5 ms·

I imagine it is easy to eat well on $35 a week if you consider a PB&J sandwich to be a "euphoric" experience. This does not match my idea of eating well, nor th

by chc 12y ago

I imagine it is easy to eat well on $35 a week if you consider a PB&J sandwich to be a "euphoric" experience. This does not match my idea of eating well, nor that of most people I know. This seems a bit like an article on how to become rich working at McDonalds defining "rich" to mean "earns at least $5000 a year."

ahmad19526 12y ago
I agree and I don't consider a "Frozen" box of anything to be "Eating well". It's a blessing to have these things (or is it?). I prefer keeping things organic and fresh when possible.
- ig1 12y ago
  Well in this case is designed to mean healthy. Despite popular misconception organic and fresh food aren't necessarily healthier than frozen foods as many fresh foods lose significant nutritional value when stored/transported at room temperature.
delluminatus 12y ago
What are you expecting, duck confit and beef wellington? Eating well in this case means being satisfied and healthy. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is surprisingly healthy (although I personally loathe whole wheat). It's not classy but it's a highly cost-efficient source of calories. Also, it turns out that even if you are willing to lower yourself to peanut butter sandwiches, getting 2500 calories of nutritionally well-rounded and healthy food for $5 a day takes quite a bit of planning (if not cooking). If you "imagine it is easy", it's only because you have not given a fig's worth of actual thought to the process.
- fleitz 12y ago
  Please sir more gruel... err... nutraloaf.
- chc 12y ago
  > What are you expecting, duck confit and beef wellington? I'm expecting an article about "eating well" to be about eating well, not just merely subsisting. > Eating well in this case means being satisfied and healthy. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is surprisingly healthy (although I personally loathe whole wheat). It's not classy but it's a highly cost-efficient source of calories. I don't know about you, but I would absolutely not be satisfied with a diet made up mainly of things like peanut butter sandwich. Like I said, I've eaten on that level, and I didn't feel very satisfied with it.
  - wernercd 12y ago
    Eating well is going to differ, but you have to have a little bit of common sense. How 'well' do you expect to eat for $35 a week? How much further beyond PB&J do you expect to go? How much further CAN you go? It's also going to be relative... What's the best you can do for $35? It sure as ___ won't be steak (unless you go hungry the rest of the week)...
hayksaakian 12y ago
maybe if you lack creativity. with a few spices and a bit of thought, you can come up with much better meals for the same price per serving.
- fleitz 12y ago
  Exactly, just read up on recipes from poor countries, the ingredients are dirt cheap and usually taste delicious. Keep in mind is that indentured servants had restrictions on how often they could be served lobster... how food tastes is extremely subjective.
  - drz 12y ago
    I bet their lobster wasn't buttered up, though.
- horseemergency 12y ago
  Absolutely. If you're short on money and want to get the best bang for your buck then you'll want to learn how to cook. It's not that hard, I think it's pretty fun actually, and it will pay you back for your time spent learning/doing tenfold. You just have to be willing to do the legwork! I'm a fan of http://allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com, playing around on that site for a while will give you a lot of good meal ideas. They even have categories for quick and easy meals, many of which are under $2 a serving. Or pick your recipe site of choice, they all should have similar tools to help cooking newbies or people on budgets :)
  - chc 12y ago
    I hope this doesn't come across like I'm attacking you, because that isn't my intent, but I find this "Oh, just cook and everything is affordable" idea that people keep throwing around to be kind of condescending and dismissive. Cooking isn't magic. I do cook, but I still don't feel like eating well on $5 a day is practical. A single avocado would blow a third of the budget for the whole day! BTW, I'll have to take your word that that site has a $2 meals section, because I just spent five minutes clicking around and couldn't find one.
akgerber 12y ago
Pretty much any food is euphoric after hard exercise. But, while it doesn't look like this fellow eats the most delicious diet, it doesn't look unhealthy.
- chc 12y ago
  I didn't mean to imply that it was unhealthy, just that most people's idea of "eating well" requires actually enjoying the food. This nutrition-only view of good eating reminds me of The Matrix: "It's a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs."
