The Recession Diet – Food Porn and Troubleshooting

$48.21. 2 hours 56 minutes of food preparation.

And I’m set for an entire week. No junk food, and no starvation.

You too can eat well with minimal investment of time and money, as I hope I have proven to you by now.

A Confession

First off, I’m gonna level with ya: I didn’t exactly play by the rules as I set them.

My girlfriend left half of a small pizza behind before leaving town for a week, and I couldn’t bear to leave it to rot. (I am now, and always will be unable to throw food away. I’m frugal to the bone.)

And I also had a workplace dinner at a tasty Afghan cafe that I couldn’t turn down. (Like most people, I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to food and will mow down whatever is free and available.)

The Bright Side

But it wasn’t a total loss. I wound up with a ton of leftovers to keep in the freezer for later.

A chicken thigh, leg, and wing went into the freezer, along with some of the roasted roots and tubers and about a quarter of the soup.

A third of the milk was left over as well, so I had to polish that off over the following days.

So I cheated a bit (due to lack of willpower), but I will be able to eat plenty of what I cooked up later.

I’m not a calorie-counter (nor should you be one) but I don’t think anyone will judge me for not cooking up enough food…

Troubleshooting and Tips

As I stated in my first post in this series, it is entirely possible to survive on a food budget of $1 a day, even though it may be difficult and time-consuming, as long as you:

1. Eat below your body’s energy requirements.
2. Eat mostly junk food.

Since I want to help you find a sustainable long-term solution for optimizing your diet without unnecessary spending, I believe it is necessary to:

1. Eat as much as your body needs.
2. Eat mostly real food.

Even though I survived off $48.21 for a week, you could probably do much better. I got the majority of my food from Trader Joe’s, since it is close by and provides good deal for the money. You could easily save even more money by:

1. Shopping at a cheaper grocery store.
2. Not buying wine or herbs.

So here’s a few tips (apart from those I listed at the end of this post) on how to implement The Recession Diet into your own life.

Limit Fibrous Veggies, Emphasize Starchy Ones

Vegetables can get pretty expensive, especially when you realize that they are pretty calorie-deficient. Better to focus on cheap starchy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes.

Limit Fruit

Fruit can be expensive as well, even though they can be more calorie-dense than fibrous vegetables. Nevertheless, fruit is still an “optional” food group, and you’d be just fine omitting them.

Eat Dairy and Eggs (If You Can)

Eggs and dairy are some of the cheapest non-junk food sources of calories out there, provided you get the full-fat versions of the latter. Many people have allergies and other intolerances of these food groups, so make sure you “know thyself” before you start eating more.

Eat Grains and Legumes (But Prepare Them Correctly)

I think that the idea that everyone should eat 6-11 servings of grains every day is utter crap, but it’s true that beans and rice are one of the cheapest sources of protein out there. If you are going to rely on these foods, I’d suggest you learn how to prepare them correctly to minimize the concentration of anti-nutrients (it’s easy peasy).

Eat Whole Chickens, Ground Beef, and Offal

Like produce, meat can get expensive. Since I don’t suggest cutting meat out of your diet for health reasons, the next best thing is to find cheap cuts, which usually includes:

• Whole chickens
• Ground beef
• Offal (organ meats, marrow)

Get a Freezer, Go Cowpooling

As anyone who shops at Costco knows, buying in bulk is always the cheapest option. Although purchasing whole chickens and fish is doable for most people, buying an entire cow, pig, or lamb rarely is. If you have the space, you might want to pick up a chest freezer, which can hold massive quantities of meat, and go “cowpooling,” or sharing the meat from an entire animal, with others.

Look for Sales and Clip Coupons

I know, this is a “grandmother move,” just like making stock, but keeping an eye out for discounts via coupons and sales can cut back on your grocery bill.

Shop at the Farmer’s Market

You’ll never be able to find any ultra-processed foods at a farmer’s market, which makes it an excellent place to stock up on healthy food without being tempted to buy junk food.

Join a CSA

CSAs are community-supported agriculture, which are programs that allow customers to get boxes of locally-farmed food regularly dropped off at local pick up points.

How Low Should You Go?

It’s a uniquely modern phenomenon to get food for next to nothing, and there are plenty of downsides to doing so.

Currently, the average American spends less that 10% of their disposable income (or earnings after taxes) on food. No other society at no other point in time has achieved such a momentous feat.

The health issues our country (and increasingly all other countries) are facing are not the result of fatty foods or overeating, but rather due to the glut of cheap, low-quality foods such as refined carbohydrates which have flooded the market.

Although I have shown you in this series how to eat well on less, I believe you shouldn’t place a higher priority on food price rather than food quality. Always fill your plate with meat and vegetables while eschewing the processed stuff.

Like the saying goes, you can either pay the grocer now or the doctor later. Be thrifty, but don’t forget about the big picture.

Tagged as: frugality