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

some of the farm stores and farmer's markets will double your SNAP when you spend it there, so as long as you avoid the artisan snacks and keep the kids away from the honey sticks, it's a savings.
Even meat! So many chicken bits!

A 25lb bag of Quinoa on Amazon goes for $60, chock full of protein, nutrients, and easy to cook. Throw in some red chile and shrimp and you have an S tier meal.
Make sure you wash it before cooking of your gut bacteria will attack you with the rage of a thousand angry Huns.
 
A 25lb bag of on Amazon goes for $60, chock full of protein, nutrients, and easy to cook. Throw in some red chile and shrimp and you have an S tier meal.
The best thing about quinoa is that it's a complete protein so you don't have to go mixing beans and rice to get everything you need out of it.

Edit: if you're looking at the nutrition facts of whatever you're eating and it has "x grams" of protein but doesn't provide a daily percentage next to it that generally means that protein is incomplete.

An incomplete protien doesn't contain all of the 9 essential amino acids that your body can't make on its own. But like I said above certain combinations of foods in the same meal can balance each other out and equal a complete protein.
 
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The best thing about quinoa is that it's a complete protein so you don't have to go mixing beans and rice to get everything you need out of it.

Edit: if you're looking at the nutrition facts of whatever you're eating and it has "x grams" of protein but doesn't provide a daily percentage next to it that generally means that protein is incomplete.

An incomplete protien doesn't contain all of the 9 essential amino acids that your body can't make on its own. But like I said above certain combinations of foods in the same meal can balance each other out and equal a complete protein.
Check this out:
Armed with this knowledge you can plan meals accordingly and save even more money.
 
I feel like I've come a long way from the 'five years with no real job but kept my house' days of 08-13, but I still try to keep things close to the bone so I don't end up there again. Here's stuff I still do even though my utility bills are actually current these days:

Laundry soap: If you don't make your own, or insist on something artisanal, buy laundry detergent in a Latin grocery. The stuff is in large plastic bags, and it's pretty much your basic Oxydol without the fancy stuff or packaging. One medium sized bag can last a single person a year, possibly more. Also works fine for washing dishes. Wear rubbber gloves. Hang laundry to dry if you possibly can. It takes longer indoors, but it saves utility costs. Learn to sew or find someone who knows how to mend well and swap it for your labor. I swap my time sewing for yard work, my time for theirs.

Bought a bread machine for <$10US at a thrift store and learned to use it. Bought flour in bulk at Winco, (1/2 cheap regular stuff. 1/2 bread flour works fine), yeast keeps a long time in the freezer if sealed well. Cheap margarine works well for the couple of teaspoons it takes for a loaf. Experiment with the recipie as supplies allow (cheap rolled oats can substitute for 1/3 of the flour and not make it too heavy).. Bought the bread machine because I spent too many hours at a poorly paid job to make it by hand, and the house was too cold for it to rise properly without help. I am an indifferent cook with no interest in improving, but I can make baked stuff that can't be beat.

Always return deposit cans. Never buy a new appliance, you can always get something better second hand for a hell of a lot less. Use public transit to commute if you can, even here )expensive northwestern city) a day pass is 1/5 the cost of parking downtown. Old towels and be cut up for cleaning towels and pet care. Wash and reuse, same goes for old bed linens and clothes.

The person who mentioned stashing cash is absolutely right. Hide it really well and forget it. Tip: Make accessing it require taking apart a large, heavy piece of furniture if you can't loosen a floorboard. Be really creative, because burglars know the usual tricks and a lot of ones you didn't think of.

Mazel tov, and may all of us live in comfort and plenty.
 
If you buy/read/need a lot of books and/or if you're a proponent of the "support physical media" rule like I am, I cannot stress sites like AbeBooks, eBay, and ThriftBooks enough over Amazon. Abe on its own has saved me hundreds of dollars.
Too add to that most counties still have the old mom and pop book stores hiding someplace where they sell they very cheap. Or sometimes agencies donate their old books to update their libraries. Some towns even have little free book hubs where you can take a book if you have no money.

Another little known fact if you are mentally ill and require phones/laptops some county mental health clinics have grants to give their clients these items they won't be top end or anything, but they will help with school and important calls. Most agencies require you to be there at least 6 months to access this perk.
 
Forgive me if I mess up...I'm not a regular poster. But I have been broke and a "starving student" so I've always had a few cheap, nutritious recipes that were easy for an incompetent cook like myself to prepare, and which could make multiple servings. The following recipe is *all* canned stuff and dry spices, so even if you're living in a cardboard box in the woods, as long as you have enough fire to heat the ingredients through, you're golden ;-) I found it online when I first started dating my vegetarian husband...I am most decidedly *not* a vegetarian, and I hardly knew any meatless meals other than mac and cheese and PBJ sandwiches!

