How to get my calories without going broke?

[ellie]

Buy bulk almonds, bananas, dried apricots and raisins. Find a dense whole wheat bread you like, foil packets of seasoned tuna, and packets of Mayo from a fast food restaurant. Keep peanut butter and crackers on hand, as well as a variety of chunky soups you can eat from the can. You can buy bagged salad mixes on sale. Canned refried beans, salsa and corn tortillas are also good. Chopped cabbage salads will balance out a carb dense diet. Eat canned meat like Spam sparingly because it’s really salty.

Maybe you can get a tiny refrigerator and a microwave oven. That’ll expand your menu.

[FreshTomato]

It's a shame if you can't have at least one thing like a tiny microwave or something as small as a kettle to boil water. You can do a lot with either of those. But if you have to eat only cold stuff, you can always get a good cereal and dress it up with things like raisins, nuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds. If you like it with milk, get the dry milk and make it fresh.

Fresh fruit is always good to have around. Bananas are very cheap and about 100 calories each.

Canned baked beans are very cheap and just fine eaten cold. Most canned food can be eaten cold even stuff you might not think of like high carb spaghetti and macaroni.

A loaf of bread and a few cans of fish or meat can make a lot of sandwiches. Of course the PB&J others have mentioned is a great choice.

I have read that you can keep some cheeses out without refrigeration but haven't tried it. That would be a good snack or sandwich choice.

I hope OP comes back to tell us what is working for him.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

Olive Oil (you don't need the pricey kinds: just google around, to be sure the brand is REAL olive oil)
Coconut Oil (Naturally Refined Organic is the most palatable, I think)
Ghee - a form of clarified butter, which needs no refrigeration
Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (Bragg)
Cabbage (which you can shred and eat raw) - topped with one of the above oils, and a bit of vinegar
Grapefruits (which can be peeled like oranges) (assuming this won't interfere with medication)
Canned Tuna
Canned Mackerel
Spam, Corned Beef, Potted Meat.... (just be sure you're getting the no-sugar/Keto-friendly kinds)
Tomatoes
Onion
Cucumbers
Avocados (when they're cheap)
Olives (the one-pound jars are about four bucks)
Lemons (when they're cheap)

The above are all things which are low-carb (to help prevent your developing another 'condition'), need no refrigeration, and can be eaten without cooking. You can also google "vegetables which need no refrigeration", for an expanded list.

According to Keto diet theory (which has boosted my brainpower, as well as making me feel thirty years younger) the bulk of your calories should come from fats, and the three I listed, are considered the healthiest. Coconut Oil is pretty cheap, too. A tablespoon of the natural vinegar, per-day, will help you digest the oils. Essentially, you can make huge salads, DRENCHED in oils, and get plenty of calories, cheaply.

If you CAN use a hot plate or an immersion device, then EGGS (boiled, or as slow-cooked omelettes, on low heat, in a nonstick skillet), to which you add one of the oils (after cooking, which is healthier), can provide virtually all the protein and nutrients you need - CHEAPLY. Frying, in a rented room, or in an hotel room, is obviously unwise.

If health and longevity are not desired goals, then huge bags of corn chips, and store-brand saltines, are dirt-cheap (particularly the saltines). Saltines-&-olive-oil (with maybe a bit of onion, or canned salsa) make a really cheap way to get your calories. But saltines, like corn chips, are high-carb. Carbs plus oils, make a fattening combination, which in the long-term, is not so healthy. 'Junk Food' is basically fats plus oils plus flavor enhancers. But 'Junk Food' uses unhealthy oils (Soy, Corn, Cottonseed, Canola). So, at least the calories you'd be getting from Ghee, Olive Oil, and Coconut Oil, would be healthy calories - and you'd be paying a lot less. Cheeses like cheddar, CAN keep for a day or two. But you need to research this, to be safe. Canned beans (the ones with no added sugar), can be cheap and filling, and can be topped with a lot of olive oil or ghee. But they're not low-carb, so they're not on the first list.

Sugary foods, no matter how cheap they are, and no matter how fattening they are, will destroy you. So, no matter how tempting, or how cheap, they are to be avoided. And yes: sugar is worse than most other carbs.

I'm on the road a lot, and hate restaurants. And I hate wasting money. So, I'm sort of an expert, on eating cheaply - and eating healthy - in an hotel room. Until I went Keto, my go-to daily on-the-road menu, was a can of no-added-sugar Red Beans, with a good bit of Olive Oil, and a grapefruit.

This is a great list!

I just wanted to add one more food group to the list:

NUTS!

They're healthy and high calorie and you don't need to cook them. No, they're not cheap, but cheaper and much healthier than fast food, for sure. Try to get the lower salt or no salt varieites. But even high salt nuts are still bettter than junk food.