Diet and food budget

[Kurp]

I make my own soups very often. They're cheap, easy to prepare, filling, tasty, and diverse!

[Ensam]

I'll fix a nice meal and cook a nice steak or an expensive pasta dish every once in a while. Like me, I doubt you're cooking New York Strips daily. The OP (I think?) was spending almost as much as you everyday. Dropping $20 or so on a nice dinner once a week or two is fine, but the thought that you cannot prepare a healthy and delicious meal on a nightly basis for less than $5 a head is silly.

I'm not in disagreement that you can't do that, I was just responding to your question of how can you spend 5-6 dollars on dinner if it's not fast food/take out. Which I also don't understand why people drop down the kinda money on. Put some seasoning on a piece of steak, broil it for 5 minutes, go watch TV or something, flip it over, broil it for 5 more minutes, boom, dinner at the same price as fast food but x10000 better, or same taste as going out but spending 10 less dollars.

I'd say 5/7 days of the week I'm dropping over 5 dollars on HQ meat. Like I said, I bought a freezer to stash it all in.

[Fhloston]

http://twobites.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=281&h=249
33cent. 66cents if you're hungry.

Eat that for a month and you will lose weigth too! True story.

^this

I ate ramen everyday during one summer, moved to a new area further from my friends, so I was basically a gaming hermit for two months. I ate ramen and lowered my food portions at dinner, drink water too. I went from wearing XL shirts at school the previous year to buying medium shirts for the upcoming school year. Can't remember pant size, but it was significant. Of course it's not a healthy way to lose weight, but it's pretty damn easy, and I didn't exercise.

Back on topic, I also shop at Walmart. The HEB near the house here has some pretty good deals sometimes as well. We bounce back and forth between those two on sales. Try and stay away from big name brands too if there's a cheaper alternative, I also have been saving a ton of money since I take my lunch to work everyday. I would spend $30-35 per week on just lunch, eating out everyday. I've been told I look thinner now, so there's perks.

[wonderlust]

i live in nyc and dont have the luxury of having a big fridge/freeze so sam's club is not really an option for me b/c i have no storage.

def cooking your own meals is the way to go as most ppl already commented and being smart where you shop is good too.

trader joes all the way! it's so cheap though the one in manhattan is always
crazy busy need to go in the morning or early afternoon on weekends. randomly whole foods have good prices too on certain items, it's good to see whats their daily specials.

i also tend to buy my fruit from the street vendors, it's super cheap and decent quality...grapes and blueberries i put in my freezer at work and snack on them all day. i also go to the farmer's market to buy veggies it's cheap and organic and also can go to chinatown to buy vegetables and fresh seafood for not alot of money. i also find buying meat at a butcher shop is less money than buying at the grocery store and the meat is so much fresher. suprisingly going to specialty shops is also inexpensive..i buy fresh italian ingredients at the italian store at the chelsea market, it's so cheap, .99 for pasta and they have homemade everything there. also if you have a rice cooker that's a good cheap carb option. i'm korean so my diet mostly consists of rice , kimchi (a 3lbs tub is $8 lasts me almost a month) and some meat/fish and some veggie side (and lots spicy ramen >.>)

[volcanicweather]

trader joes all the way! it's so cheap though the one in manhattan is always
crazy busy need to go in the morning or early afternoon on weekends. randomly whole foods have good prices too on certain items, it's good to see whats their daily specials.

I don't know about Trader Joe's (been forever since I shopped there), but some things at Whole Foods can be retardedly expensive. I've spent ~$100 at Whole Foods before and didn't even fill up an entire bag...

Lately for food I've been shopping at Target. They have name brand Cereal, Pasta, Crackers, etc. for quite a bit cheaper than the supermarkets around here. Some also have a full produce section; the one I go to also has a section for fresh proteins and a bakery.

For cheap food, don't forget the sandwich. I personally buy bagels and make croissant-like sandwiches with roast beef/ham and cheese for lunch most days... costs about $1 to make after it's all said and done. Lean pockets are also cheap, easy, and go on sale frequently.

At home when you have more time, you should try making soup - it's easy, cheap, and lasts a long time. Also pot roasts are phenomenal for their price... they last forever and taste great. Turn on the crockpot before you leave for work, come home, and you have a nice meal ready to go.

The thing which really slashed my food budget though was eating out smart. I used to eat when I would go out drinking with friends - bad idea. Try eating BEFORE you go out. Depending on where you live, getting food delivered to you is a good idea, because then you don't have to waste gas, transit fees, and/or wear/tear on your car. If you're smart, you can usually keep delivery costs below $5 AFTER delivery charge and tip. Jimmy John's is good for sandwiches, but for the most food for your money, go with a Pizza/Pasta place. Search around online and you can find deals.. Papa John's around here had a promotion where you could get a large pizza for $7. They running another one now (just saw the ad yesterday while watching 24) where if you buy a large Pizza you can get another for .99 cents. Also don't forget about your local places - there's a little pizza shop down the street which doesn't charge delivery fees and has great deals sometimes. The best thing about Pizza is it lasts for days, unlike other fast foods.

With all of this said, I would advise against ordering food more than once per week. But seriously, what's more economical - order a crappy burger and fries at the bar for $10 which doesn't fill you up at all, or getting a whole pizza which tastes WAY better for $10 which is two days worth of food? It's a no-brainer.

[Devek]

Ramen has too much sodium. Eating that for a month is bound to take some time off of your life. Cheaper and probably a lot healthier to buy a large bulk of noodles and learn to enjoy them bland.

My problem is finding good cheap whole grain rice. I hate the enriched rice, but for $1/pound it is hard to beat. They have some incredibly cheap rice that comes in what looks like a huge bag of dog food for $12, but I am scared to get it.

I hate eating, I don't enjoy it. Even if it is a fancy $120 meal it taste like shit to me, so I just eat to sustain myself and hate to waste money on something I don't enjoy. Everything taste like shit to me.

[0ni0n]

Ramen has too much sodium. Eating that for a month is bound to take some time off of your life. Cheaper and probably a lot healthier to buy a large bulk of noodles and learn to enjoy them bland.

My problem is finding good cheap whole grain rice. I hate the enriched rice, but for $1/pound it is hard to beat. They have some incredibly cheap rice that comes in what looks like a huge bag of dog food for $12, but I am scared to get it.

I hate eating, I don't enjoy it. Even if it is a fancy $120 meal it taste like shit to me, so I just eat to sustain myself and hate to waste money on something I don't enjoy. Everything taste like shit to me.

I get my rice from chinatown, and it doesn't get better than that.

I spend less than $100 a month, and I eat perfectly fine. I don't know HOW people spend so much money on food.

Protips:
-shop around. Walmart isn't always the cheapest. Also, the bigger sizes don't always mean cheapest either. price per oz/lb/etc.
-Buy from ads. Clip Coupons/get coupons in eMail.
-try "store brand" stuff. Oftentimes it's the same companies that make the product, just markup / labelling is more expensive.
-don't eat out. Seriously. Cut that out, you'll save a ton of money. Yes, it might take a bit more time, but saving 35-45% of a budget is worth it, IMO.

$3 a day seems too low for me, but i will start making some tacos, sandwiches, ham omelet etc. I am hoping to cut my food budget from the current $600 to about $450 next month then go from there. I really appreciate all the tips you guys have posted.