A dollar a day challenge
californiansun
Posts: 392 Member
Hi,
My class has decided to embark on the "dollar a day challenge" to become more educated on food insecurity. It's a month long challenge. So 30 dollars for one month.
The rules are:
Eat three meals a day (maybe 2 snacks too) on 1 dollar a day
No going out to eat
No asking or begging for food
No dumpster diving
No stealing packets of condiments from fast food places
No accepting food from family or friends
Try to make it as healthy (all the food groups) and less processed as possible. Some processed is ok.
No going to food banks or soup kitchens
Does anyone have any good ideas of what to buy and/or make?
Thanks!
My class has decided to embark on the "dollar a day challenge" to become more educated on food insecurity. It's a month long challenge. So 30 dollars for one month.
The rules are:
Eat three meals a day (maybe 2 snacks too) on 1 dollar a day
No going out to eat
No asking or begging for food
No dumpster diving
No stealing packets of condiments from fast food places
No accepting food from family or friends
Try to make it as healthy (all the food groups) and less processed as possible. Some processed is ok.
No going to food banks or soup kitchens
Does anyone have any good ideas of what to buy and/or make?
Thanks!
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Replies
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Ask about manager's specials in the grocery store. I recently bought meat and fresh produce that were marked down to below half-price.
Dried beans and rice with rendered fat from your own cooking. Eggs. Milk. Cabbage. Potatoes.0 -
Can you raid your pantry?0
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No raiding of pantry. Have to start from scratch. I don't have anything in there anyways besides oil.
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cmriverside wrote: »Ask about manager's specials in the grocery store. I recently bought meat and fresh produce that were marked down to below half-price.
Dried beans and rice with rendered fat from your own cooking. Eggs. Milk. Cabbage. Potatoes.
Thank you. Never thought about asking about that!
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californiansun wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Ask about manager's specials in the grocery store. I recently bought meat and fresh produce that were marked down to below half-price.
Dried beans and rice with rendered fat from your own cooking. Eggs. Milk. Cabbage. Potatoes.
Thank you. Never thought about asking about that!
There are quite a lot of nutrients in bone broth, too. If you can pick up some large raw bones, you can cook them down into a delicious, nutritious broth. Bones are super cheap. The marrow provides fats, too. Oil and fat are pretty expensive, so look for butter on sale.
How long is this challenge?0 -
How long is this challenge?0
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Oh shoot I forgot to say! But it's a month long.0
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Plan your meals by calorie-need. Don't eat more than you need.0
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Exactly. I was thinking of making a lot of soup (by using the broth you suggested), lots of beans and rice, oatmeal, a whole chicken (for bones and meat), etc.0
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cmriverside wrote: »Plan your meals by calorie-need. Don't eat more than you need.
Yes. Good point. Make every calorie count.0 -
californiansun wrote: »Hi,
My class has decided to embark on the "dollar a day challenge" to become more educated on food insecurity.
The rules are:
Eat three meals a day (maybe 2 snacks too) on 1 dollar a day
No going out to eat
No asking or begging for food
No dumpster diving
No stealing packets of condiments from fast food places
No accepting food from family or friends
Try to make it as healthy (all the food groups) and less processed as possible. Some processed is ok.
No going to food banks or soup kitchens
Does anyone have any good ideas of what to buy and/or make?
Thanks!
http://www.budgetbytes.com
Beans and rice is a cheap meal. You can get a lot of meals with the meat from 1 chicken.
Soup is a good dollar stretcher. Bean or lentil soup might be a good choice.
Bread, peanut butter, oatmeal, dry beans or lentils, rice pasta, eggs, tuna, whole chicken or chicken thighs, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, flour, canned tomato, milk, frozen fruits or vegetables can fit a low budget.
Buy store/generic brands of things. Have soups, stews, casseroles or stir fries. Check store ads. Eat more meatless meals. Buy fresh produce that is in season. Compare prices per serving. Popcorn or hummus are cheap snacks.0 -
Thank you! I have used budge bytes in the past. Some of her stuff is hit or miss for me, but a good resource! Thank you.0
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If you have Dollar Stores where you live, use them for spices, sugar, tea, maybe breads or rolls. Especially spices, though. (Except salt, which is cheaper at the grocery.) I'd buy a thing of dried onion for a $1 instead of buying fresh. Do you have Costco, Aldi's or Winco? Buy day-old bread and freeze it. Ask at the stores. I know I have a day-old store near me.
There are usually racks of clearance foods, ask about that.
