The Unofficial Kiwi Poorfag Resource Thread - share recipes and resources for your area (both government and personal) here

[bliblblblbbllb]

The first thing anyone with food insecurity in the US should do is apply for food stamps. The second thing is identify where and how to get free food. The amount of excess in the US is extreme, no one should go hungry. Eating on a dollar a day is possible if you get enough for free. Eating around five dollars a day (150 a month) is perfectly manageable for someone who can cook. The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (what food stamp benefits are determined by) uses 850 dollars per month for a man, woman, and two children. Reading through it is pretty sobering. They plan for spending about half that money on protein, and only 2 dollars on soda/candy/ice-cream/cookies/etc. per week.

What the US thinks of as "poor people food" is all types of messed up. People pay a premium to have sugar syrups pumped into their bodies. But just think about the difference in nutrition and cost between a stir fry with brown rice, a little butter, an egg, and a can of mixed veggies, vs. pizza rolls and soda.

Ignoring the genderspecial moddle, this is the best video I've found on how to eat REAL cheap. Again, might be sobering to someone who isn't poorfren.
https://youtu.be/UUZuu3JPzXM?t=245

I will share some recipes sometime soon! Have always been poorfren. Work lovingly in poorfrenland.

 

[shank]

Conversation with a friend reminded me of this... Churches can be invaluable when you're broke. Especially the Catholics, who love doing community outreach stuff.

Keep an eye out for postings about dinners they're doing. Even if you're not part of the congregation, most of them won't turn you away. Same goes for if you gotta pay for it but can't afford to. Plead your case, offer to help with cleanup or something, and they'll usually help you out.

This one might be Canada-specific, but St Vincent de Paul society is a Catholic-run foodbank that tends to be way better than municipal-run ones in my experience. Especially if you have specific dietary issues (just make sure to tell them when you get in contact) or have transportation issues.

In the same vein, track down your local Mormon women's society/club/whatever the fuck they call it. You'll have to deal with a lot more indoctrination bullshit, but if you have a tolerance for it, the amount of help you can get through them is obscene. If the missionaries are canvasing your area, invite them in and lay on the waterworks

 

[Yamamura]

I'm not sure how much useful information I have, but being the retard that I am I figured out that learning to sew was a game changer for me. No I don't mean learning to make clothes but learning to fix shit using a sewing needle and some thread. Basically I've been able to save things that I would have otherwise just thrown out like shirts with holes in them or backpacks that were falling apart. By doing this I managed to extract slightly a little more life out of them.

Usually grocery stores will have a rack at the back where they put heavily discounted items that they'll probably throw away soon because either it's about to expire or it just won't sell. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff in there.

Also, the "best before" date on food just means when it should be consumed for the most optimal experience. The date put on there is arbitrary and actually has no bearing on whether or not the food is actually safe to consume. The general rule of thumb is as long as the food doesn't feel too off in terms of taste or consistency usually it's fine.

Edit: Also if you live in a bad area and are paranoid of having your car stolen, unplug one of the relays or fuses that the car relies on to start and take it with you. Anyone who's owned an Acura Integra or an old Honda will generally know about this.

 

[Jeep1971]

It sounds chintzy but at my local grocery the meat dept closes at 7 so anything going out of date soon is usually put out by then. I've gotten good stuff with yellow tag that still has days left.
Cruise your regular store in the early evening and check for manager specials.

 

[Banana Cat]

Sun-dried tomatoes and mushroom pasta

Ingredients:
Fettacini
Olive oil
A jar of sundries tomatoes
Mushrooms
Spinach
Cream
Garlic minced or chopped
Onion sliced
1 cube of chicken stock
Basil, salt & pepper
Parmasen cheese (optional)

Method:
Heat oil, add your mushrooms and garlic cook for a hot minute and add your sundried tomatoes with some of the oil from the jar

Dissolve the chicken stock cube in a cup of boiling water, carefully add it to your pan cook on medium heat for a bit and add in some cream and then your parmi cheese and add in your basil, salt and pepper to taste

Cook your fettacini to your liking.

