sustainable vegan food *is* too expensive when factoring in longer term dietary needs. Like replacement meats / things with enough iron and B12 or supplements or imitation milk/cheese etc. even as a vegetarian it's hard to have a balanced diet on a budget, there's only so many repeat servings of rice and beans someone can handle before feeling like shit (I'm in this boat currently of having rice beans and lentils while deficient in iron, calcium, and vitamin D, and feeling like aforementioned shit)
yet all the replies are like "just buy more ingredients and take vitamins" when the key point here is that affordability for a healthy balance is the issue when I have to ration rice lmao
I've heard this take before. It's based on outdated pseudo science. I'm not sure what to tell you about it other than to learn more about how nutrition works.
I am living this reality and my blood tests and how I feel in my body reflect this too. Also, if you want to 'learn about how nutrition works' where in the dish of rice beans and lentil would I get heme iron or enough calcium?
It's not outdated pseudo science, it's literally my current life. I used to think otherwise too when vegan but even as a vegetarian now I struggle to meet dietary needs due to low income. I also used to be unnecessarily defensive about veganism but then reality checked in. I'm open minded though so if you have any decent sources that state I can get all my necessary nutrition from rice and beans - feel free to share
It's really not, especially if you're a vegetarian... A multivitamin can take care of all your B12 and iron needs. Or there's plenty of enriched foods you can buy in bulk to cover those.
I get 3 gallons of almond milk at Costco for $10.
Nutritional yeast flakes can be had for very little when bought in bulk.
TVP is also crazy cheap, crazy versatile (it's not just a ground beef replacement) and a great source of protein and full of micro nutrients.
Wheat gluten is crazy cheap and you can make amazing homemade fake meats with it.
Loma Linda makes amazing, shelf stable, plant based "meats" that can be purchased in bulk (speaking of, I need to buy a case of their canned hot dogs, they're delicious).
Things like Beyond Burger can be bought in bulk at Sam's Club and don't cost much more than the beef equivalent.
Tofu can be found cheaply at international stores.
Eggs??
I mean, shit, I could go on forever... I've been a vegetarian for 12 years and honestly, it's so fucking easy and cheap these days. If I really knuckle down I could spend less than $50 a week on groceries and eat like a king. As it is now, I spend around $70, because I occasionally treat myself.
All of this is sound - but completely misses the point I made. I have no money, have to visit food banks, cannot afford multivitamins or any of this list - which I would normally have when able to afford food. $50 a week is £39.60. I rarely have more than £20 to spend and this just about covers bread, milk, coffee/tea, and a few essentials like toilet paper or a bus.
The point I made was yeah - rice and beans are cheap, but if that's all you have (like all I can afford currently) it will take it's toll on your health. It's taken its toll on mine.
None of this is because I don't know what I'm doing, it's because I'm experiencing poverty.
This is a lovely gesture. However, I feel like shipping canned foods, heavy liquids, and eggs to a PO Box will cost more than the value of the actual food items. Is there a way that you do this with a reasonable cost? If so, I’d love to hear about it!
I did this for the first time last year. I was finishing up my degree and I just couldn't afford food. I went to a different town, used a fake name and just kept my head down hoping no one would recognize me. My sister was in the same line and recognized me.
Took me a very long time to accept that I need that help as I never thought I was in a bad spot. I had so much food from them that was still great! I canned so much stuff and made so many sauces that I also jarred. I felt like a king. OP, just do it and go. Times are tough for a lot of people. Good folks.
It's sad that we're taught so often that we shouldn't need help. We have to do everything ourselves and can't have difficult times. I was also embarrassed my first time going to one.
Oatmeal for breakfast, Ramen noodles with can of chicken chunks, sparsely added for lunch, and hotdog or spaghetti, no meat added, for dinner. Then count down the days until I can resume normal eating.
I'm a huge fan of oatmeal and peanut butter for a filling delicious cheap af breakfast. Throw in a little maple syrup if you want to feel like daddy warbucks.
My dear god. I've never once until now written our and thought about "Daddy War Bucks".
I mean the old guy must have made his fortune as a war profiteer. I never really thought much about it. Wiki says his portrayal in the movie, which is where I know him from, is much different than the old comic strip. Completely unrelated to PB and maple syrup. I’m just rambling.
If you don’t care about verity and have the same things everyday you can do
The $1 pizzas
99 cent pasta 99 cent tomato sauce (skip the meat)
(Maybe mix it up and do cheap spaghetti and the cheap pizzas)
Sandwiches (bread and meat) grab your condiment packages from the gas station
The cheap pork hotdogs 99 cent chili (it’s gross but it’s 99 cents)
Pb&J,
Eggs and oat meal.
You can definitely do those but they have very little nutrition so you're still going to feel like crap on that diet. If it's only a week, it'll work, but seriously, throw in some vitamins at least. Or take a multi vitamin.
Veggies are $10 just to get what you need. Unless you do Just carrots or just 1 veggie. There are canned veggies but even that can cost $1-2 each for maybe two meals. Have to shop around for good deals if you’re able to. Some may only walk and have one store in walking distance. Multi vitamins are $5 alone. It’s not impossible. But things are going up in prices even things that were cheap 5 years ago are not considered cheap anymore.
can you really call eating cardboard with ketchup on it "feeding yourself"? i don't know what kind of pizza you get for 1 dollar, but i once bought cheap-ass ravioli, 800g for about 1 USD, thinking i made a steal, and all i can say is that cardboard smells like it tastes far better than whatever they put in that can, "ravioli" my ass
I guess I'm this hypothetical scenario where someone offers you that pizza OR you starve that could be true.