- HNJohnC 12y ago
  "it doesn't look unhealthy" So many people here will go to the ends of the earth to find good science to report when it comes to just about any other issue except food and nutrition and exercise (things they owe their basic continued existance and well being to, things you would think they would take a lot of time and effort to find the best possible sources of information on...). However, time after time all I see are comments and attitudes that espouse the best available knowledge of 1996.
  - angdis 12y ago
    Actually, NOT THAT MUCH has changed since 1996 as far as PRACTICAL knowledge about nutrition goes. AFAIK, it has just been fad after fad. The reality is that people can and do thrive on a wide variety of diets.
    - HNJohnC 12y ago
      This makes me sad for three reasons: 1) you are spreading FUD with your fad after fad comment, it's simply not true. There is a lot of crap info out there but it's trivially easy to sort it out with the internet at our fingertips. News headlines are not the best way to get your nutrition and exercise information. 2) A whole hell of a lot has changed in just the last 10 years or so, never mind 1996. Pretty much every single bit of "conventional wisdom" about diet and nutrition has been tossed out now that there are actual controlled double blind studies being done on things that were previously taken for granted like "fat makes you fat" or "whole grains are healthy" food pyramid nonsense that was never, never, based on any good science at all. 3) You know so little yet are so willing to comment on it. That just makes me sad, I expect that on other sites and discussion forums but supposedly we are all smart people here.
fleitz 12y ago
The biggest issue to eating well for $35 a week is being single, if you have a partner, or kids it's pretty easy to average $35 a week per person. Step 1) Buy a freezer Step 2) Buy meat by the side Step 3) Buy in season produce from the poor areas of town and/or drive out to an actual farmers market.
- dfxm12 12y ago
  >3) Buy in season produce from the poor areas of town and/or drive out to an actual farmers market. Don't forget to factor in the cost of the difference in gas used when driving to farmer's markets/the poor areas of town. Also, don't forget that poor areas of town might actually have MORE expensive produce (http://www.foodispower.org/food-deserts/ http://www.foodispower.org/food-deserts/).
  - fleitz 12y ago
    Yeah for sure in SF terms I'm saying go to the mission (produce stands), not the tenderloin (liquor stores). For the rest of the country, I'm assuming they already have a car / drive to get groceries. Generally speaking outside of the urban core driving saves you far more time than it costs in money. eg. If you're making $15/hr you can't burn $15/hr in gas, and bringing home a weeks worth of groceries for a family on transit is a PITA. (Again, buying for multiple people saves tonnes of money)
HNJohnC 12y ago
Yes and I bet that the author of that blog will be fighting all the early symptoms of metabolic syndrome in no time eating all that garbage and wearing their body out with excessive repetitive running. It's almost what cutting edge nutrition and health science would consider the perfect storm of bad advice.
- angdis 12y ago
  Looking at the cupboard inventory, it does not appear that he is eating "garbage". It might, perhaps, border on being an exercise in asceticism, but there is nothing shockingly absent from what he is eating. Nothing weird about it just labor (cooking), savvy shopping, and will-power.
- ErikAugust 12y ago
  Hi John, OP here. I've been eating like this for over 3 months. I'm about ~10 percent body fat. I've lowered my cholesterol from 223 to 171.
  - HNJohnC 12y ago
    I'm really sorry you posted this, I think it's going to hurt people and make them sick if they take any of it seriously. What I see is a toxic diet loaded with carbohydrates which is not sustainable by most people. While anyone can survive on just about any food for 3 months most people will (not might, will) get very sick over time eating that way. About the only thing that can be said about it is it doesn't have much processed food so at least you're not adding much in the way of man-made toxins. Get back to us when you've spent a year or more eating this way. But the part that is the very worst to me is all that running, you are taking years off your life with chronic cardio like that. None of this is an off the cuff opinion or personal bias, it's all quite well known if you keep up on quality nutrition and exercise science and the latest double blind studies, here's a good place for you to start when you get sick from all this and want to do the right thing: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
ErikAugust 12y ago
Who said anything about jelly?

