Mike Yukon
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Queen said:
You must be the only person on the planet who doesn't like Mac & Cheese and will not eat the same thing two times in a row. Thanks for insulting the rest of us.
Food on $5/day!
- Thread starter Hippiechk
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You must be the only person on the planet who doesn't like Mac & Cheese and will not eat the same thing two times in a row. Thanks for insulting the rest of us.
[quote pid='197064' dateline='1462070980']
Desert is a classic in this rig...
Fruit, any kind you want, fresh or canned...this is canned pineapple tidbits, simmered with dates until the dates are falling apart, use most of the juice (I had a couple sips) & a cup of good granola dumped on poked a bit then turn off the heat, cover & walk away. I stir it while it's still good & hit then leave it covered to eat either warm or cold. I say good as a granola with flakes or other soggy bits won't work here. I will serve this with yogurt bringing it to $1.35 for a huge serving that I am sure I will want later as its early. It comes to about $2 for the pan so half that & add 35¢ for yogurt or $1.35.
Thank you for the dessert idea!!! Gonna try this next time I get around to shopping lol sounds delish! We also try to stick around the five dollar a day menu as well and new ideas are greatly appreciated as things can get boring is the nice word I'll use ?
[/quote]
Desert is a classic in this rig...
Fruit, any kind you want, fresh or canned...this is canned pineapple tidbits, simmered with dates until the dates are falling apart, use most of the juice (I had a couple sips) & a cup of good granola dumped on poked a bit then turn off the heat, cover & walk away. I stir it while it's still good & hit then leave it covered to eat either warm or cold. I say good as a granola with flakes or other soggy bits won't work here. I will serve this with yogurt bringing it to $1.35 for a huge serving that I am sure I will want later as its early. It comes to about $2 for the pan so half that & add 35¢ for yogurt or $1.35.
Thank you for the dessert idea!!! Gonna try this next time I get around to shopping lol sounds delish! We also try to stick around the five dollar a day menu as well and new ideas are greatly appreciated as things can get boring is the nice word I'll use ?
[/quote]
My 'household' is usually 3-5 and I do 95% of the cooking and shopping, so per person $100-170 a week, wow that's a big budget, no problem.
That would even cover our one restaurant food, special occasion per month, usually kids' choice.
Almost everything from scratch except basics like baked goods & ice cream.
Aldi's way better value than other supermarkets, but we do shop specials, coupons but not crazy, 20 min a week extra saves $20-30.
Cook big lots wherever possible and portion into ziplocs for 3-5 meals ready to go. Same with full hams, pork loins big lots of chicken parts, mince meat etc. Bags of frozen salmon or other fish, eat a lot of seafood.
Canned veggies, tons of pumpkin, spinach with bits of spicy meat, soups & stews, pasta sauces, curries, chilli/texmex wraps, Asian BBQ.
Go through lots of rice, beans and potatoes as well.
Some prepared foods pulled pork, corn dogs, shellfish ready to steam, but keep to occasional only, not healthy and more expensive.
Never buy drinks hot or cold or any snacks from convenience stores, that alone would wipe out any budget. Make sweet tea and lemon water by the gallon. Tap water 99% of the time is fine.
That would even cover our one restaurant food, special occasion per month, usually kids' choice.
Almost everything from scratch except basics like baked goods & ice cream.
Aldi's way better value than other supermarkets, but we do shop specials, coupons but not crazy, 20 min a week extra saves $20-30.
Cook big lots wherever possible and portion into ziplocs for 3-5 meals ready to go. Same with full hams, pork loins big lots of chicken parts, mince meat etc. Bags of frozen salmon or other fish, eat a lot of seafood.
Canned veggies, tons of pumpkin, spinach with bits of spicy meat, soups & stews, pasta sauces, curries, chilli/texmex wraps, Asian BBQ.
Go through lots of rice, beans and potatoes as well.
Some prepared foods pulled pork, corn dogs, shellfish ready to steam, but keep to occasional only, not healthy and more expensive.
Never buy drinks hot or cold or any snacks from convenience stores, that alone would wipe out any budget. Make sweet tea and lemon water by the gallon. Tap water 99% of the time is fine.
