Eating On $3 A Day For 30 days Food Challenge Begins Nov 1st.

[OldBroad44]

This diet of field corn and beans sounds like it could save me a lot of money but I suspect I would get diet fatigue pretty quickly. I want to keep food acquisition, storage and prep labor to a minimum. I would also like a little more variety in the diet. I realize that it will cost more but it will make it easier for me to stick with it longer term. I am confident I can do it for around $3 a day, for now. We'll have to see where inflation goes.

I am only worried about storing a couple of months worth of food at one time. As I gobble up one months food I will replace it. Then when that months food is eaten and replaced i will eat the other months worth of food. That will keep a nice rotation going so nothing expires and needs to be tossed.

Ya don't have to eat corn and beans every day. You eat it most days. It's the fallback position when you run out of other stuff. Nor is corn more boring than wheat when you know how to cook it. cornbread, muffins, biscuits, polenta, mush, Johnny cakes, pancakes, (with eggs) crepes, hominy, grits, tortillas, tacos, corn egg noodles, hush puppies, (with fruit) cobblers, the batter for fried fish/chucken/duck. Corn flatbread with peppers and cheese melted on top.The pastry for meat pies.

However, if you can eat wheat and have a grinder you can substitute wheat grain for corn.

Assuming you're going to replace your food every month means 'you'll be buying 12 times in small amounts, paying severalfold higher. And not taking advantage of the fact that it is all cheaper in the fall or early winter after harvest. And that it stores well.

Just pinto beans would get boring. So you also buy white neutral flavored beans good in veggie or chicken or turkey dishes/soups that don't overwhelm the poultry or veggies.

Assuming you can buy what you want at good prices is a huge assumption these days.

If you garden you can grow your own corn of especially flavorful varieties. Corn cake flour corns that make fine textured bread and cakes. Flint corns for Johnny cakes and polenta. A special corn for pancakes that actually tastes like wheat pancakes. I grow and eat them all. Along with with five different 4 different flavors of dry beans, two garbanzos, and a cowpea.

As for labor, of course cooking food from dry grain and beans cost more work than opening up cans or using commercial processed products. However, $3/day means you're poor. Poor people who manage to survive gracefully while poor do so in part by substituting some labor for the money they don't have. Its not necessarily time lost, as it substitutes all or in part for the hours extra time at a regular job that you don't need to do if your food costs drop. Part of why many people didn't come back to work after covid is many families discovered they came out ahead if one parent stayed home and did more of the family's childcare, food growing, and cooking instead of getting a job to pay others for that, with the tax collector collecting both directions.

 

[OldBroad44]

Hello @P7M13.
Okay. Now let's get us some fruit. Many suburban homes and small homestead style farms have several fruit trees or even a small orchard. The fruit is precious once picked, but is not considered nearly as valuable when its still in the tree. Especially when trees are tall. Knock on the door and offer to pick the tree clean for 1/3 the fruit. At this time of year it will be only certain late varieties of apples and pears. At this time of year its a matter of picking the remaining varieties clean before the first freeze. If you have a pickup or van and can buy an orchard ladder and transport it, so much the better. Orchard ladders have very wide bases at the bottom.

Many city and suburban dwellers don't have an orchard ladder. They try using ordinary ladders, which aren't as stable. So they get scared and their trees don't get picked. Sometimes they think their pears are no good because they always are rotten on the inside by the time the outside is ripe. And they think the apples on that one tree that's still full of apples now never ripens at all. so the still sour apples drop and are wasted every year. Pears need to be picked when unripe and allowed to ripen in storage. If left on the tree the insides are rotten by the time the outsides ripen. If I were providing this critical info and providing the orchard ladder and doing the picking I'd ask for half the fruit.

The apples left on their tree in October are a late long storing variety. They taste starchy, astringent, and sour when picked, then ripen in storage. Some of the apples most famed for flavor are thus. Cox Orange Pippin, for example. Spectacular flavor, sweet tart spicey. But inedible when picked. And undistinguished in appearance. A russet type that is a sorta dull brownish orangish color and only about 3" in diameter.