Add your spinach, drain your pasta and then add it to your pan and mix it in

Edit: forgot: add the onion with mushrooms also add some chilli flakes with your basil if you want it adds great flavour and a nice kick

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

If you can afford to buy in bulk, then cook in bulk. Saves time and energy cooking meals every day. There's a lot of resources for "once a month cookery" online. You don't have to be as extreme as that, but it's not too much more effort to make extra helpings of a meal, divide it up into old containers and freeze it. Now you have some ready meals you can heat up when you're tired or CBA cooking, and it's much cheaper than a takeaway or microwave meal. Also good for portion control for fats, since you only reheat one at a time and when you make it, you can measure out a healthy sized meal.
Some things freeze better than others, but soups, stews, chillis, curries are good, and IMO the flavours are even better when you reheat them for some reason.

 

[Tuxedo_Zemus]

Here's a tip for you, ONLY buy shit that's on sale. It's cheap and it puts some variety in your meals as different things go on sale. My average weekly food expenditures are around 40 bucks, not counting beer and cigarettes. If you're a picky eater, you may not get as much mileage out of this, though.

Also, no one is too good for a fried bologna sandwich.

Also also, hoard condiments you get from restaurants. I have a big drawer full of Arby's horsey sauce, Taco Bell packets, random shit from Chick fil A and hot sauce packets. Just grab a fist full when you go someplace, they don't care.

 

[Owls Owls Owls]

Expanding on the free (pirated) books thing:

Direct Download:
- http://gen.lib.rus.ec/
eBooks only.
Site is of Russian origin (but entirely in English) so take whatever precautions your country deem necessary, but beyond that it's easy to use. Search for your book, download it. It's not just fiction, it has plenty of scientific articles and other nerd shit I am sure some of you will enjoy.

- https://es.b-ok.lat/
eBook only. Wide variety of subjects and formats.

- https://www.ebookhunter.net/
eBook only. For all your trashy romance needs. Site updates daily with whatever new releases Amazon has.

- mobilism.org
eBooks/Audiobooks. Also some comics and magazines, as well as Android apps.
The site requires you make a free account before using their search engine. Files are uploaded to hosting sites like Mediafire so while you may find a post with the content you want, there's no certainty it'll still be available. However, most uploaders will reupload content quickly if contacted.

Torrent:
- https://audiobookbay.fi/
Audiobooks only. I know it looks like a scam site but it isn't. Make a free account, log in, hit "Torrent Free Downloads" and you'll get your .torrent file. Site has a lot of content.

- https://www.myanonamouse.net/
eBooks/Audiobooks/Comics/Radio dramas/Newspapers
If the book you want is not in any of the other sites, chances are MAM has it. If not, put a request in and they'll get it for you. Signing up requires doing an intevriew via IRC, and once you are in you need to reach VIP status before you can access all the content. However, that is easily done via seeding. A pain, but worth it. You can skip the process and pay for VIP but it isn't necessary. I have been a member of the site for years, have gotten all my requests filled and have had no problems at all, without ever spending a cent.

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

Window shopping or wishlisting is fun to get ideas for outfits and clothes or homewares that you then make yourself or copy with cheaper versions. There's a lot of "thrift flips" on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest where people get thrift shop items and make even just simple adjustments to them to make them look like designer knockoffs or just to look better or use them as something else (eg turning a dress into a skirt, adding pockets with the extra fabric, changing the style of the neckline or sleeves on a top, adding patches or shirring, decorating a cheap lamp etc).

eta: you can do this with your own old clothes too, or turn them into different things like cushions, potholders, pet beds, ragdolls or children's clothes. When I was a toddler, my mum made me some awesome dungarees out of my dad's old hippie corduroy flares. The cuffs were a mess but there was more than enough fabric to make clothes for a baby, and kids don't care about fashion until they're a bit older, they just need something comfy and durable that they can make a mess of and grow out of in a few months.

