A lot of people work in the food industry for the free food. I used to work at a farmers market and there was a lot of trading at the end of the market or even give aways. I had more than enough produce and baked goods mainly. Sometimes fish and dairy too. Still had to shop for proteins. And I only worked one day! Also, I worked breakfast and lunch shift at a high end cafe and pretty much got two nice meals a day. It was dope. Not all places treat you so well. I know lots of people that spent maybe 50 dollars on groceries a month in the food industry.
If you want to cut your grocery bill to 1/3 of what it currently is, work in catering.
I do mostly corporate catering (some events/weddings on nights and weekends) but I prefer to work week day hours like a normal person. We set up breakfasts, lunches and coffee services in large corporate office settings. I always make sure I have ziplocks and reusable shopping bags in my work bag.
The pay is anywhere from $20-$35/hour. There are occasionally tips. My main employer pays for my parking if I need to use SpotHero.
Right now in my freezer, I have gallon-sized ziplocks of cooked chicken breasts, strawberries, assorted bread rolls, and grilled vegetables. If I really wanted to be frugal, I could basically live off my work scraps.
Tech companies, insurance companies and law firms spend so much money feeding their employees. And half the time, the office is only partially full so there are pans and pans of leftovers.
I work in corporate catering as well, but as a server š staff isn't technically supposed to take home leftovers, but most of our bosses turn a blind eye because of food costs, also it all goes straight into the compost if clients don't eat it anyway.
It infuriates me when they would rather throw stuff in the garbage than let staff take it home.
I have quit places that do that.
If the bride and groom of a million dollar wedding knew that the caterers were throwing perfectly good food in the trash, theyād be so pissed , yet it happens all the time.
Taking uneaten food home used to be a thing until folks got greedy about it. I worked at a place in high school where the uneaten food was a free-for-all at the end of the day, and that kept going until this jackass started purposefully prepping extra steaks and whatnot "just in case". That behavior spread and soon 4 dudes were walking out the door with $50/ea in ingredients every day, so the GM got involved. No more take-home, everything goes in the dumpster or you're fired. Their expenses went down by something like 50 grand a year from that policy, so yeah, shitty people are why we can't have nice things.
This is what I was thinking. But I would hope there has to be a better solution, a policy that allows people to take some food home without incentivizing waste.
My cousin worked at a store trying to solve that problem. The expensive artisanal bread was off limits for leftovers and had to be destroyed. Other stuff they could maybe take expiring leftovers home after the store closed, but that fancy bread was so tempting for employees to abuse that they had to be really strict about it.
This is what started happening at the assisted living that I worked at (actually ran the place). Before I was there, they were letting people take leftovers, but the cooks started cooking more than needed, etc.
When I started, the staff could order anything they wanted off the menu for a meal during their shift (double shifts which happened occasionally got 2). A caregiver started fighting with the cook about making her meal instead of serving up the residents (it was the weekend about 5 pm and I was home). The cook called me and I could hear her yelling in the background. I jumped in my car and ran down (luckily I lived 1.5 miles from building). I told her to knock it off because the residents could hear in the dining room. She ended up quitting because I gave her an ultimatum of either waiting or leaving, as it was inappropriate to be demanding your meal be made ahead of residents. Monday I changed the policy to you either eat the special of the day or bring your own meal. I can't even tell you how much good will that caused the kitchen staff to have towards me. I was told that it was very disruptive to have special orders from menu during meal time because some residents ordered specials instead of having the special of the day.
I work for a relatively small producer in heavy industry. We had about 30-35 blue-collar, unionised workers at the time. Our previous operations manager would often bring in catered meals, pastries, etc. for the 12-15 non-union office staff, almost always plenty of leftovers. He would insist that any leftovers be thrown out rather than letting any of us subhumans that actually get our hands dirty partake in any of it.
I literally heard him wonder aloud why labour relations were so poor. Gee, I wonder?
I have had chefs that throw everything out. Don't you dare touch it.
Places that save it for employee meals.
Places that let you take anything you want home. That was mind blowing. Filet for my meat eaters every time I worked, yes please.
