AnnPT77 wrote: » cmriverside wrote: » $10 meals from Walmart? I eat on about $7 a DAY. I hope that video is for a family meal. cmriverside wrote: » $10 meals from Walmart? I eat on about $7 a DAY. I hope that video is for a family meal. It's not $10 per meal. It's $10 for the whole week of meals (for one person). Title's also exaggerated: She updates the total at the end to $14 and change. I assume that's because she used more eggs and tortillas than in her initial grocery buy, but she didn't say. She also used pantry staples that she maybe didn't count: Oil, cinnamon, soy sauce, parsley were the more cost-meaningful ones. For those not curious enough to watch the video but wondering, the core substance foods (from memory) were oatmeal, eggs, brown rice, pinto beans, tortillas, with some fresh carrots, bananas, jalapenos, an onion and an apple. No meat, no dairy. She made oatmeal/fruit for breakfast; for lunch/dinner, scrambled eggs/tortillas, rice/egg/carrot stir fry, rice/beans, with onion/jalapenos in small amounts in those. Repetitive meals through the week. I don't know how outdated the prices are. Some, though.
cmriverside wrote: » $10 meals from Walmart? I eat on about $7 a DAY. I hope that video is for a family meal.
perryc05 wrote: » AnnPT77 wrote: » cmriverside wrote: » $10 meals from Walmart? I eat on about $7 a DAY. I hope that video is for a family meal. cmriverside wrote: » $10 meals from Walmart? I eat on about $7 a DAY. I hope that video is for a family meal. It's not $10 per meal. It's $10 for the whole week of meals (for one person). Title's also exaggerated: She updates the total at the end to $14 and change. I assume that's because she used more eggs and tortillas than in her initial grocery buy, but she didn't say. She also used pantry staples that she maybe didn't count: Oil, cinnamon, soy sauce, parsley were the more cost-meaningful ones. For those not curious enough to watch the video but wondering, the core substance foods (from memory) were oatmeal, eggs, brown rice, pinto beans, tortillas, with some fresh carrots, bananas, jalapenos, an onion and an apple. No meat, no dairy. She made oatmeal/fruit for breakfast; for lunch/dinner, scrambled eggs/tortillas, rice/egg/carrot stir fry, rice/beans, with onion/jalapenos in small amounts in those. Repetitive meals through the week. I don't know how outdated the prices are. Some, though. You're right -- the video is not perfect and prices would vary on location in the world. It's just to generate some ideas about meals and money management. The person took the time and effort to make the vid and that is worth some praise. Did you know the world is also not a perfect sphere (it's slightly pear shaped) -- yet when we calcualte distance across the globe we use maths that works with a perfect sphere? It's work well enough. There is always some distance between the ideal and reality. Kind regards, Canaan
LilithReigns wrote: » Thank you everyone for all the great advice, the most affordable store here is Aldis so I am going to make a short list and see what I can do today.
kshama2001 wrote: » LilithReigns wrote: » Thank you everyone for all the great advice, the most affordable store here is Aldis so I am going to make a short list and see what I can do today. Many posters here have praised the low prices at Aldis I cooked for a few months at a small, startup yoga retreat center in Costa Rica. Our staples were rice and beans. We got these delivered in 50 pound canvas bags by horseback. Maybe you should start with 5 pound bags though To create variety, I used a wide range of spices from various ethnicities. Back here in the US, I almost never buy spices at grocery stores - an exception would be the big cannisters of Badia. Dollar stores can be great sources for spices, as can Asian stores. I often buy in bulk. For example, I will get a pound of Italian seasoning, which contains oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, basil and sage, and whenever a recipe calls for one of those ingredients, just use this mix. Here are some of my favorite rice and bean dishes:Hoppin' John (Southern US) Cuban Rice & Beans Lebanese Rice & Lentils Various Indian rice and dal I also like to add beans to pasta dishes. For example, I just made chicken cacciatore with 2# boneless chicken thighs in the crock pot and added 1/2 C of dry lentils. For meat/chicken, I look at the sales flyers, buy in bulk, and freeze. We have a chest freezer in addition to the freezer with the refrigerator.
perryc05 wrote: » First of all, look into Asian style cookery as they have so many recipes where food goes a very long way and it's not usually expensive to purchase the base ingredients. If you have access to an Asian supermarket check that out. You can often get things there for a steal -- not only the food items and condiments but cooking implements and utensils are also very well priced. Some staple items in my household are Thai curry pastes and tins of coconut milk. These can be used to make a simple simmer sauce that you cook veggies and protiens in which can then be served up with rice or noodles. You can freeze curry leftovers for months if you make in bulk. Stir-fries are also a good option and you can make large batches which reheat pretty well. Outside the Asian sphere soups are always an excellent option which can make pasta, veggies, beans and meat go a long way. If you need more Americana on a budget check out the WolfePit as this YouTuber has lots of very cheap meal vidoes here:https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/budgetmealhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJm8wC-ABOvOn2piAt2WYgWhen I have been in hard times I often purchased meaty soup bones. I would boil up the bones for several hours, take the meat off and then use the broth and flaked meat for a number of meals.
