From: htoaster@yabbs
To: Natalie@yabbs
Subject: re: Cheap food.
Date: Thu Aug  4 12:19:42 1994

In message re: Cheap food., Natalie said:
> spaghettii and ramen noodles are good too...i esp like a TON of spaghetti 
> w/ butter and garlic, with green kool aid :)  spaghetti-o's are pretty 
> cheap to, as is campbell's soup...and here in michigan you can get super 
> cheap pop for like 39 cent a 2 liter...( i buy all my own food and ths is 
> what i end up buying)

pasta is always a good cheap meal, but ramen noodles are really bad for you.
shit loads of sodium + tons of fat (they are cooked in fat before they are
packaged)...even not using the flavoring doesn't help much.  and healthy
ramen is much harder to come by (and costs more).

anyway, stick to pasta and rice.   if you want sauce get the canned stuff
(i really like hunts), and keep the leftovers in an old jar.  the cans are 
usually ~$.50  to $1 cheaper than the jars.  and buy the pasta in bulk, 3lb
boxes are pretty common, and usually run in the $1 to $2 range.

for rice just buy plain rice and add what you want, the prepackaged flavored
stuff is a lot more expensive and bad for you.  for spices go to ethnic stores
rather than the supermarket.  for instance curry powder is $3/jar in pittsburgh
at the giant eagle, but $.75 for about the same amount at a mid-eastern store
about 200 meters away.

frozen veggies are usually a good deal and a lot healthier than canned stuff,
and english muffins are cheap bread and better than generic white bread.  
for fruit bananas are the cheapest fruit you can buy...

alex