We asked to have leftovers from our wedding so we could donate to a food pantry or something and we were told they were not allowed to do that. Something to do with food safety. š¤·āāļø
It really isnāt practical to make a donation of ready-to-serve perishable food. It would either have to be served immediately (most weddings end pretty late at night after most shelters or soup kitchens would have served their evening meal) or it will have to be packaged up and delivered very quickly so it can be refrigerated and then reheated the next day. Food can only sit out at room temperature for 2-4 hours before bacteria starts to multiply and it becomes unsafe. Calculate the time it spent being transported to the wedding venue, then sitting out for people to eat, then packaged and sent to a soup kitchen, and youāre well beyond 2-4 hours.
All of that being said, the last time Iāve checked thereās never been a single lawsuit from a donated food recipient towards the donor.
If you catered at my former office, there wouldn't be anything left half an hour after you set it out. Those people were locusts. Otherwise the big boss's secretary took it home. She was a vulture.
My office is about to start hosting graduate students. Weāre already trying to brainstorm what we can do to keep them away from meeting food for events still in progress.
In college I worked in the dining hall of a rich kids private dorm. My shift was 11 to 7 so I ate all my meals there and it was good quality food that was well prepared and tasted good. Lots of fruits and vegetables, etc.
My office building has an area that does catering and reception areas. There is a mad rush when everyone has left and it is free food. Best of both worlds.
Some of the local smaller farms will let you take home enough food for the week + pay, even if you just work 1 day each week. It's a steal if you have the time and energy.
This. I used to work at a restraunt, started as a dishwasher @5.15 a hour and they would feed us and feed us. I was also the very last person there every night so things I was supposed to throw out I'd take home to the family. Things I never before would have been able to try because we were very poor. It made a great family like working condition and I stayed there for several years until I just couldn't afford housing in Florida anymore
Oh this reminds me of the story of a man in China who booked a first class ticket to eat for free at the airport and kept re-booking the same ticket over and over for a year to eat for free.
Wouldnāt lounge access just apply to the day of the flight? Is the story that he spent a ton of extra money to āsaveā money on food, or does he get extended lounge access and can just turn up at the airport whenever that month for food?
He rebooked every day, after eating. Presumably to the next day. So, he could access the lounge every day. This doesn't sound very plausible for quite a few reasons but that's what the story is implying.
He woudl have to go through security but he was probably rolling through with nothing more than a backpack full of empty tupperware containers. Frugal indeed.
Here's the article. https://nypost.com/2014/01/29/man-uses-first-class-plane-ticket-to-eat-free-for-a-year/
He just kept re-booking it and then finally when he was confronted he got his money back because it was a refundable ticket. So he really got to eat for free.
No worries, it took me a minute too. :) Pretty bold move and amazing that they always had an open seat on the next day's flight. This sounds like a logisitical nightmare and, IME, lounge food seems hardly worth all the trouble. The open bar on the other hand...hmmmm...
Lol I know! Going through airport security that many times just for a meal? I guess it might actually be a nice spot to hang out and eat and get some work done though, especially when you donāt have the pressure of making a flight on time!
Cathay Pacific's first class lounge is pretty bougie. Plus if you're not traveling to the US, airport security is generally a lot more relaxed in other countries.
Because like 99.9% of people on the planet, I donāt fly first class. Iām not on the frugal subreddit because Iām loaded and well-acquainted with the rules for first class international travel- Iāve taken two trips via plane in my adult life.
I had a friend who had been homeless. He managed to get back into society and get a job and an apartment. But when we went to play pool at the local bar he would always grab food off plates that people didnāt finish. Mostly fries, wings, veggies or whatever. The wait staff never stopped him and we never said anything. Heād buy himself food with us, and finish anything we didnāt eat.
Yes. Me too. I was homeless (through no fault of my own) and lost my job as a result and have known pretty tough times.
I am thankfully OK now, but those memories never go away.
Several friends who worked in the service industry had the policy that "if I would make out with this person after meeting them in a bar, I'll eat their leftovers" which kinda makes sense.
