Living On A Maximum Food Budget Of $4.14 Per Day – Week 2 – Days 5 & 6
My Journey Eating On Just $4.14 per day
Nearly two weeks ago I challenged myself to live on the average SNAP food stamp benefit of $29 per person per week.
Last week I added up all the ingredients I used and it came out to just $13.34 all week. That's only $1.91 per day, or an average of 63.5 cents per meal.
This week I am a spending a little bit more than that, but still around $2 per day. This is amazing! Never before have I spent so little to eat each day. Maybe one day would be cheap, but the rest would not be.
I have a goal of becoming financially independent. To achieve this I need to have 25x my yearly expenses saved up or have assets that generate at least the amount that it costs me to live. If I can reduce my cost of living, I will reduce the amount I need to have and speed up the day that I can say: "I am FREE!"
Breakfast Day 5 - $0.40
This was one of my most favorite breakfasts of this challenge. I don't know about you, but SPAM is tasty. Fried SPAM? YES, please!
Maybe it was my years spent living in Hawai'i (who are we kidding, of course it is), but SPAM is some processed magic. You gotta do it right though. Plus, this isn't real SPAM, it's just a knockoff.
This was simply some of that brown rice I cooked days ago and an egg all added to some fried fake spam.
As an aside, try adding some fried spam to mac & cheese - delish!
LUNCH - $0.96
Some of the spaghetti I cooked last night, plus a cookie.
I've found that simply one of something is enough. That way I savor each bit of it, whether it is a cookie or a strawberry. When it is all you have, the taste is magnified.
DINNER - $0.54
I was feeling pretty sated, so I just made up a half grilled cheese sandwich and some fries. There was a time not so long ago that this might have just been a hearty snack. Hah, who am I kidding - that was me just the other week!
BREAKFAST DAY 6 - $0.47
Saturday. I had signed up for a free seminar on book writing and was going to be there all day. I needed a full breakfast and I remembered how full I was after eating one of these the other day. Plus, it is quick to make.
A breakfast burrito - one egg, some beans, and some rice, all on a tortilla. Filling and cheap. Plus, half a banana.
LUNCH - $0.46
Since I was going to be at that seminar, I needed some lunch that could keep unrefrigerated. With what I had I decided on a peanut butter sandwich with half a cheese sandwich, the rest of the banana from breakfast, and a cookie.
I figured this would keep my brain active to pick up the knowledge given out.
DINNER - $0.83
I had a little bit of that cream of mushroom sauce with fake spam cubes in the fridge that I should use up. So I did! This is a decent and quick meal for anyone. All you do it fry some SPAM in cubes, then add the fried SPAM to the little pot you have cooking with cream of mushroom and an additional can filled up with milk. Put that on top of noodles. Done in like 15 minutes max.
Plus, my very last strawberry!
Later that night I had a snack, the other half pack of Ramen from last week. Cost $0.10.
CONCLUSION
Day 5 total: $1.90
Day 6 total: $1.86
Weekly cumulative total: $14.41
Well, I'm now almost 2 weeks complete with this SNAP food stamp challenge.
I've learned a lot about my relationship with food. Portion control. Food minimalism. Planning. Making do with less.
All these are lessons that I will take away from this and merge into my normal life. Is that considered "life-changing"? I guess it is since there is no mention of the amount of change required to be life-changing.
There are 6 of us in our family. 6x30 is $180. I am pretty sure we spend less than that a week. Sometimes as low as $100, other times when stocking up on good deals $250.
But we also have a fairly productive garden(for suburbia) and get free stuff when available...
Two weeks ago we picked 30+ lbs of wormy or blemished apples. We sliced and dried 10-15lbs of them(before drying). And made a couple apple cobblers.
And my wife is always buying organic. But she buys it at ALDI on closeout.. Or Kroger when they reduce it(not expired...they just rotate stock). And she will buy as much as they have if it is a good price.
But we don't drink any sodas. Rarely beer. Keep a box of wine... But drink once a week or less. Milk is rediculously cheep at less than $3 /gallon. And usually geet eggs at $1/doz large...or $2.5 for cagefree/organic on sale.
It is a great discipline to have. The key is eating out 3 times a month OR LESS. You can always eat a GOOD meal at home for $4.50 or less. Eating at a restaurant is $7min.....easily $12 if including tip. And thats not even fancy. And usually when we do eat out I am dissapointed because food at home tastes better!!!
