Im moving out on my own in april,
Will 120$/month be enough for food? If so what are some low budget meals i can cook.
>>7318028
I can easily live on $30 or $40 a week so yes, $120 is enough. Try and buy non perishables like rice and pasta when they are on sale and in bulk for discounts. I alternate between meat, chicken, and seafood depending on what's on sale that week. Same for vegetables. You can do it no problem. For a simple meal, make rice beans and chicken with sauteed onions and peppers. Nice and cheap, keeps for a few days, and is good for you.
>>7318048
>I can live on $40 a week therefore $120 is enough for a month
The fuck kind of calendar do you live by?
>>7318059
Why did you cut out where I said $30? Are you that desperate to make a witty comment? Get a life.
>>7318048
How manydays a week do you eat meat/chiken/seafood?
>>7318082
Every day I eat protein. Here is my plan for today:
Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast, 2 eggs scrambled, apple, coffee
Lunch: Pasta with meat sauce
Dinner: Tuscan chicken stew
As far as the stew goes, I do a lot of crock pot meals. It's so easy to throw everything in there and let it cook for a few hours, then you have like 8 meals ready. This one I started this morning and will be my dinner for the next few days.
>>7318069
Even if we assume you can always get by on $30 which we can in no way clearly infer from your poorly-worded comment, the only month where a weekly budget of $30 would be equal to or less than a monthly budget of $120 is February, and even then that's only true for 75% of Februaries.
>>7318140
You lead a sad, sad life.
>>7318131
Do you make your own meat sauce our you buy it made
>>7318162
I make my own but it's really easy to cut corners and have it come out good. Easy way is to get 1 lb meatloaf meat (1/3 beef, veal, pork) and brown in a large pan. Add a jar of sauce like Bertolli and simmer on low, stirring until meat is evenly distributed. Tastes fine and saves you a lot of time.
>work in two kitchens
>60+ hours a week
>eat most of my meals at work
I always wonder wtf im going to do if i ever get out of this hellhole industry. I only have to account for breakfast and my day off.
>>7318028
white rice (goes a long way imo)
chicken
terryaki sauce
mae ploy sauce
sezchwan sauce
milk
ceral
flour (all you need is this and water and you can make your own flat bread, with yeast you can make pizza dough, with eggs, milk, and baking powder you can make pancakes)
can tomatoes
pasta's
veggies galore, pick and choose your favorites to add to rice and chicken like broccali etc etc
obviously not all of this at once, but these are all pretty inexpensive items. anything pre-made is going to eat your money
eggs
>>7318180
Alright, thanks
>>7318199
>anything pre-made is going to eat your money
can't emphasize this enough.
I love it when i stirfry leftover veggies in the fridge.
Just buy veggies that are in season which will be cheap. Motherfucking stir fry is easy, cheap, and helps bowel movement.
>>7318208
most of the canned or jarred sauces are nice but they're loaded with salt and msg (both are fine) but cost a lot; usually bringing the cost of meals up to near take-out prices.
find your seasonal fruits and veggies, learn to cook without adding cheese and sauces. Spread meals out with rice or beans. Dried beans are fine, but canned is fine too.
Casseroles, hamburger helper style skillets, and bachelor chow can feed you through the week for about $10. Its monotonous but you can store up your saved money for a weekly treat at the end of the week.
Apples for snacks - $5 for bag of 10, will last 10 days
10lb bag of russet potatoes - $5
Cheap stew meat to last the month will cost around $15-20
Fill in with eggs, vegetables and other carbs/proteins
Yeah $120 for one person can go a long, loooong way for a month of you shop smart.
>>7318183
This guy gets it.
I work in the industry, and it covers me for at least dinner 6 days a week. For about 100, I have enough food to feed myself for well over a month.
>>7318250
Oh don't forget rice. 10lb will run about $10 and will last a month easy.
