I’m (25F) so broke that I skip dinner most nights. When I get hungry, I just try to sleep it off.
I tell people I’m on a diet when they ask why I’m not eating, it’s easier than explaining that I just can’t afford food. Since I jog every other day, they believe it. But the truth is, I’m just poor.
My job pays so little, and I’ve been trying to find something better for over a year now with no luck. Rent and bills take up more than I earn. I’m always on such a tight budget that I have to cook food meant for two days just to stretch it out, and even that’s a struggle.
I hate to admit but sometimes I go on dates just so I can eat at a nice restaurant.
I don’t want much. I don’t care about luxuries. I just wish I could afford to eat what I want.
Edit: Thank you all for the advice. I can’t reply to everyone, but I really appreciate your concern. Everything is so expensive, eggs, vegetables, rice, but I’ll take your advice to heart.
Comments
Are you located in the US? If you’re on low income you can possibly get assistance until you find better work.
Are there any food banks where you live?
Definitely stop jogging and use that time to apply to other jobs. Money makes life so much easier. Once you’re financially secure you’ll have an easier time getting the rest together.
Beans are a wonderful source of fiber that can fill you for a long period of time that are not too costly. Try mixing with rice or another inexpensive grain, I know where I live protein is very expensive. Beans are a great alternative
Is it possible to go to a church? You can look up to see if any have food programs.
Definitely check out your local food banks. A lot easier and open than you might think.
When I was broke before, I used to buy dog food that comes with gravy and is vegan. Usually those are on sale and have most protein and Vitamins.
I keep saying this so much im finna make an afterschool special:
Go get a second job at a restaurant. It may not pay much, but most restaurants will feed you once a day for free. Or if they don’t do free food you make friends with a cook or work in the kitchen and get the hookup. Like this is the only way I made it through without starving to death.
Are there any food banks or churches that distribute food near you?
Many years ago, I was a single mom of two boys under 5. I lived on Top Ramen, rice and beans. I’d add in fresh fruit and vegetables when I could afford them. These foods are still comfort foods 45 years later. They are cheap and filling.
Skipping meals is a recipe for long term issues… Please try to seek help from local charities or food banks.
Rice and lentils/beans are also a ridiculously good value in return for nutrition – if you’re in the US and know someone who may have a Costco or other warehouse club membership, you can max out nutrition for $.
Oats. They are cheap, filling and nutrious and you can add just about anything on hand to them!
In my country we have something called TooGoodToGo, where you can go to restaurants/bakeries etc close to closing time, and get a portion of what’s left, so they don’t have to throw it away. Also, I’ve started eating vegan some days, since it’s the meat that’s the most expensive here. I deliberately search out vegan recipes, just to make sure I get enough protein.
Hi love. Try to get your hands on lentils or beans, they are very nutritious and if you just cook them with a little salt you’ll have a great meal. Not sure where you are located, but look on tik tok for foraging ideas in your area, just be safe.
Saw you’re not in the US. Does your country have churches or missions that offer meals? That could be your dinner. Or volunteer at a homeless shelter in exchange for a plate of food
Are you able to get to Manila somehow? How far from the city are you? You will have access to many community pantries and food banks if you can reach the city, even if you go once in a while it will make a difference.
I too am very broke (living on disability during a rental crisis) & here are some things I do in order of priority of what you can afford.
carbs- buy rice. Preferably in bulk. This lets you have a filling, cheap, relatively healthy base for meals that will also bulk them out and keep you feeling full.If you can afford potatoes this adds heaps of other dishes (wedges, mashed potato, roast potato.) If you buy flour you can make tortillas, bread etc for really cheap. But if nothing else, a lot of peasant food is rice & beans for a reason. It keeps you alive for cheap.
for protein you wanna go vegetarian. Cheapest option is a big bag of dried lentils/beans that you soak overnight. Tofu is also cheap & versatile.
for fibre & vitamins, frozen & canned veg, plus fresh veg on sale.
the way to not go completely insane doing this is to slowly build up your spice collection. This lets you flavour things differently so you can have Indian food or Mexican food etc with very similar base ingredients. If you buy sugar this lets you make some sweet dishes too.
Growing some herbs on the windowsill from 50c seeds from the two dollar shop seeds made the food 10x less depressing. See, I’m having oregano roast potatoes with a lemon thyme white bean dipping sauce, not cooked potatoes and beans.
Then the last thing I try keep a few $$$ for is little treats. I love chocolates so I buy a big cheap pack and have one little chocolate before bed. Then I don’t feel like I’m completely depriving myself & want to skip eating altogether because it’s so mind-numbingly depressing.
If you can scrape 60 bucks together, a Costco account is usually worth it for the cheap food. Might not be an immediately actionable piece of advice, just something to remember from someone who has been in your position.
Buy frozen vegetables, beef stock,cheap noodles or rice, make a soup out of it, will last few days. Slice of bread with it, lunch done.im trying to save so usually have meals on budget. Pasta , veg, meat on sale. Sometimes I make my own bread, cheaper than to buy.or potatoes, they are versatile, can make meal or soup
I’m so sorry to hear this.