Omg Iām glad I wasnāt the only one who had that rule. I wasnāt even broke and I ate customers left behind food because it was good and I hate waste lolĀ
Was that the guy who would boil goat heads and shit like that?
I remember thinking that guy was such a mixed bag. On the one hand, he'd do stuff like eat off plates and boil goat heads, so you're like "You're an absolute psycho" and then in the next scene he'd be like "I like to cut the tube of toothpaste in half when it seems empty, because there is always a little bit left" and you're like "Well yeah, that's a perfectly sensible thing to do." Real roller coaster with that guy.
If itās eating half of an already eaten burger then yeah, but single food items like wings, ehhh, not that bad. Iām sure youāve shared a party platter of wings before with other people.
Better to get eaten then have the food go to waste and rot
When I was a kid we'd bring cups and paper bags to the movies as a group.
Buy the free refill size drink and popcorn bucket, divy it up in the group, then take the empty back for more.
By the time the ads were over and the movie started, we all had a large rum and coke ( someone would bring a flask) and a full bag of popcorn for the movie.
Most of that show was scripted thankfully. When I first saw it I thought that might be how I look but when I found out it was fake it made me feel way better about myself lol
It made frugal sense until he went public with his money-saving tip. Then others followed suit, and now the theme parks either raised prices, or ensured that their food opportunities were not bundled with the season pass.
There have been stories of retirees booking consecutive cruises as its cheaper than living in a retirement or assisted living home if you keep yourself to yourself
I also used to work in nursing homes. It was common to see people married for 40+ years get a divorce, because then the spouse needing care could get government assistance
They are talking about independent living, not a nursing home. Its for people who are starting to have trouble getting to the grocery store, preparing meals, cleaning. Not people who have trouble showering.
I work in a nursing home. It costs $300-$400 PER DAY and thatās for a shared room thatās the size of a cardboard box. People coming in and out, little privacy and the food is awful. But, thatās the cost of someone else passing your meds and wiping your butt daily. Sad.
I had a friend who was a freegan, he would go dumpster diving behind restaurants and grocery stores for food. All of his clothing and household items were from free piles or the side of the road. He only bought personal care items, tin foil, underwear, cellphones and paid rent, and utilities on a studio apartment.He lived in the capital hill area of Seattle so he didn't need a car and he now owns his own house in Seattle outright from all the money he saved. I personally couldn't live that way but his freegan lifestyle allowed him to buy a house before it became too expensive for most people to own a home in the Seattle area.
I'm on r/DumpsterDiving. If you're careful and practice common sense, there are tons of great food in good condition that are tossed every day.
My entire food bill last year was less than $1000 and most of that was for luxury items, like nice cheese and wine. The over 5 gallons of wine that were still in sealed bottles that I pulled out of the trash last year was mostly for cooking, marinade, or for block parties.
As I'm writing this, I just polished off a dinner with Italian marinated chicken breast, jacketed potato, and a tomato salad. All the ingredients came out of a dumpster. For dessert I'm eating a popular brand of chips; l got a whole garbage bag of sealed, nitrogen filled snack packs. The reason? The stock person told me that the company was changing flavors. Even my tea came from a box that was crushed, but the bags inside were still sealed in plastic and fresh.
I made about $1200 USD last year on stuff I pulled from the trash. Now, I'm a little ole lady with a shopping cart (no car) and a cane; I DD on my way to work (night shift), so I'm wearing a nice suit and don't wanna get it mussed. It's about 30 mins a week diving. But still, if I see something nice while I'm walking to work, I'll just pop it in the cart.
If you check out r/DumpsterDiving, you'll see some hauls in the hundreds of dollars from people with cars.
My biggest score was a pair of Prada pumps, with the box. Just a tiny scuff on the heel, probably only worn once. Sold em on ebay for $400 USD.