>>7318239
> Its monotonous but you can store up your saved money for a weekly treat at the end of the week.
this is my strategy. Get to treat myself after saving all week :)
Next to eggs, pork is going to be your cheapest source of protein. You can get a 4lb shoulder for around $10 or less which will last you an entire week.
>>7318275
I get chicken sometimes $1.99/lb near me
>>7318250
Some people don't live next to farms where everything is 50 cents a pound...
I did for a while after buying my first home. I ate a lot of pb & j sandwiches. Or I'd stop by my parents and have dinner there to save money.
>>7318287
there are co-op stores everywhere, just find your local one
>>7318028
i'm not a burger, but living on 100 euro a month is easy as hell for me.
>>7318157
And apparently you lead one where your calendar was designed by M.C. Escher.
OP here thanks alot guys, this gave me hope on being able to survive on my own.
Rice and Pasta
Frozen Veg, Fresh in season
Eggs
Other protein when its on sale or for a treat
>>7318140
>autism
>>7318028
What kind of meals do you like, OP? You could do pretty much whatever you want for cheap.
>>7318444
I like rice potatoes and chicken, from what i were able tk read i should be fine
>>7318508
wow - an awesome and helpful thread! good and useful and practical advice - hang in there, anons, and eat hearty. and thanx.
>>7318403
>basic mathematics is autism
Does your parent or guardian know you're using the Internet unsupervised?
I feed myself on under $5 daily, give or take. That's breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Entirely doable if you know how to shop and cook. After dinner this evening, for example, I'll have spent under $4.15 total for all of my daily meals. I haven't had any snack as of yet today, but I'm sure it won't cost more than $0.84.
If you spend $5 daily, that would be around $150 each month. Increase your budget a tad or get used to having lots of rice and beans.
>>7318635
>doesn't know how a decentralized market works
High school economics, you'll learn about it when you graduate middle school.
>>7318028
> Tfw speding $750/mo on food for two because you buy $200 of oil/vinegar a month and buy a lot of nuts and wine
>>7318028
Buy a pre-cooked rotiserrie chicken from your local grocery store. They normally cost ~$6. Eat your fill. Pick the bones clean, freeze the meat and the bones. After you've done this twice, you should have enough bones left to make a bone broth. Cook bone broth and freeze. Use this broth to make soup with the leftover meat.
I do this often and can get several meals out of the resulting soup/stew.
>>7318979
I assume you would have to eat something else with the chicken broth for it to be filling.
>>7319014
Egg noodles are cheap. So is ramen.
>>7319014
Also, a bag of frozen mixed veggies is ~$1. Perfect for a quick chicken soup.
>>7318028
unless you bring food with you for the first few months shit will be tight yes.
120 is great for food normally but most people who spend under 60 a month on groceries budget their money so as to buy staples ahead of time, which have a high lump sum value even if theyre bulk goods. things like rice, flower, vinegar, oil, baking powder, large quantity cheap cuts of meat like pork shoulder, legums, canned goods.
All heavy items you will use to supplament your cooking. for the next few months or more.
>>7318028
I can't emphasize enough how important it is to either shop at cheap warehouse stores or at Asian/Mexican stores. It's worth it to either call the meat departments or to stop by an ethnic store if it's on the way back from somewhere and explore a little. Meat and produce can be so much fucking cheaper. I regularly buy pork for $0.98/lb and chicken (usually thighs or drumsticks in assorted bags) for $0.79/lb. Meat costs can eat up your budget in a hurry.
>>7318873
>you know how to shop for food effectively
>and that makes you a child!!!
wut
Don't get salty with me that you're bad at shopping deals.
lrn2shop, faggot
>>7318920
Whole, frozen chicken is $0.95/lb at Aldi while fresh is $1.09/lb. I've been to various locations in a few states and the price always floats around there for that.
You can get a 10lb bag of waterlogged frozen chicken quarters from Save a Lot this week for $2.90. That's $0.29/lb! Even if half the weight is brine (impossible), that's still a pretty good deal.
