pasta or carrots? please help

AmNestor
AmNestor Posts: 41 Member
edited November 25 in Food and Nutrition
Not sure if I1m posting in the right thread but here goes!

I have a problem, I am so gosh darn broke right now I only have about £2- £3 or less to spend on food a week, and I am so clueless about this stuff so i don’t know whats best: (BOTH ARE OBVIOUSLY HORRIBLE AND BAD FOR MY BODY)

Should i get a bunch of pasta (20p per pack) and be able to actually reach my calorie goal?

Or should I get a bunch of carrots (47p per kilo) and end up only eating like 300 calories a day but at least get some nutrition?

I realize this might be the stupidest question anyone has ever seen on here but i feel so helpless and I cant find any good answers online.

I’m also obviously hoping this is super temporary and I’ll be back to eating loads of fruits and veg and MEATS pretty soon! and cakes. sometimes.

And yes, I am very very aware that eating only pasta, or only 300 calories is super unhealthy, I just have no other choice right now
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Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited February 2018
    This content has been removed.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Hon, I second pasta w beans or legumes and you can do this w or without tomato sauce. I make pasta almost everyday for a family of men, so you can change it up continually. Pasta w tunafish, pasta with zucchini, pasta w onion sauce, pasta w lentils, pasta w chickpeas, pasta w butter and parmigiano cheese (my husband's all time favorite), and the list goes on... You can stretch out your veggies, and fish or meat. With rice, you can do the same. I do so hope this is temporary for you, but learning to cook on a low budget is a usefull life skill. It will see you well in the future. We aren't hard up but I watch my food budget closely because that is where you can waste alot of money.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
    Canned veg will be cheaper than fresh, so you could get some pasta and some canned carrots, or peas, or whatever you like. They also won't go off so you won't waste anything. If you haven't got any salt or pepper, you can nab some for free from fast food places like KFC. It's a bit cheeky, but needs must!
  • AmNestor
    AmNestor Posts: 41 Member
    Thanks for all the tips u guys! I didn't even think about a food bank, so I'm lookin into that right now!
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Surely the person who bought you the lacey pants would be able to help you out with food?
    unfortunately she lives very far away, but hopefully after this torture at least those pants will fit haha!
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    How long will you be in this situation? Don't you have any foods stashed away? Can you get money somewhere, sell something, or get free foods or meals?
    Will be like this till I get another job, I've already borrowed money from everyone I know, ate my whole stash and sold my guitar! But I've had some job interviews so i'm hoping just another couple weeks and I'll be back on track! Thanks for the tips!

    yirara wrote: »
    Why are both bad for you? Why do you think that?
    Just cause pasta has veeery little nutrition, and 500 grams of carrots is veeeery little calories for one whole day.
  • ghudson92
    ghudson92 Posts: 2,061 Member
    Do you have anyone who can help you out? Family, friends, neighbours? Search for your local food-bank or sikh temple as they will often have something for you (I live in an area with a large sikh population and the local temple are simply wonderful, they will feed anyone who needs it you just have to turn up!). If these are not options for you then go with the pasta and some tinned veg to get some nutrients in (as others have said already).
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    AmNestor wrote: »
    Thanks for all the tips u guys! I didn't even think about a food bank, so I'm lookin into that right now!
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Surely the person who bought you the lacey pants would be able to help you out with food?
    unfortunately she lives very far away, but hopefully after this torture at least those pants will fit haha!
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    How long will you be in this situation? Don't you have any foods stashed away? Can you get money somewhere, sell something, or get free foods or meals?
    Will be like this till I get another job, I've already borrowed money from everyone I know, ate my whole stash and sold my guitar! But I've had some job interviews so i'm hoping just another couple weeks and I'll be back on track! Thanks for the tips!

    yirara wrote: »
    Why are both bad for you? Why do you think that?
    Just cause pasta has veeery little nutrition, and 500 grams of carrots is veeeery little calories for one whole day.

    pasta doesn't have bad macros actually, not sure where you're getting that from?
  • AmNestor
    AmNestor Posts: 41 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    pasta doesn't have bad macros actually, not sure where you're getting that from?

    all my food knowledge is from google and common sense / guessing, so i must be totally off on the pasta. Which is great news! More pasta yay!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    edited February 2018
    Eating enough to me would be more important than perfect nutrition.

    Here I can get things like store brand pasta, rice, a bag of frozen vegetables, whole carrots, cabbage, dry beans or lentils, oatmeal for super cheap. I would buy a bag of dry beans or lentils and maybe some rice or pasta

    https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/eat4cheap/Pages/cheap-food-shopping.aspx

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/5-best-budget-food-bloggers-5896967
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    You can get a bag of brown rice, and a bag of beans for like $2-3 USD, and a can or two of veggies or tomatoes if you find them on sale for 1-2USD each. You can get boxed mac n cheese for around .50 a box, and a package of hot dogs for about 1.50. Pasta is also super cheap. I'm not sure of the conversion rate, but these are my go to items if money is tight. You can make several meals out of a bag of rice and beans, or macaroni and hot dogs to get you through the week. Is it the "healthiest" thing on the planet? Not really. But with the rice and beans you are at least getting carbs, protein, and fiber from your meal. With the mac n cheese with hot dogs, or a can of chili it's a tasty and filling meal. Do you have flour and salt on hand? If you do, you have the means to make home made pasta and can put your money to other things. Or if you're just plain out of money, home made pasta, some oil and seasonings is better than going hungry. You can really stretch out our meals by making soups and stew. Mulligan Stew was a favorite growing up, and it's basically throw whatever beans, rice, veggies, and protein you have on hand into a big pot with water and cook it up. I'm not even sure there's a proper recipe as it's one of those scrounge up whatever is in the pantry and call it soup kind of meals. Hope this doesn't last too long! Best of luck!
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    edited February 2018
    Beans, rice, lentils, frozen and canned vegetables, some basic seasoning for broth (you'd be surprised about how many ways cheap ingredients can be combined in a soup!). If you cannot afford an animal protein, the eggs, beans and lentils should really help bulk your diet out.