by chc 12y ago

ahmad19526 12y ago

I agree and I don't consider a "Frozen" box of anything to be "Eating well". It's a blessing to have these things (or is it?). I prefer keeping things organic and fresh when possible.

ig1 12y ago
Well in this case is designed to mean healthy. Despite popular misconception organic and fresh food aren't necessarily healthier than frozen foods as many fresh foods lose significant nutritional value when stored/transported at room temperature.

delluminatus 12y ago

What are you expecting, duck confit and beef wellington? Eating well in this case means being satisfied and healthy. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is surprisingly healthy (although I personally loathe whole wheat). It's not classy but it's a highly cost-efficient source of calories. Also, it turns out that even if you are willing to lower yourself to peanut butter sandwiches, getting 2500 calories of nutritionally well-rounded and healthy food for $5 a day takes quite a bit of planning (if not cooking). If you "imagine it is easy", it's only because you have not given a fig's worth of actual thought to the process.

fleitz 12y ago
Please sir more gruel... err... nutraloaf.
chc 12y ago
> What are you expecting, duck confit and beef wellington? I'm expecting an article about "eating well" to be about eating well, not just merely subsisting. > Eating well in this case means being satisfied and healthy. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is surprisingly healthy (although I personally loathe whole wheat). It's not classy but it's a highly cost-efficient source of calories. I don't know about you, but I would absolutely not be satisfied with a diet made up mainly of things like peanut butter sandwich. Like I said, I've eaten on that level, and I didn't feel very satisfied with it.
- wernercd 12y ago
  Eating well is going to differ, but you have to have a little bit of common sense. How 'well' do you expect to eat for $35 a week? How much further beyond PB&J do you expect to go? How much further CAN you go? It's also going to be relative... What's the best you can do for $35? It sure as ___ won't be steak (unless you go hungry the rest of the week)...

hayksaakian 12y ago

maybe if you lack creativity. with a few spices and a bit of thought, you can come up with much better meals for the same price per serving.

fleitz 12y ago
Exactly, just read up on recipes from poor countries, the ingredients are dirt cheap and usually taste delicious. Keep in mind is that indentured servants had restrictions on how often they could be served lobster... how food tastes is extremely subjective.
- drz 12y ago
  I bet their lobster wasn't buttered up, though.
horseemergency 12y ago
Absolutely. If you're short on money and want to get the best bang for your buck then you'll want to learn how to cook. It's not that hard, I think it's pretty fun actually, and it will pay you back for your time spent learning/doing tenfold. You just have to be willing to do the legwork! I'm a fan of http://allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com, playing around on that site for a while will give you a lot of good meal ideas. They even have categories for quick and easy meals, many of which are under $2 a serving. Or pick your recipe site of choice, they all should have similar tools to help cooking newbies or people on budgets :)
- chc 12y ago
  I hope this doesn't come across like I'm attacking you, because that isn't my intent, but I find this "Oh, just cook and everything is affordable" idea that people keep throwing around to be kind of condescending and dismissive. Cooking isn't magic. I do cook, but I still don't feel like eating well on $5 a day is practical. A single avocado would blow a third of the budget for the whole day! BTW, I'll have to take your word that that site has a $2 meals section, because I just spent five minutes clicking around and couldn't find one.

akgerber 12y ago

Pretty much any food is euphoric after hard exercise. But, while it doesn't look like this fellow eats the most delicious diet, it doesn't look unhealthy.