Where you are learning from the trees owner, and just helping, ask for a much more modest share of the harvest. Trees in the stretch between the sidewalk and road belong to the home owner, by the way, who pays taxes on that land. And is required to mow and maintain it even though the city severely controls what they can do with it. Especially at intersections where its essential that motorists be able to see what's coming. Do not harvest anyone's fruit trees without their permission.

Long keeping apples and pears should be stored in bags or open buckets or bushel baskets in an attached but unheated garage that stays slightly moist, cool, and above freezing as they do in the maritime NW. In bags or containers that allow some air circulation so fruit doesnt rot. Take fruit out as needed and bring indoors to finish ripening. If you can get 1/3 the fruit from one late apple and one late pear tree of medium size you'll have all the apples and pears one person needs for at least a month or two . Given my druthers, I would buy or scrounge six bushels of apples to last all winter. (If you are buying a few bushels or more buy directly from and pick up at the farm for the best price.) My favorite pear by far is Comice, a huge beautiful fat glory to behold. Its a late pear. Will probably be picked now, in early october in mid Willamette Valley. Should be allowed to sit quietly in cool storage a month before being brought lovingly inside to sit in a beautiful bowl to finish ripening to fragrant perfection.

Apple slices go great in sandwiches and salads by the way. And apples are one of the ingredients in my "Winter Salad' made of Steinfeldt's sauerkraut, apples, daikon radish, carrots, and celery.

Alternate way of scrounging fruit--same as used for veggies. Next post.

 

[arakboss]

Hello @P7M13.
Okay. Now let's get us some fruit. Many suburban homes and small homestead style farms have several fruit trees or even a small orchard. The fruit is precious once picked, but is not considered nearly as valuable when its still in the tree. Especially when trees are tall. Knock on the door and offer to pick the tree clean for 1/3 the fruit. At this time of year it will be only certain late varieties of apples and pears. At this time of year its a matter of picking the remaining varieties clean before the first freeze. If you have a pickup or van and can buy an orchard ladder and transport it, so much the better. Orchard ladders have very wide bases at the bottom.

Many city and suburban dwellers don't have an orchard ladder. They try using ordinary ladders, which aren't as stable. So they get scared and their trees don't get picked. Sometimes they think their pears are no good because they always are rotten on the inside by the time the outside is ripe. And they think the apples on that one tree that's still full of apples now never ripens at all. so the still sour apples drop and are wasted every year. Pears need to be picked when unripe and allowed to ripen in storage. If left on the tree the insides are rotten by the time the outsides ripen. If I were providing this critical info and providing the orchard ladder and doing the picking I'd ask for half the fruit.

The apples left on their tree in October are a late long storing variety. They taste starchy, astringent, and sour when picked, then ripen in storage. Some of the apples most famed for flavor are thus. Cox Orange Pippin, for example. Spectacular flavor, sweet tart spicey. But inedible when picked. And undistinguished in appearance. A russet type that is a sorta dull brownish orangish color and only about 3" in diameter.

Where you are learning from the trees owner, and just helping, ask for a much more modest share of the harvest. Trees in the stretch between the sidewalk and road belong to the home owner, by the way, who pays taxes on that land. And is required to mow and maintain it even though the city severely controls what they can do with it. Especially at intersections where its essential that motorists be able to see what's coming. Do not harvest anyone's fruit trees without their permission.

Long keeping apples and pears should be stored in bags or open buckets or bushel baskets in an attached but unheated garage that stays slightly moist, cool, and above freezing as they do in the maritime NW. In bags or containers that allow some air circulation so fruit doesnt rot. Take fruit out as needed and bring indoors to finish ripening. If you can get 1/3 the fruit from one late apple and one late pear tree of medium size you'll have all the apples and pears one person needs for at least a month or two . Given my druthers, I would buy or scrounge six bushels of apples to last all winter. (If you are buying a few bushels or more buy directly from and pick up at the farm for the best price.) My favorite pear by far is Comice, a huge beautiful fat glory to behold. Its a late pear. Will probably be picked now, in early october in mid Willamette Valley. Should be allowed to sit quietly in cool storage a month before being brought lovingly inside to sit in a beautiful bowl to finish ripening to fragrant perfection.

