How to Eat Cheap/Free - 5 Ideas to Stretch Your Food Budget

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The discussion centers around strategies for stretching a tight food budget, particularly in the context of managing expenses during a month with high tuition bills. Participants share various creative and humorous ideas, including making large pots of soup that can be continuously added to, taking advantage of free samples at grocery stores, and attending happy hour buffets. Suggestions also include utilizing avocados from neighbors' trees and attending campus events for free snacks. There is a focus on inexpensive meal options, with participants recommending ramen noodles, lentils, and beans as budget-friendly staples. The conversation touches on the practicality of organizing potlucks among friends to share food and reduce costs, as well as the potential for finding free food through community resources or events. Additionally, there are humorous asides about the idea of dating someone to alleviate financial burdens, alongside practical advice on cooking and meal preparation to maximize nutrition and minimize expenses. Overall, the thread highlights a mix of serious budgeting tips and lighthearted banter about college life and food.
  • #31
My college diet (at least it's how I remember it)

Monday: Beans and rice
Tuesday: Beans and rice
Wednesday: rice and beans
Thursday: Beans and rice
Friday: refritos (with rice)
 
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  • #32
Andre said:
To keep it a bit more legal, MIH, you could go to a library and study some survival books learning how nature can provide free food. For example in Europe, the stinging nettle is considered a pest to be found everywhere. Little is it known that the boiled leafs are very healthy (vitamin C) and the taste is very close to spinach. Our grand parents frequently ate nettle soup. A lost dish but wear gloves when handling these.

Are you sure about this? I don't want to blame you publicly on TV when I am in hospital dying.
 
  • #33
Evo said:
Lentils dry, 50 cents a pound, will make enough to feed you for 4 days. You just need salt, water, and hopefully some garlic powder.
I ate a LOT of lentil soup in college. Lentils, salt, onions, crushed garlic, a little piece of salt pork or bacon for fat, and (if I could afford it) celery and maybe even a bit of picnic ham or a hambone with some meat on it. The store I shopped at would leave a little meat on ham-bones and sell them as "soup bones". The first day or two, I ate it as a soup with Saltine crackers or home-made whole wheat bread. Eventually, the soup got really thick, and I stretched it out even more by serving it over a bed of rice.

I got pretty creative with pasta, too. It's cheap and be combined with almost any vegetable, if you can forgo the ($$$) cheese. Another favorite was potato. They were usually inexpensive. Instead of running the oven to bake them, I'd boil the potatoes with an onion and a little garlic, and mash them with a little butter, salt and pepper. Left-overs made really nice pan-fried potato patties for the next morning's breakfast.
 
  • #34
I spoke with my chef about this matter. He said you can save a little by using a cheaper wine in the reduction. This will work with steak and chicken, but lamb chops are more delicate and unfortunately will require the more expensive wine. I asked him to prepare a meal with this savings in mind. He also went with asparagus instead of brussels sprouts to save a little more. I found that while the steak was not quite as good as I am used to, it was certainly edible. And the $15 savings really comes in handy in these troubled times.
 
  • #35
There are some very good http://www.globe-guardian.com/archives/twisted/tl0004.htm available. The skunk recipe has an added benefit - you won't have to lock your doors anymore.
 
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  • #36
Math Is Hard said:
Am I ever getting ripped off! Ramen noodles are about 45 cents a package out here.
I was wondering when the last time Evo really ate Ramen noodles was too. Even on sale, the best I usually see anymore is 5/$1, and food is usually relatively cheap around here. Long gone are those 10/$1 days when I was still in school.

jimmysnyder said:
I spoke with my chef about this matter. He said you can save a little by using a cheaper wine in the reduction. This will work with steak and chicken, but lamb chops are more delicate and unfortunately will require the more expensive wine. I asked him to prepare a meal with this savings in mind. He also went with asparagus instead of brussels sprouts to save a little more. I found that while the steak was not quite as good as I am used to, it was certainly edible. And the $15 savings really comes in handy in these troubled times.

:smile: Poor jimmy! Such sacrifices!
 
  • #37
Focus said:
Are you sure about this? I don't want to blame you publicly on TV when I am in hospital dying.

I have tried it, it is wonderfully horrible.
 
  • #38
Wow, most students here eat pizza and things. But then most of them go far into debt if they're paying for it themselves.

What about graduate students? Do they eat Ramen noodles too?

My usual day starts with an Orange, Two Eggs, and Hashbrowns. For lunch, it changes all the time since I always ate at school but that's changing now (and not sure what it will be). A good diner is usually Pasta, Turkey Sausage or Chicken Breast, with a vegetables like Brocolli and Carrots, a salad, Asparagus.

I find it pretty cheap. Pasta costs about $1.50 and $2 for sauce and that's for 7 days worth, and Turkey (and Chicken) is about $5 for 3 days, and vegetable is like $3 for 4-5 days. Therefore diner costs me less than $3. Since I usually have a glass of wine with diner, say $15 bottle that lasts about 5 days... diner comes out to $6. Of course, if I stop the wine, I save a lot! Sometimes I get cheaper bottles I guess.

