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Grocery shopping for broke people


LegacyGT4

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I think you gotta start shopping at mexican/polish stores and cook your own food. I am sure you will survive eating well for about 200 dollars a month. And that includes meats & vegetables; etc. You may not get the USDA Stage 3 turbo Chicken from Whole Foods but the products will still be fresh and the unit price lower.

 

Until - I think - December 2008, there was an EU directive that prevented substandard fresh products from being sold. So if your tomatoes were a little longer or your potatoes not oval or your carrots were doubles, you could not have sold them - they would have been automatically sold for further processing - and could not reach the consumer table as raw material. Luckily in US we do not have that law, which means you will find fresh but somewhat skinnier chicken thighs - but not at Jewel Osco, Dominicks or Whole Foods but in your local grocery stores.

 

The one problem with American college kids is that in general they cannot cook. It is not like I am the greatest Chef ever, but I can get from Jewel even one of those ready-made soups as a starting base, throw it is a big pot over small simmering fire with water, add in some chicken meat and more Ramen, carrots, 2 sliced potatoes, 1 sliced red pepper and 1 green pepper and boil that away. Add some seasoning salt too. Whether it becomes a soup or some sort of stew or something not very pleasantly looking, it will still be a healthy, nutritive freshly made food from which I can eat 2-3 days and cost me less than 10 bucks to make.

 

But then again, you cannot be economical shopping at big food chains. In Chicago the difference between the "Red Apple" Polish store and Jewel can be 40 cents per pound. They also sell lots of cheese and meat cuts...with one twist. You will never find at the big stores the ends of all these cuts and the badly cut slices. But at the polish store they will sell them in bulk (by specialty of course) at a greatly discounted price - simply for the fact that it is not aesthetic. You just have to know when they add them - usually around noon of every day - because they do all the slicing in the morning and Polish folks shop for food predominantly in the evening. You get lucky once a week, you have cheese and cold cuts for the entire week for 5 bucks both.

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Assuming you have cooking appliances like a stove or hot plate, buy whole foods, i.e. meat, cheese, bread, etc. not prepared foods like microwaveable sandwiches.

 

For example, instead of mac and cheese for $1/box (that still requires milk and butter), buy plain macaroni noodles and store brand velveeta cheese blocks. For about $3-4 it makes 5-6 times as much and is probably better for you.

 

Cook the noodles, add melted cheese mixed with a spoonful of milk.

 

Instead of $2.99/lb ground chuck, buy a $1.99/lb pork roast and ask the butcher to grind it. It tastes great and is good for you.

 

As an added plus, you may develop a love of cooking... I taught myself to cook at the age of 24 and I love it. I'm always eating fresh, tasty and relatively cheap foods.

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you need to clip coupons and look at the adds for local grocery stores. you can also go to coupon forums and web sites and print coupons. many stores in our area will double and sometimes triple coupons. chunky soup 8 for $10 @1.25 per can on sale. coupon for .75$ off three cans and double that is $1.50 off for 3 and you DO NOT have to buy all 10 cans. the wife always nocks 60% off the bill. a local store also does fuel perks wich gives you .20 cents off a gallon for every $50. i would never put their crap in the LGT, but the van does not seem to mind. with all those saving you can buy stuff like 18G turbos and Perrin TMIC and stuff you REALLY need to survive.
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So with that kit it's going down to the local restaurant and force a lunch/dinner out of them. :lol:

 

I would suggest robbing people or stores for money to spend on meals after you get done with the robbing.

 

Of course if you wanted to try your way, Id be willing to listen to how it goes.:lol:

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Get a Crock Pot. Great way to make cheap cuts of meat taste great, and not much work.

 

Fresh veggies+potatoes+rubbery meat+8hours=stew :wub:

 

Start it when you leave in the morning, and dinner will be ready when you get home.

 

-- Steve

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We turn our cooker on before we go to sleep. Turn it off when we get up and then reheat when we get home. Always tastes great the second day.

 

You can put anything in there - whole chickens, whole roasts.

 

We make beanless chilis in the winter. Carnitas year round.

 

 

[quote

=Abandonhope16;2270534]Do many people here use a slow cooker? I've thought about getting one, but I'm so paranoid, that I dont know if I could leave an appliance on all day while I'm not there.

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Do you put it in the fridge during the day or just leave it out? Just want to check how to properly store, if meat is involved.

Thanks for the input, my wife and I would probably be less paranoid if we were there with a fire extinguisher handy :o)

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You can place it in the fridge in the container or smaller container and reheat later. Our freezer has a number of different flavors of crockfood for emergency rations.

 

Seriously they make these things to run for hours unattended. No extinguisher required.

 

 

 

Do you put it in the fridge during the day or just leave it out? Just want to check how to properly store, if meat is involved.

Thanks for the input, my wife and I would probably be less paranoid if we were there with a fire extinguisher handy :o)

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If you're in state college at school, there is a farmers market on locust (& meyers dairy in boalsburg.) Farmers markets are the best source for good, healthy, cheap food. My gf and I tear through berries 24 hours a day, $5.99 for a small package of blackberries at safeway, versus $2-3 at a market. (Get some heavy cream, whip it up, add berries enjoy!)

 

Get your milk based foods at the local dairy, you're in PA, there's probably one down the street. :) If you buy chicken, get the whole bird, and use all of it - you can make a simple weapon with the bones; and eventually, hunt your food for self-sufficiency.

brian

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There is probably more fire danger from leaving a lamp on than from leaving a slow cooker on. "Low" setting is typically around 160F, so you could leave the slow cooker on a pile of paper and it still wouldn't ignite.

 

-- Steve

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