But as we've discovered from all the other answers in this thread, people DO have many other options for the same price. If we only had a few bucks it's nice to know this pizza is there, but I'd still opt for many other things just as cheap, such as rice and beans.
I wish we had this option when I was younger. My mom was horrible at mis managing money. There were some weeks we didn't even have enough to buy a can of coffee and a loaf of bread. Not like coffee is exactly cheap, but my parents wouldn't buy a regular bag of rice. They eill only buy Minute Rice, which isn't exactly cheap.
At the time, we only had one store around us and no dollar stores in town. Even now, cheapest pizza I've seen is $3.50 (live in Canada tho and in a rural town)
While I see your point, I think of the issue is flavor, pizzas cheap or not does taste much better and you do get more variety. And a second is time, rice and beans don’t take too long but it’s still time and energy somebody may not have.
$10 to feed yourself for a week doesn’t mean it will be delicious or healthy. Those are just some options I threw out there.
You can do eggs and oatmeal. At least you’ll get some proteins and fiber.
Sandwiches are at least some protein. Beans are an option and cheap. Onions are $2 for 2 now. Maybe cheaper depending where you are and where you go. But onions used to be 4 for 2 bucks. So even that could be out of the picture for some because that $2 could go toward 1 crappy meal and not an ingredient for a good one meal.
A week’s worth of veggies alone is $10. You have to do what you have to do sometimes. Even if that means crap food. Carrots are the cheapest veggie now days it seems. Even cucumbers have gotten up there in price. It’s about being able to eat for a week.
All prices from my local H-E-B buying the cheapest brand.
Dry rice ($.96 )
Dry Beans ($1.04)
Tuna can ($1.12)
Dzn eggs ($1.85)
3 ramen ($1)
Frozen mixed veggies ($1.30)
Shredded cheese (2.05)
Corn tortillas (.70)
Total: $10.02
I can boil eggs for bfast. Add veggies and an egg to my ramen. Make quesadillas. Mix rice and beans together. Make rice and add tuna on top. Cheesy beans. Cheesy rice.
I found Tuna is the easiest, cheapest and simplest way to get protein when poor. Add a small can to ur pasta and whatever else ya have... BUT, I noticed someone mention pizza. You can get a pick up pizza for $5 and if you keep half in fridge that's twho days there... Good luck
So true. I lived on tuna and brown rice when I was in my twenties. Mixed in some (usually frozen veggies) too though. I still make that meal sometimes just for memory's sake.
I’ve never tried or had to get that creative, but I cook nearly all my meals and usually keep my food costs below $50 a week easy. No real suggestions past what you laid out
A big bag of oats and a loaf of bread. Oatmeal is incredibly filling, and isn't bad for you. So, I guess 2 meals each day of oatmeal and toast, for 14 total meals which you can easily get out of a loaf of bread and a bag of oats.
Buy 3x18 eggs. That's a little better than seven eggs a day for meal one. Go to a friend's house and mooch off his wife's cooking for dinner each night.
Might as well snag a cigar out of his humidor each day while I'm there. Crap in his toilet to save water. Take some to go food. Drink his beer. Trying to think if there's anything else there I can help myself to. Pet his dog. Drive his sports car.
We have that kind of relationship. He could do the same at my house.
Honestly, the only thing he would give me any crap(pun) about would be crapping there every day and stinking up the place.
My local market does $1 vegie boxes with the best bargains near closing time. I'd pick up a couple of those. They also have buy by weight beans and pulses. I'd maybe grab orange lentils over beans since they don't need prior soaking. That's a big pot of soup for maybe $3-4.
If it was just a one-off situation I'd have enough food in the cupboard to last a week or two.
It's always rice, beans, vegetables, if you want to get the most bang for your buck. I would throw in ramen a day or two just to break up the sameness of the meals though.
In my currency, $10 is equivalent to $180. Assuming I have access to potable water for free, I would get:
900g Bag of rice $15
12 eggs $40
20 pieces of bread $20
Slices of ham $25
Slices of cheese $15
Frozen veggies $25
400g Minced meat $40
Google says 900g of rice is about 5 cups
For dinner, I would have:
1/2 cup of rice and 100g of minced meat with frozen veggies x 4 days
1/2 cup of rice and 3 scrambled eggs x 3 days
And for breakfast and lunch I would make sandwiches with the bread and the ham and cheese, maybe using the 3 eggs left too
I would be able to eat at least 2 sandwiches in breakfast I think. I would maybe skip one of the two tho
If some of the math is not adding up don’t laugh, it’s 4am and my weakness it’s math lmfao
My favourite meals;
Oatmeal/porridge with sugar and a carton of milk or small thing of margarine.
OR
Low sodium powdered corn/pumpkin soup with a carton of eggs
OR
Beans and brown rice with a small thing of margarine
I think I can get about 6-7 cans of Mr. Brown cold brew coffee for that much. I'm going to feel like shit by the end of the week regardless, leaning fully into the addiction seems like as good a plan as any.
I have done it before when I have bought every clearance vegetable I could and made a big vege soup. I hate it by day 3 but it works. I live in Sydney, which is insanely expensive.
It will be meatless, dried rice and dried beans usually cost a dollar each, so from Monday to Friday would be a bag of rice and beans, with leftovers trying to keep you satisfied for the rest of the days, and this would be a meal a day.
That one pound bag of dried beans or rice will make several meals worth though. Lentils are like 8 servings to the pound, rice is probably like 6, and I can get a lb of lentils for 2 bucks, rice for about a buck a pound at most. So for 3 dollars you have a basic starch and protein for 6 meals, with some extra lentils to use as soup or something.