kshama2001 wrote: » perryc05 wrote: » First of all, look into Asian style cookery as they have so many recipes where food goes a very long way and it's not usually expensive to purchase the base ingredients. If you have access to an Asian supermarket check that out. You can often get things there for a steal -- not only the food items and condiments but cooking implements and utensils are also very well priced. Some staple items in my household are Thai curry pastes and tins of coconut milk. These can be used to make a simple simmer sauce that you cook veggies and protiens in which can then be served up with rice or noodles. You can freeze curry leftovers for months if you make in bulk. Stir-fries are also a good option and you can make large batches which reheat pretty well. Outside the Asian sphere soups are always an excellent option which can make pasta, veggies, beans and meat go a long way. If you need more Americana on a budget check out the WolfePit as this YouTuber has lots of very cheap meal vidoes here:https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/budgetmealhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJm8wC-ABOvOn2piAt2WYgWhen I have been in hard times I often purchased meaty soup bones. I would boil up the bones for several hours, take the meat off and then use the broth and flaked meat for a number of meals. Raw meaty soup bones make the most amazing stock! I save cooked bones in the freezer for stock, or make stock with the carcass from a rotisserie chicken. I simmer in the crockpot for at least 8 hours. FAR superior to store-bought stock. People in the Boston area in search of an Asian supermarket should check out Kam Man - fabulous prices and selection!http://www.kamman.com/quincy
perryc05 wrote: » kshama2001 wrote: » perryc05 wrote: » First of all, look into Asian style cookery as they have so many recipes where food goes a very long way and it's not usually expensive to purchase the base ingredients. If you have access to an Asian supermarket check that out. You can often get things there for a steal -- not only the food items and condiments but cooking implements and utensils are also very well priced. Some staple items in my household are Thai curry pastes and tins of coconut milk. These can be used to make a simple simmer sauce that you cook veggies and protiens in which can then be served up with rice or noodles. You can freeze curry leftovers for months if you make in bulk. Stir-fries are also a good option and you can make large batches which reheat pretty well. Outside the Asian sphere soups are always an excellent option which can make pasta, veggies, beans and meat go a long way. If you need more Americana on a budget check out the WolfePit as this YouTuber has lots of very cheap meal vidoes here:https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/budgetmealhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJm8wC-ABOvOn2piAt2WYgWhen I have been in hard times I often purchased meaty soup bones. I would boil up the bones for several hours, take the meat off and then use the broth and flaked meat for a number of meals. Raw meaty soup bones make the most amazing stock! I save cooked bones in the freezer for stock, or make stock with the carcass from a rotisserie chicken. I simmer in the crockpot for at least 8 hours. FAR superior to store-bought stock. People in the Boston area in search of an Asian supermarket should check out Kam Man - fabulous prices and selection!http://www.kamman.com/quincy Oh yes -- I love that. I always keep all my bones (chicken, beef, lamb, pork, ham) in the freezer. I also freeze carrot, celery, turnip, swede, parsnip, onion, garlic offcuts/peelings and any stripped herb stems as well. Every few weeks I make up a big pot of stock from these, strain it off, and bury the scraps in my garden. Lots of ways to extract food value before it's turfed out.
yirara wrote: » perryc05 wrote: » kshama2001 wrote: » perryc05 wrote: » First of all, look into Asian style cookery as they have so many recipes where food goes a very long way and it's not usually expensive to purchase the base ingredients. If you have access to an Asian supermarket check that out. You can often get things there for a steal -- not only the food items and condiments but cooking implements and utensils are also very well priced. Some staple items in my household are Thai curry pastes and tins of coconut milk. These can be used to make a simple simmer sauce that you cook veggies and protiens in which can then be served up with rice or noodles. You can freeze curry leftovers for months if you make in bulk. Stir-fries are also a good option and you can make large batches which reheat pretty well. Outside the Asian sphere soups are always an excellent option which can make pasta, veggies, beans and meat go a long way. If you need more Americana on a budget check out the WolfePit as this YouTuber has lots of very cheap meal vidoes here:https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/budgetmealhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJm8wC-ABOvOn2piAt2WYgWhen I have been in hard times I often purchased meaty soup bones. I would boil up the bones for several hours, take the meat off and then use the broth and flaked meat for a number of meals. Raw meaty soup bones make the most amazing stock! I save cooked bones in the freezer for stock, or make stock with the carcass from a rotisserie chicken. I simmer in the crockpot for at least 8 hours. FAR superior to store-bought stock. People in the Boston area in search of an Asian supermarket should check out Kam Man - fabulous prices and selection!http://www.kamman.com/quincy Oh yes -- I love that. I always keep all my bones (chicken, beef, lamb, pork, ham) in the freezer. I also freeze carrot, celery, turnip, swede, parsnip, onion, garlic offcuts/peelings and any stripped herb stems as well. Every few weeks I make up a big pot of stock from these, strain it off, and bury the scraps in my garden. Lots of ways to extract food value before it's turfed out. All these things only work though if you have a big freezer. My freezer is so small that I can freeze 3 loafs of bread, about 6 tupperwares with precooked food, and a few portions of chicken, fish, mince or other things that are cheaper per 600g compared to 100-200g servings. Most places I've lived in Europe tend to have smaller freezers, especially when you live in a flat in a town. Plus those things eat up tons of electricity, which is a reason why many people don't have big fridges (apart from space, and people eating more food you can't freeze well compared to meat) I don't know how much electricity 8hrs of crockpot costs, but electricity prices here are currently over 30 Eurocent per kwh, thus if you've short of money it might be a lot cheaper to buy a pack of 10 stock cubes for 60 or so cents.
