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I can't have a freezer in my apartment. They are specifically not allowed. No appliances are allowed that don't come with the apt (no washer or dryer or freezer).
So, I bought a canner and I can stuff that won't fit in the freezer.
I also forgot to mention, that in my area, people have lemon trees and grapefruit trees and pecan trees, that all are harvested in winter. Many people will list on Craigslist that you can have the fruit if you clean off their tree for them. Some will even pick the fruit and set it out in boxes for you to pick up for free. I got as many grapefruits as I wanted from a man who wanted to remove the fruit from the tree and could no longer consume citrus, and he wasn't physically able to remove the fruit, and didn't want to pay someone to do it. Next season, I am planning to put an ad on Craigslist saying I will pick all their fruit, if they will let me keep half or something like that.
This is the result. This is lime juice. Free limes, lots of labor, canning jars from the thrift stores cheap, the lids cost about $2.50/dozen. One of these half pint jars of juice makes about 2 quarts of lime-aid:
Canning only requires a hot plate.
You will find reasons that that is impossible for people, too. But, someone may read this thread who is not so defeatist and think, Hey, what about learning how to can!
I'm saving the pecans to make homemade pesto for Christmas presents this year.
I also live in a micro apartment with no patio or balcony. I have a large dresser that is 47" x 20". On top of this dresser, I have 6 cherry tomatoes making lots of little red tomatoes, and a basil plant.
I use a light suspended by the ceiling for them, because they don't get enough natural light. The light I purchased from Lowe's and the bulbs were just daylight bulbs, not official growlights. These are cheaper and work just as well. Total cost: $30 for the light and bulbs.
Yes, I know, some people live where they can't even order delivery from Lowe's, don't have any floor space, or don't have a spare $30 (although of course they spend this at the corner grocery for one chicken).
But, someone reading this thread might not have known that you can actually grow tomatoes inside, with just a shoplight with cheap daylight bulbs, or that tomatoes don't need bees to pollinate. They are self pollinating.
The aluminum baking dishes that are under the plants to contain spillage, I got for free from the dumpsters (I admit it) on my street after a barbecue cook off here downtown. I was walking my dog and saw tons of these in the dumpsters and thought, that's exactly what I need for under my plants!
The terracotta pots I got at the 99 cent store, and can use them forever. The soil was on sale at Lowe's for 3 huge bags for $10. Just needed one. Tomato seeds were $5.00 (special small hybrid), I kept 6 plants, and gave the others away.
No, this isn't a full garden, but I have a constant supply of little cherry tomatoes that I eat every day now. I've made pesto from the basil plant already. I also put some marigold seeds in with the tomatoes (grown from seed) and even have fresh flowers growing on my dresser garden.
You can be depressed because of your situation, or you can make it a game. I've always enjoyed treasure hunting on a budget, so seeking out deals and learning how to have an indoor garden, is fun to me.
Oh, and I forgot about my worms! I even have a worm bin under my bathroom sink, and they are making worm castings for my soil for my next batch of tomatoes. I used to have farm animals, so I jokingly refer to my worms as my "livestock." In theory, I could even eat the worms, but I am sparing their lives, as long as they produce fertilizer for me to grow my indoor garden with.
Cost of the worms about $16.00. Should get free fertilizer out of them forever. I feed them my leftovers, and they live in a plastic bin I already owned. I shred my junk mail and newspapers for their bedding, all free.
So, people can grow at least some veggies in a very small space for very cheap, and even keep worms to provide the free fertilizer.
My apt is 247 square feet.
Plenty of reasons why someone can't do all the above, I'm sure. But, I'm here to show you it is possible.
What a great post!
Hey, speaking of worms, my elderly aunt ran across someone trying to get rid of a freezer that didn't work. She had them deliver it to her (it was a chest style freezer) and she found someone who would fill it with dirt from her back yard for a small fee. So far she was out under $20, right? (Right.) Anyway, she bought a styrofoam container of worms at the bait shop and threw them in there, and then she'd throw her leftover stuff like potato peels and the ends of tomatoes in there and she kept it moist. This went on for a year and we thought she was crazy. The next spring she put a sign at the end of her driveway - "Bait worms - bring your own container." If people showed up without a container, she put the worms in a baggie. She charged a dollar for a small baggie's worth and up from there. Within a week or two, there was a steady stream of people going up and down her driveway -I swear it looked like she'd started selling drugs, but all she was selling was worms!
