$13.30 for three days of food

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  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I got a bunch of those tuna packets for 99 cents each. Eggs, canned beans, rice, frozen vegetables, etc. Shop around. Lots of cheap (and healthy) ways to eat. You just have to be open to it and willing to look. I'm such a cheapskate that I'm used to doing this. This would be an easy challenge for me.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
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    sarahaflood wrote: »
    Thank you so much to everyone who has been helpful!!

    I'm sorry to those who I have offended and to those you believe that I am cheating. I understand your perspective and I will double check with my professor. Though, I do believe speaking to you all would be the same as reaching out to those in my real life for advice.

    I guess the the question I'd have before any advice is given is .... do you have to ability to store and cook food for yourself, or are you living in a dorm where the only cooking appliance you have is perhaps a microwave and coffee pot?

  • MyLovesMyLife
    MyLovesMyLife Posts: 424 Member
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    Mac N Cheese, if you have an Aldi near by check that out. But include the quarter for the cart in costs. These are stupid experiments though can be eye opening for all of 5 minutes for most college students who spend more than this at McD's.
  • slider728
    slider728 Posts: 1,494 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Assuming it was me, I would go to Wal Mart and. Buy 2 pounds of dried beans for about $3. I would buy a pound or so of ham for about $4. Buy an onion let's say $1 there. A dozen eggs for $2. Should last you pretty close to 3 days with $3 left over for a spice or hot sauce

    Cook the ham, beans, and onion into a soup. Black pepper, bay leaves, and hot sauce would be a bonus. Eggs for breakfast. You could eat 4 a day
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
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    MyLovesMyLife wrote: »
    Mac N Cheese, if you have an Aldi near by check that out. But include the quarter for the cart in costs. These are stupid experiments though can be eye opening for all of 5 minutes for most college students who spend more than this at McD's.

    You get the quarter back if you return the cart.... :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,096 Member
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    karahm78 wrote: »
    MyLovesMyLife wrote: »
    Mac N Cheese, if you have an Aldi near by check that out. But include the quarter for the cart in costs. These are stupid experiments though can be eye opening for all of 5 minutes for most college students who spend more than this at McD's.

    You get the quarter back if you return the cart.... :)

    haha. I've never been to Aldis, but this is a great idea on so many levels. :)
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lots of great suggestions! I posted yesterday that I eat on $120 a month and people were surprised. I live near a big city and yet I shop at the same Krogers most of the time because they have great sales/specials. It's not that hard! You've got this OP, I do it every month. :)

    I think in real life if I were on assistance I would ask these questions here. I don't see what all the knickers in a twist is about.

    Oh. It's MFP.

    @cmriverside, I'm curious what you typically eat/buy. For two people, we spend about $100/week on groceries shopping at Kroger. Admittedly this is buying stuff that would be luxuries if we were on a tighter budget (steak, fresh berries). I buy store brands for about half of it, the other half being items where there isn't a difference in price due to sales or no generic equivalent, and buy regular, non-organic produce.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I always find it interesting when folks recommend Aldi's - I finally went to the one near me - its on my way, just off the highway...ultimately, I was disappointed - I didn't see anything there that I couldn't get for the same price or cheaper at either Giant or Shoppers - and both of those have a much wider range of food

    Depends on where you live.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    AgidGirl wrote: »
    mburgess458 wrote: »
    AgidGirl wrote: »
    Rotisserie chicken for sure, you can stretch that to feed you for 4+ meals! Shred all of the meat from the bird and then boil down that bones/carcass and make a soup base for another meal. Get a small bag of beans and rice and you can eat beans and rice w/chicken and then make a bean, rice, chicken soup for another meal.

    Awful advice. You're trying to stretch your money, don't buy something someone else cooked... do you think they do that for free? It's going to be much cheaper to buy a chicken (or chicken pieces) and cook it yourself.

    Precooked food is for convenience. Great if you have more money than time, not a good idea if you're super poor.

    How so? I can get an entire chicken for $5 and it's already cooked (saves me $$ on my electricity bill) and seasoned. Not sure your logic is correct here.
    Yeah, you have to know which ones are cost effective and which ones aren't.