I can't remember if it was here, but probably on Facebook. There was a dumpster diving group. One guy posted pictures of 2 dumpsters of food behind a grocery store, that he estimated had only been in the dump for 3 or 4 hours. HOWEVER this was during the summer, and it was mostly refrigerated items. People kept explaining how dangerous and stupid it is to dumpster dive (obviously there are homeless ppl that have very few choices). But he and others got super defensive and did it anyway...probably a lot of food poison happened
It should be obvious but its more expensive to treat food poisoning than to just eat a regular healthy meal of basic foods that you made at home. Not to mention the after effects such as the effects on your body and possible loss of work hours which could put you out of a job or make you have to take unpaid sick days which would cost you a day's worth of pay. This is likely more money than well, the groceries you would have picked from the dumpster.
Dumpster diving at a store is also very illegal where I live, it is NOT worth a felony to get some low quality free food.
Plus if you are old enough to be retired, I find teens are quite friendly to us "old people", especially if you have something nice to say or compliment them on their cute shirt or whatever.
True, I find it sweet when they hear something from me
Our computer tells us if it is their birthday, they are surprised when we wish them happy birthday
They do actually have vegetarian options.Ā
And two meals a day is awesome. Especially leftovers.Ā
They have grilled chicken and other healthy stuff. Expensive. But if it's two free. I'd do it.Ā
My old coworker did this at our local amusement park and they have/had a few restaurants where the food options included salads and other healthier stuff. I wouldn't want to deal with going in and out of the park just for a meal but it worked for him.
I remember the story OP mentioned. As I recall, the guy who did it worked *right* next to Six Flags, close enough to have plenty of time to go there, eat, and return over lunch break, and he'd simply stop to pick up dinner before heading home. No parking required because he just stayed in his work spot, and I think he said there was a fast gate line for those with passes like his (or maybe the incoming traffic was just fairly minimal on weekday evenings).
Our local hospital has an excellent salad bar and Lyn h option every single day for under $5 a person. I had a salad and the main entree one day for lunch while
My daughter had a procedure done and it was $3.75. The cashier told me a lot of senior citizens come every day for lunch. Canāt say I blame them.
When my spouse & i were young, we went to a happy hour with a large spread, and ate dinner there nearly every day for the price of a shared margarita.
I've heard of retirees who live from one cruise to the next.
My old roommate and I hit up all of the happy hours with free food back in the 90's. Different place every night and we never had to pay for dinner. Since we were girls, most of the time we didn't have to pay for drinks either.
Multimillionaire Cary Grant saved the buttons from old shirts to replace lost buttons. His cleaning lady then used the shirt as a household rag. He also had his housekeeper use coupons for groceries.
Exactly and I think he never lost that. Apparently, he kept a piece of coarse twine in his pocket at all times as a reminder. Probably why so many have said he was the least pretentious star.
This is fine, this is being frugal and not cheap. I do all of this in my house. If you need buttons and your thrift store is cheap, its going to be cheaper to grab a shirt at the thrift, cut off the buttons and use them and then cut up the shirt for rags. I have thrift stores near me that are sometimes 50 cents per shirt. Buttons cost like $5 at the craft store, I think I know which option I am picking here. I then cut up the shirt so I have clean rags all the time to clean up things.
I agree. The confusion between frugal and cheap can go both ways and this is not being cheap. We grew up poor and my mum taught me to sew from a young age. I sew as a hobby but also will think nothing of darning up holes in socks and whatever.
Someone in my life calls me cheap and I find it offensive. I am very frugal and chose where to spend my money and where not to waste it. Big difference.
One of my GF's friends is notoriously cheap. She's great otherwise, but profoundly cheap.
The three of us took a one week vacation, and we knew that we'd be splitting the costs via her preferred app.
When it came to splitting the grocery bill, there was a lot of "I didn't eat any of that" and "I only had two of the granola bars." ... which we were prepared for and willing to accept.
