site banner
PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   3704 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 14, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Are you in the US, and if so what region? I recall there was a blog in the early 2010's where there was a guy that did $2 a day, but I don't think he hit 2g/kg bw protein. That probably leaves some extra headroom, even with inflation, for a few extra grams of protein. I recall he had a bunch of open face penutbutter and banana sandwiches. It did require a bunch of annoying couponing to hit his budget as well.

Along those lines, the "Big On A Budget" Series from Animal is a bit of a cult classic. The ones with Evan Centopani are probably closest to what most people would consider a healthyish diet. The budget was $50 a week, early 2010's $s, and they didn't include the supplements they are selling. Offsetting that most people are probably not trying to feed a bulking 100kg+ body builder. You generally see a bunch of oats, rice, eggs, broccoli (if they include vegetables), and chicken breast. I am a fan of using broccoli slaw to save prep-time, as popularized by Chad Wesley Smith, but it's probably not worth it if your budget is that low.

Realistically $100/month is a very small food budget if you are in the US, especially for those protein goals. The USDA Thrifty Food Plan currently puts the budget for a 20-50 Male at $303.90/month. If you are US based and really only have a $100/month budget for food you likely qualify for SNAP benefits, and should also consider food banks.

Edit: I managed to dig up the couponing thing. It was $1 A Day, and it did involve annoying coupon shenanigans that are probably less common now. I think this site is also one I had thought of from the same era. There is a free PDF of a $4/day cookbook. I could have sworn there was another n$/day cookbook from that era that involved a bunch of baking, but apparently I never archived it.

I live in Eastern Europe. For reference, minimum wage here is about 500$/month and I make about 150% that.

Food prices here are about the same as those in the US/Western Europe. Bread is a little bit cheaper, meat is a little bit more expensive. But mostly the same.

5% tvorog is 2.5$ for 400g. That's 64g of protein, but still too expensive.

I think you'll have to stick to 1g/kg. It's not the end of the world, Central Asian construction workers have great muscle definition on a diet of kefir and white bread.

That makes way more sense than a US based person with that budget.

I think federal minimum wage at full time employment in the US is about $1,200/month right now. Seems consistent with PPP, which is about 2.1 for the Balkans.

For eating on a budget you probably have the slight advantage of things like kasha being more readily available in economy pricing, whereas (excluding oats for some reason) groats seem to be considered some sort of specialty health food in the US. Can't say I know anything beyond that though.

The traditional solution is a very legume heavy diet. My experience with beans in the Balkans is that they tend to be terrible and hard to eat much of, and recommend looking at Mexican recipes. I remember hearing something about rice and beans together making the protein better somehow, but don’t remember the specifics. And North African recipes for lentils. Second the eggs recommendation.

Rice + beans provide all essential amino acids, but in "you won't die or get sick" amounts, not "you'll get swole" amounts.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats