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$0/h Food Budget- Tips & Tricks?

Akoto

Akoto

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
3,208
Location
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
No money, no job, no food.

How about a thread on terrific budget-food ideas!

How far were you able to stretch your money in the past, and how?

Staples I have- potatoes, rice and dry beans -But that's going to get boring really fast eating raw material. Any cooking tips & budget ideas?

How about tips on getting a legitimate free meal in downtown Vancouver like all the bums do?
 
We have had a thread JUST like this.... it had a lot of good discussion on free food, dumpster diving, also like I suggested in that thread.

APPLY for a JOB in a RESTAURANT! You will get fed as much as you want for the most part!
 
Good job on having the potatoes, rich, and dry beans--Those certainly are cheap (and healthy). For the most part, avoid processed foods. Stick with the in-season fresh produce or buy frozen vegetables when it's on sale. Bananas and apples are two very cheap fruits. While fruits may seem "Eh, I don't need fruits while on a budget," you do need some vitamins. Avoid buying the heavily processed convenience foods. Same with soda, juice, etc--Don't even buy water. Drink water from the tap.

I've been able to get my grocery bill down to $25ish a week for one person (down from $50ish) by eating frozen vegetables, lots of beans, and rice. Pasta is also cheap if you get it while on sale.

As far as spicing up the beans and rice, try some soy sauce or just spices. Do you have any spices? If so, try a little on a tablespoon on beans. Try another on another tablespoon. I had to do that when for three days all I had to eat was black beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As far as getting legitimate free meals, I have no clue, sorry! Good luck man. And remember: While ramen is dirt cheap, it's nutrition is poor.
 
unless there is some resource on the social services page, for the legitimate free meals thing, you might have to talk to some bums. have you been to any foodbanks? churches usually run foodbanks, where you can go once or twice a month and get a box or two of free food, in a variety of disgusting. :) as for dumpster diving -- my favourite spots were college campuses (college kids love to waste mommy and daddy's money) and hotels. sugary snacks from the hotel breakfast bar, yum!
 
Funny thing is about dumpster diving in Vancouver is that everybody locks their dumpsters. I guess they got tired of the colossal number of crackheads here throwing trash all over the road.

APPLY for a JOB in a RESTAURANT! You will get fed as much as you want for the most part!
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True say, I've been applying like mad.
 
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I have dumpster-dived in my time... and I would suggest that you case bakeries. You can get the most caloric food from bakeries. If the bakeries are nice, they keep all of their stale breads in one big plastic bag. Its been a life-saver for me in the past. Imagine a bounty of 4 dozen, perfectly edible bagels, biscuits and loaves that the bakery over-produced and now cannot sell because they have a stale consistency. Ghetto bakeries will probably repackage these types of breads and sell them in bulk, so avoid them. Stick to gourmet bakeries.
 
Ok guys here is a way to get free grub, ive done it with all sorts of my favorite food items and even beer, this was after getting out of jail and broke!
On a box of any food item there is a 800- number that for questions, comments, and, Complaints :) ------ Get a empty box of crackers for example, call and say they were all stale and that was the second time that has happened. BOOM = FREE VOUCHERS.
I remember calling rolling rock back in the day and said none of the beer in my 12pack was carbonated, worked great, had free beer the next week. Hope that helps some of ya ;)
 
it's all about out the back of bakeries! i haven't done it myself, but i know friends who used to come home with bag fulls of bread/treats/etc that had been mostly untouched and thrown away after the day had finished.
 
try www.supercook.com put in the ingredients you have and it will give lists of recipes you can make out of what you have, maybe with a couple of other things such as butter or oil etc.

If any of your friends are in a similar position, when you are buying food get the bogof offers and split the price of each item between you so you are getting it at half price.

Go to your local library, find out about the local nature what is available for you to pick e.g. different kinds of berries, nuts etc.
Quite often in libraries you can find out about local courses or nature walks which could offer you the chance to get this more safely.

End of nights is when most places will reduce foods, more often than not they can be bought and frozen or cooked that night for use the next day.

When making a meal try and cook at least one other portion that you can freeze and just defrost and microwave another night saving you cooking time and money for cooking. cooking in batches and portioning it means you can cut costs, as well as on electric/gas you can then buy food in larger amounts which is normally cheaper.