In my opinion, you just can't go wrong with soup. I love it, and make a lot in cool weather. For one person it goes a long way. I freeze one meal portions in plastic containers. Putting them in the cooler still frozen helps extend the life of the ice and keeps the soup safe until I'm ready to eat it. I've done this when camping all my life,especially chili, stew and vegetable soups. A meal in a bowl, and cheap. I've never priced any, but I will next time I shop. will be following here in the meantime, and love other folks great suggestions, especially using tuna. And, if you want to relent at some future time and allow beans, I'd be really interested in those ideas. I've not seen any other food threads so haven't had the benefit of those suggestions. Thanks to all for posting here. Great idea for a thread.
$5 is too much. Need to aim for half that.
Dry soup, eggs, tuna, spaghetti, tortillas, pancakes, cook from scratch...perfect french loaf in dutch oven, mix in ingredients from canned whatever stretches it out well. Potatoes and onions are cheap makes errything better.
Dry soup, eggs, tuna, spaghetti, tortillas, pancakes, cook from scratch...perfect french loaf in dutch oven, mix in ingredients from canned whatever stretches it out well. Potatoes and onions are cheap makes errything better.
user 15722
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...and I thought it was bacon that made everything better
wheels
wheels
Gideon33w
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Lentils are the only dry bean that works well for vandwelling since the cook time is so low.
But, they are SUPER cheap and can be cooked with the thermos method.
I added them to just about everything. From salads to tacos to soups to chilis.
Even done them by themselves, plus cumin, in a tortilla.
Added in onions and misc and ate them with tortilla chips too.
EXCELLENT source of fiber, potassium, iron, and B6.
I think one of the biggest things that people don't take advantage of is multi-use items.
Buying things that only work for one type of meal GREATLY increases cost and storage needs.
But, they are SUPER cheap and can be cooked with the thermos method.
I added them to just about everything. From salads to tacos to soups to chilis.
Even done them by themselves, plus cumin, in a tortilla.
Added in onions and misc and ate them with tortilla chips too.
EXCELLENT source of fiber, potassium, iron, and B6.
I think one of the biggest things that people don't take advantage of is multi-use items.
Buying things that only work for one type of meal GREATLY increases cost and storage needs.
Cook up the whole pound, crispy into a ziploc, I get at least 8-10 meals out of it, just use it sparingly as a flavoring, crumbled on a cheeseburger or over a big salad.
And be sure not to burn, so can use the fat rendered (just a bit goes a long way: lentils or other beans, pumpkin soup, with onions over potatoes, garlic'd spinach, cream sauce for pasta, fried rice, french toast)
Nice crusty bread, crispy lettuce, ripe tomatoes BLTs anyone?
And be sure not to burn, so can use the fat rendered (just a bit goes a long way: lentils or other beans, pumpkin soup, with onions over potatoes, garlic'd spinach, cream sauce for pasta, fried rice, french toast)
Nice crusty bread, crispy lettuce, ripe tomatoes BLTs anyone?
snarfersnarf
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So my first month of van life, I did not have a way to cook for the first two weeks before I got my stove. I ate a lot of salad kits. At Kroger, they manager special a lot of the salad greens. A salad kit comes with the dressing and toppings. All you need is a fork to eat it from the bag. I love how easy it is. If you stay away from the kits with high fat dressings it can be a pretty healthy option. Add a can of tuna to it if you want some more protein. Sometimes you can get a bag of greens for 99 cents. Usually the kits are only $1.50. Eat a kit 3 times a day and you only spent $4.50 all day.
lenny flank
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I've always liked canned spaghetti-o's and mac'n'cheese. I cook it right in the can, which always gets my health-food friends all riled up. And I do enjoy my steak and home fries, and pierogies.
My food budget alas is around $10-12 per day, but that is because I always eat out at least once a day. (I'm a sucker for an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.)
My biggest difficulty though has been that most purchased portions are too big for one person, so I keep what leftovers I want (I have a small cooler for that) and give the rest to the birdies.
And I do enjoy my steak and home fries, and pierogies.My food budget alas is around $10-12 per day, but that is because I always eat out at least once a day. (I'm a sucker for an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.)
