Groceries For Cheap On The Road!

Hello. I am fixing to buy ~2 weeks of groceries. I figured I'd share my list.

I am working without a stove, oven, microwave oven, and anything else other than the mini fridge they provide.

I eat ~1lbs of food a day, to maintain a healthy body weight (~1.2k calorie in take). I tend to drink Monsters (bad habit; Love the flavor), Gatorades, and water. Occassionally, I'll grab a cup of coffee, chocolate milk, or soda.

My shopping list:

x1 loaf of white bread

x2 loafs of wheat bread

x2 1lbs of bologna

x2 1lbs of hot dogs

x1 1lbs of black forest ham

x1 package of cheese

x2 bags of frito lays chips

x1 jar of pickles

x1 box of saltine crackers

x1 container of iodized salt

x1 container of parmesean cheese

x5 1lbs cans of chilli

x5 1lbs cans of lasagna

x4 1lbs cans of chicken alfredo

x2 3lbs cans of ranch style beans

__________

Total cost: ~$60

Total weight: ~30lbs

2lbs a day consumed is ~15 days is ~$2/day.

That comes out to a grand total of: ~$120/month, ~$1,440/year on groceries.

But personally I cannot eat 2lbs of food per 24hr period.. I'd probably consume 50% - 70% less.

Which comes out to: ~$432/yearly bill on groceries for me, for eating good, healthy, and tasty!!

Any and all opinions are welcome! I do buy a wider variety. This is just what I am purchasing for the next two weeks, before home time. :)

Most of those things are very high sodium.

Where's the fruits & veggies?

Some alternative or additional things:

Trail mix is more or less nutritious.

Those little squirtee things for water bottles are sugarless and extend the variety of just plain water.

Bananas store well for a few days and get you potassium.

Peanut butter and jelly - Don't leave home without them!

Leave the white bread out of it. Get whole grain or wheat bread. Bleached flour products are not the best for you. The less chemicals you eat the better.

I am not a gluten free crazy person. Just wheat or whole grain breads taste better.

Flour bleaching agent is a food additive added to flour in order to make it appear whiter (freshly milled flour has a yellowish tint) and to oxidize the surfaces of the flour grains and help with developing of gluten. Usual bleaching agents are: Organic peroxides, namely benzoyl peroxide. Calcium peroxide.

Whole grain bread only! Get rid of the processed meats as they are real bad for you (Bologna, ham, hot dogs). Replace them with real chicken breast, roast beef, canned tuna if you want meat. Get some veggies in your diet too or you may be looking at colon cancer when you get older.

How do you cook/heat the hot dogs, chili, etc. without a stove or a microwave? Sunlight and a magnifying glass?

How do you cook/heat the hot dogs, chili, etc. without a stove or a microwave? Sunlight and a magnifying glass?

Close. Back in my day I used to cook ants with a magnifying glass. It was fun.

Truck stops have microwaves for the drivers. You can also take a slow cooker and boil water and cook the hot dogs or other meats in it.

Unfortunately your options are limited without an inverter. If you have an inverter your options are endless!

Love the thread Daniel! This is a good place as any to lay down my meal plans. I am extremely frugal and I have a strong self sustainable streak in me as well. When planning my meals A few things stick as important:

- The limitations I have to face based on the Company I am with. I am going with Knight and they do not have APUs , nor do they allow large capacity inverters. They do allow small 12v plug in inverters in the 300-400w range. They capacity of the 12v outlets I hear run up to 180w so that is the max appliance usage I am looking at with A/C Appliances.

The appliances I am starting out with are: Crock Pot(100w); Immersion Blender(150w); Coleman Gas Stove utilizing the 1lb. propane cannisters. The purpose of using the Coleman cannisters are I can refill them with an adapter and I can attach a buddy heater to it as a backup heat source if needed.

The Crock Pot is for dinners. I will make beans, lentils, rice, meat, and things like that. The Immersion blender is for soups, homemade hummus, mayo, and Smoothies. The gas stove is for eggs and boiling water (when I can't fill up my insulated caraffe at a truck stop). The carafe should keep water hot for 15+ hours. I will use that for tea, instant oatmeal, my broth, etc.

