Quote:
Originally Posted by bkloots
Somewhere on this Forum there must be a thread about doing LC on a very tight budget. If not, an experienced forum member might start one.
Suggestions like buying frozen fresh veggies on sale, soup recipes that stretch every ingredient, and finding deals on cheese (for example) could be really helpful.
|
On a different (now defunct) LC forum, there was a thread about doing LC on a very tight budget - seems the poster only had $20 to spend on groceries for herself that week. It was a thread started several years ago (probably around 8-10 years ago), so the prices were considerably lower than they are now, but it was doable, and not even involving IF, just buying very judiciously.
The best way to stretch such a tight budget of course meant buying conventionally produced LC foods (no organics, unless they were less expensive than the conventionally grown that week) which are traditionally very economical, such as whole, bone-in chicken thighs (less expensive than breasts, more meat than chicken legs, bones that could be simmered for bone broth, lots of fat would cook off to save for for scrambling eggs or seasoning veggies, and the skin could be crisped in the microwave for a crunchy snack), block cheese (less expensive than pre-shredded or sliced), eggs, maybe a bargain package of ground beef, or frozen tilapia on sale, and sticking to whatever LC fresh, frozen, or canned veggies were on the best sale that week. You could stretch that $20 a little further if you bought all store brands. You could do even better if you were able to spend a little more one week to get a lower price/lb, with enough of that item for more than 1 week, in order to save that much on the next week's budget.
Many people posted their "If I only had $20" food budget for the week. Prices were different from one part of the country to another, as well as depending on if you had a serious cut-rate grocer in your area, such as Aldi, or Sav-a-lot, so some could buy more food for the same amount of money than others. It certainly didn't provide a wide variety of food choices, and it certainly didn't allow any luxuries, but it was definitely do-able for someone on a very limited budget.
By the time that LC site was closed about a year ago, the amount it took to buy the same amount of food had risen to about $25-$35, but that's still not a bad amount to stick to LC for a week.
So I can see how it would work very well combined with IF.