Pretty soon she had a problem - she had so much cash on hand that she was scared to keep it in the house overnight!
No lie.
Total investment - under $30.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-13-2014 at 08:08 PM..
Reason: edited quote
Trash food is super cheap in the U.S.! The U.S. does that very well. In almost every fast food restaurant there is at least one $1 item. If the issue is that one has little or almost no money, if it's filling one's stomach and if it's getting calories no matter what they are, there's nothing like the U.S. Fast food here is king and cheap. Bad food in supermarkets is also pretty cheap.
Good, high quality restaurants are expensive in the U.S. High quality food in supermarkets is also expensive. Walking through the produce department is a bit scary. High quality proteins in the U.S. are costly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saritaschihuahua
Perhaps for you there were, but please stop assuming that because you had choices, everyone else has them as well. It's a falsehood.
The title of this thread is "is it reasonable to say that you can eat healthy on a limited budget.
The resounding answer is Yes.
May I suggest that you stop assuming that people have no choices.
Your example of someone who has to take buses and therefore are too exhausted to prepare anything nutritious - proven to be a falsehood. Several posters have shown that there is an option. One being a crockpot.
Your OP assumes that there is no option other than trash food for some people. This is simply not logical. If they can get to the trash food, they can get to a healthier option for the same amount or less. Therefore, they do have a choice.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-13-2014 at 08:09 PM..
Reason: Removed moderator note from quote
I think this thread illustrates pretty well the American mindset. You need to be extra motivated, extra creative, extra lucky, and extra efficient if you want to healthfully with a limited budget. The same can be said for escaping generational poverty,
But for the average American, the choices are easy to access and don't have many obstacles so you don't have to try nearly as hard to live well.
Being poor means you are expected to be exceptional. The rest of us can be mediocre and get along just fine.
I think this thread illustrates pretty well the American mindset. You need to be extra motivated, extra creative, extra lucky, and extra efficient if you want to healthfully with a limited budget. The same can be said for escaping generational poverty,
But for the average American, the choices are easy to access and don't have many obstacles so you don't have to try nearly as hard to live well.
Being poor means you are expected to be exceptional. The rest of us can be mediocre and get along just fine.
Why should that be surprising? When did poor people ever have it as easy as rich people? Anywhere in the world? In any era?
Perhaps for you there were, but please stop assuming that because you had choices, everyone else has them as well. It's a falsehood.
Everyone has some choices. I have never been "dirt poor", but I have been poor in the sense of supporting both a student-spouse and myself on an entry-level salary. We had no car at first. We didn't have enough space for a freezer, and we had one of those old-fashioned single-door refrigerators that barely kept the ice cream hard. We got involved in a community garden, and this was in 1972 when they weren't as common as they are now. While working full time with no car and no real options for freezing food for the long-term, we still managed to eat well enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
I think this thread illustrates pretty well the American mindset. You need to be extra motivated, extra creative, extra lucky, and extra efficient if you want to healthfully with a limited budget. The same can be said for escaping generational poverty,
But for the average American, the choices are easy to access and don't have many obstacles so you don't have to try nearly as hard to live well.
Being poor means you are expected to be exceptional. The rest of us can be mediocre and get along just fine.
I disagree. I don't really cook much differently now than I did all those years ago, though we do have a freezer which we bought new in 1983. We do have a car to get to the grocery, and the garden is in the backyard now. In a good year I put up a fair amount of beans and tomatoes, plus we grow our own popcorn.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-13-2014 at 09:46 PM..
When did poor people ever have it as easy as rich people? Anywhere in the world? In any era?
Once again, this is not about being poor. This is about eating healthy on a limited budget.
Nobody said that poor people ever have it as easy as rich folk. But you don't have to be rich to eat well.
For a time, I worked with migrant worker families. They cooked up pots of beans and soup. They made tamales. They ate a little meat and a lot of vegetables and beans and rice which they bought in giant bags. They shared what they had with one another.
When I hear people complain about how they can't do something because of being poor, I always think of these women feeding their families and being grateful that they could afford to do so and that their kids were safe.
When I hear people say that they don't have the energy to cook after working all day, I think of these women who worked in the field all day and still managed to throw together some burritos for supper.
Once again, this is not about being poor. This is about eating healthy on a limited budget.
Nobody said that poor people ever have it as easy as rich folk. But you don't have to be rich to eat well.