- How to get vegies and live Bacteria if I am running hard and I am unable to stop. I own a food dehydrator so I started playing with drying vegatables. I would dry anything and everything: zucchini, carrots, celery, brocolli, mushrooms, you name it. I ended up putting veggies into a blender and chopping it up into a fairly fine powder. I would add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to make a dry broth/soup mix. I would take a spoonfull and hydrate it in hot water. It works well!

For live food, I will be sprouting seeds on the road. I will be sprouting Quinoa, Lentils, Barley, and Sunflower seeds. All these seeds sprout quick. Quinoa is ready in 24 hours, the others in 2-3 days. I have a plastic mason like jar and lids with holes in them. That is what I will be using. Nut bags are also an option for around $7 online. How to sprout: Soak the seeds for 6-8 hours, then drain the water. Rinse 3 times a day. Eat. It's that simple. The sprouts can stay good for up to 5 days.

- Nutrition. I am super picky about this. I am concerned about excessive pesticide use on foods so certain foods I avoid or I am careful of their source. I ran into gut issues where I was able to pinpoint the problem to artificial foods and pesticide residue. I was running into food intolerances. I wash all fruits and veggies good. I avoid black tea unless it is organic, and I avoid foods most likely made with GMO's. Also, I will have a PuR water filter to filter my drinking water.

I have been planning my menu plan with an emphasis on basic food stuffs so I can mix and match. I don't do recipies. I'm a free range chef. I have divided up my food based on when I would primarily eat it. I also have a list of spices and baking goods.

Spices and baking: Chives, Parsley, Red Pepper flakes, Cayenne, Dried Lemon, Cinnamon, Cajun powder, Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, Curry Powder, Hot Sauce(vinegar and cayenne based), Vinegar, Italian Seasoning, Thyme, ginger, tomato paste, mustard, non-gmo oil, boullion cubes, and dry soup mix.

Snacks: Nuts, Dried fruits and vegetables, Peanuts, Protein Bars, and Juice Boxes. Beef Jerky and Salami will be used for back up meat source if I can't make it to a store.

Breakfast: Eggs, Dry Cereal, Oatmeal, Yogurt, Almond Milk, Banannas, other fruit for smoothies(seasonal)

Lunch: Chick Peas(hummus), Tuna Fish, Peanut Butter, Honey, Raisins, Pickles, Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Tortilla Shells.

Dinner: Beans, Rice, Split Pea, Couscous, Dried Veg, Beef Jerkey, Tomato Paste, Canned Soups, Bullion, Dried Soup mix, Chicken, Pork roast(sm), Cheap cuts of Beef, Apples, and Oranges.

I really don't have a price breakdown, but I feel pretty comfortable I can keep the costs down. When I can save money by making stuff homemade in advance I will.

Well, There she be! We will see how it goes and I am sure I will tweak it as time goes along.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

This classic is still in print:
Manifold Destiny

Food is one thing I'm concerned about on the road. I can't just pick up a loaf of bread, peanut, butter, and jelly. I can't have the grains, peanuts, or sugar.

I plan to budget a decent amount for food knowing what I know about the road and how I have to eat. I'll definitely be using a crockpot on the road.

Most of the foods I picked below besides meat and veggies can be stored outside of cooling (yes, even eggs.)

My grocery list for a week would probably look something like this:

~2 lbs of meat 4 lb sweet potatoes Four or five apples Four or five oranges Three bananas Two boxes of Pacific Foods soup stock (chosen due to no additives) A box of salad mix A dozen eggs Two cans of Golden Star coconut milk (no additive brand) Some carrots Pickles Any other veggies I could get a hold of and store that wouldn't spoil before I could use them.

Things that will last me for nearly a month or longer: 1 lb of real butter (sweet cream and salt or just cream as only ingredients, no added oils.) A bottle of salt free 21 spice (21 herbs and spices that makes everything taste good) A thing of salt and pepper My trusty bottle of Crystal hot sauce

So, I'm budgeting about $60/week on eating. $260/month (with adding in stuff that will last more than a week and a sit down meal once in a while), $3120/year.

On home time I can also make ground beef jerky, chicken jerky, and fruit roll things in my dehydrator.

And, 1.2k cals is very low unless you are a very short person.