Tips on eating on a budget? How can I have a balanced diet while not killing my wallet?
Oats
Rice
Beans
Frozen fruit & veg
DIY Almond milk (1kg of almonds can make enough milk to last 2 weeks, depending on your country this could be cheaper than cow milk overrall)
What I used to do was buy ground turkey, quinoa, black beans, onions and bell peppers with some cumin and cilantro. Cook it up in quantity and use it as basic for lunch everyday. Could be better but when you are on a hard budget, do what you have to do.
This is gonna sound condescending, but it's honestly not meant that way. The simplest most concise answer to "how do I eat on a budget?" is "learn to cook, faggot." Then cook. And eat what you cook. After that, the rest will follow.
My dinner tonight, for example, was a mixed veg Japanese-style curry and some garlic fried rice.
Total cost: 71¢.
My lunch was pork-and-mushroom cabbage rolls in sour tomato gravy and parsley potatoes.
Total cost: 92¢
Breakfast was a pair of tartines on homemade bread and coffee with milk.
Total cost: 65¢
And had two glasses of homemade iced tea today.
Total cost: 8¢
That's $2.36 on food for the day. T'ain't bad.
Had I bought a bagel with cream cheese and jam and a coffee with milk out somewhere, that alone would have cost around double what I spent on today's meals and several times more than what my breakfast actually cost me.
>>7852282
>T'ain't
*giggle*
>>7852282
How exactly did you deduce that tonight's meal cost exactly 71 cents? Did you weigh your portions, check your receipts, then do the math?
>>7851775
get a job
Yo is that green thing a giant sperm? LMAO
>>7852330
Do you not know how to cook, or what?
>>7852282
You sound very punchable
>>7852330
I remember how much X, Y and Z cost and divide that number by the number of portions that amount purchased. For example, I had potato in my curry. Eastern potatoes are $1.49 per 5lb sack. Eastern potatoes tend to be small, so 1 potato weighs around a quarter to a third pound. Assuming they all weigh either a quarter pound or third pound, that would be about 17 potatoes per pound. So I plug
>(1.49 / 17) +
into the calculation and do the same with all the other ingredients. Then I round up to the next cent.
It's pretty simple, really.
Of course, YMMV since prices where you are may differ from prices where I am.
>>7852360
Well everything is punchable, Anon.
>>7852376
> Eastern potatoes tend to be small, so 1 potato weighs around a quarter to a third pound. Assuming they all weigh either a quarter pound or third pound, that would be about 17 potatoes per pound.
Not to be that guy, but that math isn't right at all. If the potatoes weigh either a quarter pound or third pound, it's 3 or 4 potatoes to a pound. 17 potatoes would be over 4 lbs.
>>7852282
>a pair of tartines
You had a sandwich on top of your bread?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKCYucvop1U
Buy a whole young chicken, learn to carve it. If not, buy chicken leg quarters - they're extremely cheap. Chicken nuggets are a little more filling than a normal chicken breast, check link.
Spend on spices wisely: I bought an $8 pepper mill about 3 years ago that's been serving me well, and I've made hundreds of meals out of a single box of kosher salt.
Figure out versatility of ingredients before you buy them so you can make sure none of it goes to waste. Potatoes are cheap and can be hash browns, American fries, baked, or crisps if you keep a vat of oil around.
>>7851775
Here's a few I use.
>dozen eggs (2-3 dollars here)
>loaf of bread ($2-$3.5)
Sometimes you can get better deals if you keep an eye out or buy 2 loafs/2+ dozen eggs at a time.
I'll eat two fried eggs and two slices of toast for breakfast and I am full.
Use the grocery adds to shop for meat.
Quickly calculate the price point per ounce.
Take the calculator to the store with you, and maybe a pad of paper if you need to.
Pork usually has the best price points.
Often you can get it for less than 2 dollars a pound, especially on large portions (roasts and whole pork loins). If you get them from a store with a meat counter, even if they're pre-packaged, the meat counter will usually cut them into smaller portions with no additional charge.
I like to use roasts, loins etc in the crockpot (slow cooker).
It's easy to make shredded pork, beef and chicken, which can be used in a variety of ways, (adding bbq sauce is about as easy as it gets).
A lot of cuts of pork are easy to pan fry or bake quickly and are usually very tender at 1/2-1/3 or less the cost of steaks.
