No matter where you live, I hope this is useful for you.
I was unemployed and needed to spend as little money as possible. I am a true millennial.
I challenged myself to reduce my spending more and more each month. I kept reducing until I was averaging 98 cents per day on food; my roommate said, "what are you eating? Water?".
These are the months when I did this and the total I spent each month. 100% of my purchases were from grocery stores. No restaurants or bars, otherwise it would've been $980 a day not $0.98, and that's just at the bars.
- Month 1: $177.41 = Averages to $5.72 / Day
- Month 2: $161.90 = $5.40 / Day
- Month 3: $123.11 = $3.97 / Day
- Month 4: $119.41 = $3.98 / Day
- Month 5: $87.11 = $2.81 / Day
- Month 6: $92.07 = $2.97 / Day
- Month 7: $77.39 = $2.76 / Day
- Month 8: $30.47 = $0.98 / Day
At the end of each month, I had food remaining, which I ate in the following month. The amount of this "carryover" food increased over time, which means it became less and less necessary to buy new food. That's why the monthly spending is dropping.
After month #8, I stopped all this and unleashed my appetite. New York's restaurants and bars experienced an economic boom.
My Journey to $0.98/Day. What I Bought...
- Whole wheat bread - Only $2 and it lasted me 2-3 weeks; "best thing since sliced bread", literally.
- Peanut butter - A $2.50 jar lasted me 1-2 months. Long-lasting and tasty, also recommended for your apocalypse stockpile.
- Oatmeal with brown sugar - A large can of plain oatmeal was $3-4 and lasted me 2 months. A $1.50 box of brown sugar lasted even longer. Good for your stockpile too.
- Chicken breasts - KFC or Popeye's will never charge $1-1.50 per POUND of chicken, but supermarkets will. I cooked them at 400° F at 25 minutes a pound.
- Orange juice or milk - Vitamin C or calcium. Whichever one my body was lacking more or whichever one was on sale. Definitely whichever was on sale.
- Spaghetti & pasta sauce - It's a miracle I didn't get tired of this...because I ate it more than anything else. Cook the noodles by boiling them, then add the sauce (cheese or veggie).
- Garlic - Loaded with nutrition and it spices up any dish. I used it so much that my vampire friends hate me. Just kidding, I have no friends.
- Potatoes - Best deal on this list. $2-3 for 10 pounds. Chop them up and boil them, then mix in salt, pepper, and olive oil. Easy to make, delicious, filling, and bang for your buck. No wonder it has a lot of museums in its honor. Yes, really, potato museums.
- Red lentils - In the Bible, a man gave up his inheritance for one bowl of lentils (seriously, Genesis 25:34). But for me, it cost $3 for 2 pounds, which makes 10+ bowls. Plus, I could add any ingredients I wanted, unlike him. Christians and atheists agree: I got the better deal.
- Weekly bargains - Whatever was a good deal. Like apples at $1/pound. Or $3 for 48 oz of organic ice cream, which is great in a New York summer; like my lentils, that's something Christians and atheists agree on.
Maybe you're asking, "where are the vegetables?!"
- When they were on sale ($4-5) a few times a month, I bought 64 oz of organic smoothies, which were different combinations of pure veggies.
- They included broccoli, spinach, cucumber, wheatgrass, kale, kiwi, mango, pineapple, banana, coconut, and more. They gave me hallucinations of salad bars and Hawaii.
- Other than that, whatever I wasn't getting from fruits or greens, I was apparently getting it from other things on this list, because I never felt sick or weak.
I am proud of how much I saved in an expensive city while staying healthy, and I wanted to share how I did it, just in case it might help you.
October 19, 2021 at 09:39AM
