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21. Sure, I did it in Culinary school, on less probably. 22. i'm a working professional in a metropolitan area, after all the bills, sometimes i have only $40 to get me through the two weeks until i get paid again. i buy only what i need, fruit and vegetable-wise, every few days from a local grocery market and use everything. lots of pasta, whatever vegetable is in season, and stock up on chicken when it's on sale. i shop at ethnic (greek/italian/middle eastern) markets, and find my money goes pretty far. 23. I know families that have to survive on just $25 per week per person. A lot of us are awefully blessed to be able to spend more, but some people have no choice... 24. Ah, frugality. Yes, I can live on $31. I just live like an immigrant - an Asian immigrant. Good eating, too. I can easily stretch a $4 cut of meat to at least 4 meals. A 20lb bag of good jasmine rice is about $9, and lasts for months. Eggs, fresh veggies, tofu...all cheap stuff. A few condiments like soy sauce, and you're fine. 25. As a college student, I definitely have to take advantage of the dining hall, which I get 65% off of all the food I eat. Though I do go to the food store for things like fruit, yogurt, hot cocoa and diet soda...my three meals at the cafeteria probably cost me $30 a week at the most... 26. In all fairness, I should have mentioned that most cheap menus assume you have certain cooking basics. It is almost impossible to feed *anybody* for $62/week if you don't own a couple pans, a knife, and some other basic utensils. One problem with this, as the author of "Nickeled and Dimed" found out, http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/2006/07/could_you_affor.html is that "I had gone into the project imagining myself preparing vast quantities of cheap, nutritious, soups and stews, which I would freeze and heat for dinner each day. But surprise: I didn¡¯t have the proverbial pot to pee in, not to mention spices or Tupperware. A scouting trip to K-Mart established that it would take about a $40 capital investment to get my kitchenette up to speed for the low-wage way of life." 27. My wife and I aren't rich, but we do alright for two people new to the career world. We spend this much each week. The way we managed was to stop spending money for things like water and soda (Diet Coke was a hard habit to break, but worthwhile), as well as the expensive things like ice cream (always two flavors, right?) and prepared dinners. We also started working out, so there was an incentive to eat smaller, more balanced meals - weight loss and toning! 28. Doing it as I write this. Peanut butter, cheese, bread, butter, and eggs for the entire week @ $20.62... I am getting a bit tired of grilled cheese and plain PB sandwiches, but will definitely make it through this Fri (payday, and the second the check is in, I'll go pick up a steak). 29. This is one of those issues where I feel totally, somewhat embarrassingly, disconnected from (how I suppose) everyone else must be living. My household of two easily eats for less than $62 a week, and that's in New York City, *and* I shop at Whole Foods. (Yes, we're eating 3 square meals a day.) Except for the very rare banana, all of my produce is acquired at the farmers market. Now, I'm from Ohio, so I don't think the prices at the NYC farmers markets are at all cheap, like they are theoretically supposed to be when you "cut out the middleman." So if I were at home, we'd be eating for even less. I also remember my mom invariably spending between $52 and $57 each week at the supermarket to feed a family of four (this was during the 1980s). 30. One point that needs to be made (apologies if I missed it in someone else's post) is that a lot of people at or below the poverty line are working 2 or 3 crap jobs and don't have time to, as one person suggested, bake bread. Or maybe even soak dry beans. My local food pantry stresses that food that is donated should be fast to make, as well as nutritious. 31. Actually, we do this all the time. Our reason for doing it? We have several great local diners where you can have a great meal for $20 or less if you order carefully (no drinks! appetizers as meals, etc.) So, I figure, if I can't cook dinner for 2 for less than $20, then you might as well eat out! I'm a bit more extreme and have set a ideal dinner budget of $5! It goes something like this. 32. We live on $100 a week and I think that is pretty rough. I can't imagine $62. 33. I agree with Vesna that the way to go is with real food made from whole ingredients like rice, flour, steel cut oats, fresh veggies in season, whole chickens, larger unpopular cuts of beef or pork that can be finessed. One chicken will make three meals (roast chicken, chicken veggie burritos, and chicken soup made from the carcass). Buying in the bulk aisle at the food store usually helps. We did when we were younger and had less money and we always know we can do it again. It is more work but it can be good, tasty, and fun. 34. i lived on $25/wk for over five years as a graduate student (which included buying the cat food). some tips include: go vegetarian mostly, learn to eat what's on sale, eat healthy, avoid pre-packaged foods, and don't snack. i also don't buy soda, didn't buy much beer, or many premium items, but i ate healthy (was about 20 lbs lighter than after my first year with a job), ate well, and never really wanted. 35. My mother and I live on about a $150 food stamp budget per month. It's difficult but we use coupons, buy store brands, buy a lot of sale items (especially when it comes to expensive items like cereal), and do some planning. I'm a vegetarian, so that can be very cheap sometimes. 36. i'm single and my weekly 'allowance' for groceries is $30. do i like this? no, it can be very difficult and stressful, but my teeny paycheck as an assistant librarian makes it so that i have no choice. it's especially difficult since i'm a bit of a health-nut and would prefer to buy everything organic. makes things tricky... 37. I usually spend less than $50 a week for a family of four. My husband works part time and is getting my master's degree, and I stay home with the kids. The majority of my budget goes toward produce, frozen veggies, and dairy, but I do have a lot of staples stockpiled that I buy in bulk. In fact, that is what I do with a lot of my tax return every year--stock up on flour, sugar, rice, pasta, things like that that keep well. I buy chicken leg quarters when they go on sale for 39 cents a pound and freeze them. I use one quarter to make a whole pot of soup. We use tuna occasionally, too. I buy the really cheap ground beef (99 cents to 1.49 per pound), fry it up all at once, drain it, rinse it, the refreeze it in freezer bags, about 1/2 pound per bag. Most recipes call for 1 lb., but I cut it in half. We don't do chips, soda, juice, ice cream, or things like that, at least, not on a regular basis, so it would probably seem depriving to other people. |
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