After reading Hungry for a Month, I decided that I would embark on a 90-day social experiment. In which I only spend $30/month on food. The only exception will be things that are freely available to the average person (salt taken from restaurants, ketchup packets from McDonald's, potluck dinners, etc). Buying in advance is fine, but at the end of the month, it all has to add up to $30 or less.
I may continue this extreme budget, after the experiment is over. However, I will see how well I did and how much healthier I am come April 6, 2007, when this experiment officially ends.
NOTE: This blog is organized according to date, which means you’ll see the last day of this thing before the first. It might make more sense if you start from the beginning: January 6, 2007.
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a few of my friends have gone on no-food diets. you have to do this carefully. there are books about it. you drink cayan pepper and lemon juice. my friend was on this for 20 days. it is totally excellent for your digestive system, cleans everything out. presumably lowers your cancer risk. i might try it some time. probably a cheap way to go, too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are fasting and eating off of McDonalds at the same time. I would get some advice from a Doctor before I did something like this my friend.
ReplyDeletethanks John and Audis for your comments. For Audis's concern, I am not eating any less then I have been, I am cutting out the junk food. McDonald's is not in the budget. Even if I ate from the dollar menu, I could only get one thing, but would still be over budget because of the taxes.
ReplyDeletegood luck on this. maybe the usa today or some other paper(s) could do a story on your effort.
ReplyDeleteI will be following this blog regularly.
I keep my food spending pretty low. I don't have a budget per se, but, a quick look at my checkbook for the past month says that I spent $280 to feed four people. And, that includes a couple meals out and two trips to the gourmet food store.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you're getting better at this as you go, which is great! A couple things that will help you a lot:
- start eating fruits and vegetables. Carrots, cabbage, apples, celery, oranges and bananas are all very cheap. You can also usually get many types of frozen veggies for $1 a bag.
- Check out different food sources. Are there any salvage grocery stores in your town? I rely heavily on the one near me. Also, check out farmers markets, dollar stores and weekly specials at the drug store. My local chain pharmacy, Walgreens, always has a couple of loss leader sales on food. We buy pasta for 3 lbs for $1, instant pudding 4 for $1, dried fruit, and a few other things there.
wow-i think the average citizen of kathmandu spends more on food every day - good luck!
ReplyDeleteI always buy the store brand generics over the name brand food items. Also the store brands tend to come in bigger sizes for less. To me store brand and name brand all taste the same anyway (if only I had the same attitude about purses and clothes then I wouldn't be in debt myself, ha ha). I always read in magazines that if you pack a zip lock bag filled with cereal and some dried fruit, it makes for a good healthy snack. Fills you up till mealtime too so you avoid the vending machine.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting experiment and I'd be reading everyday.
oh i just remembered a snack that we used to like when I was growing up in the Philippines...some condensed milk (not evaporated)on a piece of bread. We always ate it on white bread. It's just enough sweetness and fills you up good. I haven't had it in years but i spied a can in our pantry, might make me some later.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting experiment. I've linked, and I'll be watching to see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple of my suggestions.
Buy some root vegetables that also produce greens you can eat- turnips, rutabagas, beets. Slice off the tops (it does not take very much) before peeling or scrubbing. Put these tops in a shallow pan of water on a sunny window. They will grow more green leaves and you can eat these steamed, fried, and in soups.
Peel or scrub the rest of the vegetable as usual and cook as you would otherwise (or not- we've eaten turnips raw for a snack, like they did in Little House in the Prairie days).
Grow some sprouts for a little living veggie goodness- the bags of dried lentils you get at the grocery store work fine for this. Sometimes you can get mung or hmong (same thing) beans there, too (these are the regular bean sprouts). Directions for this are on my blog. Sprout some lentils, cook the rest for a nutritious and easy protein source.
If you buy ramen noodles, use only half the seasoning package. Add veggies to the ramen noodles to give them some nutrition (or crumble them up and eat them dry for a 'chip' substitute). Use hte seasoning packet for soups, casseroles, baked potatoes, etc.
And speaking of baked potatoes, you might find this link interesting:
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2005/10/frugalities-and-potatoes.html
Good luck!!
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