Can you live by eating three $3 meals a day?

let them eat cake...

 

Did not watch, but when wifey is in our second home near the grandkids in Oregon and I am hanging at the old Washington state homestead, I usually bake boneless , skinless chicken breasts at $2 to $2.20 a pound, mix with brown rice and red beans and call it good. Usually eat no more than twice a day. For variety, I sub boneless pork roast at $2.20 a pound.

So, yeah, I can easily hit under $3 a meal, but it ain't gourmet. My dirty little secret....sometimes instead of tap water, I drink a can of generic sparkling water -- thirty cents.

Let me be clear, tho. No way do I support any of this Trump stuff

 

You may want to substitute frozen mixed veges for the red beans. There's enough protein with the chicken and it's a bit more balanced - according to the old fashion food pyramid.
I'm fine with two meals a day too; but I go to three meals when I'm doing strenuous stuff and burning a lot of calories. Just don't get between me and my coffee pot, in the morning.

Is it $3 a day for food or are you allowed $9 a day for food??????? Assuming $9/day; that's $285/month food budget. Then there's storage, prep-time & cooking. I had lunch with a friend the other day; that was $50; just a strip-mall bistro - Not a fancy high-end steak house.

I'd like to see Trump do $3 meals at Micky-D's or KFC NO SNACKS 4 YOU.....

 

Funny, you mentioned frozen vegs.

I have been doing this meat, bean, rice for a couple years. Bit boring, but, hey better than a lot of folks get...

But, had to defrost the standup freezer last week and found a few bags of frozen mixed vegetables. Mixed them in one meal and it was great.

So, yes, am including vegs at times now. Maybe I will increase that freq. I am trying to keep costs down while supporting that second household.

 

Maybe 10 years ago the supermarkets all carried big bags of frozen veggies, like 2 or 3 lbs of peas, green beans, corn, or a mixture. Just the veggies in the bag, nothing else. Now the veggie section is packed with premade side dishes and it is very hard to find plain frozen veggies. If they have them at all, they are in "ready to steam bags", which cost more than "plain plastic bag with same contents". Ralphs (local name for Kroger) still sells a 2 lb bag of mixed veggies, but it is only stocked around 75% of the time. This matters because there is a steep mark up on the "side dishes", and this policy reduces access to vegetables for people who are on extremely tight budgets.

 

I've never had issues finding just plain frozen veges in the freezer section. I just prefer that because 1/3 of the fresh veges go bad before I can eat them. I don't like tossing them out - wasting them......
Frozen veges only takes a couple of minutes in the microwave.

 

You don't have to shop at Ralph's. Try Vallarta, Walmart, Costco... probably a couple other choices there for you.

We get set in our ways. I like shopping at one particular grocery in my neighborhood, but I'm seeing prices go up and choices dwindle, so I've taken the cue to explore more, and have found real savings in doing so.

After all, fuel is cheap lately and we have Priuses- not much extra cost to go other places for better value.

 

Yep; I do most of my shopping at WinCo - employee owned grocery store chain. We have a choice on where we spend our hard earned $$; and I prefer to give them to locally owned or more ethically run establishments that will benefit our surrounding community more.
Unfortunately; If I need higher quality stuff, I need to pay the corporations.

YMMV

 

I miss frozen spinach in a box.

 

Three $3.00 meals X two is$18. X7 =$126.00
Our weekly grocery bill is over $200.
Could we cut back? Yes, but that would mean eliminating a lot of fresh veggies, fruits and other foods that the current admin is telling us we should be eating.
And recently, they said we should double the previously recommended amount of protein

 

How are we suppose to do that on $3/day????? Lots of BEANS????? No offense....

Sorry, going to stick with pre-COVID food pyramid; when population longevity was actually increasing.

The new slogan for the current CDC administration should be changed to "Got Measles" - You know all those diseases that was virtually eliminated in all industrialized countries, except MAGA.... I guess this is what it means to be Great Again........

I wonder what other country travel immunization recommendations are for traveling in the USA now???
I always notify my HMO when I'm traveling overseas and they stock me up on Z-paks, Cipro, and malaria tablets when needed.

 

Road kill. A Prius isn't just good for better mpg! Lots of recipes, just watch re-runs of The Beverly Hillbillies and follow Granny's instructions.

On a more serious note, some of the living things we normally don't eat, but could, have a lot of protein. Earthworms for instance. Easy to grow and very protein rich. They do need to be fed, but various types of rotting vegetation will work, and that can be free for the taking. However, using worms to make a "$3 meal" only works if the labor put into growing them has no monetary value.

I guarantee you that the GOP folks who suggest these incredibly low cost meals:

1. Have never eaten a meal that inexpensive in their lives.
2. Have not taken into account ancillary costs, like: a fridge to keep the food from rotting, a stove to cook it, a place to keep the fridge and the stove, and the transportation costs to go and get the food in the first place.
3. Would actually prefer that the people who they suggest eat this way dropped dead. (Unsurprisingly, also their preferred plan for the sick and the homeless.)

 

I seem to recall that before they were given access to credit cards with no spending limits, college students lived on $3 a meal...

Me?
I don't let the government tell me how to eat OR think.