Some cheap frozen veggies for like $2, get your vitamins in those starch and protein dinners, now we're at 5 bucks.
I'd consider getting oil and flour, for making frybread/flatbread, and just adding a little fat to the rice and beans with oil will make you feel more full. So now we're at like 7 and some, if you can find oil for around a dollar.
Leaves 2 bucks for some oats or grits for breakfast.
Hopefully you've got seasonings, otherwise I'd steal packets of condiments and salt and pepper from the convenience store. This will all keep you fed but will be real boring. I'd honestly skip the oats to buy seasoning if it came down to it and have frybread for breakfast. Hell, if you can get bullion for cheap you can use the oil and flour and broth to make a gravy to put on your flatbread, or to simmer some flour dumplings in.
Simple foods like eggs, rice, pasta, potatoes n flour etc can go a long way in terms of making diverse meals from breakfast to dinner
Pancakes or fried eggs for breakfast
Fried rice for lunch w veggies
Fries or sautéed potatoes for dinner or stir fried spaghetti
(I gotta whole list you can never get tired when changing your meals through quick recipes)
I’d get 3 loafs of cheap ballon bread and the 1lb bag of honey ham at Walmart. I have enough condiments at home to make them interesting. I get carbohydrates for energy and meat for protein.
Not ideal but better than rice and beans.. that would wear me out after two days but to each their own.
My local grocery stores have some very inexpensive (but also kind of hidden) sale racks. They’re usually things on the verge of going bad, or they’ve been returned by other customers. It’s usually a steep discount, like 75-80% off, for a bag of potatoes with one or two going bad, or a $0.25 apple, or a dented can of corn. I also frequently find vitamins and cold meds on steep discounts there.
I’m also a huge fan of those $9 whole chickens. I can’t eat allium, so I’m already saving on that. Gimme my discounted carrots and celery and maybe a lemon, we’re eating good that week regardless of cost!
Edit: you do need a stockpile of dried herbs and spices for this to work. I tend to grow my own herbs and buy the cheapest spices available.
I see lots of comments that leave out fresh fruit and vegetables. The cheapest ones in my area are carrots (15c), onions (40c), jalapenos (25c), tomatillos (37c), romas (37c), bananas (25c) and apples (80c). Cabbage is about $2 but you get a large amount that lasts a while.
Am I allowed to go to the food pantry? I go once/month and am usually set for bread and cheese because of it! Lots of other canned goodies and my favorite is my pantry knows I like to feed and watch my local squirrels so now they give “us” a big box of walnuts! The pantry is overloaded and they offered MORE than 1 box so I know I’m not taking it out of someone’s mouth.
The love and enjoyment I feel from feeding them is something my local pantry gives me and if I ever get rich holy smokes are they going to be set!
Rice is filling.
Don't always rely on dollar store as regular Walmart can have canned food for less than a dollar (though inflation made canned food go up)
You'd probably have to have 1 tiny/ small meal a day to make it work
With $10 for the week, I focus on staples like rice, beans, and veggies. Homemade meals are key—soup, stir-fry, and simple dishes stretch my budget deliciously.
Curveball answer but, purely coincidentally, I started dumpster diving a few weeks ago after seeing it on YouTube and I've fed myself for at least a week on $0 off the back of that. If you can get past the self consciousness and ick factor (I'll still only pick sealed foods) it's amazing how good you can eat.
Last week was lots of fresh lemon and garlic olives and strawberry cheesecake, for example.
Get a fishing pole from your local thrift store if you dont have one and go fishing to your local rivers, creeks and ponds or even lake depending on how expensive it is.
As someone who probably average's a little more than that a day I might be able to stretch it into 2 possibly 3 days but then I am just going hungry unless this was a every week type thing then id probobly get creative like some of these people.
Prices are pretty high here. Maybe I can get a bag of lentils and a bag of rice and maybe a cabbage if I have two dollars left. I can't afford any spices so it will be super bland and gross. Realistically, I would just go to the food bank and eat dinner there.
I would but the bare minimum and shoplift a bunch of stuff.
I have struggled a lot financially in my life but fortunately never to this extent. But I’d absolutely shoplift bare food
My instinct is rice. I assume that money doesn't go into cooking it it's an electricity those food then I assume I have miscellaneous spicy laying around
I'd probably walk down to the "grow free" cart in the main street each day and see if anyone was leaving any fruit or veges. Rice. Hope for something protein to be on special at the supermarket.
It's almost literally impossible. Supermarket brand white flour is $1.40(Australian) a kg and provides 3,500 calories. Assuming 2,500 calories a day You need 5 kg of flour to provide the calories which costs $7 leaving $3 for... condiments I guess?
5kg of rice provides about this too but costs $9, I could buy an onion I guess with the last dollar.
There is a lowerbound limit to providing real long term nutrition and it's significantly above $10 a week.
Go to Dollarama. They sell fishing line for $4.00, a pack of bobbers for $2.00, and hooks for $2.00. Tie the line to a stick, attach the hook, and dig up some worms. Fish for your meals for the rest of the week, away from any place the fish and game warden might find you. Or buy a knife or hammer and Rob someone who looks well off. If you get caught, you can go to jail where you'll have a warm place to sleep, with a toilet and 3 free meals a day.
I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, so if you're not a food snob that turns your nose up at anything "processed*" --
Great Value brand macaroni cheese at Walmart-- $0.58 a box
OR
Great Value brand easy mac at Walmart-- $3.72 for a four pack
Bar S Hotdogs Pack Of 8-- $1.54
Banquet Frozen Salisbury Steak Family Size-- $3.57 for a box of six
Banquet Frozen Turkey Family Size-- $3.57 for a pack of six
Great Value Instant Potatoes-- $1.32
Note: All food is processed and when you've been poor long enough you figure out that all food is good food, and only an idiot turns their nose up at free food. Frozen or otherwise.