Apple slices go great in sandwiches and salads by the way. And apples are one of the ingredients in my "Winter Salad' made of Steinfeldt's sauerkraut, apples, daikon radish, carrots, and celery.

Alternate way of scrounging fruit--same as used for veggies. Next post.

Thank you for the detailed advice. I will add some flours to my second month grocery list and play around with them in December to see if it's something I might use on a regular basis. If I determine I will use them then I can decide on whether to invest in flour production. I do have a small grinder (not suitable for field corn though) buried among my stuff somewhere.

I have never enjoyed fruits and vegetables much and I feel like you are mostly getting water and fiber from them. The micronutrients, antioxidants, etc are a very small amount of what you are paying for or working for, by weight or volume. If you enjoy eating them it may be worthwhile. If you don't, it seems like a better strategy might be to use that money or labor elsewhere and get your missing micronutrients, antioxidants, etc through supplements. It would be much cheaper and easier to track which percentages of what you are getting in supplements versus vegetables and fruits. There will be no shortage of fiber in my diet with the amount of beans and grains I will be eating. Water for drinking is practically free. Supplements are pretty darn cheap these days as well. I know this won't make the vegetable and fruit lovers happy but we can't all be lovers of all things.

As for gardening, picking, etc, I don't have any desire, space (live in condo) to tend to a garden. I do love to shop for bargains at grocery stores and that is likely where I will source the vast majority of my food from. Shopping is generally not a chore for me. It is an activity I enjoy like some people enjoy hiking, shooting, racing cars, etc. It is a bonus for me that it is a task that needs to be done for most families.

I realize that my diet choices are not aimed at achieving optimal health and pretty much nothing I do is. My typical past diets have been full of junk food. I avoid doctor visits, check ups and regular tests that most of us should have done. I don't like to exercise. I like alcohol. I engage in many risky activities and the list goes on and on. My $3 a day diet is going to be one of the least damaging things I have done and may in fact lead to me becoming healthier.

 

[arakboss]

The wife and I visited the franz outlet store in Tigard on Saturday. The prices for day old stuff in the back racks has gone up to $1.50 an item. It used to be cheaper if you bought multiple items but now the price is the same whether you buy one or more. I recently learned that they have a punch card deal where every time you spend $10 or more dollars in a visit they mark your card. After you reach 5 marks on the card you get to pick 5 free items from the back racks. My wife is not dieting so she was able to easily find $10 worth of items and I got my first card mark. I don't know how or if the franz store will fit in my $3 a day eating challenge but it might be good for a few treats now and again. I didn't check the price per calorie on any of the items but I will on next visit.

I did find some spicy vegetable chips at grocery outlet that were priced at 5 bags for a dollar. That works out to $.0009 per calorie which is about half of my target price. That is an extremely good value especially for a snack food. I only bought one bag to see if I would like them and they were pretty good. I will buy more if they have them on my next visit. They are essentially potato chips but made with slices of Sweet potatoes, Taro, Batata, and Parsnips. All non GMO.

 

[wired]

Having been a starving college student at one time I can vouge for the rice, corn, ramen and beans diet. Chicken legs are usually pretty cheap. A whole Costco cooked chicken is 6 bucks and thats enough meat for one guy for a few days. Pork loin is cheap and its an adjunct to the pork and rice/beans not a main meal portion. $3 a day for one person is totally doable .

BTW I always get a chuckle out of folks who say when SHTF theyre going to go out and live off the land. Yeah, so is everyone else and that deer population that is highly managed now won't be any more.