My biggest difficulty though has been that most purchased portions are too big for one person, so I keep what leftovers I want (I have a small cooler for that) and give the rest to the birdies.
I don’t really have dollar amount but I save money by cooking in clusters. Cook chicken and make other stuff out of planned overs. Cook hamburger and make planed-overs out of what you plan to have left:
I usually cook a package of chicken tenders in the lunchbox cooker when we are going on a fairly long drive. I buy cooking bags and cut them in half. I put the chicken tenders into the triangle corner and fold it over. It cooks a while, I stir them around - 2 or 3 hours in our van... You can buy chicken already cooked in many forms. I usually get 3-4 meals for the two of us out of a $5 pack of tenders from Aldi. I use the tenders to make quesadillas - I wrap the tortillas loaded with cheese and cut up chicken in foil and cook in the road pro for about 15 minutes - turn half way through. You can do them on the stove top, too. Also for other easy meals with left over chicken and the road pro...
put some diced up apple chunks on the chicken with some barbecue sauce heat up some veggies.
heat up alfredo sauce with chicken and some peas
cover the chicken with spaghetti sauce and cheese on some noodles
use a piece of flat bread and make a chicken pizza
If you can cook with a skillet, do stir fry. Cook rice in a thermos ahead of time or buy from Chinese take out
I use a recipe for 'baked chicken salad from Davita' you could bake that in the road pro eat some and save some to eat cold - bake it in a cooking bag in the road pro. Save left overs in a mason jar. You can make chicken salad of your choice.
I also make newlyweds casserole. Cooked chicken or hamburger (leftover meatloaf), layer over the meat a drained can of green beans, a can of condensed soup or soup mix mentioned above and top with tatertots, bake in the roadpro oven in a cooking bag or foil. Should just need to heat through.
I also make too much meat loaf when I have road time. You can reheat planned overs and eat it as is.
You could break it up add tomato sauce etc and make barbecue to heat and throw on a bun or use in the above or other casserole.
You could add beans and tomato and cheese to the crumbled up meat loaf planned overs and cook corn bread over it.
You could use it for meat to make chili.
Eggs were 48 cents a dozen last week at Aldi. One egg per meal and you could eat for 5 cents and lose weight...
I usually cook a package of chicken tenders in the lunchbox cooker when we are going on a fairly long drive. I buy cooking bags and cut them in half. I put the chicken tenders into the triangle corner and fold it over. It cooks a while, I stir them around - 2 or 3 hours in our van... You can buy chicken already cooked in many forms. I usually get 3-4 meals for the two of us out of a $5 pack of tenders from Aldi. I use the tenders to make quesadillas - I wrap the tortillas loaded with cheese and cut up chicken in foil and cook in the road pro for about 15 minutes - turn half way through. You can do them on the stove top, too. Also for other easy meals with left over chicken and the road pro...
put some diced up apple chunks on the chicken with some barbecue sauce heat up some veggies.
heat up alfredo sauce with chicken and some peas
cover the chicken with spaghetti sauce and cheese on some noodles
use a piece of flat bread and make a chicken pizza
If you can cook with a skillet, do stir fry. Cook rice in a thermos ahead of time or buy from Chinese take out
I use a recipe for 'baked chicken salad from Davita' you could bake that in the road pro eat some and save some to eat cold - bake it in a cooking bag in the road pro. Save left overs in a mason jar. You can make chicken salad of your choice.
I also make newlyweds casserole. Cooked chicken or hamburger (leftover meatloaf), layer over the meat a drained can of green beans, a can of condensed soup or soup mix mentioned above and top with tatertots, bake in the roadpro oven in a cooking bag or foil. Should just need to heat through.
I also make too much meat loaf when I have road time. You can reheat planned overs and eat it as is.
You could break it up add tomato sauce etc and make barbecue to heat and throw on a bun or use in the above or other casserole.
You could add beans and tomato and cheese to the crumbled up meat loaf planned overs and cook corn bread over it.
You could use it for meat to make chili.
Eggs were 48 cents a dozen last week at Aldi. One egg per meal and you could eat for 5 cents and lose weight...