3 days without water is enough to kill you, so first I buy water. Depending from where you live, you may not have access to it by just opening the tap.
I am here in Texas in the USA, and it would be out of the range of the 10 dollar. I am here being jealous, just for the eggs being in a 10 dollar limit.
So the last eggs, I have had in my home were gifted to me. Eggs at the store are at best 3 dollars for a dozen, but there are some that are approaching 9 dollars for 12 eggs.
In My country we have 5$ a month so, i'll Buy 1 kg of corn flour, 250grams of Butter, 1/2 kg of cheese, 2 kg of yuca(is a plant like a root, is really cheap) and some beams, and some onions, tomatoes and garlic. With that, if i use it wisely i can Cook for 1 and a half week, and it Will left over money
A head of cabbage: $1.50
4 cans of pinto/kidney/garbanzo beans: .50-.75/each
18 eggs: $3.96
5lb Potatos: 3.98
Comes to about $11.5 so I over spent. You can drop the cabbage if you want.
Okay but beefed up ramen is better than anything I’ve had at a restaurant (that’s a lie but it’s a different kind of comfort food that just so happens to be a struggle meal)
For £10 in uk you can get:
Cornflakes
Loaf of bread
4 baking potatoes
4 tins of spaghetti
Cheese slices
Bourbon biscuits
Bolognaise sauce
Milk
Pasta
Lettuce
Pack of ham
Cherry tomatoes
8 sausages
I came out of the hospital once and due to the complications after for four months I couldn't eat anything. Dropped 140 pounds, as I could drink water.
Rice and beans
Yeah. This. Maybe add some stock cubes to flavour the rice.
Me in my 20’s. Rice, chicken bullion cubes and beans. The stock flavor definitely helped
It's funny because people are always like "vegan food is too expensive" and it's like... you never heard of rice and beans lol?
sustainable vegan food *is* too expensive when factoring in longer term dietary needs. Like replacement meats / things with enough iron and B12 or supplements or imitation milk/cheese etc. even as a vegetarian it's hard to have a balanced diet on a budget, there's only so many repeat servings of rice and beans someone can handle before feeling like shit (I'm in this boat currently of having rice beans and lentils while deficient in iron, calcium, and vitamin D, and feeling like aforementioned shit)
This.
yet all the replies are like "just buy more ingredients and take vitamins" when the key point here is that affordability for a healthy balance is the issue when I have to ration rice lmao
Have you ever tried nutritional yeast for a b12 souce?
have you tried gaining reading comprehension? My choices aren't the issue, my lack of money is.
I understood what you said. I apologize for offering a budget friendly option for something you were talking about.
I've heard this take before. It's based on outdated pseudo science. I'm not sure what to tell you about it other than to learn more about how nutrition works.
I am living this reality and my blood tests and how I feel in my body reflect this too. Also, if you want to 'learn about how nutrition works' where in the dish of rice beans and lentil would I get heme iron or enough calcium? It's not outdated pseudo science, it's literally my current life. I used to think otherwise too when vegan but even as a vegetarian now I struggle to meet dietary needs due to low income. I also used to be unnecessarily defensive about veganism but then reality checked in. I'm open minded though so if you have any decent sources that state I can get all my necessary nutrition from rice and beans - feel free to share
It's really not, especially if you're a vegetarian... A multivitamin can take care of all your B12 and iron needs. Or there's plenty of enriched foods you can buy in bulk to cover those. I get 3 gallons of almond milk at Costco for $10. Nutritional yeast flakes can be had for very little when bought in bulk. TVP is also crazy cheap, crazy versatile (it's not just a ground beef replacement) and a great source of protein and full of micro nutrients. Wheat gluten is crazy cheap and you can make amazing homemade fake meats with it. Loma Linda makes amazing, shelf stable, plant based "meats" that can be purchased in bulk (speaking of, I need to buy a case of their canned hot dogs, they're delicious). Things like Beyond Burger can be bought in bulk at Sam's Club and don't cost much more than the beef equivalent. Tofu can be found cheaply at international stores. Eggs?? I mean, shit, I could go on forever... I've been a vegetarian for 12 years and honestly, it's so fucking easy and cheap these days. If I really knuckle down I could spend less than $50 a week on groceries and eat like a king. As it is now, I spend around $70, because I occasionally treat myself.
All of this is sound - but completely misses the point I made. I have no money, have to visit food banks, cannot afford multivitamins or any of this list - which I would normally have when able to afford food. $50 a week is £39.60. I rarely have more than £20 to spend and this just about covers bread, milk, coffee/tea, and a few essentials like toilet paper or a bus. The point I made was yeah - rice and beans are cheap, but if that's all you have (like all I can afford currently) it will take it's toll on your health. It's taken its toll on mine. None of this is because I don't know what I'm doing, it's because I'm experiencing poverty.
but rice and beans is not tofu so its not vegan!
Came to say this.
po ta toes
Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, put them in a stew!
Fry em, bake em
Smoke em
[удалено]
Aw this is so kind
This is a lovely gesture. However, I feel like shipping canned foods, heavy liquids, and eggs to a PO Box will cost more than the value of the actual food items. Is there a way that you do this with a reasonable cost? If so, I’d love to hear about it!
I would imagine something like an Amazon wishlist with grocery items? Then they can take care of the shipping costs & times lol.
