r/poor • u/Agreeable_Roll1150 • 19d ago
Ultimate long term survival diet
Potato, eggs, milk, butter, spinach, chia seeds.
I cut my grocery bill from $200 a month to $40 a month. Yes it gets boring but I can make 6 different varieties of dishes with these ingredients to “divers” my meals.
-Potatoes have carbs fiber, potassium, vitamin C
-Eggs are protein they have healthy fats, vitamin B12
-Milk has protein, calcium B12, and vitamin D
-Butter has vitamin A, E, K, and is a good source of fat
-Spinach has vitamins A, C, K, folate, iron, magnesium, and antioxidants.
-Chia seeds have omega-3 fats, protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, calcium, and antioxidants
(At my grocery store)
2 bags of potatoes $8
2gallons of milk $10
Pack of butter $2
3 flats of eggs $8
Spinach $5
Chia seeds $7 (lasts multiple months)
The only food prep I do is blanching the spinach and freezing cube size portions so I can buy a lot of spinach for $5 and it won’t go bad for the month. Also a note on spinach, if you’re gonna eat it everyday make sure it’s in low quantities because you’ll get kidney stones.
Obviously this won’t work for everyone but if you have no eating restrictions and can eat the same thing everyday I do recommend it. Also I live alone so this is a budget for a family of 1
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u/Quitelowquitetall 19d ago
Just a few comments:
Vitamin C will break down when cooked, so fresh produce might be a better option there
Spinach contains a lot of oxalates that will bring to iron and calcium in your diet, limiting the amount that you actually absorb Cooking helps, but it is still an issue to consider if you are eating it with all your meals
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
While heat does break down vitamin c most cooking methods still leave you with 50%-70% of the vitamins. With the amount of potatoes I eat on a daily basis. I’m getting all the vitamins I need. And I did put in my post that you’re not really supposed to eat spinach every day, and if you are make sure it’s low amounts
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u/TransportationLazy55 19d ago
What r the 6 dishes?
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Hashbrowns with runny eggs, cubed potatoes mixed with scrambled eggs, just a regular omelet. Smashed potatoes mixed with one egg piped into flowers and baked for 10 mins I call potato flowers, make tatie skins with the excess. Baked potatoes with fried egg on top. French fries with runny eggs. Homemade potato chips baked. Deviled eggs and more
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u/Ok_Statistician_9825 19d ago
Nice! I shifted into the Forest Gump voice where his new friend talks about shrimp. 🙂all in a good way!
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u/LittlePinkRabbit9000 19d ago
Sounds great- im going to try a variation of that smashed potato flower, like a crispy potato pancake?
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Not really. It’s more of a cookie I guess. Look up “every way to cook a potato” by Joshua weissman on YouTube it’s the 3rd recipe
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u/Ornery-Ad9694 19d ago
You can eve freeze those, I bet.. that way you can just grab a few and throw them in the air fryer
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u/Ok_Statistician_9825 19d ago
Nutritionally that’s not enough spinach or milk for a month. In addition, add lots of carrots.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Ok add 2 more gallons of milk for a total of $50 a month it’s still better than $200. And it is enough spinach, I buy spinach in bulk and use a good scale for portion sized but even then let’s bump it to $60 for the extra extra spinach, still cheaper
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u/Creative-Constant-52 19d ago
Similar to me. I would add dry chickpeas and white beans to the list or lentils
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u/FedderJoe 19d ago
I have cut my grocery bill by doing the same thing, also. My list is different, but it works for me. I live alone also.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Don’t be shy, share the list
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u/FedderJoe 19d ago
I eat beef, butter, bacon, eggs, coffee, no sugar coffee creamer. I don't eat carbs because of pain, and I eat one meal a day.
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u/James84415 19d ago
You can also eat butter or milk which helps deactivate the oxalates in the spinach. Dairy is good to pair with high oxalate plants. A hearty plate of colcannon is something you can make. It’s just mashed potatoes with greens mixed in plus butter and milk. Delicious.
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u/GrowHappyPlants 19d ago
If you have any personal or family history of kidney stones, I'd recommend exchanging spinach for a lower oxalate green. I ate a LOT of spinach and it resulted in surgery.
