Post #26,946
2/2/02 12:25:13 AM
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Living on a budget
Ok, I, and others here, have been uninstalled or having to work a low paying job. What do you people do to make ends meet?
I usually shop at discount stores like Value City, Aldi, Savealot, Shop 'N Save, Big Lots/Odd Lots, or some Dollar Stores. Buyer beware, some of the dicsount stuff is old stock, cheap junk, or just plain rejects.
We get a weekend version of the paper, the one that has the Sunday ads in it. We look for what stores are selling the cheapest stuff, and then we buy what we need.
Look for multiple buys, like 2 for 1 specials, or 2 for $3USD. I usually get frozen pizzas (Jack's, Red baron's, Tombstone) at 5 for $9.99USD or something and bulk up on them. They usually sell for $3USD each. Take-out Pizza costs $7USD to $12USD each, it is cheaper to heat up a frozen pizza. I don't go for the cheaper pizzas because they don't use real cheese and they make me sick after I eat them. The peperoni on them is diced up into cubes, and the other meat tastes like dried up dogfood (not that I ever ate dog food, but I smelled it before). Check the store, some of them let you buy only 1 or 2, and still give you the discount price (Like $1.99 per Pizza) others don't give you the discount until you've bought the 5th pizza.
For entertainment we rent movies at a local Family Video store, $1 each for nearly new movies, and 2 for $1 for the old classic movies. The Kid's, Educational, and Informational movies are free to rent for two days, but cost $1 each day that it is late. Snacks, of course, are cheaper than the Moviehouse, because it is made at home. Like Popcorn and Soda, no more spending $7 per person to get a tub of popcorn and a soda. :)
Gas, your car needs it. Keep a track on the gas prices as you drive buy, note the cheapest price and then go there to get it. Change the way you go to the store or work or whatever and see the different gas stations that you pass by. My brother Steven works at Quicktrip and usually can tell me when the price drops. So far, in our area, the Quicktrip near my mother's house has the cheapest prices almost always.
I eat Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhiches. I usually get the $1USD Grape Jelly and $1USD peanut Butter at Aldi's or the dollar store. Big Lots has like a $3USD
Jelly Jar, but it is like 3 pounds and is Raspberry or something. My mother likes that one.
More later.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #27,105
2/3/02 7:10:25 PM
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Pizza.
Cheaper still, by a factor of, ooh, at least lots : Self Raising flour (2 cups), a tablespoon or two of butter (rubbed into the flour), enough milk to make the above into a dough. Kneade on floured surface, roll out to whatever shape/size your pizza tray is.
A bit of tomato paste, Mozzarella cheese, and any pizza-esque ingredients of your choosing. Add sweet chilli sauce to sliced zucchini, brocolli, capsicum, carrot for a magic vege pizza.
30 mins in the oven at 200 degrees C and voila - magic pizza. Magic in so far as it's way cheaper than the pre-made stuff, and way tastier. And you can make it and eat it and clean up within an hour, if you're efficient.
Last night I made a satay chicken pizza. Shop-bought satay sauce (OK, so I cheated) in lieu of tomato paste, topped with little chunks of chicken (cook it first), snow peas, and mozzarella cheese. Delish.
As for other ways to save - there was (probably still is) a newsgroup called alt.frugal.living I think. It had such startling revelations like using a washing line is cheaper than using a dryer ("My power bills went down by so much! Wow!") but it also had genuinely useful stuff from time to time.
Meerkat. Pizza expert. (self-proclaimed)
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Post #27,236
2/4/02 3:22:29 PM
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Makin' dough
Let's just say that my experimentation with bread and sourdough wasn't simply for the joy of cooking (though that was a large part of it). All told, I'm not sure homemade bread is much cheaper than the low-end storebought stuff, but it tastes scads better.
