want to talk about really healthy food, especially if you have a stran…

No, you're just buying the wrong things. If I walk out of the store with $100 of groceries for my family of 3, it's an entire shopping cart full of food and lasts for weeks!

4-5 lbs of "on sale" meat, 10 lbs of bread flour, 5 lbs of sugar, 2 lbs of cheddar, a gallon of milk, cereal (from local mill, not the national brand stuff), vegetables, butter and lunch meat will cost around $60 here in the Upper Midwest. But if I spend that $60 on mostly processed food, I will barely get two grocery bags full.

With a bit of land you can go further. I keep chickens for fresh eggs, but I realize most people can't do that. However, my potatoes, corn, carrots, broccoli, squash, pumpkins, salad greens and some herbs come fresh out of the garden so for summer/fall at least, I don't buy those things.

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#74
post #12

Something 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…

I agree with what you're saying. It's amazing me to how people won't support art or politicians that they agree with or any other important thing because they are broke but will have plenty of money for beer.

I have to laugh at one thing:

"where bar bills can run up to $20/night"

Man, you should hang out with my friends for a night. :)

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#75
post #45

Earlier 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.

It's a natural fat used around the world, nothing to be scared of. If you get "real" lard (not hydrogenated), it has no trans fats and can be quite useful in the kitchen. Hispanic grocery stores or butcher shops are a good spot to find it.

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#76
post #10

As 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.

Buy one container of good yogurt and use it as a culture to make your own from then on with fresh milk. It's easy (google home made yogurt) and tastes infinitely better. Best of all, as long as you have a little yogurt, you can use it to make more.

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#78
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 persona…

According to one 32,000 person study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999), "fit persons with any combination of smoking, elevated blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol level had lower adjusted death rates than low-fit persons with none of these characteristics". The same study found that aerobic fitness had a far more important impact on longevity than obesity did. Fantastic Voyage, Kurzweil and Gro…

How "fit" or "obese" were the people, and how "elevated" was the blood pressure and cholesterol?

If the study showed that incredibly "fit" people who smoked occasionally and had a sightly elevated blood pressure and/or cholesterol had a "lower adjusted death rate" (what is that, exactly?) than people who sat in front of the computer all day but had none of the above factors, that would be one thing.

If the study showed that slightly "fit" people who smoked heavily and had an extremely elevated blood pressure and/or cholesterol had a "lower adjusted death rate" than people who sat in front of the computer all day but had none of the above factors, that would be something else.

The same could be asked of the fitness vs obesity results. How fit and how obese?

Also, have the results of the study ever been replicated? Or do they conflict with the results of other studies?

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#79
post #12

Something 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.

Seriously man I don't even know how far can 20 bucks take you. How much you're goin to tip the waitress? 2 bucks?

Re: How To Live (Comfortably) on $36 A Month For Food

#80
post #12

Something 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.

This depends a lot on where you live.
Post reply on HN