THREE BEAN CHILI

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 6-oz can tomato paste + 1 6-oz can of water
1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can whole kernel corn, *with* liquid
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon dried cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, add tomatoes, paste, and water. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring 'til all combined.
Add the beans, corn (with liquid), and spices. Stir and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes.

You can eat it as is, over rice (white or brown), baby spinach, potatoes, soft tortilla or pita, regular bread...whatever you think sounds good.
I always put shredded cheddar cheese on mine.
It freezes wonderfully, and you can also brown a pound of ground beef and put that in, if you have no vegetarians to please. (It's also vegan, for those who care.)

I just did a quick check on prices, and the canned things should add up to around $6, less if you get a good sale and stick to the store brand. The spices will be more, to start out with, but of course you will have them for numerous pots of chili!

Enjoy! If I've screwed anything up, posting-wise, let me know so I don't repeat the idiocy.
 
It smells like sadness, though. Any tips for that part?
Not to be one of Those Bloggers, but when I mixed my own detergent I used to put a drop or two of essential oil right when the washer fills up and before it starts the first rinse and drain cycle. I alternated orange and peppermint oils but they were regifts, I guess if you have to go buy them full price then that's not very poorfag friendly. Also doesn't work so well if you have to use some retard washer that locks you out for most cycles.
 
Not to be one of Those Bloggers, but when I mixed my own detergent I used to put a drop or two of essential oil right when the washer fills up and before it starts the first rinse and drain cycle. I alternated orange and peppermint oils but they were regifts, I guess if you have to go buy them full price then that's not very poorfag friendly.
Man, I hate how the essential oil fad/MLMs has cast a shadow on their actual uses. Essential oils are a very effective tool for making something smell nice, and are perfect when you're mixing up your own soap or cleaner.

Although their increased popularity means you find them on clearance a lot, and a little bottle of essential oil will last a long time if you're not feeding an oil warmer or using it to cure your cancer.
 
Anyone needing affordable garden seeds might want to look at Little Shop Of Seeds. It's run by a guy in Iowa who loves gardening and plants.
 
The following recipe is *all* canned stuff and dry spices, so even if you're living in a cardboard box in the woods, as long as you have enough fire to heat the ingredients through, you're golden ;)
Hell, it's canned. You technically don't even need to heat it.

I basically eat this every time the power goes out for a while during a hurricane. Canned tomatoes + canned corn + canned black beans.

One thing that makes it a lot better is hitting it with an immersion blender though, and those are pretty cheap. You don't blend up the whole soup, just blend it up a bit until the starch in the beans thickens it up.
 
Hell, it's canned. You technically don't even need to heat it.

I basically eat this every time the power goes out for a while during a hurricane. Canned tomatoes + canned corn + canned black beans.
Hey, I was *trying* to appear semi-civilized LOL. I'm not sure I'd eat this particular recipe cold unless I was in dire straits, but I have been so lazy that I've eaten a *lot* of stuff straight from the can...everything from Campbell's soup (that yellow grease on the top of the chicken noodle soup....yum ;-) ) to hash to vegetables etc.
 
the power goes out for a while during a hurricane.
Saw this while lurking and thought about emergency preparedness, which I know is more survivalfag than poorfag bUT I wanted to let the thread know that in case of an emergency where you'll be without clean water like in a hurricane, you'll want to keep a gallon of water per person per day in the house. You can fill up the bathtub beforehand (which is about 42 gallons,) and if you're in one of the US states with a Rural King supply store they have 24-packs of bottled water that's a dollar cheaper than Walmart's cheapest option:
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I can't sing the praises of farm stores enough, tbh, I always find stuff there that's more inexpensive than it is at other locations.
 
Saw this while lurking and thought about emergency preparedness, which I know is more survivalfag than poorfag bUT I wanted to let the thread know that in case of an emergency where you'll be without clean water like in a hurricane, you'll want to keep a gallon of water per person per day in the house. You can fill up the bathtub beforehand (which is about 42 gallons,)
If you have one of those cheap contractor grade fiberglass tubs you should put a tarp down first though if it's gonna be filled for a few days.

Found out the hard way that those things actually start fucking disintegrating.
 
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate.

Tomorrow, head to your local grocery store and stock up on the discounted holiday items. Turkeys are going to be cheap, and you can store one or more in your freezer until you're ready to cook it. Fresh cranberries can also be stored in the freezer until use. They're a good source of Vitamin C and are easy to make. This is my favorite recipe for delicious cranberry sauce.


Cornbread is easy to make and is very filling:

 
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