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How cheaply can one eat?
How cheaply can one eat? This is a question of interest to
someone interested in self-sufficient living. As it turns out,
a frugal person with a mind to do it can eat on an
astonishingly small amount of money a year. And eat well.
How? First you need to appreciate the amazing differences
there are in the costs of different foods. For example, the
cost of a one cup serving of cooked rice is 2.1 cents (assuming
you buy it for 20 cents a pound, something you can do if you
buy it in 50 pound bags). On the other hand the cost of steak
is $2.50 and up for an 8 ounce serving. That is a huge
difference and illustrates the kind of differences that exist
in the costs of foods. The table below lists the cost per
serving of various foods based on prices that I have paid in
the past for the foods (I always watch for sales and good
prices and rarely pay the regular price):
Food Serving Size Cost per Serving
(cents)
___________________________________________________________________________
Rice (white) 1 cup cooked 2.1
Oatmeal 1 cup cooked 4.3
Beans (Pinto) 1 cup cooked 6.2
Flour .25 cups 1.1
Sourdough bread (homemade) 2 oz 1.2
Potatoes (white) 8 oz 6.5
Macaroni (elbow) 8 oz cooked 7.7
Spaghetti 8 oz cooked 7.7
Milk 1 cup 13.7
Eggs 1 egg 10.0
Cheese 1 oz 20.0
Peanut Butter 2 tbsp 6.6
Strawberry Jam 1 tbsp 5.1
Grape Jelly 1 tbsp 2.2
Raspberry Preserves 1 tbsp 4.5
Bananas 8 oz (1 banana) 12.5
Carrots 2 oz 4.9
Tuna (canned, chunk light) 2 oz 11.0
Turkey 8 oz 38.0
Chicken leg quarters 8 oz 39.0
Ham 8 oz 99.0
Pork Chops 8 oz 75.0
Ground beef 8 oz 75.0
Beef roast 8 oz 188.0
Sirloin steak 8 oz 249.0
So what are the inexpensive foods? Rice, oatmeal, beans, potatoes,
pasta and homemade bread (flour is cheap). What are the really
expensive foods? The red meats. What are the most healthy
foods? The cheap foods. What are the least healthy foods?
The most expensive foods.
Suppose one had a one cup serving of oatmeal for breakfast, a
peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich for lunch and a one cup
serving of rice, a one cup serving of beans and a one ounce
slice of sourdough bread for dinner every day for a year. What
would his food for the year cost him? Answer: 24 cents per day
or $87.60 per year. And if he thought this was still too much
and wanted to do better, how about the following? Three slices
of toast (i.e. three one-ounce slices of sourdough bread,
toasted) for breakfast, a one cup serving of oatmeal for lunch
and a one cup serving of rice, a one cup serving of beans, and
a large two ounce piece of sourdough bread for the evening meal
every day for a year. This would cost him 16 cents per day or
$58.40 per year. If you used whole wheat bread and brown rice
the diet might not be a bad one. It is probably as good as
many people in the third world live on. And in practice, of
course, you could do a little hunting and fishing, have a small
garden, and supplement it a little.
So how does one minimize the cost of eating? You maximize the
amount of inexpensive foods that you eat and minimize or
eliminate the amount of expensive foods that you eat. You
modify your eating habits, adapt to the cheap foods. You find
recipes that sound appealing that utilize the inexpensive
foods. You have to pay attention to the price of foods, watch
for sales, and buy in quantity at good prices. Most of the
food that my wife and I buy is purchased at a very good sale
price and in quantity. We often combine manufacturer's coupons
with half price sales to get food at a third of the regular
price and less. Most people pay little attention to the cost
of food and buy whatever they like. They walk down the grocery
aisle and pick up whatever looks good to them, give everything
a try, and don't worry about the price. The truth is most
packaged and canned foods are relatively expensive. Most junk
food is expensive --- if you want to minimize your cost of
eating stay away from it. Of course you must minimize or
eliminate your consumption of meat, especially red meat. And
it goes without saying that you must eat at home --- eating out
is out of the question.
Now if all this causes one to reflect on the possibility of a
vegetarian diet as a strategy for inexpensive, self-sufficient
living he might be interested in knowing that vegetarians tend
to live eight or ten years longer than meat eaters, have fewer
diseases and health problems, and are in general healthier.
Look into studies of the longevities of vegetarian Seventh Day
Adventists of Loma Linda, California for more information (do
an internet search).
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