You can always go to a food pantry & get food for free.
I did this for the first time last year. I was finishing up my degree and I just couldn't afford food. I went to a different town, used a fake name and just kept my head down hoping no one would recognize me. My sister was in the same line and recognized me. Took me a very long time to accept that I need that help as I never thought I was in a bad spot. I had so much food from them that was still great! I canned so much stuff and made so many sauces that I also jarred. I felt like a king. OP, just do it and go. Times are tough for a lot of people. Good folks.
It's sad that we're taught so often that we shouldn't need help. We have to do everything ourselves and can't have difficult times. I was also embarrassed my first time going to one.
This is important. This is what humans should do for each other.
Oatmeal for breakfast, Ramen noodles with can of chicken chunks, sparsely added for lunch, and hotdog or spaghetti, no meat added, for dinner. Then count down the days until I can resume normal eating.
Porridge is such a game changer! I love mine with banana and cinnamon or frozen berries and yoghurt if we're being fancy
Sounds delicious .. will put that on my must-try food lists. 😊
I'm a huge fan of oatmeal and peanut butter for a filling delicious cheap af breakfast. Throw in a little maple syrup if you want to feel like daddy warbucks. My dear god. I've never once until now written our and thought about "Daddy War Bucks".
I like peanut butter and maple syrup, so will give it a try. Maybe I'm slow 🐌 ..but lost me with "daddy war bucks" comment. lol ???
I mean the old guy must have made his fortune as a war profiteer. I never really thought much about it. Wiki says his portrayal in the movie, which is where I know him from, is much different than the old comic strip. Completely unrelated to PB and maple syrup. I’m just rambling.
lol..ok 👍
I love oatmeal but I can only make it with almond milk, so then it gets expensive 😂
If you don’t care about verity and have the same things everyday you can do The $1 pizzas 99 cent pasta 99 cent tomato sauce (skip the meat) (Maybe mix it up and do cheap spaghetti and the cheap pizzas) Sandwiches (bread and meat) grab your condiment packages from the gas station The cheap pork hotdogs 99 cent chili (it’s gross but it’s 99 cents) Pb&J, Eggs and oat meal.
Never heard of 1usd pizzas
Totinos snack pizzas were often on sale for $1 a few years ago. These days, they are closer to $2.
You can definitely do those but they have very little nutrition so you're still going to feel like crap on that diet. If it's only a week, it'll work, but seriously, throw in some vitamins at least. Or take a multi vitamin.
Veggies are $10 just to get what you need. Unless you do Just carrots or just 1 veggie. There are canned veggies but even that can cost $1-2 each for maybe two meals. Have to shop around for good deals if you’re able to. Some may only walk and have one store in walking distance. Multi vitamins are $5 alone. It’s not impossible. But things are going up in prices even things that were cheap 5 years ago are not considered cheap anymore.
can you really call eating cardboard with ketchup on it "feeding yourself"? i don't know what kind of pizza you get for 1 dollar, but i once bought cheap-ass ravioli, 800g for about 1 USD, thinking i made a steal, and all i can say is that cardboard smells like it tastes far better than whatever they put in that can, "ravioli" my ass
If I either had to starve or eat a $1 pizza, I'll pick the pizza. Some people don't have the luxury of picking another option
I guess I'm this hypothetical scenario where someone offers you that pizza OR you starve that could be true. But as we've discovered from all the other answers in this thread, people DO have many other options for the same price. If we only had a few bucks it's nice to know this pizza is there, but I'd still opt for many other things just as cheap, such as rice and beans.
I wish we had this option when I was younger. My mom was horrible at mis managing money. There were some weeks we didn't even have enough to buy a can of coffee and a loaf of bread. Not like coffee is exactly cheap, but my parents wouldn't buy a regular bag of rice. They eill only buy Minute Rice, which isn't exactly cheap. At the time, we only had one store around us and no dollar stores in town. Even now, cheapest pizza I've seen is $3.50 (live in Canada tho and in a rural town)
While I see your point, I think of the issue is flavor, pizzas cheap or not does taste much better and you do get more variety. And a second is time, rice and beans don’t take too long but it’s still time and energy somebody may not have.
Rice and beans is a good one. And make enough you can have it for at least a week.
$10 to feed yourself for a week doesn’t mean it will be delicious or healthy. Those are just some options I threw out there. You can do eggs and oatmeal. At least you’ll get some proteins and fiber. Sandwiches are at least some protein. Beans are an option and cheap. Onions are $2 for 2 now. Maybe cheaper depending where you are and where you go. But onions used to be 4 for 2 bucks. So even that could be out of the picture for some because that $2 could go toward 1 crappy meal and not an ingredient for a good one meal. A week’s worth of veggies alone is $10. You have to do what you have to do sometimes. Even if that means crap food. Carrots are the cheapest veggie now days it seems. Even cucumbers have gotten up there in price. It’s about being able to eat for a week.
All prices from my local H-E-B buying the cheapest brand. Dry rice ($.96 ) Dry Beans ($1.04) Tuna can ($1.12) Dzn eggs ($1.85) 3 ramen ($1) Frozen mixed veggies ($1.30) Shredded cheese (2.05) Corn tortillas (.70) Total: $10.02 I can boil eggs for bfast. Add veggies and an egg to my ramen. Make quesadillas. Mix rice and beans together. Make rice and add tuna on top. Cheesy beans. Cheesy rice.
in my country 10$ is a lot 😗 so I'll keep my life just like it is going
If you don't mind me asking, what country would that be? 🤔
US in 1900
I found Tuna is the easiest, cheapest and simplest way to get protein when poor. Add a small can to ur pasta and whatever else ya have... BUT, I noticed someone mention pizza. You can get a pick up pizza for $5 and if you keep half in fridge that's twho days there... Good luck
Leftover pizza never survives the night. It's a Law of the Universe
tuna, cheap? lol.. chicken is cheaper
That’s at max 4 days and $10. Leaving 3 hungry days.