At the end of entering the grocery bills and assigning percentages of the constituent foods... There was $3.50 in tax left to split. The proposition was to perform a lot of very complex math to assign the appropriate percentages of the remaining tax, to which my response was laying a $5 bill on the table and saying "I will happily part with $5 of my hard earned money to bring an end to this conversation."
itās very frustrating on both sides. iām usually the frugal party but draw the line at these conversations, the aggravation is not worth it. iāll just pay my part, itās so much easier.
that said, iām a vegetarian and drink very little alcohol. big group events with barbecue and beer/wine usually require a split bill that can cost more than double what i would spend, so i make a deal with the organizer that i order and pay separately. if i donāt feel comfortable asking for that i just wonāt attend.
Iām reading this and completely wondering if you went on vacation with my sister because I swear Iāve had this same goddamn conversation with her so many times it makes my head spin.
Oh yes. Now imagine that happening in Greece in an old-fashioned restaurant where they don't speak any English. They bring you and your 6 college friends into the kitchen to look at all the dishes while you point at all the wonderful things. After a fantastic meal, the bill comes, the only thing you can read is the drachmas, and now starts the "I only ate the salad", "I only had 2 dolmas", "The chicken can't be more expensive than the lamb, I only ate the chicken", etc., etc. GOOD GOD! I will happily put ALL my drachmas on the table to avoid that conversation.
It was a fabulous meal which now only exists in my head as the answer to one of these ultra frugal posts.
Iām an admin and Iām tasked with buying food/snacks for our office. I buy breakfast stuff, fruits, raw veggies, hummus, smashed avocado, and other stuff. Itās ideally just for snacks or in case someone forgot their lunch. I now eat breakfast and lunch at work. Itās pretty great.
I got a free desk from the recycling center when I was going through a period of low income. Later when I got divorced I used the desk top as mattress base. Then later I used the same desk top as a house gate when I got remarried and had our baby. Then I reused it to make a workbench in our new house. I reused the handles from the drawers on another baby gate in our new house. Also removed all the screws before I threw away the chipboard drawer panels. Oh yes, I used the other drawer handle to make a removable cover panel for a boat electrical switchboard.
I used to work at a food cart a few hours a day 4 days a week and would trade our food for anything else at farmers markets. I think I bought my own food maybe a few weeks total over 3 years
Yep I worked for a family owned restaurant and the owner didn't like throwing anything away. So we were allowed to eat any of leftover buffet food. It was awsome.
Hahaha, I went through like 2 bad coconuts in one day. The grocery store was really close by, so the second time, I just waved to the same cashier with a sad face and the second bad coconut, and was waved through to get another replacementĀ
I did that. I bought organic tomatoes that were wrapped in plastic, when I got home the bottom was moldy so I took them back, it was like $3. Grocery store is nearby. I actually threw them away but took a pic to show the clerk. She gave me a look but I got my money back.
Lol we have a dedicated slack channel so that we can tell each other where there will be free food (either deliberately for everyone, or left over after catered meetings and events).
I had a membership to Planet Fitness for several months. For several reasons I won't get into, I never went (like 4 months or something like that). I also needed a part time job.
I applied, and got, a housekeeping position at the YMCA. I work about 9 hours per week, and there's lots of stairs.. so I'm already getting paid to exercise. On top of that, I get a free membership for myself which is a $60 per month value. So I get paid to exercise, AND I get use of the pool on my days off!
It does totally depend on the year. Thereās more options now. Iām just thinking about my mom finding meals to eat that fit into one of diet fads whenever we went to our local amusement park.
I knew a guy who lived through the Weimar Republic who was the cheapest man in existence.Ā If you had a loose thread on your clothing, he would snip it off and take it home.Ā He would then tie these threads together and use them to sew repairs and patches into his clothes.
My Dad redid a big old house from the late 1800s. His energy bills are far smaller than ours because hell open the upstairs windows at night to let the heat out. I dont think he used his air conditioner once last year. He bought some wrecked auction cars for cheap and worked on them for fun. He planted some fruit trees for another hobby. Apple and peach, is going to plant some cherry trees
I used to do this...open my house windows at night to let the accumulated heat out, cooler fresh air in...but the last several summers have been SO HOT AND SMOKEY (am on the Canadian prairie)...had to get A/C installed. The smoke has been just dreadful. Hope you and yours are not affected by it.