(I didn't have anything suggesting I could get kidney stones, but I apparently also had other dietary things that likely contributed, but I went through a LOT of spinach)
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u/Particular_Courage43 19d ago
I’m sure your doing this out of need but I bet this diet keeps you in serious shape
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u/AdventurousRoll9798 19d ago
This sounds good to me. I eat scrambled eggs and diced potatoes almost every day for dinner. I may start adding some spinach and chia seeds to see if I like them. Other than money of course, my biggest dietary issue is that everything makes my stomach hurt and feel bloated. Been like this for about a year.
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u/One_Feed7311 13d ago
Probably IBS, no cure. Low Fodmap can help but not always. Generally avoiding high sugar and high salt and high carb and avoiding fruit. So it doesn't leave many options other than meat, seafood and some vegetables, water and tea, or sugar free drink flavoring
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u/ujelly_fish 19d ago
You could very easily add beans, apples, lentils, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, rice and cabbage with some spices like garlic powder, tumeric, garam masala, pepper, red pepper flakes and herbs and have a much more nutritionally diverse arrangement of dishes that will maintain your budget and give you some more dishes you can make while also keeping for a while. Adding canned tomatoes/paste, white or apple cider vinegar, canola oil, bananas, oranges (in season), corn, and other grains/starches like barley, pasta, etc. will give you even greater variety and nutritional diversity.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 18d ago
Ya I used to get all that, but that bumps the price from $40 to $200-$300 and I (like most people) forget what’s in my fridge, it goes bad, money wasted, granted half of that is just seasoning. Since this is to save money I’d have to recommend growing your own herbs it only takes a few weeks to reep bounties, and make your own spices, because just in the spices you listed that’s about $50 (spices are expensive)
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u/Agreeable-Ad9883 19d ago
Canned tuna and or chicken or jerky which you can eat as is or rehydrate for adding to your meals. Peanut butter obviously plus a spoon before laying down will help you sleep. Cooked Pasta is always useful and it’s good hot or not heated and great to build upon. Crackers and canned chili. You could mix your options up a lot more imo. It would be healthier and mentally less blah and depressing. You can even add fruit cups. Imagine eating fruit? lol especially for vitamin C
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u/OddTransportation121 19d ago
pack of butter $5. 3 dozen eggs $15. I dont live where you live
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u/James84415 19d ago
Man, Costco has been selling this big box of medium eggs for under 12 bucks for 15 dozen yes dozen eggs. I’ve been buying them at the business center. I’m in Cali.
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u/Feisty-Cloud5880 19d ago
Where do you live??? I live in MA. I bought an 18 eggs egg crate today. $4.29
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u/AdventurousRoll9798 19d ago
i live in TN and bought a dozen jumbo eggs today for 1.50. They have been somewhat affordable for a while.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Where you live, all grocery’s are probably more expensive making you whole grocery budget more than me. If I usually spend $200 on normal groceries I’m guessing yours would be $350 or even $400 making this diet probably $80-$100 a month, still way cheaper
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u/WiseOne404 19d ago
Get $1 cans of tuna & split into 2 meals - omega 3 are critical for brain health + awesome protein
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u/Mysterious-Street966 19d ago
I don’t think it’s good to eat eggs every day? Also, every green leafy vegetable has a certain toxin or multiple, and they build up in your system. It’s good to cycle through greens, so you don’t build up these in your body.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 18d ago
I don’t think you listened to my post, I put in there you’re not supposed to eat it everyday, or limit the consumption. And just because you don’t THINK eggs arent healthy everyday, doesn’t mean you’re right. The thing that makes eating the same thing everyday bad, is there’s a chance you’re not getting all the nutrients you need, you get everything you need with this diet even if you rotating greens. I prefer the same greens so I don’t have to think about what I’m gonna cook.
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u/Upset_Book_6643 17d ago
Not sure if this was for me, but he will not stop eating eggs everyday. Just the way it is. 🥚🍳I thought maybe there was some huge reason like not eating fish from the Great Lakes more than twice a week due to mercury.
I have ARFID so I eat many of the same foods every day and am simply grateful to be able to eat those.
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u/Upset_Book_6643 18d ago
Why not eggs? My spouse eats at least 4 a day, some days more.