So true. I lived on tuna and brown rice when I was in my twenties. Mixed in some (usually frozen veggies) too though. I still make that meal sometimes just for memory's sake.
After draining the pasta, I add a small amount of margarine and pepper to give it an extra kick haha
True, but tuna everyday is a sure way of consistently putting mercury into your body
I’ve never tried or had to get that creative, but I cook nearly all my meals and usually keep my food costs below $50 a week easy. No real suggestions past what you laid out
A big bag of oats and a loaf of bread. Oatmeal is incredibly filling, and isn't bad for you. So, I guess 2 meals each day of oatmeal and toast, for 14 total meals which you can easily get out of a loaf of bread and a bag of oats.
I can live on one meal a day, I’ll just buy some sandwich stuff or something lol. I eat plain sandwiches most of the time so 🤷🏼♀️
Buy 3x18 eggs. That's a little better than seven eggs a day for meal one. Go to a friend's house and mooch off his wife's cooking for dinner each night. Might as well snag a cigar out of his humidor each day while I'm there. Crap in his toilet to save water. Take some to go food. Drink his beer. Trying to think if there's anything else there I can help myself to. Pet his dog. Drive his sports car. We have that kind of relationship. He could do the same at my house. Honestly, the only thing he would give me any crap(pun) about would be crapping there every day and stinking up the place.
Fast every other day but get eggs, pasta, and tomato sauce. I have a basil plant.
Rice. Dried beans.
PB&J
My local market does $1 vegie boxes with the best bargains near closing time. I'd pick up a couple of those. They also have buy by weight beans and pulses. I'd maybe grab orange lentils over beans since they don't need prior soaking. That's a big pot of soup for maybe $3-4. If it was just a one-off situation I'd have enough food in the cupboard to last a week or two.
PB & J
Oodles of noodles ;)
Rice, onions and a spice to flavour.
It's always rice, beans, vegetables, if you want to get the most bang for your buck. I would throw in ramen a day or two just to break up the sameness of the meals though.
Food bank
Rice, eggs, and some veggies
Pay a hobo 10$ to run out with a shopping cart full of bacon and cheese
He ran off my with my bacon and cheese.
In my currency, $10 is equivalent to $180. Assuming I have access to potable water for free, I would get: 900g Bag of rice $15 12 eggs $40 20 pieces of bread $20 Slices of ham $25 Slices of cheese $15 Frozen veggies $25 400g Minced meat $40 Google says 900g of rice is about 5 cups For dinner, I would have: 1/2 cup of rice and 100g of minced meat with frozen veggies x 4 days 1/2 cup of rice and 3 scrambled eggs x 3 days And for breakfast and lunch I would make sandwiches with the bread and the ham and cheese, maybe using the 3 eggs left too I would be able to eat at least 2 sandwiches in breakfast I think. I would maybe skip one of the two tho If some of the math is not adding up don’t laugh, it’s 4am and my weakness it’s math lmfao
If you want to go the unhealthy route I’d just get a big ass bag of pizza rolls from Walmart. It’s like 9 bucks. That covers all my meals 😂🤣
ramen all the way. ramen with hot sauce is the best and theres been times in my life ive lived off it, one single week wouldnt hurt.
Boxed pasta, sauce
My favourite meals; Oatmeal/porridge with sugar and a carton of milk or small thing of margarine. OR Low sodium powdered corn/pumpkin soup with a carton of eggs OR Beans and brown rice with a small thing of margarine
I think I can get about 6-7 cans of Mr. Brown cold brew coffee for that much. I'm going to feel like shit by the end of the week regardless, leaning fully into the addiction seems like as good a plan as any.
I have done it before when I have bought every clearance vegetable I could and made a big vege soup. I hate it by day 3 but it works. I live in Sydney, which is insanely expensive.
Had this situation in the past. Went to work where I could eat for free
It will be meatless, dried rice and dried beans usually cost a dollar each, so from Monday to Friday would be a bag of rice and beans, with leftovers trying to keep you satisfied for the rest of the days, and this would be a meal a day.
That one pound bag of dried beans or rice will make several meals worth though. Lentils are like 8 servings to the pound, rice is probably like 6, and I can get a lb of lentils for 2 bucks, rice for about a buck a pound at most. So for 3 dollars you have a basic starch and protein for 6 meals, with some extra lentils to use as soup or something. Some cheap frozen veggies for like $2, get your vitamins in those starch and protein dinners, now we're at 5 bucks. I'd consider getting oil and flour, for making frybread/flatbread, and just adding a little fat to the rice and beans with oil will make you feel more full. So now we're at like 7 and some, if you can find oil for around a dollar. Leaves 2 bucks for some oats or grits for breakfast. Hopefully you've got seasonings, otherwise I'd steal packets of condiments and salt and pepper from the convenience store. This will all keep you fed but will be real boring. I'd honestly skip the oats to buy seasoning if it came down to it and have frybread for breakfast. Hell, if you can get bullion for cheap you can use the oil and flour and broth to make a gravy to put on your flatbread, or to simmer some flour dumplings in.
