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Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-10-25 10:29
This is very embarrassing but I'm like novice rank in cooking IRL. It's due to a lack of interest and the females in the house often don't want me to stick around the kitchen. But I'm desperate now because good food over here is often expensive as I lost my right to subsidies (due to age) and inflation and whatever over the recent years.
First of all, food at and near school is terrible and not very affordable.
I earn around $300 per month from my part-time job. (Sometimes I have the day off too if there is not much to be done so it could be much less.) There is no way I am going to get another supplementary job just to cover expenses so I'm looking at reducing expenses.
I have calculated my traveling expenses and it comes up to about $115 a month.
Phone and internet is about $70.
I don't think I will spend much for Mabi this year but it's very hard to say. I need just $30-40 for standby in case they come up with something nice.
That's $185 gone, and factoring in the $40 for Mabi, I have to think of how to solve the food problem under $75 for 5 days each week.
It will be neat if I can get something I'm happy with for $75 but I don't think it's likely, therefore I decided to pack lunch/dinner.
The trouble is I don't know what I can make and how to get a variety for the whole week for 2 months or so.
Then there is a problem of books which cost like a total of $150 if they are expecting me to get the originals. I plan to find a way around that problem but it'll still cost me money.
I'm not going to bother to ask for the school for any financial assistance because all they will direct me is to a bank loan, but I'm not that needy. At worst, I can ask for money from parents but I'm doing my best not to do that due to some reasons. I'm not asking for fingers to point and blame. I'm looking for solutions.
Asian tastes but don't mind stuff from other cultures, as long as there are nothing seasonal (I'm somewhere in an area with tropical climate).
Thanks.
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Iyasenu wrote on 2010-10-25 10:49
What about that ramen that costs like 14 cents a package?
I love that stuff, but I don't know your tastes. xD
It makes me happy how cheap it is. (Just take vitamins since they have like no nutritional value)
You can pack it in different ways, like Tupperware or a Thermos(to drink? xD).
But, that's just what works for me, since I love how it tastes. I don't get tired of it, even eating it every day. xD
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Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-10-25 11:25
Quote from Iyasenu;193450:
What about that ramen that costs like 14 cents a package?
I love that stuff, but I don't know your tastes. xD
It makes me happy how cheap it is. (Just take vitamins since they have like no nutritional value)
You can pack it in different ways, like Tupperware or a Thermos(to drink? xD).
But, that's just what works for me, since I love how it tastes. I don't get tired of it, even eating it every day. xD
I used to eat that kind of stuff for breakfast every day. However, it's not too good for health.
I suppose I can consider that occasionally as long as I put in other stuff like fishcakes, egg or veggies.
I only know how to cook noodles, eggs, porridge and mostly instant stuff :gloom2: So I was thinking what else I can do.
If I get the day off tomorrow (mostly like yes) I'll need to go shopping for food stuffs so I'm thinking right now about stuff that I can do...
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Cannibal wrote on 2010-10-25 11:32
If you have a place for refrigeration, salads usually aren't too expensive and can be pretty filling. Simple soups are easy to make, and you can make it in bulk, freeze it, and thaw it out as you need it. Soups are really filling, as well. Sandwiches are cheap and don't need to require too many ingredients to be good.
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Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-10-25 11:36
Quote from Damn;193461:
If you have a place for refrigeration, salads usually aren't too expensive and can be pretty filling. Simple soups are easy to make, and you can make it in bulk, freeze it, and thaw it out as you need it. Soups are really filling, as well. Sandwiches are cheap and don't need to require too many ingredients to be good.
If I needed to keep the food for about 4 hours in the bag, should I avoid salads? =/
I have a cooler bag though but I don't know if bringing that along will be extreme..
Soup sounds good, I'll look into it too.
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Cannibal wrote on 2010-10-25 11:40
Quote from Yogurticecream;193465:
If I needed to keep the food for about 4 hours in the bag, should I avoid salads? =/
I have a cooler bag though but I don't know if bringing that along will be extreme..
Soup sounds good, I'll look into it too.
If you're going for just a green and veggie salad, without anything like eggs or meat, it should be perfectly fine in a regular bag. You could always bring along some
fruit in something like this (or cut your own and put it in a container) to go with it.
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wolfram wrote on 2010-10-25 15:15
I find this site very good for ideas to living frugally.
I linked it to a post where he talks about food. Hope it helps.
The Simple Dollar
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Zid wrote on 2010-10-26 23:06
If you're good with eggs, it's a good filler. But for now, I guess you just need the necessities.
Fruit can be good. Canned soup might be an alternative to ramen. A really versatile and cheap filler is steamed rice that you make for yourself. Heck, my aunts and uncles gave their college kids rice cookers for that purpose. Just make sure a (variable) diet of protein go with the rice, like meat.
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Fracture wrote on 2010-10-26 23:10
If you have easy access to a microwave, frozen meals from a local grocery store work wonders. Most are well-rounded, and often sell for no more than 2$ per. There are, for dinner, larger ones that are full meals, perhaps 5-6$.
Just throwing that out there.
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Intex wrote on 2010-10-26 23:33
If you have easy access to a microwave, frozen meals from a local grocery store work wonders. Most are well-rounded, and often sell for no more than 2$ per. There are, for dinner, larger ones that are full meals, perhaps 5-6$.
Just throwing that out there.
Almost everything pre-packed and microwavable is overpriced or has no nutrition value.
It's like cheap cup noodles or a packaged sandwich for $3.
It's a good idea to make all your meals in bulk every week or so.
That way you can refrigerate the food and reheat when needed.
I guess you should avoid buying meat because that tends to be much more expensive (if it's not unhealthy fast food).
Look online to find what fruits/veggies are in season and only buy those, they should be a lot cheaper and taste better.
There's always certain foods that are just plain cheap such as bananas.
As long as you know basic cooking terms and you can follow directions you should be able to cook.
Cooking really doesn't require much skill imo as long as you pick recipes you that work for you.
It doesn't mean you have to sacrifice any quality or taste either.
It's like baking brownies or sponge cake, both are equally amazing but brownies are much easier to make.
If you need recipes you should look with the keywords- college, frugal, simple, cookbook.
You can find a lot of good recipe sites on google or you can torrent a popular cookbook.
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Kazuni wrote on 2010-10-26 23:40
Just get your hands on a rice cooker and some rice. Press some buttons, perfect rice. Somewhat cheap and extremely easy :I
Then fry up random veggies or something.
/very typical asian food
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Chillax wrote on 2010-10-26 23:54
What about Asian 7-11?
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paladin wrote on 2010-10-26 23:59
For cold food go for fruits,veggies,salid
For hot foods go for either homemade soups or rice/another grain with something to dress it up some veggies with sauce of even some cheap meat
Another one you could consider is pasta with a sauce and a small piece of bread
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Intex wrote on 2010-10-27 00:08
Quote from Chillax;195706:
What about Asian 7-11?
Same goes for the opposite, never buy at the "high end" grocery store.
Never buy at Whole Foods, even though their food is sooooo good it's insanely overpriced...
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Mentosftw wrote on 2010-10-27 00:16
Look up simple sandwiches then you can practice cooking in the meantime. Don't go for high sodium foods to throw in that sandwich, I heard a slice of spam can contain a whole day's worth of sodium. After you stave off a couple days, you can move on to better stuff .-.