$13.30 for three days of food
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Speaking as a professor: Unless you have explicitly been told otherwise, asking others to give you the answer to your homework problem is cheating. I'm confident that your professor's advice to take advantage of online resources did not include using the internet to ask others to do the work for you. If you disagree, confirm it with him/her--that is the way to do it with integrity.57
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I'd recommend checking out the blog budgetbytes - every year she does a challenge based on using only money received via the SNAP program - which might give you some ideas
I would look at how much food over the 3 days do you eat - and then plan for same/similar meal components each time - foods like beans/rice can be bought for cheap (not in bulk, but in general); look through weekly shopping coupons/online coupons3 -
I think by "research" your professor meant go to the store, look at prices of food, check circulars, etc.12
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chicken thighs, peanut butter, beans, pasta and canned tomato sauce, I'm guessing right around $10 and more than enough food for 3 days2
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tinkerbellang83 wrote: »When you say you are not allowed to buy in bulk do you mean wouldn't be allowed to say buy a packet of pasta or a box of cereal that would make more than one meal?
I think they mean that they can't overspend the $13.30 (they can't deduct off the price of the extra food if they buy more than 3-days quantity).
The following are very cheap (and stretch far - though you are only trying to stretch out 3 days): rice & beans; soup & crackers/bread (root vegetables are cheap, add beans and some meat for protein). Meat: chicken thighs are cheap, or smaller package of sausage/pre-cooked ham if time is an issue (stretches far if chopped up and added to rice & beans or soup). Sandwiches can go far for cheap. Preferably go to a discount grocery and buy generic if an option where you are.2 -
I love canned vegetables and sometimes they are like 70 cents! Tuna and vegetables? you could make wraps or sandwiches probably also2
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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.4
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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.10 -
My family of 3 survives on $10/day for our meals. Total. For all 3 of us.
Chicken, beans, eggs, and veggies are a way of life for us now. lol.5 -
It's definitely doable (I've done it). But the parameters of the exercise are unrealistic and seem skewed to maximize rate of failure. The premise is flawed: it's "assistance" not "subsistence." It's an important distinction and I would include that in my report.
Also don't forget to deduct sales taxes.15 -
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.13 -
sarahaflood wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »To figure that out yourself... that's sort of the idea of the project, isn't it?
The purpose of the project is to live off of $13.30 and recognize the difficulty of doing so. My professor actually recommended doing research online and to plan everything ahead of time. I thought this would be a great resource. I understand if you do not want to help because you believe that it is cheating, but I do not.
Maybe your professor meant online resources of information, such as looking up prices of foods, you can shop online at Walmart Grocery and see the exact prices of everything. He/she wants to know what YOU would do, not what other people you have asked online would do, and you would learn more doing it yourself too.6 -
There is a cookbook called Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day. Lots of ideas for you in that. It's on Amazon and I think would be really helpful for you.2
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sarahaflood wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »To figure that out yourself... that's sort of the idea of the project, isn't it?
The purpose of the project is to live off of $13.30 and recognize the difficulty of doing so. My professor actually recommended doing research online and to plan everything ahead of time. I thought this would be a great resource. I understand if you do not want to help because you believe that it is cheating, but I do not.
Research is different than asking others for an answer. When I was in university, if I was caught having others do my work for me, I would receive an F for that project, possibly even the class.
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If you have farmer markets in your area, it would be a great opportunity to learn how to negotiate. Get 2 for 1 on vegetables, or bid low (about 1/4) the price on stuff like eggs or meat - the vendor will most likely meet you in the middle bc he/she just want to sell their stuff (especially the last hour and a half of the market time).1
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mburgess458 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.
If OP doesn't know how to cook, it's not terrible advice. The rotisserie chickens are usually only slightly more expensive than the raw birds at a lot of groceries (I've seen them range from $4-6 at various stores around here. The raw birds are sometimes just as much) and is more than enough for 1 person for 3 days. (The protein source is expected to be the most expensive item, and will come in at less than half the budget here).12 -
mburgess458 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.
If OP doesn't know how to cook, it's not terrible advice. The rotisserie chickens are usually only slightly more expensive than the raw birds at a lot of groceries (I've seen them range from $4-6 at various stores around here. The raw birds are sometimes just as much) and is more than enough for 1 person for 3 days. (The protein source is expected to be the most expensive item, and will come in at less than half the budget here).
(I usually get about 11 servings of meat off of one $5 rotisserie chicken. About the same amount I get from a $3-4 pack of chicken thighs, but tastes much better and didn't utilize an extra session of cooking to cook the chicken before I could do meal prep).9 -
Not advice per se, sorry OP. But am I the only one who hates these kinds of assignments? I know I've seen this exact assignment here before. It's artificial and agenda-driven.
The people who are receiving this aid are supposed to use it as "assistance", not as their sole source of support. Those receiving assistance are free to use food banks, to get help from friends and family, and to work part time to earn more money. None of which the students are free to do for the assignment.
I have a family member who has hit hard times lately, in no small measure because of choices he has made. Because of his circumstances, he doesn't qualify for any public assistance. If he hadn't been able to rely on friends and family for help, he would have starved. Should the students therefore have to live for three days on 0 income?19 -
mburgess458 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.
If OP doesn't know how to cook, it's not terrible advice. The rotisserie chickens are usually only slightly more expensive than the raw birds at a lot of groceries (I've seen them range from $4-6 at various stores around here. The raw birds are sometimes just as much) and is more than enough for 1 person for 3 days. (The protein source is expected to be the most expensive item, and will come in at less than half the budget here).
(I usually get about 11 servings of meat off of one $5 rotisserie chicken. About the same amount I get from a $3-4 pack of chicken thighs, but tastes much better and didn't utilize an extra session of cooking to cook the chicken before I could do meal prep).
The negative for someone who is truly poor, is the possible requirement to make an extra trip to a higher end supermarket to buy said rotisserie chicken, since you will typically not find them in a discount grocery store like save-a-lot/Aldi's/Price Rite (which is where you would want to do the bulk of your shopping - the price differences on produce (fresh, frozen,canned), rice, beans,... will add up fast if you try to buy the majority of items at the main large supermarket chains).3 -
As someone that lived poor for an extended period of time and fed myself on less than $2 a day, I will say that this is really not that hard. If you buy smart and keep your eyes open for clearance items, you could easily accomplish this.
I think "doing research" was more of a thing to say, research sales, find articles about eating on a budget. Isn't there a possibility that they will ask for any sources used? Saying "A forum on MFP" is probably not going to suffice. Generally speaking, this would not be a cite-able source, whereas an interview with someone in your life that has real experience would be a cite-able source. I don't see the people saying this isn't really the point of the exercise are offended, so much as saying that they think you've misunderstood the assignment.
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