I have $20 and a half tank of gas

[Lucky mike]

if I had 20 bucks left......cat and dog food wouldnt be included in my options yet!!!

 

[compassrose]

I would visit a fire station/church/library and ask about free meal locations first.

 

[decodancer]

I know I spend more on dog food than I do on my own food. I've got $9 to last me till Friday (and almost no gas) and just opened the last can of dog food. You know where the money is going but they're worth every penny.

 

[GrayWhale]

What's sad is that there are tons upon tons of good food being dumped everyday by stores, restaurants, etc. because they're afraid of getting sued if they give away expired food that are perfectly fine. I had to throw out about 200 cans of tuna because they were like 2 years pass the expiration date. Well I picked them up 2 years ago (250) when they were about to be thrown out and I only managed to eat like 50.

 

[light trip]

cook a diced patoto in a cup of water with beef or chicken Bouillon cube, less then a $1. they keep for a very long time.

 

[anm]

...
We use flour tortillas in place of bread. We buy them two 24 ct packs for $4.16 at Sam's Club. You can use flour tortillas for lots of things. They do get moldy so they would be a candidate for a zeer cooler. We freeze ours.

I second the tortillas, I usually by the Mission brand since they seem to have the longest shelf life, I've eaten them over 2 months old and no refrigeration! Not sure how they do it, or if I want to know...

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On eggs: the military used to ship eggs in the unrefrigerated cargo hold of freighters, they would be months in transit!

---

I think people place to much importance on the sell-by date. About the only thing I will not trust past a sell-by date is milk. Nothing worse than taking a big mouthful of my morning tea and discovering the milk has turned! I'm certain sell-by dates were dreamed up to sell more product...

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And about Dollar Tree:
Compassrose is right, you do have to be careful, somethings are a bargain, such as a jar of salsa for $1 or a bottle of prune juice for $1 (don't laugh, some of us need all the help we can get!), but they have other things that are priced more than Walmarts, you have to visit Walmarts and Dollar Tree and know what to buy where.

 

[PastTense]

So cannedsquatch: Tell us what you actually did to handle this problem?

 

[Peasant on the Pavement]

Have you checked for diving groups near your location. I am in Chicago right now and there are diving groups. People who can help you find free food and show you what to take and what you should not. Grocers waste so much food, for no good reason. Also, if you talk to managers of grocers, you might be able to get a good deal on eggs and cheaper cuts of meats. When picky shoppers look at eggs and find one broken it always goes back to the back of the cooler. You can sometimes buy those for like a $1 find a bottle and a way to funnel the eggs and you can have scramble eggs for days. Also sometimes grocers sell sandwiches at the end of the day for cheaper. Also, if you are in Chicago, Boston, Portland, Dearborn, MI you can exchange an hour or two of volunteering at a Panera Cares for food. Yummy food. It is a pay what you can or work for food type program.

 

[Iggy]

At the Franz bakery outlet near me, they sell huge grocery bags of outdated bread, muffins, rolls, bagels, etc for $5. They are labeled as being only for animal feed. If I was hungry enough....

 

[LongInTheTooth]

Will I get glared at if I suggest emergency food stamps? I mean this is the exact reason we pay all those taxes. You might as well get the benefit you've been paying into. That's what it's there for, for times just just like this when you need a helping hand.

My first choice would be local food bank or local churches (often one and the same).

Good luck to you and anyone else on here that's facing difficult times...been there done that and still living as starving student! I feel ya!!

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Has anyone heard from cannedsquatch? What happened? How did he survive the week?

 

[Iggy]

I wonder that too. He is probably over on Squat the planet forums. A lot of the truly poor travelers are there; mostly hitch hikers, hobos, squatters, gypsies, criminals on the run, people without vehicles in general. The info I get here is more relevant to my lifestyle but I do get ideas over there. Hope I never get so far down and out that I have no vehicle to sleep in. But no one knows the future!

 

[vagari]

Never heard of Squat the Planet. Now I have more reading material. Thanks!

 

[caseyc]

I know a bagel shop that around closing time they will put a pile of bagels into large trash bags and into the outside trash cans. I've seen homeless people and pidgeon birds eating bagels that were just dumped. Seems like a waste. I have to admit, I don't like day old bagels either, haha!

 

[Iggy]

If you have access to a microwave, put a bagel in with a cup of water next to it Heat for 20-30 secs, the bagel tastes fresh again.
Scrape the mold off first, of course.

 

[anm]

Will I get glared at if I suggest emergency food stamps? I mean this is the exact reason we pay all those taxes. You might as well get the benefit you've been paying into. That's what it's there for, for times just just like this when you need a helping hand.

My first choice would be local food bank or local churches (often one and the same).

Good luck to you and anyone else on here that's facing difficult times...been there done that and still living as starving student! I feel ya!!

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Has anyone heard from cannedsquatch? What happened? How did he survive the week?

---

No you will not, not by me anyway. Like you say, that is why they are there...