Economic Crash Eating: .50 cents a day, 2,000 Calories.

reply to post by Ahabstar


Pretty impressive about two dollars a day I am figuring. So on two dollars a day you still lost 20-25 lbs wonder how it will be on .50 a day. If I may ask did you equal out at a certain weight or did you do a steady decline throughout? I am glad to hear though that yours was due to situation and from what you said that has improved grats to you!

So far my posts on this thread have oddly enough been about sugar. But back to the concept of 2000 calories a day for under a buck. Fine if it's one guy trying an experiment, but go bigger, feed a family of four for under four dollars a day. Everyday, for a year. Think the wife will go along, how long until the starving hungry kids get you to call dominoes? What no birthday cake? No anniversary dinner? This is all fine in theory, but big picture, either you are pretending to be self sufficient, or you are working towards it. The idea is to use the resources in your community to never again be reliant on the resources in your community. To play a game for a month is one thing, to live to be free and self sufficient is completely something else.

it's possible to eat mostly ramen and still have a somewhat balanced diet. i was basically raised on the stuff my whole life and the trick to making ramen better is adding other common ingredients you may have in the kitchen. you can add eggs, vegetables, and bits of meat and you got a cheap and delicious and probably unhealthy meal but it's a lot better than nothing. you can also make pretty cheap meals using tortillas and refried beans.. basically you just have to be resourceful and try to think outside the box a little if you are facing some sort of financial crisis making it difficult to feed yourself or family.

Tortillas and refried beans.

Go for the corn tortillas due to the treatment with lime they have a higher niacin level.

Also use non GM corn as it has a higher protein level

Add some vegetables and you have a balanced diet

reply to post by Nicenico



Once when at University I bartered window washing for slices of uneaten pizza after closing from a nearby pizza parlor. Fed 3 people for 2 semesters on food that would have been thrown away.

reply to post by drift393


Well, considering it was a drastic change in diet habits. There was some initial weight loss followed by a slower decline. Hard to compare caloric intake because I naturally adjust intake to output. In other words, I have always ate less when I do less. And that I always eat less in the summer because I feel bloated in the heat.

The key was to keep eating proteins to avoid muscle loss, although I think I have lost some from my biceps. But light exercise in the form of pushups is rebuilding them.

In a true survival situation, I would have lost considerably more weight or been forced to consume more proteins and calories due to the amount of physical work that would be needed done daily such as foraging, hunting, gardening, fire wood gathering for cooking fires and shelter upkeep.

The trade off there of course is the supplementing of food stocks by other means. Ideally what I learned is not only what I should have on hand but what should be planted for long term storage. From seed to to food takes time. Many people seem to forget that part about survival gardening. Let alone the lower yields from weather, location, unprepared soil, bugs and everything else.

A bug-out situation in late September means it could be 8-9 months of food stocks and hunt/gather until your crops come in. A grim reality that many over look. I know that I have. So like I have said, I have learned quite a lot from this situation.

Great find, Nicenico

But, and this is not aimed at the OP but at the guy in the blog; the 50cent/day practice will only work out if food prices remain that low.

Look at what we have had so far this year: devestating earthquakes, floods and wild fires.
Already, the price of wheat is soaring.
His can of refried beans might cost $10 in ten years time (note: might).

I believe that his project is thought to be an "education" on how to live through harder times, but if these "harder times" will be as "hard" as I believe them to be, one have to start hoarding things like rice, pollenta, spices and canned foods now if 50cents/day is going to work in reality.

Anyway, his blog works perfectly for entertainment nontheless!
And he is doing the right thing too; becoming an "incomplete consumer" if one is to talk "market language".
He should have some sort of medal for that.
Stick it up to the man!

reply to post by salchanra


Daum!
I want the same sugar story in this totally on-topic thread!
Please???

Survival = location+food storage+preparation(gear)+preparation(skills training)+determination to survive+brain power. Want to survive? Relocate, if you are not in a good place, build up food storage (over a years time it's painless), get the right equipment and right training and become a homesteader raising your own veggies and animals. Learning to eat on short supplies is useful, lets you know where you stand when you think you have a years supply of food...do you really? Don't forget water. 2cents