Many people think because they can't spend much money on food, they can't eat good. Maybe they have a mental image of eating Ramon Noodles every night and always starving. I've found that by spending less money on food that my diet is healthier, and I'm seldom hungry except for normal hunger. I haven't broken the code on living on $4.14 a month yet. This is the average amount a person on food stamps gets in Colorado. However, I've found it's easy to spend less than $5.00 a day. I burn about 2,700 calories a day, but eat 2,100 calories. Eating for $5.00/day is not sustainable for the long term as I'm gradually losing weight.
Processed food costs more and is less healthy
I don't think I need to support this statement too much, but from looking in people's shopping carts I can see many people don't know or don't care.
The further a food is from its natural state, the more unhealthy ingredients are added and the more the cost goes up. The same goes for convenience foods such as frozen pizza and frozen dinners. A person trying to minimize their food budget will have to stay away from these. The same is true for fast food.
The good news is the person on a tight food budget will fare the best if they learn to eat healthy inexpensive foods and add a mix of fruits and vegetables that are more expensive. In fact, I believe that people who learn to live on low cost food will eat healthier than most rich people.
I'm still building this list which ranks foods by their cost/2000 calories. It's mostly healthy foods, but I did throw in a value meal and a convenience pizza for comparison.
The first general grouping is rice, potatoes, bread, oatmeal, noodles and chips bought in big bags when on sale.
The chips were a surprise to me, but the cost/calorie is low. If eaten in small quantities they are not unhealthy. By chips, I mean basic potato chips, corn chips, tortilla chips, etc.
Nuts can be a valuable addition to the diet, but only if bought in bulk and in an inexpensive form. Vitamin Cottage Natural Foods has a pound of peanuts for $2.62. They are more expensive at the box stores. Call them beer nuts and the price skyrockets.
Peanuts are preferable to peanut butter as they are about 2/3 the cost and not processed.
Fruits and vegetables
Ask most anyone how to reduce food costs and they will say to eat more fruits and vegetables. I think of fruits and vegetables as vitamin pills and not as calorie sources. They add nutrients, but few calories. I'm careful to use the suggested serving size. For vegetables, I eat mostly frozen. Fruits are mostly bananas, grapes and apples bought on sale.
Beans
I eat a lot of canned beans as I don't know how to make good beans from scratch. If anyone has a great recipe, please leave it in the comments.
Vegan diet
I'm vegan for ethical reasons. I'm also vegan because it is less expensive. It is possible to eat small amounts of meat and reach the cost goal. It's also possible to eat dairy. These are outside of my food universe, so I don't have any items listed.
Non-Organic and GMO Foods
In my opinion, most health problems are caused by poor food choices instead of non-organic food choices. If a person on a high sugar diet develops type 2 diabetes or a person on a high fat diet develops heart problems, it's more about the basic food rather than if it was organic or non-organic.
If a person needs to limit their food budget to food stamp levels, they won't be able to make the organic choice.
Is it healthy?
For that, we need an unbiased rating source. I use www.caloriecount.com. Anytime I post a menu it has an "A" rating.
Leftovers
I asked a friend how he eats on $84 a month. He said he eats everything but the squeal. No food goes to waste. This is why you will find chips and bread in strange places on my menus. If they aren't eaten, the actual cost/day will exceed the calculated cost.
Weigh or Measure your Food
In general, I use the serving size on the packages. If I need more calories in a meal, I usually add another item instead of increasing the serving size.
Menu Planning
I use a spreadsheet I wrote to help with menu planning. It's not bug free yet, so I can't share it. I will at some time in the future. Unfortunately, I can't find a program online that includes costs, calories and health benefits so I'm writing my own.
Each evening, my son and I decide what's for supper the next day. We eat differently the rest of the day. I enjoy walking, so each morning I walk four miles round trip to King Souper's to buy the food for the day. Usually, the bill is less than $10. If it's more, it's because I'm buying some bulk item that will last several days.
Today's Menu
Cost: $0.92
Calories: 556
(Including a serving of Mission Tortilla Strips which are not shown.)
Cooking hint: Dice the potatoes into small pieces and steam for about 20 minutes. Leave the skin on. It's paid for, so you may as well eat it.
The left column has the serving size in grams or in cases like a banana it's listed as "1." Then there is the item name, cost and calories. (If an item is listed twice, it means I had two servings.)
Notice there is a fruit at each meal. It's a little light on vegetables, so I'll probably add a salad at supper for about 50 cents. If I don't, I'll have more vegetables tomorrow.
My menus generally have about 75% carbs, 12% fat and 13% protein. This one has 77% carbs, 10% fat and 13% protein.
Conclusion
This is controversial. The Mayo Clinic says we can eat a healthy diet for $5.00 a day. When I first read this it made me mad because I've seen people eat in hospital cafeterias. However, I've found it truly is possible even with inflation. For some reason, the low cost healthy foods haven't experienced much inflation.
To achieve this goal a person needs scientific menu planning at a level most people can't do in their head. It also takes time which many people don't have.
Finally, it takes realizing a menu plan is composed of many small decisions each day and a slight cost advantage on each decision results in big savings.
Please express your pleasure or displeasure in the comments. There are certainly things I haven't thought of. Besides, politely discussing issues is a good way to learn.
http://www.everydaymaven.com/2012/cooking-seasoning-dried-beans/
ReplyDeleteYou might find this article useful on cooking beans from dry. Dry beans are so inexpensive and you can easily freeze what cooked beans you don't use immediately. I cook up a pound and eat it all week. But I also use an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, so they cook much more quickly. That's an extra expense but it is easy to cook and season dry beans on the stove if you are home to keep an eye on them. Use a 1/3 rule for beans - 1/2 cup of dry beans will make 1 1/2 cups cooked, or the equivalent of one 14-ounce can of purchased beans. I don't soak beans overnight but only because I eat tons of them and so I don't have the "gas" issues that others do. To me, the solution to the gas problem is to just eat more beans. I soak old beans I've found in the back of the cupboard so they absorb some water before cooking. Otherwise, they'd take forever.
The other way to cook beans from dry is in a slow cooker (crock pot). Just turn it to High for about 15 minutes, then turn down to Low and cook for about 8 hours and just walk away. You can season them any way you like, including adding veggies and seasonings right into the slow cooker crock to make soup. I picked up a slow cooker at a Grocery Outlet for about USD 15. It was a smallish size (3 1/2 quarts) but I am able to cook 1/2 pound dry beans plus any veggies in there, which for one person can last several days.
Now I use the Instant Pot and I'm hooked on having my beans cooked in 40 minutes. But cooking on the stove works great, too.
Loving your blog. I also purchased one of your books. :)