 

[wired]

Thank you for the detailed advice. I will add some flours to my second month grocery list and play around with them in December to see if it's something I might use on a regular basis. If I determine I will use them then I can decide on whether to invest in flour production. I do have a small grinder (not suitable for field corn though) buried among my stuff somewhere.

I have never enjoyed fruits and vegetables much and I feel like you are mostly getting water and fiber from them. The micronutrients, antioxidants, etc are a very small amount of what you are paying for or working for, by weight or volume. If you enjoy eating them it may be worthwhile. If you don't, it seems like a better strategy to use that money or labor elsewhere and get your missing micronutrients, antioxidants, etc through supplements. It would be much cheaper and easier to track which percentages of what you are getting in supplements versus vegetables and fruits. There will be no shortage of fiber in my diet with the amount of beans and grains I will be eating. Water for drinking is practically free. Supplements are pretty darn cheap these days as well. I know this won't make the vegetable and fruit lovers happy but we can't all be lovers of all things.

As for gardening, picking, etc, I don't have any desire, space (live in condo) to tend to a garden. I do love to shop for bargains at grocery stores and that is likely where I will source the vast majority of my food from. Shopping is generally not a chore for me. It is an activity I enjoy like some people enjoy hiking, shooting, racing cars, etc. It is a bonus for me that it is a task that needs to be done for most families.

I realize that my diet choices are not aimed at achieving optimal health and pretty much nothing I do is. My typical diet past diets have been full of junk food. I avoid doctor visits, check ups and regular tests that most of us should have done. I don't like to exercise. I like alcohol. I engage in many risky activities and the list goes on and on. My $3 a day diet is going to be one of the least damaging things I have done and may in fact lead to me becoming healthier.

Intellectual honesty is the best policy!

 

[arakboss]

Having been a starving college student at one time I can vouge for the rice, corn, ramen and beans diet. Chicken legs are usually pretty cheap. A whole Costco cooked chicken is 6 bucks and thats enough meat for one guy for a few days. Pork loin is cheap and its an adjunct to the pork and rice not a main meal portion. $3 a day for one person is totally doable .

BTW I always get a chuckle out of folks who say when SHTF theyre going to go out and live off the land. Yeah, so is everyone else and that deer population that is highly managed now won't be any more.

And think of the hunting "accidents" we will be having then?

In a true SHTF situation. City and Suburb dwellers will want to spend the least amount of time outside as possible for security reasons. My guess is for most people, the time spent finding and managing water is going to be enough work to keep them busy. If you are lucky enough to live close to a city river or large creek maybe you could set traps for fish near your water collection point but chances are good that somebody else will come along and help themselves to your catch.

 

[wired]

And think of the hunting "accidents" we will be having then?

In a true SHTF situation. City and Suburb dwellers will want to spend the least amount of time outside as possible for security reasons. My guess is for most people, the time spent finding and managing water is going to be enough work to keep them busy. If you are lucky enough to live close to a city river or large creek maybe you could set traps for fish near your water collection point but chances are good that somebody else will come along and help themselves to your catch.

Long Pork

 

[arakboss]

Long Pork

Exactly and even if they don't shoot you to eat you they might just want to eliminate the competition.

 

[wired]

Exactly and even if they don't shoot you to eat you they might just want to eliminate the competition.

Yeeah, Them shooting you to eat you . Thats what I meant

 

[arakboss]

Yeeah, Them shooting you to eat you . Thats what I meant

I think there is too much romanticizing about SHTF scenarios, like gardening, hunting, etc. We live in a much different society today than they did during the depression. If people are killing other people for their watch, shoes or for walking down the wrong street in good times, you can imagine what it will be like in hard times. The lawlessness we are seeing today will pale in comparison to what we will see during the next SHTF event.