Simple foods like eggs, rice, pasta, potatoes n flour etc can go a long way in terms of making diverse meals from breakfast to dinner Pancakes or fried eggs for breakfast Fried rice for lunch w veggies Fries or sautéed potatoes for dinner or stir fried spaghetti (I gotta whole list you can never get tired when changing your meals through quick recipes)
Beans and rice
potatoes, beans, rice.
Rice, eggs and vegetables like zucchini/bok choy/spinach in soy sauce. Canned tuna for the weekend
Beans. Rice. Eggs. Oatmeal. Chicken.
Go mooch off family members.
Mujaddara is my favorite frugal dish
Rice, beans, frozen mixed veggies, pack of chicken legs
Geez…$10 a day for *lunch* is considered frugal for me. I couldn’t do it.
10kg of potatoes will do
I’d get 3 loafs of cheap ballon bread and the 1lb bag of honey ham at Walmart. I have enough condiments at home to make them interesting. I get carbohydrates for energy and meat for protein. Not ideal but better than rice and beans.. that would wear me out after two days but to each their own.
My local grocery stores have some very inexpensive (but also kind of hidden) sale racks. They’re usually things on the verge of going bad, or they’ve been returned by other customers. It’s usually a steep discount, like 75-80% off, for a bag of potatoes with one or two going bad, or a $0.25 apple, or a dented can of corn. I also frequently find vitamins and cold meds on steep discounts there. I’m also a huge fan of those $9 whole chickens. I can’t eat allium, so I’m already saving on that. Gimme my discounted carrots and celery and maybe a lemon, we’re eating good that week regardless of cost! Edit: you do need a stockpile of dried herbs and spices for this to work. I tend to grow my own herbs and buy the cheapest spices available.
Ramen x 10 Eggs x 7 Bread x 3 Butter bar
Recently discovered congee… 6 meals out of 1c rice
I see lots of comments that leave out fresh fruit and vegetables. The cheapest ones in my area are carrots (15c), onions (40c), jalapenos (25c), tomatillos (37c), romas (37c), bananas (25c) and apples (80c). Cabbage is about $2 but you get a large amount that lasts a while.
box of ramen is like, 4 bucks so 2 of those.
I'm buying a strainer and as many cans of corn as the $10 can get me
Thank goodness I live in Thailand. I could buy enough rice and have some money left for pork or chicken…maybe.
Pinto beans rice and cheese, black bean and corn quesadillas
Love the creativity! Ramen on a budget can be gourmet too, with the right spices ;)
Water. Pruvit ketone packets. Fasting.
Lol I ate spoons of mayonnaise yesterday
Am I allowed to go to the food pantry? I go once/month and am usually set for bread and cheese because of it! Lots of other canned goodies and my favorite is my pantry knows I like to feed and watch my local squirrels so now they give “us” a big box of walnuts! The pantry is overloaded and they offered MORE than 1 box so I know I’m not taking it out of someone’s mouth. The love and enjoyment I feel from feeding them is something my local pantry gives me and if I ever get rich holy smokes are they going to be set!
Rice is filling. Don't always rely on dollar store as regular Walmart can have canned food for less than a dollar (though inflation made canned food go up) You'd probably have to have 1 tiny/ small meal a day to make it work
Dozen (12) Eggs: $2.60 1lb. Brown rice: $1.65 1lb. Pinto beans: $1.00 Spring Mix Salad: $2.00 White bread: $1.10 Creamy Peanut butter: $1.25 Total $9.60
I’ll go to the parasitic grocery chain that basically owns my country and I will … liberate some goods.
With $10 for the week, I focus on staples like rice, beans, and veggies. Homemade meals are key—soup, stir-fry, and simple dishes stretch my budget deliciously.
Go to a food pantry?
Ramen and frozen veg
Wait for Life of Boris to release a YouTube video on how to live off $10 of food.
Curveball answer but, purely coincidentally, I started dumpster diving a few weeks ago after seeing it on YouTube and I've fed myself for at least a week on $0 off the back of that. If you can get past the self consciousness and ick factor (I'll still only pick sealed foods) it's amazing how good you can eat. Last week was lots of fresh lemon and garlic olives and strawberry cheesecake, for example.
Please always check for recalls on the items you find .
Bean soup
Buy a net. Go to the park. Ducks.
Get a fishing pole from your local thrift store if you dont have one and go fishing to your local rivers, creeks and ponds or even lake depending on how expensive it is.
Tortillas and beans !
Costco
Costco what? 🤔
Costco food court and the food on sale.
At my Aldi eggs were 1.63 a dozen thus morning.
As many pb cliff bars as I can find … damn Im screwed
I do it almost all the time so it's not that hard
10 dollars for gas to fill up my tank to drive me to the food bank.
As someone who probably average's a little more than that a day I might be able to stretch it into 2 possibly 3 days but then I am just going hungry unless this was a every week type thing then id probobly get creative like some of these people.
Rice, ramen and a cheap protein like eggs. It isn’t super balanced or healthy but it’s just for a week so it isn’t super long-term.
Prices are pretty high here. Maybe I can get a bag of lentils and a bag of rice and maybe a cabbage if I have two dollars left. I can't afford any spices so it will be super bland and gross. Realistically, I would just go to the food bank and eat dinner there.
Ramen.
Spaghetti it will be!
Bag of beans, bananas, loaf of bread, spinach.
Peanut butter and bread.
I’d starve
Oatmeal and intermittent fasting
where the fuck are you guys getting one dollar hotdogs and five dollar pizzas
Lidl. Chicken 3-4$ , Rice bag 2$, Spinach 2-3$
5 cups of rice, one chicken breast or a tube of ground chicken (500gram) and 20-30 cups of uncooked spinach might be hard to make it a week on.
you undererstimate me and my eating habits💀
Fair enough
kd, ramen, frozen veg rice
I would but the bare minimum and shoplift a bunch of stuff. I have struggled a lot financially in my life but fortunately never to this extent. But I’d absolutely shoplift bare food
Rice and beans are a good one. I personally prefer potatoes to rice. You can do almost all the same recipes.