Note: Ramen noodles are 50 cents a meal let's say (MIH data), but buying other products spread over 5-7 days might be as cheap as 50-75 cents per meal also and taste much better and actually be better for your health.

But if you drop the wine, you have a nice diner for less than $3! If a student had Ramen noodles for lunch and something else that's cheap for breakfast, that's $4-5 a day. Plus, you have that nice meal in the end. You can opt for meat or hot dogs instead of sausage and save a bit more... or instead of eating two sausages per meal like me, eat one, and save more.

Seriously, you can have some tasty diners for not that expensive.
 
  • #39
The bins outside fast food restaurants are often very good sources of half a burger. Supermarkets often fill their dumpsters with bread and other food products that have only just reached their sell by date but have a few days left before they're to be used by.
 
  • #40
Rice and Lentils/Peas/Beans is probably as cheap as you're going to get. If you buy good-sized dry bags I think you can still get them for something like $0.50/lb. You're also going to want roughage and vitamins, so veggies - I'm not sure what's cheap for you there.

Stinging Nettles are definitely edible and nutritious. My father tells (legitemate) stories about going out to harvest them early in the morning before they were 'fertilized' by dogs during some lean times when they were young.

It's not recommended, but if you're really desperate, you can eat the interior bark of pine trees.
 
  • #41
I usually see ramen noodles 7 for a dollar, but if I go to the mini mart by my house they are 75 cents each.
I've been suprised lately by the number of neighbors who always seem to have extra food. there is an old single lady who lives a few doors down. She looks like a monkey but she's always bringing over chili or spaghetti.
 
  • #42
A donut shop just opened up across the street. I get boxes of day old donuts for 99 cents. Those will feed you for a few days, but it's tough to choke down donuts for dinner.
 
  • #44
for those of you keeping track I just went to the store. Ramen is on sale 8 for a dollar and lentils cost 99 cents for a one pound bag. I've never had lentils as far as I know, so I bought a bag. I also bought some garlic powder. I didn't see any soup bones, so I bought some ends and pieces of bacon. then I grabbed a bag of split peas just because I don't know if I like lentils.
I figured I'd go all out as far as this thread is concerned and I bought some ramen. I just ate the ramen while my lentils are cooking I got the lime chili flavor. My mouth is burning. This stuff is so spicy. I hate it.
 
  • #45
tribdog said:
for those of you keeping track I just went to the store. Ramen is on sale 8 for a dollar and lentils cost 99 cents for a one pound bag. I've never had lentils as far as I know, so I bought a bag. I also bought some garlic powder. I didn't see any soup bones, so I bought some ends and pieces of bacon. then I grabbed a bag of split peas just because I don't know if I like lentils.

8/$1 is pretty good. Back up the cart.

For pea soup, I use a pork shoulder myself and boil that with the split peas. A splash of sour cream and some Tony's seasoning - a southern salt/pepper mix and a slab of homemade bread and you can get 5 hearty meals - all costs included like the bread - under $2 a meal.

I freeze them up in individual portions and they heat fine in the microwave.
 
  • #46
Moonbear said:
I was wondering when the last time Evo really ate Ramen noodles was too. Even on sale, the best I usually see anymore is 5/$1, and food is usually relatively cheap around here. Long gone are those 10/$1 days when I was still in school.
I have some right now, at Walmart, they are 10 cents a package (Walmart brand), the other brands ranger in price from 12 to 16 cents. I keep them on hand for times I want something hot and savory that is ready in 60 seconds. I just break the noodles into a bowl, pour boiling water over them, stir in the seasoning packet and eat them while they still have a bit of crunch, I don't like them soggy.

Trib, lentils are so flavorful, they don't need meat, save the meat for the split peas.
 
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  • #47
Someone please stop me before I comment on her noodles.
 
  • #48
Focus said:
Are you sure about this? I don't want to blame you publicly on TV when I am in hospital dying.

Most definitely :approve: I'm sure of that. Having been survival instructor in the past, I had to test it. I'm alive and well.
 
  • #49
well...alive anyway
 
  • #50
my first taste of the lentils was pretty bland so I just threw another handful of bacon in there. Now it's tasting pretty dang good. Lentils have turned pretty mushy though. are they supposed to be?
 
  • #51
tribdog said:
my first taste of the lentils was pretty bland so I just threw another handful of bacon in there. Now it's tasting pretty dang good. Lentils have turned pretty mushy though. are they supposed to be?
Lentils should have a little texture to them, though not mealy. It's a trick getting them just right.

Boil them with chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt+pepper and some ham/bacon/salt pork and some chopped celery. As the lentils get to the desired texture, you may add some boiling water to get the lentil soup to the consistency that you want. Fresh lentil soup with buttered Saltines or buttered whole-wheat bread is a pretty good stick-to-the-ribs meal, especially in the winter when you come home chilled and want a nice meal to warm up with.
 
  • #52
Well, it's about 95 degrees outside so it's going to have to be a good stick to the ribs summer meal. I'll crank up the AC.
Do lentils have a funny smell? I'm hoping its the lentils and not the bacon.
 
