Comments on: Eating on $7 per day

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:57:18 +0000

My husband and I did a similar challenge a while back, we tried to feed our family on $10 a day for a month. Not only did we do that, but we made a rule that we couldn’t repeat a meal! We had to get really creative, but it was fun to see what we could come up with. The budget thing is really hard too!
-Sylvia

By: jules

jules — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:59:51 +0000

great idea L. good luck with the rest of the week.

By: chef monsta

chef monsta — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:00:44 +0000

I love this post. What a great way to be recession conscious while still making healthful food choices. Keep up the good work!

http://www.chefmonsta.blogspot.com

By: Ira Sacharoff

Ira Sacharoff — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:55:50 +0000

For those who don’t own a coffee roaster, you can roast coffee easily and evenly using an automatic bread maker and a heat gun. Yes, the thing that’s used to remove paint. I’ve been roasting this way for a couple of years after my coffee roaster died, and it’s every bit as good.

By: SuperChef

SuperChef — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:58:10 +0000

you are off to a good start here and you managed to make caramelised apples as well!! wow!!

Im in the challenge as well and it is interesting to see what everyone is coming up with. Will keep visiting

By: Jessamyn

Jessamyn — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:51:11 +0000

Lara -

You’re right, it would be much more of a challenge to eat both cheaply and interestingly. I already use the freezer a lot, make my own stock, grow my own herbs and garlic, eat leftovers for lunch, shop sales, and am generally a tightwad by nature, but I’m fairly sure it’s been years since we spent less than $150 a week for the two of us.

Best of luck!

By: matt wright

matt wright — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:01:02 +0000

bravo to ya lara. Certainly not an easy challenge, but certainly an important one. I am really interested to hear how you fair for the whole week, and what magic you come up with in the kitchen.

I am with you about lunch, mainly for me it’s a time thing. Recently thought I have been making a big batch of lentils vinaigrette and an olive tapenade at the weekend that lasts all week – especially with a simple salad, cheese and bread.

By: L

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:59:38 +0000

Joanna – energy costs are definitely one of the other aspects that I feel that I am “cheating” on by not factoring in the costs… especially with the rising costs of fuel. As you pointed out, there are all those appliances that get turned on and off… but there are also costs like trips to the store (I really like to buy my fresh stuff on the day I need it… but it’s not very often I do it by pedal power).

Jill – Your mom is right, that it isn’t that hard once you start and get into the right patterns. However, if you aren’t, it is amazing how quickly you can exceed a budget, even when you aren’t buying junk food. The can of tomatoes that I like to use in my pasta sauce (San Marzanos) costs $6! Sure, it makes more sauce than one person can eat, but as I’m watching what I cook this week, I suddenly realize how much I really never noticed about our food costs.

Jessamyn – I think one of the things I’m trying to do is to watch my budget and somehow manage to keep the food choices interesting. I think it is possible… it is definitely do-able on a longer term than a single week where accounting for spices can be challenging.

Thanks all for your comments!

By: Jessamyn

Jessamyn — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:45:23 +0000

This is an interesting challenge, but I personally have sort of a “been there, done that” feeling about it. When I was in college I spent hardly any money at all on food, eating mostly beans, potatoes, cabbage, and homemade granola. It was monotonous, but very very cheap.

I definitely agree with your point about using food already on hand. I buy staples in bulk, and always have spices and baking ingredients on the shelf. It would cost rather a lot to have to buy everything just for a particular week.

Eating lunch is one of life’s great joys, aren’t you glad you’ve discovered it?

By: jill

jill — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:00:08 +0000

I told my mother about this challenge and she looked at me sideways like I was crazy. “It’s not that difficult to eat on $7 a day, we do it all the time.” Which is true: we make a lot of food and eat leftovers for lunches, I always pack lunch to college instead of ordering out, and we manage to stretch food a lot with stirfries, soups, chilies, not to mention homemade bread (which is not that hard to make, exceptions being artisan French Bread and sourdoughs). While the initial cost of purchasing food can be expensive, one has to take into account how much is eaten per meal by each person, and the cost is defrayed.

Also, we get to buy all our spices from a Mennonite bulk food store, so the cost of that lessens too. Fruits, vegetables, and meats are the most expensive part of any diet, but canned beans and tomatoes (or dried beans) and seasonings easily stretch the meats which should be purchased when they are on sale anyway.

I’ll have to try the apple desert. It looks really good!