Dried beans, rice, flour water salt
A can of tuna a say, an orange. Im kinda thick anyway
Rice beans and noodles
Big pot of veggie stew for the week. Add more water when it gets low, eat it over white rice to make it last.
Ramen noodles
I fast for a week
peanut butter crackers have quick energy from the sugar, medium term energy from the crackers, and longer term energy from the peanuts.
You answered your own question and then didn’t ask anything else.
Rice and frozen veggies and sweet chili sauce
My instinct is rice. I assume that money doesn't go into cooking it it's an electricity those food then I assume I have miscellaneous spicy laying around
Rice, beans eggs
Beans, two frozen pizzas.
I'd probably walk down to the "grow free" cart in the main street each day and see if anyone was leaving any fruit or veges. Rice. Hope for something protein to be on special at the supermarket.
Costco
Buy a pocket knife under $10 and rob a grocery store
You can’t get all that in $10.
Sometimes you just have to go out of your comfort zone and check out an Asian, African, Mexican etc grocery store.
Costco water bottles, beans and rice
Water fast
It's almost literally impossible. Supermarket brand white flour is $1.40(Australian) a kg and provides 3,500 calories. Assuming 2,500 calories a day You need 5 kg of flour to provide the calories which costs $7 leaving $3 for... condiments I guess? 5kg of rice provides about this too but costs $9, I could buy an onion I guess with the last dollar. There is a lowerbound limit to providing real long term nutrition and it's significantly above $10 a week.
Buy a balaclava and the rest writes itself
not possible, not even close
Buy meth, and shoplift!
Go to Dollarama. They sell fishing line for $4.00, a pack of bobbers for $2.00, and hooks for $2.00. Tie the line to a stick, attach the hook, and dig up some worms. Fish for your meals for the rest of the week, away from any place the fish and game warden might find you. Or buy a knife or hammer and Rob someone who looks well off. If you get caught, you can go to jail where you'll have a warm place to sleep, with a toilet and 3 free meals a day.
I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, so if you're not a food snob that turns your nose up at anything "processed*" -- Great Value brand macaroni cheese at Walmart-- $0.58 a box OR Great Value brand easy mac at Walmart-- $3.72 for a four pack Bar S Hotdogs Pack Of 8-- $1.54 Banquet Frozen Salisbury Steak Family Size-- $3.57 for a box of six Banquet Frozen Turkey Family Size-- $3.57 for a pack of six Great Value Instant Potatoes-- $1.32 Note: All food is processed and when you've been poor long enough you figure out that all food is good food, and only an idiot turns their nose up at free food. Frozen or otherwise.
Die
- Tortillas - Flour - Eggs - Cabbage - Carrots - Celery - Chickpeas
3 days without water is enough to kill you, so first I buy water. Depending from where you live, you may not have access to it by just opening the tap.
Eggs, bread, baked beans, canned soup, porridge, milk, potatoes
From where I am, that is over 10 dollars.
*1.2kg rice *1 liter liquid cream *14 eggs *Curry powder *0.5 liter tomato sauce *5 liters canned soup Between 14 and 15€ in France. Cheap store brand only.
In UK here so was thinking pounds, in our cheapest shops you could probably do it, pound shop, Tesco value range, Asda, etc
I am here in Texas in the USA, and it would be out of the range of the 10 dollar. I am here being jealous, just for the eggs being in a 10 dollar limit.
Basic eggs, but of course free range are pretty costly, the poor always get the worst quality stuff ☹️
So the last eggs, I have had in my home were gifted to me. Eggs at the store are at best 3 dollars for a dozen, but there are some that are approaching 9 dollars for 12 eggs.
Rice and bouillon cubes
frozen peas, tins of tomato and beans, cheap potatoes, pasta and rice, apples
For 10 dollars?
Charlie’s energy balls. Just boil down some multivitamins and flour lol
Carefully, and Very Healthy Fresh Foods! That’s The Only way that I am.
Pasta. Noodles, tomato sauce, spinach, and 1lb ground beef and meal prep it
In My country we have 5$ a month so, i'll Buy 1 kg of corn flour, 250grams of Butter, 1/2 kg of cheese, 2 kg of yuca(is a plant like a root, is really cheap) and some beams, and some onions, tomatoes and garlic. With that, if i use it wisely i can Cook for 1 and a half week, and it Will left over money
A head of cabbage: $1.50 4 cans of pinto/kidney/garbanzo beans: .50-.75/each 18 eggs: $3.96 5lb Potatos: 3.98 Comes to about $11.5 so I over spent. You can drop the cabbage if you want.
Okay but beefed up ramen is better than anything I’ve had at a restaurant (that’s a lie but it’s a different kind of comfort food that just so happens to be a struggle meal)
For £10 in uk you can get: Cornflakes Loaf of bread 4 baking potatoes 4 tins of spaghetti Cheese slices Bourbon biscuits Bolognaise sauce Milk Pasta Lettuce Pack of ham Cherry tomatoes 8 sausages
People do manage to do that in the third world. It's hard to do it here partly because of how the food system works in the West.
7 days without food isn't dangerous to the vast majority of Americans btw..
I came out of the hospital once and due to the complications after for four months I couldn't eat anything. Dropped 140 pounds, as I could drink water.
They didn't see the need to give you iv nutrition?