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Eating for Cheap: How to Get Lunch for a Buck or Less

By marindavid, published Dec 20, 2007
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As a kid in Boston, I can recall sitting in a Waldorf Cafeteria watching a man pour some ketchup into a (free) cup of hot water and, along with the crackers that were on the table, eat a free version of tomato soup. For something more than free, you can do a bit better. For free, you can even do better of you know where to look. For some change, there are a good many more choices.

Free Lunch:
Grazing lunch by taking advantage of free samples/tasting portions of a variety of foods can be done at many super and farmer's markets. COSTCO is now quite famous as a place where a person can go and eat a meal by simply partaking of all of the samples offered on most days. Of course, to enjoy the free food at COSTCO you have to be a member to get in OR learn how to walk in looking like you are WITH a member who flashes his/here card at the door. I have seen it done often.

Free lunches are also often provided at dining rooms, organizations and various houses of worship that cater to the homeless in many communities.

There is also the likelihood that if you show up at a friend's house at lunchtime, you just might be invited in for something to eat! This strategy worked particularly well for me when I was a poor college student!

Not Free but for around a Dollar:

Fresh Fruit:
At sixty-nine cents a pound, you can still get two good size bananas for under a dollar. Lots of potassium as a bonus, no animal fats and available in most supermarkets. Many other types of fresh fruit can be had at a low price and while you won't feel stuffed afterwards, you will have taken the edge off of your appetite with something light, healthy and inexpensive.

A Bagel:
A bagel can be had for a dollar or less at any bakery. A bagel has lots of carbohydrates and calories but not much useful nourishment. None-the-less, many people find them a comforting thing to eat that will make the hunger go away until the next eating opportunity.

Takeaways
  • Eating for a dollar or less
  • Survival vs. preferences
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When I worked in a restaurant when we had kids in college, a guy used to come in and spend most of the day in there, often asking for a cup of hot water. He made lemonade with the lemon juice and sugar on the table, and may have made the tomato soup you mentioned as well. One night he was in the restroom when the owner locked the door, and he wound up sleeping in there all night, which I'm sure was a better place than he usually slept. He was a local who had fried his brain on drugs and chose to live on the street.

Posted on 01/03/2008 at 6:01:20 PM

 
The title caught my attention. This is a creative piece, David! Sophie

Posted on 12/22/2007 at 9:12:51 AM

 
Mmm...bagels, McDonald's, soup, and bananas...you're talking my language--and I love the prices, too! Theoretically, a person could eat three of these meals a day for a whole week and spend only $21 on this budget!

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 9:12:09 PM

 
My kids love to go shopping with me at Costco so they can eat all the samples! I'm a BIG bagel nut :-)

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 9:12:43 PM

 
My family still loves the ramen noodles.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 7:12:19 PM

 
I can get a meal at any food stall in Bangkok for 60 cents, and bananas are 30 cents a kilo here :-) Oh and yeah, Ramen type noodles originated in Asia, all the Thais eat them - about 10 cents each! Another option to get a meal under a buck is to move to Thailand, LOL. Good article - great ideas for eating cheap.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 7:12:42 PM

 
Did someone say free food.....I love those samples at Sam's.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 6:12:31 PM

 
Hey! I enjoyed this particular piece more than any you've done in while (and you've done many darned good ones!). You already know I'm frugal. Additionally, during the past month I've avoided ALL unhealthy foods and (without exercising) have lost 23 pounds (i.e., was about 195 the morning after Thanksgiving; but now am 172). Unlimited cooked greens & other veggies; huge tossed salads; coleslaw; my "spicy Cajun chili" (various cooked beans) and/or a soy burger/sausage; plenty of fruits; and very limited (1 ounce daily) walnuts and almonds. Not TOO expensive per meal, eh? :-)

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 6:12:54 PM

 
Great ideas! Here in western PA it is easy to find food for a buck or less as well as free samples in the grocery stores. We have our famous pepperoni rolls @2/1.00, big soft pretzels for .89 cents, and foot long hot dogs for .99 cents. Back when I worked as a waitress in the 80's at the enlisted club I used to virtually live off of the soup of the day, and whatever the cook threw our way. The deals are there, you just gotta know where to find them.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 2:12:35 PM

 
Sounds like my daughter at school.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 12:12:25 PM

 
When I was in college, I stocked up on those Ramen noodle packets. 13 cents for a meal was right in my price range about then :D

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 11:12:43 AM

 
once I had a Clark Bar for dinner when I was living alone in New York...these alternatives would have been much better..;)

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 11:12:34 AM

 
Reminds me of those graduate school days . . . with ramen noodles, mac 'n cheese, and bagel dogs. ;-)

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 9:12:20 AM

 
Frugal ideas. One old fella reminded me of the days of pilot lights. He would put his can of soup over the pilot light in the morning so he could have hot soup for supper. Thank You fer sharin'. Merry Christmas. ;-}}>

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 8:12:23 AM

 
Ah, these bring back memories of my poor days! I've done a lot of these things on your list. Some others I've done include eating eggs (cheap by the dozen) and potted meat. Potted meat is so so so disgusting! I also worked as a waitress where it was free to eat rolls and soup. I always knew when McDonald's was running their chicken nugget special and I'd get that a lot, too.

Posted on 12/21/2007 at 5:12:08 AM

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