Minimally processed foods in general are your best calorie|nutritional value for the buck. Rice, beans, canned tomatos, and a healthy selection of spices, with the odd bit of meat tossed in for flavor got me a long ways. Pasta. Make frugal dining a family game. I note that (on the few occasions I do shop at a "discount card" store) my savings on a $75-$100 purchase are rarely more than a dollar or two. The discounted items are usually in the processed/prepared food category. I don't buy that crud.
Odd note. Two of my food addictions are directly attributable to poor-as-a-dog college days. Grape Nuts (at about $0.13/ounce) are one of the best cereal bargains (in an otherwise expensive food category) and espresso. Plain old coffee doesn't do it for me, and the double-ex was the least expensive of the high-octane boosts I could find. I generally only do two mugs a day, rather than staying on a constant caffeine drip.
Walking or cycling places saves gas, gives exercise, and in my experience does wonders for my sanity.
--
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]
[link|http://kmself.ix.netcom.com/|[link|http://kmself.ix.netcom.com/|http://kmself.ix.netcom.com/]]
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
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Post #27,297
2/4/02 8:32:33 PM
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Re: Makin' dough
Besides what Karsten said, with his ingredients, you can start a dinner in a crock pot and keep adding stuff to it for a long time, on the principle of the "ever simmering cauldron" many medieval and not-so-medieval inns once had. Liquid level a bit low? Add some water or broth. Didn't get enough meat chunks in the last bowl? Throw some in. Contents getting a bit thin? Add a couple sliced potatoes, or beans. I'm not sure if I ever tried rice in a crock pot, but you can always make that as a separate dish.
Crock pots *aren't* much good (or at least I never liked it when I tried it) at cooking most greens and stuff, though I suppose you could call sauerkraut a green, even though it's yellow. Trouble with greens is they turn to mush more quickly than beans. Though I suppose that would be nutritious, if perhaps not that tasty.
Of course, although you can *do* it, it would be good not to leave a crock pot unattended for long (who knows what electrical thing might happen), and safe placement away from walls and other countertop items is good.
Everything except for Grape Nuts, the notion of Grape nuts in a crock pot sounds repulsive :=)
With vitamin supplements to cover what you might not be getting, you probably could live reasonably healthily like this for a long time. And it's very easy to cook - just throw stuff in. Just allow enough time for whatever meat you add to cook well.
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."
-- Donald Knuth
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Post #27,126
2/4/02 1:12:27 AM
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Stock up on canned food
you strike me as the type that can't cook, because you are buying frozen pizzas and other stuff. Get canned food as well. Soup, spahgettios, ravioli, etc. Get lunchmeat and cheese, and make some samiches besides PBJ.
Get some torteia shells and put some cheese and meat inside them and nuke them in the microwave for 2 or 3 minutes for some mexican melts. If you are a cooking clutz, try tomato paste, cheese, and meat for some mini pizzas on the torteia shells.
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Post #27,159
2/4/02 9:35:45 AM
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Noodles
Ramen noodles work out to about 15 cents a serving if you buy in bulk. Add veggies, egg, pork, chicken or whatever to jazz it up and still works out less than 50 cents a serving.
With this much manure around, there must be a pony somewhere.
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Post #27,209
2/4/02 12:42:50 PM
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go fishing, you're on the missouri
My Dreams aren't as empty as my conscience seems to be
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Post #27,315
2/4/02 10:26:12 PM
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Don't go fishing
My ex-employer used to defend the big companies that dumped toxic chemicals in that river and other areas. I don't want to catch "Blinky the three-eyed wonder fish" and serve it to my family. Herculanium finally had something done about the lead poisioning, they moved the people out while the company that did all the polluting is supposed to clean the town up? We still have Times Beach and the dioxin spill. Plus hundreds of other contaminations they haven't told us about yet.
