Quote:
Originally Posted by derosnec
to those who are eating for a month on $300 or so, can you break down an itemized list for me? i'm having trouble seeing how i can a have healthy and high protein (~100-150g a day) on that kind of money and do so in a way where compliance is high (e.g. if i have to spend an hour cooking in the morning, it's not gonna happen because i have to go to work and i'm not waking up at 5 am so i can cook)?
i can put together a grocery list of mac and cheese, hot pockets, rice, pasta, Eggos, bread, bologna, but that's just not gonna cut it unless i want to have gross body composition, low protein intake, and crappier long-term health.
Well, I have to admit that usually, lunch for me comes out of a box. So you definitely don't want to look at me for fine living. Nonetheless, I'll take a stab at a typical weekly trip to the grocery store for me:
1 1½-pound bag of breaded chicken tenders, good for three meals ($6)
1 box of French bread pizzas ($4)
1 loaf of bread ($3)
¾-pound smoked turkey breast ($6)
1 1½-pound package chicken breasts ($5) -- fresh, not the jumbo bags of frozen ones!
1 1½-pound package sirloin steak ($8)
assorted spices ($4): probably an overestimate, but necessary if you're eating chicken breasts that often
3 bagels ($2)
2 pounds apples ($2): every other week or so. My local grocer almost always has $1/pound sales on at least one variety of apple.
2 pounds bananas ($2): again, like every other week, so $2/week for fruit.
$5/week worth of vegetables: green beans, corn, potatoes and rice are all cheap. This is probably an overestimate; you can get a 5 lb. bag of potatoes in my area for $2.99. I'll throw pasta in here too; with all that you're probably still good with $5 or $6 a week.
$8/week worth of snack food: obv this can easily be cut out.
$6/week worth of soda: ditto
$8/week worth of toiletries
This jives well with a typical weekly food bill that I have.
That comes out to $61 a week; with my discount card, it'll probably be worth more like $51 a week. I can have fruit or a bagel for breakfast, a turkey sandwich or Something Out Of a Box™ for lunch, have three dinners of chicken and three of steak a week, with sides of (say) fresh green beans and garlic toast. So that's all my meals, minus one dinner a week, for like $225 a month, for one person. And it's loaded with extra crap, like the $60 a month in soda and snacks. So someone with more expanded food tastes can do well even on this budget. And I only have to cook dinner twice a week.