Try to pre-plan your month by calories and buy as much as you can in bulk. Bulk items are much cheaper.0 -
Look for imperfect produce that's still perfectly good. It's usually stuff that doesn't look all that great but is still good to eat & isn't bad at all. It's usually lower in price and a good deal.
What an interesting challenge this is! Thanks to you, Lounmoun, for mentioning Budget Bytes. I'm going to check them out, too, since I'm not exactly rolling in dough these days. 0 -
We have Costco but I don't have a membership, no Aldis and we do have a Winco! I'll check out the dollar store, I've heard that can be a good place for stuff! Thank you! I already meal plan as is, so it's definitely something I'll do.0
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I'm really curious what your meal plan ends up being and how you stretch $30 to last a month! Please keep us posted. 0
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I definitely will! I find this super interesting. It's really eye opening how much I took for granted! I used to be super broke, and could only spend 20 a week on groceries. 30 bucks for an entire month is rough!0
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I really want to play along with you, except I don't. Hey, if you're in CA you could hit up the farmers markets and ask them for ideas on stuff that doesn't sell, too. I bet they have waste.
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Dry beans, bag of potatoes, tofu, onions, and bread... The slow cooker crock pot will be your good friend ;-)0
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Just an idea, and this sounds crazy, but... start with bone broth soup, add whatever veggies you can pick up for cheap - these days, a lot of stores just throw out bad veggies, but as someone suggested, you can ask the produce manager if they have some that are edible and you just need to cut a piece out of and they are throwing out so even 10 or 20 cents is better than nothing for the store... even ask them to start setting aside in a box instead of setting aside and make a deal with them. As you eat the soup, keep adding more water, whatever vegetables, and maybe even meat or bones. The soup will taste different throughout the month as you add different things - carrots one day, onion another, celery, spinach, broccoli, etc.
If you buy some fruit that can be saved, you might not put it in the soup, but eat half an apple or whatever as your snack or to mix it up for a bit. Also, a decent sized bag of rice to supplement for variety is good and you could boil some noodles right in the soup if you want - just keep in mind that a box of noodles will be more expensive so you won't add a box every day.
Again, making a stock soup and just adding with cheap ingredients is what came to mind. It sounds crazy, but it could work financially.0 -
If you have a neighborhood restaurant, you can ask them if you can have the bones and vegetables they may be throwing away. You would be surprised at how much restaurants throw away because it is not good enough or fresh enough to serve to their customers. Also cauliflower is in season and can stretch a dish. Potatoes are a good option as well.0
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I can't get any food that way unfortunately! I have to buy it myself.
Thank you everyone for all of these amazing ideas. I'm pretty sure soup and beans and rice will be my bffs. And peanut butter.0 -
Buy the fattiest meats, and full fat dairy if you buy dairy at all. More bang for your buck if you get more fat (calories.) 80/20 hamburger is cheaper and has more fat/calories.0
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Most supermarkets sell half a dozen eggs for about $0.79? 2 eggs for breakfast, 2 for lunch, 2 for dinner. Just fix them different ways. Bananas are usually $0.59 a lb. Just break off 1 or 2 from the bunch and weigh it. U could probably squeeze in 1-2 small bananas for about $0.20 cents. That'll be your snack. Actually you could throw it in a blender with some ice and make a smoothie.0
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I have never ever seen eggs that cheap! They're about 3 dollars or more where I am at! I wish they were that cheap!Most supermarkets sell half a dozen eggs for about $0.79? 2 eggs for breakfast, 2 for lunch, 2 for dinner. Just fix them different ways. Bananas are usually $0.59 a lb. Just break off 1 or 2 from the bunch and weigh it. U could probably squeeze in 1-2 small bananas for about $0.20 cents. That'll be your snack. Actually you could throw it in a blender with some ice and make a smoothie.
Full fat everything is definitely on the list.
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See if you can get a whole raw chicken on sale. Roast it whole, and eat some of the meat. Then use leftover cooked meat in other meals - mixed with rice and/or beans is a great way to stretch it. Compare the price/lb of a raw chicken and a cooked rotisserie chicken. Sometimes the cooked ones are on sale - ask someone what time they mark things down.
Use the chicken bones and drippings to make broth. Use all the scraps from your vegetables in the broth-making and strain them out later - ends and peels of carrots, skins and bits from onions, etc. If the chicken came with a bag of stuff in it, add everything except the liver in when you cook the broth, too. If you're patient, you can carefully get the meat out of the neck once it's cooked.
After you make the broth and strain it, put it in the fridge. Chicken fat will rise to the top overnight and solidify. Use that to cook other foods.