For a time, I worked with migrant worker families. They cooked up pots of beans and soup. They made tamales. They ate a little meat and a lot of vegetables and beans and rice which they bought in giant bags. They shared what they had with one another.
When I hear people complain about how they can't do something because of being poor, I always think of these women feeding their families and being grateful that they could afford to do so and that their kids were safe.
When I hear people say that they don't have the energy to cook after working all day, I think of these women who worked in the field all day and still managed to throw together some burritos for supper.
It's all a matter of perspective.
And attitude.
And choices.
And education.
If people knew how a $1 burger is produced to cost only a dollar they might have second thoughts eating it.
And shopping.
I believe many low-income,poorly-educated parents simply don't know how to plan and budget for a family - sure it's hard but most people have had to do it at some stage in their lives.
Likewise cooking.
When my kids were getting ready to go to college I taught them half a dozen cheap,healthy meals they could cook themselves to try to keep their fast food consumption down to a minimum - luckily after a childhood eating regular home-cooked food they rarely feel the urge to pig out on crap.
This thread is full of how people in various situations have planned out how to eat healthy on a limited budget. Not everybody's situation is the same. What works for one, doesn't work for another.
Many, many people of limited means garden. More so in the past than now. In fact, our HOA had a fit when I planted tomatoes and blueberries among our flowers. In the minds of the older neighbors, only poor people had gardens. Everyone of means went to the grocery store.
If a mother with three little ones lives three and a half miles down a highway from the nearest grocery store and her only form of transportation is a stroller, she needs to either figure out how to garden, and bake bread and so forth, find herself a friend with a car, or move.
As to the freezer, it is possible to get a good deal on used freezers. I just checked our CL and there are a dozen freezers under $50. Moving them might be a challenge. But freezing meals and meats on sale could easily save a person $50 in not too long a time.
If a person is just flat broke and clear out in the country with a bunch of kids, then you have bigger problems than how to fix healthy meals.
But for folks who either have limited financial resources or want to conserve what resources they have, there are ways to do that and still eat decent food.
Gardening. Freezing. Menu planning. Cooking at home instead of eating out... Lots of good suggestions on this thread. Not everything will work for everyone.
For a time, I a meal club with a friend. One night a week, we each would cook for both families. It was great. We each had a night off a week and it didn't break the budget.
Yes, I did have bigger problems - I was escaping from an abusive marriage. My desperate situation only lasted about a year, as I moved from place to place to avoid being "found". Once my children and I were safe, I was able to get myself stabilized, find day care and a job and once established, I did all of those things that seem to come so easily to many people on this thread. Buying the specials, freezing, gardening. Eating out? What's that?!
The point of my first post was not that one cannot eat healthy foods on a budget but to point out that not everyone has the opportunity to do so. Also, I can't imagine the "older neighbors" to whom you refer in your gardening section objecting because only poor people have gardens. I was a child in WWII and trust me, everybody with a patch of ground had a garden. Food shortages 'nat, you know?
In keeping with the title, yes, it is possible to eat healthy foods on a budget, but first one has to have the budget. It would seem that for most of the posters here, that hasn't been a problem.
Years from now, readers trying to figure out how to eat healthy on a limited budget will get ideas from this discussion.
I had not thought of canning and do not know why.
I grew up canning. Every fall we put up pears in all sorts of colors. And peaches and pickles and tomatoes... I have canned fish and beef. Beef is great for fast stews and chili and beef pot pies. For a time there was talk of how improper canning methods can sicken or kill people. But I don't know how widespread that is and in any case by paying attention to proper methods, heat, and time and then checking to be sure they are sealed before opening, I suspect you are as safe as driving to the grocery store.
I had never thought of growing tomatoes indoors with lights. It would be easy to grow all sorts of green leafy things and they would look like unique houseplants until harvest time.
I have started shopping at a large Asian market. Their produce is less expensive and they offer a variety of fresh fish. They don't arrange their produce as attractively. Usually just set the box on the produce shelf. But whatever. Cilantro bunches are 2/$1, bok choy, green beans...
I also shop at the farmer's market. Prices are about the same as supermarkets, but tomatoes and peaches are better and I like supporting local farmers.
For a time, I baked all sorts of things using the 5 Minute Artisan Bread recipes. Was nice to have dough in the fridge for making pizzas and flatbreads and so forth.
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