Hypothetical question: page

[highaerials36]

If you had to live off of very little money in the next 2 weeks and you only had a serving of chicken, 3 servings of beef, and 2 servings of vegetables, all in your fridge, how much money would you need to survive off of to buy groceries to last you til you got more money?

This isn't so hypothetical for me. My body is feeling great off of veggies and meats and a few nuts, and plenty of water. I am not eating as much, but enough. It'd be great to hear your responses, though.

(And I have considered an IF to make my food last longer til payday. Gotta love being a poor college student.)

[Lojasmo]

Cheeapest tuna I could find, and ten pounds of apples, frozen broccoli.

[tradawg]

2 doz. eggs= $6
4 bags froz. veggies= $6
4 cans Tuna/3 cans salmon= $6

So, around $18 should get you through the two weeks...assuming you already have healthy fats to cook with...

[elorajade]

Well, I'd start adding in things like beans to stretch those dollars. Take one serving of the beef, make it into a chili, you might get 2-3 meals from that. Again with the chicken, make a soup or even a chicken/bean mix to top onto salad. Tuna is a great fall back. Very little money? Head to the butcher and ask for beef stew bones, bake them in the oven then stew them on the stove to get all the goodness out of them, make a broth of course and use it as a base for soup. Experiment with other cuts of meat. Check out sales flyers, you might catch a bargin. Call your local supermarket and find out when they mark down meats, the "fresh" stuff they put out, once it gets close to the exp date, all of a sudden they mark it 50% off to move it. Most of the time, these happen on certain days. You could also go to the grocery store first thing in the morning, check the exp dates on the meat, and if you find something close to the exp date, don't be afraid to ask them if they plan on marking it down that day.

[Dragonfly]

Well, I'd start adding in things like beans to stretch those dollars. Take one serving of the beef, make it into a chili, you might get 2-3 meals from that. Again with the chicken, make a soup or even a chicken/bean mix to top onto salad. Tuna is a great fall back. Very little money? Head to the butcher and ask for beef stew bones, bake them in the oven then stew them on the stove to get all the goodness out of them, make a broth of course and use it as a base for soup. Experiment with other cuts of meat. Check out sales flyers, you might catch a bargin. Call your local supermarket and find out when they mark down meats, the "fresh" stuff they put out, once it gets close to the exp date, all of a sudden they mark it 50% off to move it. Most of the time, these happen on certain days. You could also go to the grocery store first thing in the morning, check the exp dates on the meat, and if you find something close to the exp date, don't be afraid to ask them if they plan on marking it down that day.

Beans are not Primal.

[supersellen]

2 doz. eggs= $6
4 bags froz. veggies= $6
4 cans Tuna/3 cans salmon= $6

So, around $18 should get you through the two weeks...assuming you already have healthy fats to cook with...

I agree - eggs, eggs, and more eggs.

[piano-doctor-lady]

I would buy eggs and butter, and ironically, potatoes.

I'd use some vinegar (such as in salsa or pickles) and condiments with them. In warmer seasons, I'd check out the availability of a community garden plot (or offer to share someone's garden produce in return for weeding and watering, etc.) and use it to grow greens and some easy veg. And I'd study foraging. There are lots of plants growing wild which are edible, though they don't carry a lot of calories. They can fill out a diet of staples like eggs, butter, and potatoes.

A place I used to live, in California, had a community college campus where someone had decided to plant pecan trees, which were really big. They weren't the fancy pecans (big with thin shells) but there were tons of them all over the ground. I would take a shoulder bag and pick them up. They took awhile to shell (good TV job) but were so fresh and nice. Lots and lots of nutrition and taste in pecans.

Maybe not in December, but in season a lot of places have food going begging -- fruit rotting on the ground, etc. One can just ask -- "I'm a semi-starved college student. Can I pick some of your peaches? I see some are on the ground. I can pick them up for you in return for taking some of the good ones."

[gordo]

... 2 weeks and you only had a serving of chicken, 3 servings of beef, and 2 servings of vegetables, all in your fridge, how much money would you need to survive

That would be none. I could fast. I could dumpster dive. I could forage. I could go to the homeless kitchen.

Now to be comfortable, I'd want a bit of money.

Gordo

[Pluto]

I would eat a lot of eggs (2 x12: 6$), maybe buy some onions to make tastier omelets (5lbs: 1$). Canned tuna or sardines, whatever's cheaper (x3: 3$). The cheapest ground pork available (often 1$/lb around here). I guess to bring the cost down I would buy potatoes as well (10lb: 2$). Whole chicken (a 3 pounder 2$/lb: 6$).

So I guess mixing that with IF I'd stretch it for 2 weeks for about 20$. Assuming you already have some spices/seasonings in your pantry.

[dragonmamma]

At the discount Grocery Outlet down the street, I can get a dozen jumbo eggs for $1.39, so that would be my dietary staple.

Then off to Food Maxx early in the morning, because they always mark down the rotisserie chickens from the day before and sell them cold. I just bought two of them for $3.99 each.

And I don't feel right without my broccoli, so I'd also eat lots of stir-fried broccoli.

I've got lots of different seasoning mixes from Penzey's Spices, so I can make the eggs and the broccoli taste different every time.