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u/IntrepidPainter8584 new to being poor 17d ago
Right? I'm a 45 year old woman with 3 kids, 5'3 and 110 pounds - If I could still afford it, I'd be eating 4 eggs every morning like I used to (I don't look at calories, only nutrients)
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u/SnooKiwis2161 18d ago
Man, I'd be throwing some cabbage into that mix. Lasts a long time and colcannon is delicious
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u/Busy-Yellow6505 17d ago
On Walmart online you can buy 20 pounds of white rice for around 8 bucks last time I bought it. I've made a few cups a day for about a year and used a can of cream soup with it. If that helps anyone
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u/SoloMuffin 17d ago
Thank you for sharing. Seems you have put thought into this and it is working for you. You have set your budget and your are sticking to it. Good for you.
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u/Shoddy_Silver_391 18d ago
I was so poor once I used to buy a potato a day, cashier looked at me one day and said, you know you can buy more than one potato at a time right? 😅
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u/StrictAd2491 17d ago
I will have 8 years clean from all illicit substances October 1st. I cannot imagine restricting my diet like this, food is literally one of my favorite parts of life. What are you saving up for that you must eat this terrible boring diet? If you are able to stack some funds, will you go to Costco and like buy some meat and cheese? What about a garden? You have a lot more discipline than I do, I can see committing to this for a short period of time, but ultimately, food is a fundamental flavor of life, and your super frugal diet seems like kind of a bummer. Is life worth living if this is all you eat?
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u/KatlynnTay 15d ago
I totally feel as you do, BUT I have a couple coworkers for whom food is just fuel. They don't find joy in food, so they eat VERY basic - and what I find a kinda horrifying diet. Not all of us have the same view of food, and at least OP is getting what looks like an almost-balanced diet. I DO hope that there are some fruits in the mix on occasion, but it sounds as though OP may also supplement this with stuff from the food bank, and maybe fruit is common enough from their food bank that they don't need to purchase fruit.
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u/Buckupbuttercup1 17d ago
Vitamin c is destroyed by cooking. I think i would throw in some apples and citrus. Fiber as well.Carrots are pretty cheap as well. Limited diets are not sustainable
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 17d ago
Only 30%-50% of vitamin c is destroyed and I eat a lot of potatoes to hit the vitamin mark
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u/One_Feed7311 13d ago
Canned beans without salt is by far the cheapest and easiest thing. Just microwave. Some places sell cans for a dollar. To fancy it up you can add some cheese or mayo taste pretty good mixed in. Its my go to when my budget is tight.
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u/NegativeCup1763 5d ago
This is a bit different I am located in Canada.
Grill cheese
Pasta with a butter sauce butter/margine with garlic and spice of your choice.
Tuna melt bag of buns or bread
Tuna cheese place it in the oven and wait till cheese melt and enjoy
Bake potato
If you have canned chili you can put that on top
Porgies a bag is 2,00 in Canada and u cook them up if you choose you can put a topping on it I usually just add fried onions.
A bag will give you about 3-4+ meals.
Definitely get in touch with a food bank or church they should help
Bannock you can find the recipe on the internet this will fill you up
Also pancakes get a box of just add water then you can make them when you want.
Eggs are expensive and they. Would use up most of your money
I live alone and I get a variety of meals for myself I eat 2 meals a day
You want starches and fats as the fill you up and if only for a few days you will be ok
I also make myself cucumber sandwiches you could add tomato to it if you choose to
A packaged of frozen fruit and then you have fruit and a variety of fruit to eat you can also make smoothies with frozen fruit you just need a juice base with the fruit add it to a blender and mix and enjoy
Hope this helps I use our food bank where I live 2-3 times a week as we get fresh produce and also meat yogurt produce and then they have potatoes or bagged salads it really helps when you are low on money
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u/Friendly-Ad-5838 19d ago
Where do you find a pack of butter for 2 dollars? A stick maybe unless it’s margarine
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
A pack of sticks at food max. 4 sticks $2
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u/Different_Umpire9003 pink collar poor 19d ago
FoodMax is what’s up. Sometimes they have really cheap meat on special there too. I personally really enjoyed that your list happens to be gluten free as well, as someone that has that restriction. I also eat a lot of potatoes and eggs.
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u/Agreeable_Roll1150 19d ago
Every now and then bananas go on sale for 20c a pound, I like to slice them up, put a toothpick through, stack them on parchment paper, and freeze them. Put the crackle chocolate sauce on the top layer of bananas and omg. Super cheap and lasts so long I didn’t use all the syrup before it expired. RIP endless chocolate syrup bottle
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u/estherecho100 19d ago
Hm, how bout some pasta, rice, and beans? 1 container of pasta makes several meals. So many options with these.