There's this weird Japanese sewing site where the lass makes ragdolls - old white T-shirts are good for making the dolls' skin, you can dye them with the cheapest black tea bags you can find, use a stronger brew for darker skin tones, more diluted for lighter. And you can use scraps to make their clothes and accessories. It's a fun hobby and they make nice gifts for weebs in your life if you make the anime ones, or just personalised dolls for friends and their kids. People will sometimes even commission a doll of their original character donut steel.

Also, if you have time to volunteer at a charity shop, you will often get first dibs on any items that come in. You still have to pay, but it means you get to pick the best ones before they even go on the shelves. If you know your brands you can even flip some things (I once saw a Mulberry purse donated to the one I worked at in my student days) on sites like eBay for a profit.

 

[独人13]

Fish heads and shrimp heads are pretty great, there's lots of flavour in them.

In my mushroom guidebook it says wood ear mushrooms were known in Britain for centuries but weren't eaten, described as "like eating an india rubber with bones", but there's lots of Sichuanese recipes using them. They're good in hot and sour soup or cold with with chilli oil as a spicy salad.

Northern people usually don't eat fish or shrimp heads, this is because most aquatic products in northern China come from inner rivers which already polluted as hell.
For wood ear fungus, we cook them a little bit differently in where I came from, usually stir fry with pork, eggs, and we use wasabi, soy sauce and black vinegar instead of chilli oil in wood ear fungus salad.

 

[Water-T]

Usually grocery stores will have a rack at the back where they put heavily discounted items that they'll probably throw away soon because either it's about to expire or it just won't sell. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff in there.

Walmart tends to have a rack near the back selling stuff from the bakery made the day before at a discount. I've gotten lots of nice pastries, cakes, and loaves at just the fraction of what I would have paid if I bought them the day before.

At the front there will be a warming rack doing the same with rotisserie chickens and hot foods from the deli like egg rolls and chicken tenders at mark down. The $5 take-out plates at the deli are a good deal as well Lots of decent food for just $5 is nothing to sneeze at.

At one grocery store, I recently found an item I like on clearance just sitting there with the other usual items, down from around $3 each to less than $1 each. I snatched that shit right up. There also had a clearance rack where I scored a jar of sun dried tomatoes for just $2, down from $7.

Keeping an eye out and being at the right place at the right time can save you a lot when food shopping.

 

[lowenergy]

One of the best tips for being a poorfag is becoming part of your local community. I live in a liberal hellhole city, but most of my neighbors are good and kind people. I am someone who is very introverted and shy, but making small talk, offering stuff I don’t want anymore/looking out for neighborhood pets etc on Nextdoor, lending the neighbor next door food or tools has allowed me to cultivate social relationships that saved my ass in situations (though obviously that isn’t the only reason I like to be a friendly/good neighbor, just something to remember).

Recently I had an emergency come up with one of my pets and the vet required that any patient be brought in a carrier. My fatty boy had long outgrown his carrier and I was in a pinch as all my money was going towards his vet care. I posted about it on my neighborhood community page, and someone dropped off an almost brand new one within a few hours. They didn’t even want it back either. There’s a ton of other examples but the message is clear: no man is an island.

 

[Dysnomia]

I've lived in abject poverty in conditions that might make some people ill. I've also been homeless. Luckily I was able to stay at a hotel. So I was never on the street. Since I'm used to poverty I operate best when I have nothing. It is my default mode. Not sure if that's good or bad. But if a huge disaster hit I'd likely survive while other people cry that they can't update their Twitter status or whatever waste of time people have these days.

So if you can, stash a bunch of money somewhere outside of the bank. Like in a mattress or under floorboards ect... I have $600 stashed. Not a lot. But a lot for me right now.