Are there any food banks, where you live?
Hey so I don’t know if this will help or if you even want it, but I can take a look at your CV for you? Maybe will help with finding a new job. Let me know, just message me. No fees, no scams. Just want to help out if I can.
Check out the Dollar Store dinners lady on social media. She was a godsend for meals on a budget when I was flat broke.
Why doesn’t a full time job pay for food… this is the basics of having a job.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It sounds like it’s time for a food bank.
I’m sorry to hear that. It’s so wrong, nobody should be starving, especially those who have a regular job. It’s sad to see what our world has come to, rich are collecting all the money and prices just keep going up.
Chick-fil-a gives you a free meal every shift. That’s the only one I know for sure but I’m sure that’s the case at plenty of other restaurants. Would be worth trying to get into a second part time job. Also see if you qualify for ebt/wic. I’m sure you’ve probably already looked into it, but just in case you haven’t.
I was the opposite.
Not that I was not broke, but maybe a bit less. And on a diet.
And my sister, loving person she is, tried to feed me because she thought I was just poor.
Actually, intermittent fasting has been proven to be healthy, many people do the 16-8 thing where they fast for 16hs of the day (even bodybuilders), so regardless of being broke (which is obviously not nice), you might be doing something healthy without noticing. I just hope you are not underweight? I am terribly sorry you are that broke but don’t give up and it will pass. You are still young and have career opportunities ahead of you
Food banks!! Canned vegetables, rice, and stuff that doesn’t spoil are great for times like this. Sorry you’re going through it.
In my country, there is this Internet food market that sells items like rice or pasta or dried beans and stuff that’s close to the expiration date for a very cheap price. Rice doesn’t actually go bad, so you can buy 5 kg of it and make a lot of food from it.
You can also buy canned vegetables and meat as they sell anything that isn’t refrigerated. Make a search to see if there’s something similar in your country.
I remember living on cooked pasta and porridge when I was young and very poor. Sometimes, I had ketchup with the pasta, but usually, I had to eat it plain. Still, it was food, and I didn’t need to go hungry. I also often ate bread without anything on because butter was expensive.
Try your local food pantry
There are plenty of cheap recipes which use the same base ingredients of root vegetables and beans. A staple should be – onion, garlic, spinach (buy in bulk and freeze), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, lentils and beans, chickpeas.. Buy some spices in bulk and store them in plastic bags.
You can buy a lot of cheap vegetables and freeze them and you’ll extend their shelf life by months. What you’ll do is ‘blanch’ them (cut up, boil for 2 minutes and then dunk in ice cold water). I buy discounted vegetables in bulk and do this and I save a shit tonne of money.
Soup – potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and lentils, garlic and onions – boil and blend when everything is cooked through.
Chickpea and lentils with coconut cream, chillies and rice
Stir fry – chuck whatever vegetables you like into a pan, add seasoning and soy sauce and cook some rice on the side.
Stir fry some vegetables and add eggs. Turn into an omlette
Take your vegetables and potatoes and roast in the oven (or microwave oven) heavy on the spices (I really like fennel and curry with this dish)
Save every scrap of vegetables. Skins, pits, stalks. Freeze them in a bag.
If you want cheap meat – buy a Whole chicken and quarter it yourself. You can also go to any butcher and ask for beef bones and chicken bones (neck and feet as well) Chances are, you’ll get them for free.
Take the carcass of the chicken, and any chicken scraps OR the beef bones and Gently boil the scraps with the frozen scraps of vegetables. Cook it until the bones break. You’ll see foam form on the water, remove it with a spoon and throw it away. Drain the ‘soup’ and keep the liquid. This is liquid nutritional gold and can be used as a noodle soup base. You can also freeze the water and keep it for when you need it.
You can also roast the beef bones – cover in oil and spices and roast for a while (a couple of hours if I’m not mistaken) . The marrow (centre of the bone) is like jam when cooked. That marrow is golden in nutrients and can be spread on bread or eaten as is with vegetables.
(I apologise if my advice contains food which you do not eat for dietary or religious reasons)
Please go to the food bank
There are a couple of content creators on YouTube and TikTok that teach how to make meals cheap and how to shop sales to get the biggest bang from your buck. They use dollar store in addition to other grocery sources and don’t assume that you have all kinds of kitchen gadgets or pans.
One guy, Zeil, really gets into the mindset of doing and cooking poor, though he’s pretty snarky. Dollartreemeals is more like a cooking channel that focuses on ingredients. But there are a lot of them out there.
Get on Tiktok and look up the Dollar Tree Dinners page. The lady shows you how to make meals with only ingredients from the dollar store. A lot of them have several portions in the recipes. It might not be the most nutritious, but it will stretch your money further.
Find a food bank or a local church that gives food out. I live in Los Angeles and you would be surprised at the new cars (Mercedes, Tesla, BMW) lined up at the church pantry for their pickup.
Wherever you live, you might have farmer markets. Try to ask farmers if they have fruits or veggies who are too ugly to sell and if they are willing to just give it to you. Most farmers will just throw it away in the end of the day.