Thirsty Boots Nomad
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Snikwahjm said:
Considering the "issues" I regularly get when eating egg-heavy meals, that "weight" would be anyone/everyone that was riding/caravaning with me. Thanks for the ideas!
jimindenver
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Now that I have the freezer it has been easier because I can cook a pot of something and freeze portions of it for future meals. Over time I ended up with a number of choices in meals if I did not feel like cooking. A few times when I knew the weather was good I would buy enough to cook five or six batches of different meals, run it all through the solar ovens in a day or two and have nothing to cook for a few weeks outside of eggs and toast every morning.
Yep that's the ticket!
I'll make a big mess of stew, chilli etc, let it cool down, then ladle into labeled ziplocs laid flat in the freezer.
Once frozen, stand them up like books on a shelf, end up with 6-10 different meals to choose from that just need reheating.
Also partially made, like fry up 5 lbs of minced meat with pepper, garlic & onion, ready to just add the last bits for fresh bolognese vs taco or burrito filling vs sloppy joe vs beef curry. . .
I'll make a big mess of stew, chilli etc, let it cool down, then ladle into labeled ziplocs laid flat in the freezer.
Once frozen, stand them up like books on a shelf, end up with 6-10 different meals to choose from that just need reheating.
Also partially made, like fry up 5 lbs of minced meat with pepper, garlic & onion, ready to just add the last bits for fresh bolognese vs taco or burrito filling vs sloppy joe vs beef curry. . .
duckwonder
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cold salad of black beans, shoepeg corn, red onion, chopped tomoto, cilantro, squeeze of lime, chips or tortilla
I've found that if I soak and cook black beans (or any other color) and if I cook healthy long grain rice, I can make several meals out of them by pulling what I need out of the containers in the fridge. Some may say that it takes a lot of fuel to cook both of those, but really, I make several meals out of the one cooking, and the canned varieties of the beans have a lot of sodium in the can and the instant variety of the rice won't hold it's texture, so I use the real deal.
Then I put them precooked in several small individual sized containers, as many as they take to fit in the little fridge.
If I want fried rice, I have rice ready for that.
If I want to make chili, the beans are waiting in the fridge.
If I want to make a bean and rice burrito, I have stuff ready for that.
If I want to have spicy beans and rice with cheese melted on top in a bowl, I've got some salsa and cheese in the fridge too.
I like Spanish rice, and if I want to do that, I have some green peppers and some other goodies in the veggie bin.
I'm not a vegetarian, so I can add meat, fish, and eggs and spices and whatever for variety. Add a small salad or other greens, and you have a meal. But no matter what I choose, the cheap beans and rice I cooked make for good eating all week long and they cost little and extend the meal. Also when you eat beans and rice together, it creates a vegetable protein that's pretty healthy. There's a lot of fiber in beans to keep you regular and the two ingredients cost so little.
The other thing is a snack cake. I want something a little sweet with tea sometime in the day. I'm not of English extraction, so I don't know where it came from, but I just like it. So I have a "tea time" and I buy at Walmart a box of 12 cupcakes that look EXACTLY and taste EXACTLY like hostess cupcakes. They are just called "Chocolate Cupcakes" and they are near the dairy aisle with some other bulk boxed hostess like treats; they were not over where the Hostess stuff is. The whole box is $3. Here it is on their website. They say out of stock for shipping, but our store has them all the time: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Snacks-Chocolate-Cupcakes-2-oz-12-count/10448161 They are individually wrapped. I look at the date and if I see that I can't eat one a day before they go, I'll put that number in the fridge or freezer, because I eat one a day. That's 25 cents for a delicious chocolatey treat that I didn't have to bake and cures my sweet tooth.
I haven't figured out exactly how much that comes to a day for my meals, but I doubt that I spend over $4 a day. I should cipher that out and see. One thing that helped the budget was stopping soda. I used to go through cartons and cartons of diet soda, and I quit that and now opt for tea or water. Occasional, but not daily coffee.