 

[wired]

I think there is too much romanticizing about SHTF scenarios, like gardening, hunting, etc. We live in a much different society today than they did during the depression. If people are killing other people for their watch, shoes or for walking down the wrong street in good times, you can imagine what it will be like in hard times. The lawlessness we are seeing today will pale in comparison to what we will see during the next SHTF event.

Yeah. Real SHTF the game is going to get stripped from the forest in a few months. I like to stay on the reality side of things and I cant conceive of what SHTF situation would occur short of an asteroid slamming into the earth or Yellowstone completely blowing up where civil order is going to break down to the point where mass famine and total lawlessness sweep the nation for more than a few weeks.

 

[arakboss]

Yeah. Real SHTF the game is going to get stripped from the forest in a few months. I like to stay on the reality side of things and I cant conceive of what SHTF situation would occur short of an asteroid slamming into the earth or Yellowstone completely blowing up where civil order is going to break down to the point where mass famine and total lawlessness sweep the nation for more than a few weeks.

EMP from Sun or bad guys or really bad economy.

 

[P7M13]

Okay. Now let's get us some fruit. Many suburban homes and small homestead style farms have several fruit trees or even a small orchard. The fruit is precious once picked, but is not considered nearly as valuable when its still in the tree.

Figs, persimmon and plums have been the gems I've harvested from unwitting homeowners' trees, where they may want only a few pieces out of a box full.
Zucchini and other squash are the easy scores too, as people seem to not like them.

 

[arakboss]

I worked out at the gym and then hit Freddys where I picked up some vitamin/mineral supplements and some mixed veggies this morning. Cereal works out to $.000666 per calorie, omen?












The salsa is going to play a multi role to add color and flavor to rice, pasta and bean dishes.

I found a large (maybe number 10 size can) of creamed corn for under $3 which I am thinking about adding to the inventory. It could be used to to bulk up pan cakes, muffins and maybe used to make some chowder type soups?

 

[arakboss]

During my challenge I am going to break open my can of honeyville egg powder. This review doesn't give me high confidence that they are going to be good.

 

[wired]

During my challenge I am going to break open my can of honeyville egg powder. This review doesn't give me high confidence that they are going to be good.

Be good or taste good?

 

[OldBroad44]

I think there is too much romanticizing about SHTF scenarios, like gardening, hunting, etc. We live in a much different society today than they did during the depression. If people are killing other people for their watch, shoes or for walking down the wrong street in good times, you can imagine what it will be like in hard times. The lawlessness we are seeing today will pale in comparison to what we will see during the next SHTF event.

Hello @arakboss--

I don't think of your challenge in this post as the SHTF situation that some people are referring to. One person or family's need to eat on minimal resources for a month or even years does not a SHTF make. I'm assuming following all laws including fishing and hunting rules and regulations for example. I have myself got by on eating on no more than that for periods of a year here and there. But that includes growing hundreds of pounds of gourmet quality corn and beans and thousands of pounds of winter squash. Then there was the 1500 lb potato winter, in which a friend and I and my duck flock survived mostly on potatoes, along with corn, beans, and squash of course. We actually ate all those potatoes. And were sad as we ate the last of them in late spring. However, we had 15 different spectacularly delicious varieties and we fixed them in dozens of ways.

Gardening is practical as a way to minimize on food costs if you already are a food growing gardener. Hunting is less practical as laws restrict it in terms of location, species, gender, time of day, use of traps/baits/dogs, etc.

As to your disinterest in fruits and vegetables and thoughts about substituting supplements--I think if you want to get by on just $3/day for food for a month, you're probably better off not changing your diet too much from what you are used to, whether its optimal in the long run or not. You might want to watch for the total salt content not getting too high.

 

[arakboss]

Be good or taste good?

Taste good. I don't think they will be poisonous.

 

[Val1884]

Potato's are easy to grow and preserve..Rice is cheap..Deer and elk is darn near free if you put in the miles..We did the math and monthly we spend around 300$ a month on a family of 5.. so 60$ per person with 30 days ...It isnt too bad if you just get off the Tv and put in some effort.