Good luck
Go to any Sikh temple, they will feed you (:
If you aren’t already doing it, highly recommend going to food pantries or meal kitchens. You are who they are meant to serve and there will be a variety of people dealing with different circumstances. No one will judge you.
Also, couponing and downloading apps for restaurants and grocery stores will help. While you can’t bulk (the main saving), shopping deals will help. I buy for one person and don’t buy bulk, and I still get a significant amount off whenever I shop by doing this. Also, doing more frequent little shops for essentials and browsing in store deals helps, as long as you have self control.
Find recipes that are modular and filling and cheap as dirt- whether that is a soup/stew, smoothie, oatmeal or other grain, figure out what you can tolerate eating frequently and find ways to make it more interesting.
If you can, a second job at a restaurant will often net you a guaranteed meal. Grocery stores won’t offer that, but you’ll usually get a discount I’d you don’t want to work food.
If you are artsy (drawing/music/writing), open commissions, even if you think you aren’t good enough. There were times my commissions got me through a lean period.
If you are interested in going back to school, that might be a route worth exploring now. Loans, grants, scholarships, and school supports can all help. Only do this if you think a degree will improve your prospects.
Also, see if you and your friends can pool meal prep. My friends and I did this when we were all broke and it helped. Not only did it help us actually do it, but it eased the financial burden.
Check out city/municipal/county jobs too! They often have great benefits and many don’t require too many qualifications.
Good luck! Poverty fucking sucks. You’ll get through this.
Look up Dollar Tree Dinners (on Tiktok or dtdinners on insta). She has lots of series on how to make the cheapest dinners and how to stretch a minimal amout of money
I see you are from the Philippines. While attempting to find more employment, I definitely recommend getting the cheapest grain you can. Rice all the way. Lentils or beans go well with it. But also if you want something sweet, you can make rice pudding. But even rice by itself will help you go to sleep with a full belly. I am sorry you are going through this.
I live in the US, and luckily when my husband and I were super broke, we were able to go to the food pantry for free food. I have no idea if there is something like that near you, but charities like that exist for a reason.
Also, if you have any family or friends or anyone at all you trust, I would open up a bit if you feel safe to do so about your circumstances. If I learned my friend was skipping meals because they had no other alternative, I would 100% help them out no questions asked. But I know not everyone has a supportive social network.
Beyond offering advice, I just want to say what you are going through sucks and no one should have to go to bed hungry. No one.
Food pantries are a thing. Look up local pantries. Also food stamps, or WIC programs are there for people like this
There’s a free recipe book online calls “Good and Cheap”. Theyre all meals you can make for less than a dollar. Something like that.
hello? food bank? better job? you don’t have to be poor..
Get a job at a restaurant. Even if it’s just a dish washer or host or bar back or something. A good kitchen won’t let their staff go hungry
First, research any food banks or soup kitchens in your area. You may need to swallow your pride but you are exactly the person they are there to help! My country has 211 you can call and your country may have something similar. Food banks typically give out non-perishables but some actually provide produce, milk, and milk. Soup kitchens can also provide a filling and nutritious meal that can help you stretch your budget further. This can include traditional soup kitchens or places like Sikh temples and some mosques which provide a weekly meal. Some religious institutes may require you attend a service but at least your belly will be full.
Get a 2nd job at a restaurant, be it fast food or more of a traditional restaurant. Nearly all of them offer either a steep employee discount or allotment towards food on your shift. Some even offer an employee meal. At the very least they tend to be sort of flexible with letting you eat honest mistakes. And while the extra money may not be life changing it will also help you create a small monetary cushion for yourself.
Look into ways to incorporate tasty, nutritious, and cheap food. If you’re in the US, DollarTreeDinners on TikTok shows how to create full, delicious meals using items found at Dollar Tree. Most of her meals make 4-6 servings and cost around $20.
Lastly, be honestly with your friends and coworkers about your situation. You seriously never know who may be willing and able to help. You need to be able to rely on your community.
Go to a food bank please
Work at a preschool that’s on the food program. You can start as an aide with no experience plus they are ALWAYS hiring. There you will be able to eat breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks with the kids. Get a second job, a night job, at a food place. You will get plenty of free food there, plus most give you one free meal. You’ll have more money and more food if you do this!
not sure where you live, but definitely check out food pantries and this site.
https://www.littlefreepantry.org/
I agree with another commenter to get a job at a restaurant. For one thing servers make a decent amount compared to other no experience needed jobs. Also you most likely will get free food on your shift. I’m a server at a restaurant like this and it’s the main meal of my day. It actually saves me so much on groceries.
The his may sound like a silly suggestion, but try looking up survival recipes from war times and times of financial hardship, such as the Great Depression. They had to make food with what they had, which was often times very little. The focus is likely more going to be on calories than nutrition, but it may be handy. I’m sure there are free recipes too so you don’t have to spend money on a cookbook
Hit up local food banks/churches. If you are in the Houston area DM me and I will get you some food together and get you a list of resources