chc 12y ago
I didn't mean to imply that it was unhealthy, just that most people's idea of "eating well" requires actually enjoying the food. This nutrition-only view of good eating reminds me of The Matrix: "It's a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs."
HNJohnC 12y ago
"it doesn't look unhealthy" So many people here will go to the ends of the earth to find good science to report when it comes to just about any other issue except food and nutrition and exercise (things they owe their basic continued existance and well being to, things you would think they would take a lot of time and effort to find the best possible sources of information on...). However, time after time all I see are comments and attitudes that espouse the best available knowledge of 1996.
- angdis 12y ago
  Actually, NOT THAT MUCH has changed since 1996 as far as PRACTICAL knowledge about nutrition goes. AFAIK, it has just been fad after fad. The reality is that people can and do thrive on a wide variety of diets.
  - HNJohnC 12y ago
    This makes me sad for three reasons: 1) you are spreading FUD with your fad after fad comment, it's simply not true. There is a lot of crap info out there but it's trivially easy to sort it out with the internet at our fingertips. News headlines are not the best way to get your nutrition and exercise information. 2) A whole hell of a lot has changed in just the last 10 years or so, never mind 1996. Pretty much every single bit of "conventional wisdom" about diet and nutrition has been tossed out now that there are actual controlled double blind studies being done on things that were previously taken for granted like "fat makes you fat" or "whole grains are healthy" food pyramid nonsense that was never, never, based on any good science at all. 3) You know so little yet are so willing to comment on it. That just makes me sad, I expect that on other sites and discussion forums but supposedly we are all smart people here.

fleitz 12y ago

The biggest issue to eating well for $35 a week is being single, if you have a partner, or kids it's pretty easy to average $35 a week per person. Step 1) Buy a freezer Step 2) Buy meat by the side Step 3) Buy in season produce from the poor areas of town and/or drive out to an actual farmers market.

dfxm12 12y ago
>3) Buy in season produce from the poor areas of town and/or drive out to an actual farmers market. Don't forget to factor in the cost of the difference in gas used when driving to farmer's markets/the poor areas of town. Also, don't forget that poor areas of town might actually have MORE expensive produce (http://www.foodispower.org/food-deserts/ http://www.foodispower.org/food-deserts/).
- fleitz 12y ago
  Yeah for sure in SF terms I'm saying go to the mission (produce stands), not the tenderloin (liquor stores). For the rest of the country, I'm assuming they already have a car / drive to get groceries. Generally speaking outside of the urban core driving saves you far more time than it costs in money. eg. If you're making $15/hr you can't burn $15/hr in gas, and bringing home a weeks worth of groceries for a family on transit is a PITA. (Again, buying for multiple people saves tonnes of money)

HNJohnC 12y ago

Yes and I bet that the author of that blog will be fighting all the early symptoms of metabolic syndrome in no time eating all that garbage and wearing their body out with excessive repetitive running. It's almost what cutting edge nutrition and health science would consider the perfect storm of bad advice.

angdis 12y ago
Looking at the cupboard inventory, it does not appear that he is eating "garbage". It might, perhaps, border on being an exercise in asceticism, but there is nothing shockingly absent from what he is eating. Nothing weird about it just labor (cooking), savvy shopping, and will-power.
ErikAugust 12y ago
Hi John, OP here. I've been eating like this for over 3 months. I'm about ~10 percent body fat. I've lowered my cholesterol from 223 to 171.
- HNJohnC 12y ago
  I'm really sorry you posted this, I think it's going to hurt people and make them sick if they take any of it seriously. What I see is a toxic diet loaded with carbohydrates which is not sustainable by most people. While anyone can survive on just about any food for 3 months most people will (not might, will) get very sick over time eating that way. About the only thing that can be said about it is it doesn't have much processed food so at least you're not adding much in the way of man-made toxins. Get back to us when you've spent a year or more eating this way. But the part that is the very worst to me is all that running, you are taking years off your life with chronic cardio like that. None of this is an off the cuff opinion or personal bias, it's all quite well known if you keep up on quality nutrition and exercise science and the latest double blind studies, here's a good place for you to start when you get sick from all this and want to do the right thing: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

ErikAugust 12y ago

Who said anything about jelly?