A reallllly cheap can of tomato paste (or half a can - keep the other half in a plastic container for later) added to your chicken broth will make it taste much heartier.
If the chicken came with the liver, saute it with a bit of onion.
Shop for produce in a place that doesn't pre-package things, so you can buy little bits of a lot of things. I just bought 3 jalapeno peppers for less than a dime. One head of fresh garlic should be really inexpensive, too. Lots of flavor for almost free. If you have ethnic markets near you, they're often a great place to get a bargain, especially on whatever foods are their specialty. Or buy tiny amounts of things at the salad bar. If you buy "salad" you're entitled to an envelope of salad dressing (at least where I shop). DO NOT weigh the dressing with the veggies! Anyway, get a dressing pack (2 if you're allowed) to use as seasoning on something else - Italian dressing is a good marinade for most meats - ranch can be used in place of mayo. There may also be crackers on the salad bar that you can take for free (if you buy "salad").
When I had no money, I made "soup" by watering down salsa. If you have chicken or some corn to toss in, that's even better. You can also dilute canned soups (even if they say not to).
Dried beans and lentils are much more economical than canned. Plan ahead for cooking them, many recipes call for soaking them overnight. Old fashioned oats are cheap (buy the cheapest brand in the largest container) and very filling.
Assuming this is allowed for the challenge, use coupons! Use them in conjunction with sales to get more bang for your $30.
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See if you can get a whole raw chicken on sale. Roast it whole, and eat some of the meat. Then use leftover cooked meat in other meals - mixed with rice and/or beans is a great way to stretch it. Compare the price/lb of a raw chicken and a cooked rotisserie chicken. Sometimes the cooked ones are on sale - ask someone what time they mark things down.
Use the chicken bones and drippings to make broth. Use all the scraps from your vegetables in the broth-making and strain them out later - ends and peels of carrots, skins and bits from onions, etc. If the chicken came with a bag of stuff in it, add everything except the liver in when you cook the broth, too. If you're patient, you can carefully get the meat out of the neck once it's cooked.
After you make the broth and strain it, put it in the fridge. Chicken fat will rise to the top overnight and solidify. Use that to cook other foods.
A reallllly cheap can of tomato paste (or half a can - keep the other half in a plastic container for later) added to your chicken broth will make it taste much heartier.
If the chicken came with the liver, saute it with a bit of onion.
Shop for produce in a place that doesn't pre-package things, so you can buy little bits of a lot of things. I just bought 3 jalapeno peppers for less than a dime. One head of fresh garlic should be really inexpensive, too. Lots of flavor for almost free. If you have ethnic markets near you, they're often a great place to get a bargain, especially on whatever foods are their specialty. Or buy tiny amounts of things at the salad bar. If you buy "salad" you're entitled to an envelope of salad dressing (at least where I shop). DO NOT weigh the dressing with the veggies! Anyway, get a dressing pack (2 if you're allowed) to use as seasoning on something else - Italian dressing is a good marinade for most meats - ranch can be used in place of mayo. There may also be crackers on the salad bar that you can take for free (if you buy "salad").
When I had no money, I made "soup" by watering down salsa. If you have chicken or some corn to toss in, that's even better. You can also dilute canned soups (even if they say not to).
Dried beans and lentils are much more economical than canned. Plan ahead for cooking them, many recipes call for soaking them overnight. Old fashioned oats are cheap (buy the cheapest brand in the largest container) and very filling.
Assuming this is allowed for the challenge, use coupons! Use them in conjunction with sales to get more bang for your $30.
Thank you so much for all of this!
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This book is awesome and your post made me think of it immediately!! http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52f120cfe4b0bf8fcb650b3e/t/53f4441ae4b08fc795a1a352/1408517146323/good-and-cheap.pdf
Her whole premise is $4/day based on SNAP benefits here in the US, but I imagine there's some pretty great ideas in there for you too. $1/day is a challenge for sure...good luck!0 -
Thanks so much!0
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Go to a store and buy all the $1 things You can buy with your $30. Here you can get 10 pounds of Potatoes, Cheap hot dogs, ! pound pks of noodles, Small bag of lentles, If there is a dollar store near you you could find more $1 items. at the one I go to they have small bottles of veg oil. You could check out the bulk Item section There Is one in the grocery store where I shop. the pastaand beans are cheeper, and you can buy tiny amounts of things like salt. I like the mung beans they have $1 a pound. Once you sprout them You have quite a good amount Of veggies.
Don't forget good ole top roman. Course there must be a rule about how healthy you should be when you get done.0
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