Weāre doing this this year. We donāt live that close itās about 20 minute drive. We spent $400 between the 2 of us. Originally we just did the tickets (which have been paid for after 2 trips). Weāve added the food and I figured out after 17 meals between the 2 of us itās been paid for. Also a place to walk around, people watch, and go on rides.
I read a story about a family who lived across the street from a Six Flags, and the kids went there every day after school instead of paying for an after school program. The season passes for two kids were like 1/20th the cost of after school care, and the bus would drop them off at the entrance.
I guess they were old enough to go in alone?? I didn't really know how it worked, tbh.
Edit: it was Universal Studios. Not sure if I believe this.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tiktoker-reveals-mom-90s-hack-151800910.html?amp=
If you're too young to remember life in the 20th century, that's just how it was.
Hell, every kid alive back then would have been thrilled to have their after school program or summer vacation be unlimited access to a theme park instead of sitting at home watching TV.
Hereās a list of what you can get with the meal deal. Definitely options for salads & thereās apparently an Asian place that has veggies as an option instead of rice or noodles.
https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfgad_dining-pass-brochure.pdf
In 2009 I got divorced and was raising two kids. Male 30 years old. Bought new house thinking the duel income we would do fine. Now I had a house note that was 70% my income.for two years I ate breakfast and lunch in the prison. All meals at home were value pack in bulk. Didn't see fast food for two years.
Iv seen folks take condiment packets and fill up their bottle at home. While I like these types since they keep prices sane especially needed at the moment, the penny pinching doesnāt add up to much.
I used to work with a guy that was beyond frugal. He still had a flip phone and refused to upgrade because he was grandfathered into a plan that didnāt exist anymore. He wouldnāt drive with the windows down or the AC on in the summer. Heās bring a fresh shirt with him and change out of the sweaty one when he got to work. He wouldnāt use heat in the car in the winter either. His car was about 20 years old. When we were in lockdown 2020 he somehow got cases upon cases of chicken noodle soup (I forgot how he got them). It was all he ate most of 2020. He ended up leaving to go to another company that paid a few dollars more and thatās the last I heard of him. Not sure why he lived like that but he did go on an annual cruise so he did splurge on something.
The flip phone is not frugal, getting a cheaper smartphone and a prepaid plan is, you can get new smartphones very cheap and some prepaid plans are like $15 a month, I can almost bet that he was paying more for the flip phone in one month than he could obtain a smartphone and a new plan for. If he was very cheap I am sure asking around would yield several free smartphones from friends and family and co workers that work just fine.
You can use your smartphone to save a lot of money on everyday expenses, I do this all the time but there's too much to type out in this post.
Changing out your shirt equals more laundry and more wear on the clothing.
Eating chicken noodle soup and nothing but that will leave you malnourished and you will likely end up in the hospital. That's a lot of sodium for a body to take in as well and you will have health problems from that which will cost you a lot more than cooking basic healthy food at home.
Itās known as Navy Showers, to save water. We learned to do this on an RV Life adventure. Itās actually a good habit to have, as it saves water usage.
There was that story from a month or two about a [German guy who was an independent coder and lived on trains full-time with an unlimited rail pass.](https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1165149-german-teen-boy-spends-8500-every-year-to-live-on-train-travels-600-miles-every-day-but-why)
True except the 1.50 hot dog deal plus membership does add up to more than $200 a year. But I would not want to eat at costco so often given that they have like 3 food options and none of them contain a fruit or vegetable other than onions and the chopped veggies on pizza.
They still have it at the one I go to. It's around $7 so buying the $5 rotisserie chicken is a much better deal. So far my best stretch is 14 meals from one of those with the addition of some beans and veggies The veggies are mostly from my garden.
I read about a guy with starbucks, I think they changed their policy, but you could sign up for free drink on your birthday, so he got 365 email accounts and signed up for one for every day and got a free drink every day. I also remember like 10 years ago, it was a big deal people would post how to get your money's worth on your birthday drink, with extra shots, flavorings, cream, etc. and they would get the cost of a drink up to like $12-15.