A neighbor of mine down the road a bit, claims that she saw a big mutated raccoon in her yard. It was as big as a dog, and was knocking over trashcans and doing some serious property damage. I saw it in my backyard and it ran away when I turned the porch light on. Big and fat, they don't normally grow them that big do they? I'd say it was at least one hundred pounds and about as big as a medium dog with a weight control problem.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #27,387
2/5/02 11:55:47 AM
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Normal sized coon and as far as fishing goes
Dont eat cat fish from the main channel but when I was visiting you guys on my way home stopped where a gent was fishing downstream of the city who catches a lot of fish and has not had any problems. Call the local state office of fish and wildlife to get the "facts"
thanx,
bill
"If you're half-evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil."
Norman Mailer
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Post #27,326
2/5/02 12:32:02 AM
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Go on the Irish diet.
Potatoes. They're cheap as all hell, and they fill ya up. I know, I'm on that one right now.
First, I cook the potato for 1 hour. Then I chop up some broccoli, sprinkle it on top, then put some cheese on top of that, stick it in the microwave long enough to melt the cheese, and blammo! it's done.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Post #27,362
2/5/02 10:29:47 AM
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Cheap food:
... is vegetarian.
Lose the meat.
Get some good multi-vitamins, lose the meat, eat potatoes, broccoli, kale, spinach, stuff like that. Keep the cheese and milk, but cut down on it. Eat whole wheat bread, not white bread or anything with bleached enriched flour in it.
Side benefits: you're likely to lose weight and possibly feel better, as you won't be getting the pesticides and other junk commercially-processed meat has in it.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #27,389
2/5/02 11:57:28 AM
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you forgot his stomache problems
he would be blowing himself out of bed everynight with broccli, spinach and kale would be good.
thanx,
bill
"If you're half-evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil."
Norman Mailer
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Post #27,450
2/5/02 9:00:27 PM
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Right you are
I tried the vegitarian route before and only got sicker. Some veggies I have to avoid, others I just can't eat without having my GI tract screwed up or spending hours a day going to the bathroom a lot.
I did switch to PBJ sandwiches, and do have some grilled cheese sandwiches a lot. No meat in them, at least none that I know of.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #27,475
2/6/02 1:18:47 AM
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I'm no doctor
But I'd bet (a pint, no less) that if you were to properly pursue the veggie diet, get some exercise and drink lots of water, your interior plumbing problems would recede somewhat.
That does, however, mean eating lots of vegetables. I dunno how close to being a vegetable a grilled cheese sandwich is...
Scott, perhaps you can help my corroborate my bald assertion that the average American diet is woefully lacking in fibre and roughage?
Peter
Shill For Hire
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
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Post #27,479
2/6/02 3:14:44 AM
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gorf, average american diet?
The average American diet is probably gawdawful. I know mine is. (But I do eat bagels for breakfast, rather than donuts or some other concoction.)
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."
-- Donald Knuth
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Post #27,484
2/6/02 8:52:54 AM
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ObOmniscientLRPD: "It's what's for breakfast!"
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Post #27,489
2/6/02 9:12:36 AM
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dunno about average
meat bread alchohol to cut grease and olive oil to slide, onions for veggies no plumbing problems here, ask anyone who tries to go in too soon :)
Since I have been roughing it though my breakfast has been oatmeal, lunch soup dinner lettuce sarnies, my guts are very slow and bilious.
thanx,
bill
"If you're half-evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil."
Norman Mailer
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Post #27,492
2/6/02 9:31:23 AM
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Like I said
I had tried it. Just avoiding meat when I can right now, and eating what I can to help.
I had tried a veggie diet, and at times got so sick that I had to go into the hospital. I had an inflamed colon, it swelled up, if I hadn't gone into the hospital it would have burst. I had tried this for about a year.
Average American (I assume you mean USA citizens? I can't votch for Canadians and Mexicans.) Diet consists manly of junk food, fast food, and food that will bust almost anyone's colon. We are talking serious class action lawsuits against food companies if the average US citizen gets smart enough to join a class-action lawsuit. Tons of grease, fat, etc. Enough to clog/harden arteries, cause heart attacks early in life, damage colons, and other problems.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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