I found this great link to Hillbilly Housewife that gives an outline in explicit detail about how to feed a family and maintain nutritional requirements for an entire week using a budget of $45.00. This blew me away when I read it and I’m sure someone out there in Lockergnome land will appreciate this information. The entire site is filled with great tips on living and eating on the cheap without sacrificing your well being for doing so.

The challenge goes on!
Matt Ryan

After going to the store and spending a whopping $50.00 on what I believe is enough to sustain me for a week and a half to two weeks, I set out this morning to begin the challenge.

Today’s meals:
Turkey and Jack Sandwich on Wheat: $1.25
Leftover Homemade Lasagna from relatives: FREE
Unwanted Extra Carne Taco from Coworker: FREE
Two Cans of Diet Dr. Pepper: 1.50
Total: $2.75

Today was not so bad, and I manged to clock in my daily required protien, carbs, fat, and keep under my sodium and saturated fat limits. Total calorie count is 1400 and I’m perfectly fine with this, considering my day was spent burning very few calories at my desk.

I’d like to start day one of the challenge by acknowledging that it is quite possible and often very necessary for someone to budget their food much lower than the amount this challenge was set at. We as a people have found ourselves backwards on how we price our products. Foods that have been through expensive processing treatments, including poisons and mechanical preperation are priced lower than foods that are just picked and delivered to the store as is. This is remarkable considering the fact that whole foods are proven to carry more flavor and deliver more nutrients than processed foods.

Yes, you can survive on fifty dollars and less. You can feed a family of five on less than most Americans spend on a single person. The real task is to insure that nutrition is maintained to avoid risking your health in the process.

We as a community have become over indulgent and malnourished at the same time. We have become so obsessed with the quick fix to hunger that McDonald’s and Wendy’s provides that we have turned our back on the simple acts of cooking and considering our needs as a being. We have become the most unhealthy, obese, and dangerously gluttonous people to have walked the Earth in its entire history.

As a result, we throw ourselves into debt while feeding an expensive habit that has no benefit for us whatsoever. If anything, our expensive eating habits lead us further into the stages of critical endangerment and further from any sense of well being.

I was going over my budget for the next month and discovered that I am spending way more than I am taking in. This can be attributed to several factors including unexpected car troubles, technology investments, website and server costs, among other things. As I roamed the spending reports, I discovered that no single waste of money could compare to the amount I was spending on food each month. I have been spending an average of three to four hundred US dollars each month on eating alone. This is where the idea for this year’s Frugal Geek Challenge came about.

I did a survey of twenty of my coworkers and close friends to determine what they believed a reasonable budget would be for a bachelor that gave up fast food and scrimped on just about everything while maintaining a somewhat healthy diet. Eighteen of the twenty said $150.00 was the target amount. The other two said $140.00 and $50.00. I decided to go with the $150.00 estimate and step it down to $125.00 with a goal in mind of coming in under this.

The rules are as follows:
1. There must be three full meals consumed per day with optional snacks.
2. At the end of the day, all recommended nutritional requirements must be met. (Difficult)
3. The monthly budget must not exceed $125.00.
4. No fast food is permitted.
5. Every single purchase including vending products must be recorded and added to the total.
6. If nutritional demands are not met for the day, $5.00 is taken off of the total.
7. This must last three months.
8. Roll-over is permitted if geek is under budget.
9. No Ramen shall make up more than half of the calories for the entire meal.

The challenge starts tomorrow at 00:01 and will continue until three months are up. If anyone reading would like to share their tips, recipes, or suggestions please leave comments. This challenge is obviously over budget for “survival”, however it is important to acknowledge that the goal is not only to save money, but to maintain a balanced diet in the process. For us geeks that have lived the fat life on the fast food track for so long, this will be a real exorcise in resourcefulness. The real trick is, the money that you have left over after the contest is over can be considered your personal reward for taking the time to budget and concentrate on nutrition at the same time.

If you can accomplish this at 75.00/month or even less, imagine the prize you have earned yourself with the excess funding from your contest budget. You could get an iPod, or something more personally rewarding. I intend to use this blog to document my progress as this challenge gets under way.

As you’re shopping this holiday season for the ones you love, you are going to come across deals that make your own mouth water. One of the more interesting trends that have been honored since the times our grandparents shopped for their sweethearts and parents. This trend is the amazing end-of-year specials that pop up as a result of left over stock from the bigger holiday. This is also a great opportunity for clearing the shelves before the tax cutoff signaling the end of another year.

You’ll see this most notably on car lots. Cars are pushed out the door at near whole sale price to avoid the tax hit from stock in hand.  Keep your eyes peeled on the 26th for a list of online specials and deals I’ll post from some of my favorite tech sites.

Matt Ryan

Here are some tips I have gathered through the years as a geek on the move, stuck with living a fast food lifestyle on the run.

1. When dining at the location, get the small drink. Unless you’re getting something not available as a free refill, there’s no reason to buy the mega jumbo sized drink. Save that dollar twenty-five and buy the small drink. Yes, it can cause you to visit the fountain more than once, but it saves you sometimes the amount of your main course just allowing this small inconvenience.

2. Don’t get the combo unless you really need it. The fast food industry has created combo choices to increase their profit through the idea of up selling. Fries, for example, are a nice thing to have, but if you’re on a budget they might end up costing you more than their actual value when ordered with the combo meal. Drinks are available just about everywhere and can often cost you a lot more at a fast food restaurant. Try to think about whether or not the extra three or four dollars they are tacking onto your burger are worth the soda and fries they include. I’ve even seen some cases where buying the items individually is cheaper than buying them in a combo.

3. Daily specials are offered at many fast food establishments. Often they hide the announcement and don’t mention it unless you ask, so ask what the special going on is. You might be surprised.

4. Research what you’re eating. One of the biggest motivations to save money on a fast food run is by taking a trip to a website that has their nutrition information posted. You might find that by cutting out certain extras, you’re not only saving money, but saving finances as well.

5. Pack your lunch. Five minutes of work in the morning will save you gas, time, and heartache later on. It’s hard for geeks on the move to remember to do things like pack a lunch, though when you’re at the grocery store, pick up some frozen meals for those times when speed matters. The time it takes to go to a fast food place during your lunch hour could be spent doing what I’m doing right now, blogging on Lockergnome.

Have a good lunch,
Matt Ryan

Tags: the frugal geek, matt ryan, fast food, meal, saving, budget