Peace
Just thought of one example. Last week my wife sent me to the store(on my bike) to buy 6 chuck roasts because the sale was ending. They were $2.75 lb. They all went in the freezer.
Last night I slow grilled an $9 one. Added $0.30 of carrots. $0.50 of onions. Baby squash from garden and potatoes from garden. Total cost less than $10. It was damn good and fed 6..... Plus a little leftovers!!!
Now I didnt count the spices.... Or the butter and hotsauce the kids put on the potatoes... So add $0.50 tops.
I would love to have a garden, but the effort and money required to get started here in southern AZ just doesn't make any financial sense. My retired neighbor has one raised bed, but the results are minimal - and he has the whole setup!
Back where I am from in New England, you just throw the seeds into the ground and you get baskets full! That's what we did when I was a kid. But you got the system down - good eating for cheap!
As a single mom with 3 kids, I have done it for years. With no food stamps, I worked my butt off and had 35.00 a week to feed 4 (8.75 per week each). The problem with the diet is that it is unhealthy, and eating this way for years can shorten your life, alot.
It can be done, but loose the fake spam, and get a family pack of chicken on the meat manager's markdown shelf...along with some alligator baggies and split that meat into bags of one serving...then freeze it.
get bags of frozen fruit, and veggies,,,add those to rice, pasta, pancakes, muffins to stretch them out. And once a week get a 4 oz steak, or lb of burger, or ham steak...just watch for what meat is on special
If flour or rice or beans are on sale, get extra bags of them...if you want something sweet, check the bakery daily sale rack after 7 pm...and learn to bake cookies for 1/3 of the cost.
After a couple months you will find you have plenty of dry and frozen ingredients on hand and will be able to just get eggs, dairy, and meat...and then get a good rotation going. With flour, egg, salt and water you can easily make pasta for 50 cents a lb...
Good luck with it all.
These tips are great because they are coming from someone who has done it.
As for my particular challenge, I cant do some of them. I upped the difficulty by only shopping at the 99 Cents Only store. So no fresh meat or coupons, limited ptoduce. Also I can't use the oven or microwave to cook.
Ahhh...the self torture experiment...haha
Well best of luck with it...I will pop back to see how it goes!
That was quite informative. Even though you were living in the minimum food budget. Your food looked delicious. Not bad.
Hey thanks @firepower, when I set my goal as something I am driven to maximize my achievements in it.
I'll be going to steemfest this year! YAY! Cya there :D
Definitely could not do it in the U.S. In the Philippines, no problem! My first 5 months in the islands I lost 38 lbs. Then I fell off that wagon and gained it all back. Who would have thunk (thank, thinked?) they had chocolate ice cream, pizza, cookies and a Mister Donut on every corner? Right back where I started. So have you lost weight?
Hah, I would certainly be tempted as it must be very inexpensive there! I think I lost a little bit of weight, not sure how much - maybe 1-3 pounds at most?
You must not be overweight to begin with! lol
Hah, I am actually. I didn't weigh myself before I started, but I hopped on now. I lost maybe 5?
Are you working out in conjunction with your new diet? That might explain such a small loss of weight in two weeks.
No working out either, just my normal office job.
Amazing how your are being creative with with your diet and budget plan... I applaud you on your journey... Just a recommendation if possible try to add more vegetables to the diet the carbs will keep you bloated and not satiate the nutrients you need.
I'll see what I can do - I got 1/4 bunch of asparagus, three tomatoes maybe, one and a half squash, plus onions.
I was on food stamps a few times in the states and always ate well when I had them. But I was like you - getting ingredients and cooking them. If you only shopped at 7-11 or used your stamp budget on junk - it would be expensive and you would run out of food at the end of the month. I also used to find out about places like churches that give away food and that would help too. But it is not easy and you are doing much better than most people do.
Carbonara yesterday was tasty. Oh fuck it is Sunday & I can not buy the ingredients to make peanut butter sandwiches.
White bread + peanut butter = Bulking phase :-)
First time making carbonara? It was mine, but it was damn tasty. Glad to add another dish to my personal recipe list.
Yep, tried it the first time. Carbonara is always good!
After seeing that I now have to blow half my food budget on seaweed so I can make some Spam musubi.
Great post thank u for sharing love it