How to survive on INDEC budget

[nicoenarg]

Myself and may partner spend ar$1200 per month on food. We buy all fresh vegetables, meat and eggs from a local butcher and visit the local COTO once a month for "dry goods". I would say we have a healthy diet on ar$20 per day per person.

This does not include costs of occasionally eating in restaurants or occasional deliver Sushi.

My wife and I spend around $1500 pesos a month. A lot of vegetables. Meat, eggs etc. Its possible to live on that amount comfortably for two people. I am sure we could do it for $1200 too. But I do think 600 odd pesos for a family of 4 borders idiocy.

EDIT: Of course this does not include eating out. And that would skew the above estimate a bit for people who always eat at home.

 

[Gringoboy]

Eating out?
Now that's a novel concept.

 

[lamarque]

http://www.ieco.clarin.com/economia/Carrefour-salio-ofrecer-menu-pesos_0_755924441.html

Anyone check this? is it really enought to eat one day? if anyone have try this please share the experience

 

[hannstew]

This is how its done..

 

[John.St]

Eating out?
Now that's a novel concept.

Eating out is when you take your food to a bench in a park

 

[fifs2]

They say you need 6,88 peso to eat. For breakfast I had a small yogurt but now I am out of my daily budget

How do I eat lunch and dinner?

A very loyal K friend advises me to post this image in defense of the govt he so adores..I have no idea how we're friends and see things so differently but to promote fairness here it is..and for non Spanish speakers this very basically says:

Stop parotting the same ole' info and look for real information


INDEC did not say that a typical family can live on 6 pesos a day but that people bringing in less than 717, 11 per month are considered below the level of destitution. The figure of 1665 is established for someone to be considered above the bread line.
So it has thereby not been stated that a typical family needs 23 pesos a day to eat but that anyone who finds themself in said situation is considered destitute.

 

[solerboy]

Stop parotting the same ole' info and look for real information

That would'nt be much fun !

 

[recapitulation]

Maybe this can help: I have been experimenting for about a month now on what to do if I don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen before work every day. Three benefits?

I can easily track what I´m eating on sparkpeople/fitday
It's cheap and not time consuming to prepare (1 hr 2xweek).
Not a lot of dishes to wash!

I think it comes out to about $6 pesos a day, but it involves very simple foods. So, it´s not for everyone:

From Casa Naturista (Serrano y Niceto). There's another inexpensive Dietetica on Lavelleja, I think, 2 blocks north of Corrientes off the corner.

Lentils 500g- $5.50
Brown rice 500g - $5
Avena (oats) 500g- $5

From a verduleria
1 kg carrots - $6
1 kg cebolla - $6

From wherever
Packet of bay leaves - laurel - this will last months? - $6
Packet of tomillo - same, months - $7
Canela - months - no clue

Those are my guestimates from the past week as I don't have my receipts here.
I eat oats in the morning with hot water. $5/500g lasts at least the work week, so that's $1 breakfast. I can use the sugar or fake sugar packets from a cafe if I need a change.

I make about half a packet of the lentils twice a week and that lasts me lunch and dinner for about 2-3 days. The rice actually lasts me a bit longer.

So I've been doing it for a month now. Is it boring? I guess. But I happen to like lentils . I prefer having more fresh veg in summer and am not as picky in winter. Switching to black beans is also possible, but I think they're a peso more per 500g. I think this hits the $6/day. I don't really feel deprived, but my Argentine friends tell me to eat more greens.

I buy whatever veg or meat I want on the weekends, but I imagine anyone actually living on $6/day isn't doing it for convenience. Theoretically I could swap out the oatmeal for a single egg for breakfast. Yes, I think living on that is doable and it's not that bad. I'm not 4 people like in the Carrefour list, so I can't get that kind of variety on $6/day without a lot of planning.

 

[Lamb]

Your problem is that yogurt is not part of the "canasta básica!"

From this article: http://saludable.infobae.com/la-canasta-basica-hipercalorica-y-poco-nutritiva/

I wonder why on that budget youd bother with 2 types of salt?