I've seen a couple people mention not having enough money to eat, eating every-other-day, and so on, in relation to the IAM-pay issue. I eat for about $3 CDN a day most of the time (about $2 US). One of the many ways that “the poor” get screwed over is by getting nickel-and-dimed to death.
For example, some people have said “I can't afford to pay $10 all at once; can I just pay a dollar a week or something?” — to institute such a policy would turn me, in effect, into a loan shark, charging people more when they have less. The furniture and appliance leasing companies pull the same scam. Buy the piece of furniture for $1000 and own it for 20 years ($50 a year), or pay $1 a day to rent it ($365 a year).
Anyway, one of the scams that the food industry pulls on the impoverished is not placing decent grocery stores in their neighborhoods, but instead placing convenience stores and fast-food stores. At first glance it might seem cheaper to eat a burger every two days, or eat a bag of chips when you've saved up a dollar, but when you do that you are actually getting very little value for your investment.
The meal below cost me about a dollar to a dollar-fifty to make, and it was giant — totally filling, and totally yummy (clearly not everyone will agree, but it's easy to shift the ingredients to something you like): a can of mixed beans, a bunch of houmous (easy to make for very little), some lime juice, some oil, vinegar, spices (wasabi, cayenne, pepper, salt), and a couple tortillas. Add some fresh veggies if you want. It's really easy.
Soups are easy to do as well, for basically no money. Want a nice leek soup? Chop up and cook some leek, toss in a couple potatoes and some water, and about an hour later when it's ready, put in a little parsley and a touch of soy sauce. Easy, cheap, and tasty. Want a nice flatbread for the bean concoction you made? Flour and water. Make a ball. Flatten it. Fry it. It's really that easy.
I'm not a chef. I'm not even a particularly good cook… But the fact is, it's cheap to eat well, and almost all of the basic staples you need can be produced at home with minimal time investment for a fraction of what you'd pay in a store. Not only that, but cooking for yourself is dramatically more healthy, so don't be surprised when you find yourself slimmer and fitter as well as richer.
Post a Comment