If cooking for example a chicken, one night a roast, another night part chopped up for a stir fry, another night wings and parts for a paella, use the carcass for stock, any left over chicken make it up with a basic white sauce and use it in either a pie or make crepe pancakes and use it as a filling. 1 chicken for my bunch though only covers 2 dinners and stock, but if your are single you can get sevreal meals and a few lunches. All you have to do is freeze it so you are not getting sick of it and alternate meals.

Greenstar mention phoning up and complaining about foods, another way is phoning up and complementing them and saying that you wish you could buy more etc but funds are low etc, they still send you out vouchers, I normally found they sent out more for being nice and straight forward.
 
In my city there's a group that travels to the Sunday farmer's markets and collects all of the produce that was not sold that morning. They then give it away for free to whomever shows up to the designated spot, which is also a farm started in the city which gives away all of it's edible crops as well. I realize not every town has this type of program, but they should. Start organizing!
 
^I get the feeling that the foodbank or similar already does this. Thanks to Jamshyd and animal_cookie for great links and related reading.

Damn that supercook website is awsome. Here's what I came up with for "Potatoes, rice, beans"+carrots+onion melted in a pot:
IMG_1287.jpg

and supercook:
pics8rW64.jpg

Most of my cooking is already done supercook style (available ingredients dictates what I make), but supercook is will actually make it good!
Also, Greater Vancouver Foodbank Society.

Nothing but SHAME on a first-world country that allows its citizens to starve out of poverty.
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Good point. I think I'm going to swallow my pride and head down there today.
Go to your local library, find out about the local nature what is available for you to pick e.g. different kinds of berries, nuts etc.
Quite often in libraries you can find out about local courses or nature walks which could offer you the chance to get this more safely.
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Interesting suggestion. Have you or anyone you know actually managed to do this?
 
i find nuts to be the cheapest and easiest source of protein, apples should be cheap until the season ends. a man could live off apples and nuts quite well. for grains, since they're already so cheap, i'd recommend spending a WEE bit more for better grains because they will fuel you for longer. if you're talking about stretching your money, getting the most energy density for your dollar should be just as important as overall thrift.
 
Akoto said:
Good point. I think I'm going to swallow my pride and head down there today.
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"Swallow my pride"?

You should be proud of living in a place where you can benefits from the taxes you paid in times of need.

The only shame involved is the fact that the government won't pay you enough. The government owes you much more than what you'll be getting from social assistance.
 
Akoto said:
Interesting suggestion. Have you or anyone you know actually managed to do this?
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I live about an hour southwest of you and the edible things in nature are shockingly common. You could find mushrooms like crazy right now.........
I don't know what part of the Vancouver area you are in but I imagine the wild food would be similar to here- Berries, mushrooms, fruit trees, nuts etc.
 
^ Very true!

I actually have more than one field guide on edible wild plants. A couple of them are west-specific and I think I have them as e-books. If I find them I'll send them to you, Akoto :).

Mushrooms I'd leave alone unless you're 100% sure.
 
Akoto said:
^I get the feeling that the foodbank or similar already does this. Thanks to Jamshyd and animal_cookie for great links and related reading.

Damn that supercook website is awsome. Here's what I came up with for "Potatoes, rice, beans"+carrots+onion melted in a pot:

Most of my cooking is already done supercook style (available ingredients dictates what I make), but supercook is will actually make it good!


Interesting suggestion. Have you or anyone you know actually managed to do this?
Click to expand...

Supercook is great and it makes it easier for you to find other ideas and suggestions, rather than bored mentality kicking in and think of absolutely nothing :)

I go out all the time over here in the UK, we pick mushrooms, brambles, blackberries, rasperries, gooseberries, damsons, apples, strawberries, chestnuts, hazelnuts, wild garlic, but I also go fishing and pick mussels, throw in a pot for crab and dive for scallops, using just a snorkel here.
We use fresh nettle tops for making beer and we use dandelions for wine as well as other plants about here.
we save loads on our shopping bill, some times we get out rabbiting which is coming up.

Best bet though is to find people local to you into bushcraft or foraging etc so you can learn from them what is what and safe to eat.
 
^That's really great of you. I'm living downtown of a major city right now so the option isn't really available to me- you make Britain sound so much more fertile than what us Canadian's might think (I've been there even), that it makes me wonder if there's some hidden treasure out in the woods.

The only shame involved is the fact that the government won't pay you enough.
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After my experiences today I think I have to agree with you. The foodbank was just walk in, walk out with food. They must get so much free stuff that stores don't want- it's almost like why would anybody ever need to be even a little bit hungry in a place like this.
 
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