As for pork, shoulder is usually $0.99/lb here. $1.99 is for pork chops. Baby back ribs and loin are both $2.49-$2.99/lb.
Except for the chicken at Aldi, the prices I'm talking about are sale prices. You shouldn't buy meat that's not on sale. Since some form of meat is ALWAYS on sale somewhere for under the prices quoted in >>7318282 and >>7318275, it's not difficult to to shop for meat within a budget if you're not a fucking idiot/spergmeister who's inflexible with his meat-eating.
>nobody links budget bytes
http://www.budgetbytes.com/
I live on like $10/week for food but
a) it's driving me kind of crazy and
b) you have to constantly attack any free food whenever it presents itself
anyway, pretty much all I buy are various dried beans (whichever are cheapest), rice, dates, and oats. oatmeal for breakfast every day. rice and beans for lunch and dinner every day. get a couple of mcdoubles every week to make sure you don't get anemia.
you might want to check out Leanne Brown's $4/day cookbook, as $4 x 30days/month = $120/month
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52f120cfe4b0bf8fcb650b3e/t/53f4441ae4b08fc795a1a352/1408517146323/good-and-cheap.pdf
>>7318287
Those prices aren't expensive, you just need to learn where to shop. I live in a major city in the northeast US and get stuff for even cheaper than that.
>>7320455
not everyone lives in fly overs.
>>7320473
>because i don't know how to shop sales, nyc is now flyover
That doesn't add up, Anon. Stop being salty that you don't know how to shop.
>>7318028
I spend twice that on wine every month.
>>7318028
my partner and i live together and moved out when we were both 19, i've always done our shopping. i started at 200-250 a mo for us, but we both make decent money now so i splurge on shopping and food (for obvious reasons)
cheap and good food to buy should be FILLING, not just cheap. otherwise you'll still be hungry and spend more, while being unhealthy.
-grains (quinoa, rice, barley, farro, oatmeal is so fucking cheap for breakfast and is like a brick, full forever)
-beans (i don't like so i got by without)
-big cheap cuts of meat to slap in slowcookers with curry spices, or bbq sauce. pork shoulder for pulled pork is my fav. chicken thighs are cheap and GOAT with chicken stock and curry spices, or chicken soup
-potatoes, onions, and other ground vegetables stay fresh forever and are usually cheap. i used to hate carrots but a little ginger, brown sugar, and cardamom and they're pretty yummy.
-apples, pears, bananas, etc. whatever is IN SEASON should be both cheap, and tasty. eat these liberally as they're filling and can be a side dish for dinners even.
buy lots of meat for cheap and segment and freeze it. freeze anything you can eat but won't before it goes bad. fruits, leftover meals in tupperware, bread, etc. sometimes texture sucks but it saves quick bills and you always have food ready if you run out of $$ or are too lazy to go shopping, make a meal, etc
my meals basically look like protein + roasted veggie + (grain, nother veggie, fruit, or pasta occasionally) and i make enough each meal for lunch at work for me and my partner. We now spend about 300$ a mo on groceries and some on dining out.
>>7318635
the cost of living is different in different cities, nonetheless different states or countries
>>7320628
That's nice, but not applicable.
For one, we're talking about USD. For another, there are such things as national chain stores and national manufacturer's sales in the US IE when a manufacturer decides to give discounts to national grocery chains, those discounts are passed down, nationally, to all of their locations including regional stores under the same umbrella.
Finally, if I can shop cheaply in New York, others can do the same elsewhere in the US, as well. The only exceptions would be food deserts though as no one ITT has mentioned being in one, it's safe to assume the people actually having this conversation don't live in one.
So there you have it.
lrn2shop
>>7318557
Stay mad autismo, your rage is what keeps this site up and running
>>7320628
>nonetheless
That's not how you use that word.
>>7320463
Fuck yes. Beth is the greatest. I love her.
>>7318140