Very Important: That money DOES NOT EXIST. You are not allowed to spend it unless there is some major emergency comes up and that money is the only way to salvage disaster. Otherwise that money is dead to you. You ignore it's existence. Having it in the bank is too much of a risk. Because you might spend it little by little thinking you can always put it back later. Then something awful happens and you don't have that cushion to fall back on.And God forbid something major happens and you can't use the bank. You'll need cash.

Make sure your money is well hidden. I'm paranoid because I was in a dangerous living situation previously with addicts. If you have someone in your life you think is a possible threat to your emergency cash stash never put things in coat pockets, shoes, under clothes in drawers or any object that might get stolen as is like vidya, jewelry boxes, CDs, DVDs ect...

Also, to make long stretches without enough food easier on you never count the day you are on when it starts. Say you run out of money/foodstamps five days before you get any more and you are really low on supplies as is. You don't count the day you are on. Because that's the day you just power through. It sounds kind of dumb but from experience it does help. Try to keep some change around from various things you bought and just forget it exists until you need it. I remember a few years ago I had nothing. So I found some change and it was enough to buy a small pack of Maria cookies. They tasted like mana from Heaven.

Just try to keep stuff around that's non-perishable. A can here a can there. It adds up after awhile then you have a food cushion to fall back on.

If you live in a very poor community churches might give out free food regularly. And there may be people who leave food in various places for others to take. You might see "Free Food" signs or just boxes that are left in places like bus stations or in front of stores. Some bodegas will give you a break on price if you can't afford formula or diapers.

 

[taco freak]

Well yup I've def been a poorfag. Been through 2 ug degrees, honours and grad school to get my PhD and these are my best.

1) Even if u are poor u can buy pot seeds. Even if its a shit strain its easy to grow and easy to sell at a profit (there are lots who smoke even ditchweed in this world) and if u plow money from your initial grow back into a full hydro setup u will make dat paper and u can start selling bulk rather than a bag at a time. Thats how I funded my undergrad. There was less weed on campus when I left.....I will say though growing large quantities of hydro pot, trimming, curing and packaing it is more work than u think it will be. (in minecraft obviously feds).

2) Play a musical instrument and know the market. Buying 'broken' guitars, setting them up and doing simple fixes and flipping them has kept food on my table.

3) Rice. Omfg anything over rice makes a decent meal. Learn to cook it right though. No need to eat mush.

4) Learn to cook from scratch. I did from youtube and I can cook most things from basic ingredients. Saves so much. also no matter how freezer burned or crappy your meat is anything tastes good in curry.

5) Learn to code. There is no cost and it is easy to build a front-running trading bot with a bit of knowledge and that is a free money fountain most of the time.

6) Be able to sew. A small sewing kit costs next to nothing and replacing clothing can be expensive. Repair that rip. Get good enough and u can make your own as a possible income stream or just to save money.

7) buy top quality hiking boots or trail runners for shoes. They last so long in my experience that you would have spent more on cheap shoes over the same duration.

Fishing and/or hunting. All of that free meat swimming, flying and walking around and here's you buying poor quality and expensive supermarket protein like a sucker.

9) Catalytic converters. Under cover of darkness an auto scrapyard is a literal goldmine...

10) Stop driving ffs. cars and petrol are expensive. You can walk just fine and order anything u cannot get easily. if u can go full off grid even better. I haven't had a car of my own since I was maybe 21?

Just my top ones (i have loads more) but I am glad I learnt these as with the cost of living rn I need them.

Can you give any other info about trading bots? I've read some articles about this but haven't heard of anyone's personal experience.

Edit: my favorite site for disability and poverty cooking is http://spendwithpennies.com - never been let down by the recipes or the comments suggesting substitutes and shortcuts. And if you want to save money on Chinese takeout, http://woksoflife.com recipes are the absolute best.