  • #53
Math Is Hard said:
1) Make Wolram soup (i.e. make a big pot of soup and just keep adding to it as it gets low)

not healthy



Math Is Hard said:
2) Free samples at Whole Foods market

never enough


Math Is Hard said:
3) Happy hour buffet at the bar down the street. Gotta get someone to buy me a beverage, though.

exactly. the boyfriend solution has already been derived.


Math Is Hard said:
4) Avocados from the neighbor's tree that's hanging over the fence. (Might have to fight the squirrels for them).

... and neighbors. depends on state laws and federal regulations. may become guilty of misdemeanor and jeopardize career (no tuition bills anymore, though)


Math Is Hard said:
5) Go to some meet and greet nights for campus clubs. They usually have snacks.

good for the first few weeks only.


my advice - give "cooking lessons" to friends / freshmen at their place ;)
 
  • #54
tribdog said:
my first taste of the lentils was pretty bland so I just threw another handful of bacon in there. Now it's tasting pretty dang good. Lentils have turned pretty mushy though. are they supposed to be?
I don't know what you're used to eating, but everyone in our family loves lentils (the brown ones) with just salt and garlic. if that's too bland for you, you can do anything you want with them, add cumin and or curry, hot peppers...

In a lot of countries lentils are served as a vegetarian dish, no meat.
 
  • #55
I saw a piece on eating Free-gan.

This involved dumpster diving behind restaurants, so probably isn't a useful regimen for non-urban living.
 
  • #56
The Alaska Plan:

MEAT:

startup cost: $1200 on a decent rifle (or borrow one from dad/brother/friends)
maintenance: $10 on bullets

OR/AND

Fishing pole and tackle (or bait)

(this should take down a lot of the grocery pricing after you recover the cost of the rifle/fishing pole)

VEGGIES/FRUITS:

Build a greenhouse from scrap lumber (talk to any contractors building houses around your neighborhood and ask them for scrap for your greenhouse)

buy seeds or starter plants.
 
  • #57
Evo said:
I have some right now, at Walmart, they are 10 cents a package (Walmart brand), the other brands ranger in price from 12 to 16 cents.
Hmm...I'm not sure I trust the name brands that much, let alone an "off" brand. :rolleyes: Okay, I don't food shop in WalMart, so didn't know they were that much cheaper for Ramen noodles.

I keep them on hand for times I want something hot and savory that is ready in 60 seconds. I just break the noodles into a bowl, pour boiling water over them, stir in the seasoning packet and eat them while they still have a bit of crunch, I don't like them soggy.

Gah, crunchy?! Here's a trick I learned from a Japanese student...boil a separate pan of water when you cook up the Ramen noodles. Then, dump out the starchy water and mix the flavor packet with the clean water you boiled separately. It makes them taste a bit better. And I NEVER eat the ones in the styrofoam cups...those have a really nasty, weird flavor. I wouldn't break up the noodles either. That's half the fun, trying to eat them as one giant, long noodle. :biggrin: I use chopsticks to fish them out of the bowl.

I like them for a late night snack sometimes. Though, I've also just used the noodles and tossed the flavor packet while replacing it with my own broth or seasonings and adding a little sliced meat.

Hmm...I'll bet that soup kitchens don't actually check that you're homeless if you show up for a meal. :rolleyes:
 
  • #58
Moonbear said:
Hmm...I'm not sure I trust the name brands that much, let alone an "off" brand. :rolleyes: Okay, I don't food shop in WalMart, so didn't know they were that much cheaper for Ramen noodles.
Well, you know that besides being a risk taker, I'm incredibly cheap.

I'm about to put a jar of capers that is maybe 10-20 years old into my potato salad, it doesn't appear that the indent in the top has popped up, so I am assuming they are still good.

Moonbear, if I'm not around tomorrow, assume they were not good and take over GD.
 
  • #59
Evo said:
Well, you know that besides being a risk taker, I'm incredibly cheap.

I'm about to put a jar of capers that is maybe 10-20 years old into my potato salad, it doesn't appear that the indent in the top has popped up, so I am assuming they are still good.

Moonbear, if I'm not around tomorrow, assume they were not good and take over GD.

:bugeye: No! Put down the capers! Or, at least make sure you bequeath P&WA and Philosophy to some other mentor. :biggrin:
 
  • #60
Pythagorean said:
The Alaska Plan:

MEAT:

startup cost: $1200 on a decent rifle (or borrow one from dad/brother/friends)
maintenance: $10 on bullets

OR/AND

Fishing pole and tackle (or bait)

(this should take down a lot of the grocery pricing after you recover the cost of the rifle/fishing pole)

VEGGIES/FRUITS:

Build a greenhouse from scrap lumber (talk to any contractors building houses around your neighborhood and ask them for scrap for your greenhouse)

buy seeds or starter plants.

Having a garden is just the smartest thing to do when you can have one. You get so many cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and just about anything you want. Sometimes you get so much, you have to give them away.