[quote=AN][quote=UCGal]The problem with buying veggies in bulk is it limits you to one specific veggie. I think any family of 4 would be hard pressed to eat 10 lbs of cabbage in a week – even with cabbage intensive dishes of corned beef and cabbage.
I just checked the add – 3 heads of red leaf lettuce for 99c is good. It’s a better price than costco.
You talk about someone eating 5 lbs of oranges in a day – that’s unrealistic… for one thing it’s not nutritionally complete – And would eat up too big of your $4.44/day. But 5lbs of oranges for a family, for a week… that’s reasonable.
I’ve been meaning to check out zionmarket and this new market you mention… I think that’s how I’ll spend my “black friday” shopping.[/quote]
You’re right, it’s limited to a specific veggie each week but there’s always something on sale every week. So, if you adjust your meals to only what’s on sale, you can spend much less in food. When you want to live under a specific budget, you don’t have the luxury of eating whatever. There are many different dishes you can make with cabbage. Example would be stir fry meat with cabbage and boiled cabbage for soup and veggie. Then you can dipped the boiled cabbage in fish sauce and eat with rice as well. That’s our meal sometimes.
Of course I was being facetious about the 5 lbs of oranges in a day, but if you have a family of 4, 5 lb of oranges should be enough for you for a week. So, a week’s worth of fruit is $1-5, which is $0.2-1/day on top of the cost of your other meals.[/quote]
That 5 lbs. of fruit wouldn’t be the only produce item for families who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. For us (family of 5), we can go through three packages of berries in just one meal — and that’s just dessert. We often eat around 3-6 oranges and/or apples (usually a combo) just for lunch, alone. An average salad for our family consists of a head of lettuce, a tomato, half an onion, a few sticks of celery, 1 bell pepper, and (maybe) a cucumber…and that’s just the *salad* for one meal.
My husband catches most of our fish, so he says it’s “free.” Of course, if you count all the costs for fishing, it probably comes in at $50/lb. (or more), but that’s a whole ‘nother issue.
If you buy organic/hormone-free eggs, they’re closer to ~$5.00/dz., and our family can easily eat 10 eggs in one sitting, and that doesn’t include any toast, cheese, milk, spices, etc. that might go with that meal.
Seriously, AN, if you’re living on a budget that is anywhere close to what you claim, you’re very much in the minority, IMHO. That’s not a put-down, BTW, I wish we could do it; but our diet is very protein and produce-heavy, and there’s no way we could do it on your budget. I think the fact that you use rice all the time (just basing this on your posts) is what helps you stay within budget. I have no doubt that a minimalist Asian diet is far less expensive than a standard “American” diet that tends to have more proteins — probably a LOT more protein and dairy-based foods — and produce.
I keep telling people (other friends with families) about your food budget to see if I’m way off when it comes to grocery shopping, but ~90% of them spend as much or more than we do on groceries.
Still, your posts do get me thinking, and I often think of you when I’m cooking and shopping. We’ve tried to cut back a bit on the milk consumption (usually about 4-6 gallons of hormone-free milk/week — incredibly expensive!) because you had mentioned only drinking water in your house.