 

[eternal dog mongler]

In the same vein, track down your local Mormon women's society/club/whatever the fuck they call it. You'll have to deal with a lot more indoctrination bullshit, but if you have a tolerance for it, the amount of help you can get through them is obscene. If the missionaries are canvasing your area, invite them in and lay on the waterworks

Mormons are generally okay with you telling them you're not interested in converting and they'll drop it and help you anyway. Same with Catholics and mainline Protestants (Presbyterians, Methodists, etc.)

Evangelicals, JWs...that's when shit starts to get weird. I'd just stick to the above.

 

[TheBigZee]

If you're in a situation that leaves you with a lot of time, but restricts your income - volunteer for aid societies or food banks. Someone mentioned St. Vincnet DePaul - even if you're not catholic find out how you can help them.

I cannot possibly overstate how important social capital is alongside education (cooking, money management, etc) in mitigating situations where poverty is unavoidable.

If I needed something truly essential, but didn't have the means - glasses, medicine, rent, power, water, or dental all I'd have to do is mention it one off. Not even ask. If you do for others, some people will take notice and do for you. Especially food banks and aid societies.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Talking about services like dental...

If you happen to live in an area that has a dental school, they will hold clinics annually where a single service is provided free of charge. Once upon a time when I'd been near Loma Linda University, that was an easy way to get an annual cleaning of the chompers for nothing more than my time spent waiting in line.

It's practice for the students prior to their release to the outside world, and a great service to the community. Show up early to these things, though, because lines become extraordinarily long.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I'm not sure how much useful information I have, but being the retard that I am I figured out that learning to sew was a game changer for me. No I don't mean learning to make clothes but learning to fix shit using a sewing needle and some thread. Basically I've been able to save things that I would have otherwise just thrown out like shirts with holes in them or backpacks that were falling apart. By doing this I managed to extract slightly a little more life out of them.

Usually grocery stores will have a rack at the back where they put heavily discounted items that they'll probably throw away soon because either it's about to expire or it just won't sell. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff in there.

I have pushed people to learn how to sew before. It is one component for getting more self-reliant. As you get more self-reliant you get less stressed.

For sewing, imagine this scenario, you're out in public and just rip the crotch of your pants wide open. As luck would have it you easily shuffle into a bathroom stall nearby. You are on your way to an interview, a date or work and walking around with ripped pants in public is already embarrassing enough.
What do you do? Call a friend and have them rush over with a pair of pants? It will be a very stressful situation.
If you can sew and have a small sewing kit(think a thin box of cigarettes in size) in your bag or coat pocket it won't be stressful, it will just be a temporary inconvenience.


Check what is on sale at your super market online and plan out what you can do with those things before going there. When you're at the store you won't only save money, you won't mill around trying to decide what to buy while picking up crap. And buy things seasonally, don't buy something like asparagus for €32 per kilogram in December, buy them for €4 a kilo in the summer. Different things comes cheap in different seasons and if you adhere to this then every season will be something to look forward to when it comes to food.

Large stores might also sell "odds and ends" or "uneven pieces" for a pittance. Like the name implies these are uneven cuts or uncut end pieces of charcuterie/deli meats. Some real bargains can be found there, like prosciutto for €4 a kilo where I live, either uncut or slices that don't look as pretty as they should. Who cares, they're going into a sandwich or omelette or on a pizza.
Roast beef, different type of bacons, different kind of hams, sandwich chicken meat, various salamis and all kinds of stuff can be found there. All for the bulk price of €4 per kilo(where I live, and that's new outrageous inflation price). Take some of that, cut it up, fry it with diced potatoes and onion and put a fried egg on top along with some sweet and sour pickled vegetables on the side. Nice. It is honestly one of my favorite dishes ever.

