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Ramen is not nutritious at all. The point of the exercise is to eat cheaply and healthfully, not just get by on crap.
The list I posted could sustain you nutritionally for an indefinite amount of time, especially if you switch out the onions for cabbage or carrots or whatever other vegetable is in season or on sale. You could even toss out the chicken, and buy more veggies instead if you were so inclined, and the lentils could be any dry legume that you find for a low price.
If you had to, do you think you could eat for a dollar a day?
If you have no choice, that is?
That's what these people managed to do.
"This fall a couple in Encinitas, Calif., conducted their own experiment to find out what it was like to live for a month on just a dollar a day for food. Overnight, their diets changed significantly. The budget forced them to give up many store-bought foods and dinners out. Even bread and canned refried beans were too expensive."
We already eat for less than $1 per day, per person. I use coupons and rebates heavily, get turkey and ham free at Thanksgiving and Christmas, other meats in the summer and stock up. I try to stock up on raw ingredients and not too much processed stuff. Most of my grocery budget goes for milk, produce, eggs and fresh staples, the rest is free or cheap with coupons. I can usually pick up 'scratch and dent' produce for 50-75% of regular price. I tried a little container garden this summer but didn't get much from it, I will try again next year or may 'rent' some garden space from a neighbor. I would love to freeze and can veggies to last through the winter although we regularly get good deals on frozen veggies with coupons.
You don't have to eat pb&j and ramen noodles to eat cheap. Blech...personally I never eat ramen although the kids like them for an occasional treat.
The kids pack lunches from home but Dh usually eats lunch out a few times a week. That money doesn't come from our grocery budget and he could easily cut it out.
Some examples:
I have enough free oatmeal to last the winter for breakfasts. Add in some bacon (.35 a pound), eggs and hash browns and that makes for a very hearty breakfast.
I just had a steaming bowl of turkey vegetable soup and and a side of peaches for lunch.
For dinner we will have tuna patties, broccoli and rice.
It is work to accomplish this, but we have MORE than enough food on a very low budget and even manage to donate to food pantries when we find a good deal and have extra coupons.
No doubt the couple in the article was not informed on how to best use their dollar a day if they didn't eat any fresh fruit or veggies for a month!! It is possible, maybe not easy but possible. Certainly the couple who had $5.87 per day per person had no excuse for eating boxed macaroni and cheese. That would give them $167 per week for a family of 4. Geesh, that is more than we were spending before we started using coupons!!
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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The challenge would be a little harder for me, since I eat at least twice as much as most people, and I'm not satified by a starchy meal that has no protein or fats.
But you do need a starch base to eat cheaply unless you're scrounging around like Harry Chickpea (who had some very good ideas, but not enough food for me).
All this for a month would be the base starch, protein, oil, vitamins, and minerals.
25 lbs of rice $12 .... this has gone way up in price recently
20 of all-purpose flour, which can be made into either bread or pasta. $10
A quart of oil, $2
10 lbs of beans, I'd have to put up with the "aftereffects" for the sake of economical protein and calories, even though normally I avoid the stuff. $5
15 multivitamin/mineral pills (you can get 300 at Costco for about $15, so about .05 per pill or .75)
1 lb salt .25
All that would be nutritionally adequate, with pills supplying the essential vitamins and minerals, and would be almost exactly $30 for a month. Costco shopping.
It could and would be supplemented by whatever foods I could get by hunting, trapping, fishing, foraging plant foods, and dumpster diving. However all but the dumpster diving is seasonal and can go WAY down to almost nothing in the winter.
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For a little more liveability:
30 ramen packages for a month. $4.20 at this time
60 eggs (they come in 5 dozen packages, extra large). $10
Large package of dry milk (calcium, protein) about $12
oatmeal $3
Trail mix, added to oatmeal to boost nutrition and flavor, or for snacks $5 worth
5lbs of carrots, $3
5 lbs of cabbage, $4
5 lbs onions $3
gallon vinegar, $5 (this can take the place of most condiments, though it might take some getting used to).
12 cans of tomato paste for pasta sauce, $4
$5 worth of either mayonnaise or butter
10 lbs hamburger $20
10 lbs chicken legs $8
So $86 + $30 = $116, and the amounts might be enough for an ordinary-sized family of 3, especially if the meat is chopped small and used sparingly (as in stir-fried foods served on a big bed of rice, for one example.)
Ramen is not nutritious at all. The point of the exercise is to eat cheaply and healthfully, not just get by on crap.
The main reason it isn't good is the palm oil that is used to cook it. Although, when I'm lazy I put together a Ramen noodle soup, kind of a crude Pho noodle soup. I put 2 packs of Ramen with frozen mixed vegetables and mushrooms or tofu. That gives me carbs, vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and protein. It's cheap too.
Sadly, I could never feed myself on just $1 a day. I live in Hawaii and EVERYTHING is expensive here, and there is little room to grow anything. I have never seen ramen at $0.20 a package. Heck, Spam is even expensive here.
Eat like a KING for a month for $5.95. Just head down to the local Chinese buffet and follow 2 simple rules:
1) Don't leave.
2) And for Christ sakes... DON'T give up your fork !
Just have to think outside the box a little that's all .
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