    But I don't think "hot" food can be bought with SNAP.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,096 Member
    edited March 2017
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    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lots of great suggestions! I posted yesterday that I eat on $120 a month and people were surprised. I live near a big city and yet I shop at the same Krogers most of the time because they have great sales/specials. It's not that hard! You've got this OP, I do it every month. :)

    I think in real life if I were on assistance I would ask these questions here. I don't see what all the knickers in a twist is about.

    Oh. It's MFP.

    @cmriverside, I'm curious what you typically eat/buy. For two people, we spend about $100/week on groceries shopping at Kroger. Admittedly this is buying stuff that would be luxuries if we were on a tighter budget (steak, fresh berries). I buy store brands for about half of it, the other half being items where there isn't a difference in price due to sales or no generic equivalent, and buy regular, non-organic produce.

    Ya know, I get asked that every time I say this.

    If you look at the other answers in this thread already, you will see how to do it.

    I buy just for myself. I eat two meals a day, 1500-1800 calorie usually. I use beans nearly every day in some way. The rest of it is just not buying stuff I know I won't use.

    I'm not counting dry goods or pet food, just food for me.

    Spices other than salt and pepper and cholula I buy once every year or five years depending, so I'm not counting them either.

  • sarraheclark
    sarraheclark Posts: 125 Member
    edited March 2017
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    The meals would be boring, but doable. This includes foods that I eat on a regular basis.

    $2.50 Canister of oatmeal
    $2.00 Bread loaf
    $2.00 Peanut butter
    $1.25 3 apples
    $2.00 Half gallon milk
    $1.00 bag of frozen veggie
    $2.50 3/4 lb sliced lunch meat

    Meals:
    Breakfast: Oatmeal w/milk and apple or PB
    Lunch: PB sandwich w/apple and milk
    Dinner: Dry sandwich w/veggies and milk
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    Another thing to remember when you say to shop around. Often your transportation isn't dependable and you have to go wherever you can get.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I always find it interesting when folks recommend Aldi's - I finally went to the one near me - its on my way, just off the highway...ultimately, I was disappointed - I didn't see anything there that I couldn't get for the same price or cheaper at either Giant or Shoppers - and both of those have a much wider range of food

    True- not necessarily the cheapest on staples. They are excellent for cheap-priced gourmet junk food (chocolate, cookies, etc) & cheese, but I cut a lot of that stuff out of my diet for lack of self control.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I always find it interesting when folks recommend Aldi's - I finally went to the one near me - its on my way, just off the highway...ultimately, I was disappointed - I didn't see anything there that I couldn't get for the same price or cheaper at either Giant or Shoppers - and both of those have a much wider range of food

    Depends on where you live.

    possibly they change depending on location - I'm in Maryland, south of DC, so more affluent than some places - which is kind of why I expected it to be cheaper than other places...

    plus, I'm still irked that the bread I got from them was moldy when I opened it a day later - that just permanently turned me off
  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
    ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken Posts: 1,530 Member
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    mom22dogs wrote: »
    I've seen taxes mentioned twice on the thread - where are you that you are charged taxes on food? Where I live, we're not taxed on food.

    In the US taxes are like Frank's Red Hot. They, " put that Chit on everything!"
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I always find it interesting when folks recommend Aldi's - I finally went to the one near me - its on my way, just off the highway...ultimately, I was disappointed - I didn't see anything there that I couldn't get for the same price or cheaper at either Giant or Shoppers - and both of those have a much wider range of food

    Depends on where you live.

    possibly they change depending on location - I'm in Maryland, south of DC, so more affluent than some places - which is kind of why I expected it to be cheaper than other places...

    plus, I'm still irked that the bread I got from them was moldy when I opened it a day later - that just permanently turned me off

    Here, the Aldi's I go to in NYC is far cheaper than the supermarkets close to me. Between that and Costco, I save a tremendous amount of money.
    I never got moldy anything from them, but they do have a double money back guarantee on all their products no questions asked.
  • dfwesq
    dfwesq Posts: 592 Member
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    cmtigger wrote: »
    Another thing to remember when you say to shop around. Often your transportation isn't dependable and you have to go wherever you can get.
    That's true. You may be able to shop the stores that are near you, or if you can travel to a store you can check printed or online ads.

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