There is a heavily smoked ham I always pick up and since it's an end piece there is way more smoky "skin" on it. The basic recipe is cut it into strips, fry it a bit and then add diced onions(and garlic), let it cook in some cream after that and it becomes a creamy pasta sauce with a smoky flavor. It is a fast cheap lunch that from start to finish takes less than 20 minutes and it's enough for two. If I guesstimate the cost I think it comes out at under €1 plus the cost of cream and spices. I've never attempted it but you could probably make it "chinese style" by skipping the cream and replacing it with water, spices and some potato/corn starch to thicken it.

Speaking of cream, always buy cream and always heavy cream. If a recipe calls for (1.5%) milk, add water to a bit of (37%) cream and now you have milk. You can't turn milk into cream, but you can turn cream into milk or even butter if you're in a pinch. Plus, unlike milk no one will chug heavy cream and leave the empty carton in the fridge.

"They say heavy cream is bad for your health but I have eaten cream sauces every day of my life and I don't feel sick"
- Marco Pierre White


edit: if there's an old style charcuterie/deli dish you might have to order from the basket/bucket to get the cheap meats. Old style means they still cut their own things instead of the mostly common know-nothings that serve what can already be found prepackaged in other sections of the store.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Keeping an eye out for clearance and mark-downs at stores is rewarding, but you always have to keep in mind how much things usually sell for.

Once you're looking for those red/orange/yellow stickers, you fixate on it like your monkey ancestors would fixate on known-edible berries, and it gets easier to spot them. However, now your instincts are telling you "buy," but it might not actually be cheaper than the generic, or even the regular price at a different store.

Same thing at discount stores or dollar stores; sometimes it's not actually a deal. You don't have to go full spreadsheet autist about this, just have an idea what your usual shopping usually costs.


Echoing what the above said about community: if you have friends who are either poor or just into bargains, reach out to them. If a 24-pack of X is on sale for cheap, but you could never eat 24 X before it went bad or you got sick of it, text your bff, tell her that you found an amazing deal and ask if she wants to split it with you. You get the bulk discount, you have a nice social interaction, and now you might get a text that Becky found a multi-pack of Y, you want in?

 

[NoReturn]

Window shopping or wishlisting is fun to get ideas for outfits and clothes or homewares that you then make yourself or copy with cheaper versions. There's a lot of "thrift flips" on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest where people get thrift shop items and make even just simple adjustments to them to make them look like designer knockoffs or just to look better or use them as something else (eg turning a dress into a skirt, adding pockets with the extra fabric, changing the style of the neckline or sleeves on a top, adding patches or shirring, decorating a cheap lamp etc).

Enjoy:

TikTok may be shit, but sometimes it is good for inspiration. I got some good plant tips off there, too.

Very Important: That money DOES NOT EXIST. You are not allowed to spend it unless there is some major emergency comes up and that money is the only way to salvage disaster. Otherwise that money is dead to you. You ignore it's existence. Having it in the bank is too much of a risk. Because you might spend it little by little thinking you can always put it back later. Then something awful happens and you don't have that cushion to fall back on.And God forbid something major happens and you can't use the bank. You'll need cash.

Sometimes it helps people to think of it as something they've "purchased". Like "I bought a baggie with $600 in it."
Don't know why that works, but I've seen it work a few times.

Just try to keep stuff around that's non-perishable. A can here a can there. It adds up after awhile then you have a food cushion to fall back on.

Japanese and Korean food in box and powder form tends to be higher quality if you can find it (in my experience anyway, it may just be regional).

Speaking of cream, always buy cream and always heavy cream. If a recipe calls for (1.5%) milk, add water to a bit of (37%) cream and now you have milk. You can't turn milk into cream, but you can turn cream into milk or even butter if you're in a pinch. Plus, unlike milk no one will chug heavy cream and leave the empty carton in the fridge.

"They say heavy cream is bad for your health but I have eaten cream sauces every day of my life and I don't feel sick"
- Marco Pierre White

Also, it just tastes nice. When things are shit sometimes you need something nice.