Greetings everyone! In having to save money to survive in college and during a long bicycle trip, I have learned how to eat healthy without having to cook anything for just $5 a day. I currently shop at City Market, which for those who don't know, is a Kroger brand grocery store. For breakfast, I start with a small 180 calorie container of store brand yogurt with fruit on the bottom ($0.40), an Apple (approximately $0.33), and two bread rolls ($0.80). For lunch, I buy a small store brand pack of lunch meat ($0.99), two bananas ($0.40), and bread roll ($0.40). Finally for dinner, I buy a can of tuna ($0.50), and one dollar worth of various vegetables ($1.00). The cost of the above diet added up is $4.82. This diet works well for me when I'm not super active, especially when I can find bread on the discount racks and ripe bananas marked half off. Whenever I need to consume more calories due to being physically active, I simply add a cheap can of peanut butter to the diet ($2.50) and consume it over two days. I hope this post helps anyone that wishes to be healthy, but doesn't have the money to spare on a trendy whole food diet!
This post reminds me a lot of when I was homeless. I had a storage box, but obviously no refrigeration. I had a tuna sandwich with no mayo every day for lunch (because bread keeps well with no refrigeration and the tuna was canned). I had oatmeal every day for breakfast (the instant kind-- I could go to starbucks for some hot water and a bowl). For dinner, I would either try to visit somebody's house that I knew, or I would have another tuna sandwich with a can of vegetables or pineapples. Those were not good times. But they were frugal ones.
Both of you found very creative ways to get daily nutrition for just a few dollars a day and it is amazing that neither method required a kitchen. I am glad your situation has improved for you, classicnycer. I went through my roughest food situation as a young child, so I don't remember too much. I know that we ate a lot of oatmeal and beans, though!
Holy cow, are you like 80 pounds and still losing weight haha. I would consume everything you listed for breakfast and probably still be hungry. When I was a poor college student my freshman year I would get a meal plan and go to the all you can eat dining halls. They wouldn't let you take food out so I would smuggle hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, pretty much anything I could fit in the to go coffee cups they supplied. When I got an apt I would just buy stuff in bulk and freeze it. Also have you thought about oatmeal? If you buy the big containers from kroger and cook in the microwave that might be a good quick way to get some extra calories.
That sounds a bit bland to me. I like more variety in my diet. You might try adding some oatmeal and fruit. I assume you have a microwave or access to one? Do you have at leats a mini fridge?
You can survive of $5 per day if you purchase whole wheat bread ($1.50) some fruit ($1) and veggies ($1). Stop by the deli and get $1.50 worth of lunch meat or a couple cans of tuna ($1.30). There are many options, but you have to get creative.
I enjoyed reading through this thread. Thank you for sharing. Wow. Yes, I had a point where I had no money and did not want to admit it to anyone so just bought and ate popcorn for a few days. Lol. It really filled me up. But it is NOT healthy, so I would not recommend. I was staying in a hostel once while traveling...and landed up buying lots of fruit and quick noodles, I just needed hot water for that. Also, instant soup in a can. I also bought some muesli and instant milk. There was a kitchen at the hostel...I just did not want to use it (really dodgy looking). The rooms were much better.
Wow! I admire you for finding a way to get a decent and healthy diet on your $5. I have also been saving lately but all I can eat with my $5 is a meal or two in the fast food chain. I am not really creative when it comes to my diet and I just have to go with whatever there is. Thanks for inspiring me!
That is a well-balance diet on a frugal budget, with some good tips. Even though they aren't healthy, you could add Ramen once in a while and not use the spice packet. If you have access to a cooking source, you can saute the veggies and toss them in with the noodles.
I have gotten by eating oatmeal and alot of fruit, but I require a more inclusive diet due to my issues regarding joints and anemia and depression so I have to upgrade to the $10 plan.
That is truly amazing. I don't think I'd be able to live on $5 a day, no way at all... In fact, thinking about it, my lunch every day probably costs more than $5 alone, it's about 3.50GBP here in England which is a small amount more than $5 in US dollars, I believe.
This is an awesome thrift-tip! I hope all students in college read this! I remember back then even skipping meals just so I could save. I could've done this!
Most college students would at least have access to a mini fridge and a microwave if not a hot plate or full stove. Once you throw in those little incredibly handy devices, the picture changes completely. Now you can buy things like pasta, rice, fresh vegetables, meat that was never canned, etc. You could get, like, a pound of ground beef for a dollar and change, and make at least three or four meals from that if you can cook and refrigerate.
I've done variations of that in the past. With and without a kitchen. Oatmeal can't be on the plan without a kitchen. It's all about what foods you can buy and eat without having to prepare them, while still being healthy and frugal, and the OP's plan is a really good one. Prices at Kroger brand grocery stores are similar everywhere and he's covered basic nutrition needs. I wouldn't recommend this long term just because one component of a really healthy diet is a wide variety of foods, and this diet needs a little more fiber. With a kitchen, you can pool your $5 per day into $35 per week and buy things like beans and oatmeal that keep you full and healthy.
5 usd converts to about 150 bahts. In Sungai Kolok, the little town that I used to live in, in Thailand, I can have a full meal for less than 50 bahts. A packet of rice with choice of meat, fish or vegetable is only 10 bahts. I usually have two packets. So that's 20 bahts. Iced tea without milk is just 5 bahts. It's really very sweet so I add water from the jug on the table which is free. A piece of pastry is only 2 bahts so I usually have two. That adds up to 29 bahts. Just a little less than 1 usd. I eat only twice a day. Which means, without doing any cooking, I spend only 2 usd per day.
I eat oatmeal without cooking it all the time. Just add a little milk or water to soften it a bit if you don't want it crunchy. If you like your oatmeal soft and squishy, let it soak overnight in water.
Wow. Didn't know that with only $5, which is such a small amount of money, you could get enough food... specifically, HEALTHY food... to get through a whole day. I might do this when I go to college. Let's see how that works out...
It's good that you're looking at filling and healthy foods for your $5, although you could use more protein and fibre. Many places sell cooked hard boiled eggs, which would be a good source of protein, and they'd keep for a couple of days without a fridge to store them in, unless the weather was very hot. And a bag of mixed salad leaves, or a small tub of low fat coleslaw would be a good addition, as well as adding a little variety to your diet.
Dang, around where I live, food isn't that cheap. For example, yogurt here is 60 cents per cup, the tuna costs a dollar, and I dunno where to get any lunch meat for a dollar. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go search for other places that sell cheaper food or something, I dunno.
The prices where you are sound just about like the prices where I am. But think of this: bread is about two dollars and will last you for at least three or four days... so 50 cents a day, let's say. Tuna is one dollar. That's a dollar fifty for a tuna fish sandwich. A box of oatmeal packets is maybe three or four dollars and will last three or four days... that's another dollar per day. We've had two meals now, and we're only up to two fifty a day. That leaves two fifty left for dinner... which could easily be another tuna sandwich for a dollar fifty, plus a can of vegetables for a dollar.
