How to eat so cheap!?

[SoulRaven]

My health requires a very restrictive diet, which is further restricted by the inability to cook in/from my van. "Eating cheap" is out of the question!

...so some days I don't eat at all to compensate for it. :/ Or, rather, some days are peanut butter days. I suffer mild G.I. distress and moderate crabbiness from this but it's tolerable.

My food budget is typically $150/month minimum, often more, with some help from the food bank and occasionally dining/shopping with Boyfriend.

A decent day for me is to have one good solid meal resulting in me feeling completely full and satisfied. I've found that so long as I have that, I can feel okay with mediocre snacks sating my hunger the rest of the time. I snack on the foods that make me only slightly ill or that I dislike but can stomach, which were free from the food bank.

When I have access to a kitchen (which happens now and again due to various opportunities) I have the ability to reduce my food budget, but I usually end up spending the same and simply eating more and higher quality food, which directly translates to an improvement in health and energy. I weigh double digits so it's always a fight to gain and keep those pounds!

I think the food budget is generally pretty unique to the individual's needs, setup, and priorities.

 

[dhawktx]

Bitty, if you haven't tried some of the newer 'super' probiotic supplements, maybe you could give them a try. They are specifically designed to help get gut flora back to what a healthy adult should be experiencing. Studies are suggesting that a large number of chronic issues could be tied to poor gut flora due to overuse of antibiotics and the Western Diet.

I've been IBS and Gluten Intolerant for the last 20 years, but now have no GI issues at all and IBS only when I have coffee on an empty stomach. The only thing I've changed is that I took two different 'supers' back in May. I gave them several months to get situated and began testing earlier this month. In the last three weeks I've eaten a wide variety of gluten containing foods, as well as a large percentage. In the past I'd have been suffering from a quarter of what I've ingested. I was hoping for this result as I didn't want to try boondocking with my previous dietary limitations. I'm hoping that my blood sugar is also responding, but have to wait another month or so to do an A1C test.

 

[eDJ_]

There is a whole genre of 99 cent meals cook books out there.

The first one I purchased was from Loompanics book store (now out of business but their book list of 109 books are still on the net)  I still have my "Eat Well for 99 cents a Meal" cook book by Ruth and Bill  Kaysing.  They also have other books in print.

There are Boy Scout cooking in aluminum foil cook books that show how to grill a meal in foil for cheap.
Others explain doing the same on the engine of your vehicle.  (but you need to be careful with this so you
don't have a grease fire on your engine.

I understand that close to 75% of the energy an internal combustion engine uses is given off in heat.
You may find that instead of time till done,  the recipe describes "miles until done". This can also
cut the expense of your meals by using heating energy that goes to waste as you drive.

Truly the no muss no fuss way to cook small cheap meals. You could even eat from the foil with a paper plate under it.   

Here is an easy Cub Scout recipe to try.   "Silver Turtles".    The round silver foil pouch looks like a turtle
as it sits on the camp fire.  These are quite tasty.

http://www.cubscoutpack404.com/announcements/silver-turtle-recipe

 

[highdesertranger]

eDJ I have seen that first book before it's pretty cool. here's a company that makes manifold cookers, they advertise for snow mobiles but work on anything, http://www.firstplaceparts.com/snowmobile-food-warmers-cookers.html . highdesertranger

 

[eDJ_]

Anyone traveling through Ohio and looking for a Food Bank may be noticing a growing shortage of them.  The US Dept of Agriculture states that Ohio ranks  among the worst in the Nation for food insecurity. 

About 40 food pantries have closed or merged since June 2014

The Ohio Association of Food Banks believes the closures are the result of a higher demand after a work requirement caused many people to be taken off food stamps in 2013. (able bodied adults 18 to 50 who don't have dependents must work at least 20 hours a week whether working, attending classes in school, volunteering, or training for a job to be eligible)   The Ohio Dept of Jobs and Family
Services says that there is no evidence that work requirements cause large numbers of people to be taken
off food stamps.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt,  The executive director of Ohio Association of Food Banks, says that there isn't enough
money in the system to offset nearly  a half a billion dollars in Food Stamp cuts.

Here is the source and full story in Associated Press org.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...HOL-?SITE=ILROR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

[SoulRaven]

Bitty, if you haven't tried some of the newer 'super' probiotic supplements, maybe you could give them a try...

You buy it, I'll try it, provided it doesn't contain anything on the list of absolute no's. Its been a couple years since I last tried probiotics. Going down that road pointed more towards fecal transplant after no change. My current state is actually significantly improved--from months of only able to eat one ingredient, to weeks of unable to eat anything (I.V. nutrition) to years of only consuming 5 ingredients total, with any deviation resulting in drastic consequences.

My policy on specific supplement suggestions are that if you believe in it that strongly, and I've no reason to think it might harm me, I'm happy to try it in someone else's dime but I will not impoverish myself chasing rainbows.

My success regarding food is that while my system may be uncomfortable , it's working out pretty solidly. I can't really eat cheap food, yet here I am surviving on $733/ month.

 

[compassrose]

Fair Warning! My daughter says they (Family Dollar) will be doing a food dump (expiring food purge) on Dec 15 and Jan 15. I do not know how other FD's do their expired food but you might want to ask them as the date gets really close. Doesn't cost you anything to ask. It was so much that this time they donated it to the local food bank. The Jan one should include holiday candy (if any is left).

 

[Canine]

One thing me and Vic don't scrimp on is healthy food.We eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit.We don't eat red meat or processed meat like sausage.We have fish or chicken when we want meat.We only have coffee for breakfast.I usually eat a bowl of bran cereal with a whey protein supplement for dinner.A light supper with a mix of protein and carbs and we are good to go.If we want a snack during the day we eat fruit.Nothing is more important than your health.

 

[GotSmart]

One thing I will do is to buy a larger bag of food, and break it down.  I have a bucket filled with single servings of rice, pasta, and other dry goods.  WM and DG have multi packs of breakfast flavored oatmeal  There are a lot of things that can be done with a can of creamy soup.  Add a little meat or vegies to Ramin  A bulion cube changes the flavor of rice.  Search out sales.  
Multi packs of granola type bars make for a better smack and much cheaper than a bag of chips or fries.

 

[Willy]

$3-4 CDN a day for me.. and considerably less if I go to the food bank. I have a compressor cooler and buy 'reduced for quick sale' family packs of meat (usually pork cuz it's cheap here) and portion out/freeze them, big (and cheap) bags of brown rice, and fresh veggies (frozen if on sale). I also try not to buy anything that's not on sale. ..Willy.

 

[ZoNiE]

Ahhh... Foil cooking. I have demonstrated that Ad Nauseum for the boys in our scout troop, but they still try to make Fajitas and **** like that on hikes. They have all tried my samples, and love it. I eat before everyone when I cook this. They just still don't get it.

My favorite:
1/4 lb hamburger patty (About 60 cents)
1/4  to 1/6 can of Cream of mushroom soup (about 50 cents/serving)
1/4 to 1/2 can of Veg all or frozen mixed veggies (About 50 cents/serving)
Put all in foil, sprinkle pepper and put over coals.

About a buck sixty  to two bucks per meal, and it is filling. Eat with a french roll and you have a good hearty meal.

I precook the patties, makes it easier to just heat the meal up.

You can substitute the processed veggies for fresh for a more healthy meal.