    Basically look for things that last a lost time. Many of time will be a little time intensive (like soaking beans) but well worth the effort.

    Frozen veg is cheaper than fresh, lasts a long time, and doesn't sacrifice on nutrition.
    LARGE cans of tomatoes are cheap and can be simmered with rice, quinoa, other veg, beans, meats, tofu, etc. to make REALLY hearty stews, or combined with cheap pasta to make.... pasta!

    I think that seasonings will be your friend. It might seem excessive to spend money on soy sauce, etc. but it can really give new life to the same old, boring ingredients.

    TL;DR:

    - rice
    - beans
    - polenta
    - pasta
    - frozen veg
    - canned tomatoes
    - beans
    - lentils
    - small selection of spices (highly recommend garlic powder, cayenne, Italian seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning)
    - oil (biggest bang for your buck in terms of dollars per calories)
    - transformable ingredients (like flour to bake, make bread, thicken stews, make pasta)

    Bulk buy whenever possible. It might take you a couple of weeks to be able to gather ALL of the above BUT Costco/sam's sized bags of the above will set you up for months. (this can be accomplished by selling something on Craigslist or picking up a quick hustle job like spinning a sign for a couple of hours and using that extra money toward a bulk size of flour for bread or a large bag of frozen veg)

    This also really depends on where you live. Food is relatively cheap in Texas. I have been eating a LOT of eggs mixed with zucchinis/mushrooms and rice noodles.

    ETA: to make bread, you need flour, salt, water, and yeast. Yeast is VERY cheap, so is flour. Home made bread and some cheap butter/margarine can REALLY hit the spot.

    ETA2: this is a bigger budget than yours but there was a lot of good discussion on this thread (my answer is copied from my answer there): http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10635985/25-weekly-food-budget/p1

    ETA3: please look into a food bank
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    If TO has so little money then I also suggest also not talking about recipes that require a lot of electricity to cook. Baking bread costs a lot of electricity, and if you've never done it and don't know how well your oven works for it it might as well spoil the ingredients.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    I'd personally spend the money on dried beans and rice. Soak your beans overnight before cooking to shorten the cooking time, and let them simmer on a weekend or in the evening when you're home. If you happen to have a slow cooker, it will be even easier to cook the beans. Make a big batch that you can keep in the fridge or freezer and munch on all week.

    If I had money left over after buying the beans and rice, I would spend it on either frozen veggies, which are often cheaper than fresh and won't spoil, or the cheapest fresh veggies you can get.

    This isn't a perfectly well-balanced diet by any means, but it's more nutritionally balanced than surviving on just pasta, carrots, or apples.

    This is exactly what I would do. Dried beans, rice, and a bag of frozen vegetables. OP, if you have Family Tree/Family Dollar in your area that has groceries, this is where I have seen the cheapest prices for these items (not sure where you live).
  • DarianJP
    DarianJP Posts: 95 Member
    There’s no shame in going to a food bank! Abot 5 years ago when I was first starting out on my own I had to stop in at the food bank a few times. They provided a good bit of nutritional food, meat, canned vegetables, rice and beans. They threw in some different breads and snacks too but it wasn’t all bad food. I’m a huge budgeter now and shop at stores like Aldi and Lidl for most of my groceries. There’s a bunch of youtubers that make videos on how to eat off of $5 or $10 a week, I definitely recommend you check some out. Good luck!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    pasta and beans, you can get enough to last a week with £3.

    also, look into food banks in your area.

    This! If you can only get one, get beans. Unless you just really can not stand the taste of beans or you have some type of allergy/intolerance to then dried beans are like going to be the most nutritious bang for your buck.
  • DarianJP
    DarianJP Posts: 95 Member
    Oh! I forgot to mention that oatmeal would be a good food to buy. You can get a huge container with 30 servings for about $2. And a big container of dry roasted unsalted peanuts for around $1.50 with around 16, 1 oz servings. Or you could get a cheap loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter for about $3 together. Just some other options for you. Like everyone’s said already though, dry beans are your ultimate bet. You’re going to need some protein and you can get it from the beans or lentils. I’ve seen the Jenny Os turkey hotdogs at bilo for $0.99 too. Even eggs would be good, I get the 18 count of eggs for about $1.30 or so.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    edited February 2018
    Unless lentils and rice make me sick.... And not being in that situation today, but having been in the neighborhood growing up. IF you gotta eat you gotta eat. Ramen, hot dogs, and canned green beans/frozen broccoli isn't fancy, but it's relatively filling and close enough to complete macros. High sodium, but water is free. When you gotta eat you gotta eat if that means being honest enough to ask/beg for help.... do what you need, and hold your head high.

    [edited by mods]
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