Dollar Tree has frozen chicken, rib eye, tilapia, salmon and hamburger patties for a dollar a packet. You get 2 frozen hamburger patties for a dollar. That will make a couple meals with the beans and rice or for chili or whatever. The patties are good. The chicken I've never tried. 1/2 the rib eye makes a good steak for steak and eggs. Eat the other half the next day. The fish is EXCELLENT. I make a microwave dinner out of it. Veggies (and beans and rice) on the bottom, a few drops of olive oil, a LOT of blackened seasoning on them (no salt) and put the fish on top and coat the top heavily with blackened seasoning. The seasoning gives it a crust which often you can't achieve in a microwave.
Then cover it with saran wrap and microwave till it's done, which depends on your microwave. You can do the same thing in a campfire foil dinner or in an oven. I put it all in a pyrex dish and it's a meal with low sodium where you don't miss the salt. The blackened heat is awesome.
Food doesn't have to be expensive. And cooking the beans and rice once a week really helps me anyway.
Then I put them precooked in several small individual sized containers, as many as they take to fit in the little fridge.
If I want fried rice, I have rice ready for that.
If I want to make chili, the beans are waiting in the fridge.
If I want to make a bean and rice burrito, I have stuff ready for that.
If I want to have spicy beans and rice with cheese melted on top in a bowl, I've got some salsa and cheese in the fridge too.
I like Spanish rice, and if I want to do that, I have some green peppers and some other goodies in the veggie bin.
I'm not a vegetarian, so I can add meat, fish, and eggs and spices and whatever for variety. Add a small salad or other greens, and you have a meal. But no matter what I choose, the cheap beans and rice I cooked make for good eating all week long and they cost little and extend the meal. Also when you eat beans and rice together, it creates a vegetable protein that's pretty healthy. There's a lot of fiber in beans to keep you regular and the two ingredients cost so little.
The other thing is a snack cake. I want something a little sweet with tea sometime in the day. I'm not of English extraction, so I don't know where it came from, but I just like it. So I have a "tea time" and I buy at Walmart a box of 12 cupcakes that look EXACTLY and taste EXACTLY like hostess cupcakes. They are just called "Chocolate Cupcakes" and they are near the dairy aisle with some other bulk boxed hostess like treats; they were not over where the Hostess stuff is. The whole box is $3. Here it is on their website. They say out of stock for shipping, but our store has them all the time: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Snacks-Chocolate-Cupcakes-2-oz-12-count/10448161 They are individually wrapped. I look at the date and if I see that I can't eat one a day before they go, I'll put that number in the fridge or freezer, because I eat one a day. That's 25 cents for a delicious chocolatey treat that I didn't have to bake and cures my sweet tooth.
I haven't figured out exactly how much that comes to a day for my meals, but I doubt that I spend over $4 a day. I should cipher that out and see. One thing that helped the budget was stopping soda. I used to go through cartons and cartons of diet soda, and I quit that and now opt for tea or water. Occasional, but not daily coffee.
Dollar Tree has frozen chicken, rib eye, tilapia, salmon and hamburger patties for a dollar a packet. You get 2 frozen hamburger patties for a dollar. That will make a couple meals with the beans and rice or for chili or whatever. The patties are good. The chicken I've never tried. 1/2 the rib eye makes a good steak for steak and eggs. Eat the other half the next day. The fish is EXCELLENT. I make a microwave dinner out of it. Veggies (and beans and rice) on the bottom, a few drops of olive oil, a LOT of blackened seasoning on them (no salt) and put the fish on top and coat the top heavily with blackened seasoning. The seasoning gives it a crust which often you can't achieve in a microwave.
Then cover it with saran wrap and microwave till it's done, which depends on your microwave. You can do the same thing in a campfire foil dinner or in an oven. I put it all in a pyrex dish and it's a meal with low sodium where you don't miss the salt. The blackened heat is awesome.
Food doesn't have to be expensive. And cooking the beans and rice once a week really helps me anyway.
Mike Yukon said:You must be the only person on the planet who doesn't like Mac & Cheese and will not eat the same thing two times in a row. Thanks for insulting the rest of us.
HA! I'm married to one of those never-twice-in-a-row people! I, on the other hand, am a make-a-big-batch-eat-it-'til-it's-gone sort. Those never-twice people are picky and a pain! That's my story, anyway.