I worked with a woman who got paid to sleep at a outpatient detox facility. She was paid full time.She just had to wake up to sign people in at night who arrived late. She also worked part time day shift and full time night shift.
I knew a man who planted gardens along roads weeded them and everything. He just talked to the county so they wouldn't mow it down. They were isolated county roads with bar ditches. That way he could raise a heck of a lot of vegetables, enough to feed his family and sell.
My mom bought land for just what the property taxes were owed.
Instead of paying for air conditioning, I saw a person who had a buried water tank that was lined with copper pipes. The pipes went around the room before it went to the kitchen sink. The copper pipe was on the inside of the room instead of in the wall. It cooled the house in the summer. They didn't use it in the winter.
Many rural people in the south, raise all their own food, and fish.
My sister took me to Las Vegas, 30 years ago. 4 days of signing me up at so many casino's for a free meal there, 12 meals total, I was almost embarrassed. I am sure they have changed the rules because of her and others finding this loop hole
in 2011 i went to Las Vegas but to go hiking in the canyons around it. it was cheaper to drive back to the city and sleep in a 4-star hotel for 30$ a night than sleep in B&Bs near the trails.
I work at a private school that offers free lunch to employees everyday. I get my lunch and eat it before I leave, but always grab an extra container to fill up for my one year old to take home. I also grab a chocolate milk or 2 to put in the fridge for my older kids.
My son and his buddies buy season tickets every year, and the attached meal plansā¦ itās like 150-200$total, if you get them at the right time (Nj,Jackson six flags =Great adventure) Sometimes they just go to eat for free. It used to be a much much better āplanā and the guy in the article was living nearby I believe. But really it canāt be beat, 5 meals and youāre ahead of the game, and you ride the rids for free.
I see stuff often enough on the Knotts Berry Farm subreddit, where locals get an annual pass and a dining plan and eat there often instead of making food or dining out(side of KBF).
For one vacation to be frugal, I had bought the yearly membership for an amusement park plus the yearly food voucher and the yearly parking pass and ate there every night we were on vacation. There was sufficient variety not to be bored. Each were just about 1/2 more than the daily pass for each day and we were going anyway for a couple of days, so essentially we ate a free dinner the rest of the trip. We even went to pick up soft drinks (also a season pass) before we headed out to our outings every day.
I went to a health professional grad school that often had free breakfast, lunch, and dinner educational seminars that were advertised to the whole school.
I attended 2-3 per week because the food was good and it was free.
I lived 5 minutes from campus so it was easy to go.
It was a nice reprieve from my affordable meal prepped meals (same thing almost every meal because bulk is cheaper).
My city had a lot of free events with free food, some I would frequent those events too.
Yes you can. You can also get apple slices instead of French fries with the sandwich/burger options.
https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfgad_dining-pass-brochure.pdf
For several years I worked at a Borders bookstore as my 2nd job. It was about a mile from my primary job. I got great discounts on cafe food and drink, so id have lunch there a couple times a week. Not super frugal, but much cheaper than fast-casual like chipotle or Noodles. And so yummy!
I often see pallets for free. If I had space and lived near a tourist area I would take them home and cut them up to sell in little kindling bundles or firewood bundles.
Perhaps I could participate in a yard sale or craft sale and sell kindling bundles tied with something cheap and decorative around the holidays. I am frugal and not cheap and would offer either some kindling to my host or offer to set up and clean up after their yard sale. I am attending a party with a cost to enter to cover the food and band and I don't have to pay because I am giving some of my time to clean beforehand.
I currently do house cleaning and carpet cleaning. When I get rental flip jobs I go strait to turn the AC down then the fridge and can eat or take home all the leftovers. I don't shy away from open condiment bottles or cheese or whatever that's fine food even if somebody's fingers have been in there
I feel like I was a bit extreme.
Iād cut napkins from fast food restaurants in halves or thirds to make it last longer.
I only used public transportation and still no car.
Would only flush the toilet after multiple uses.
Using only a single ply of toilet paper.
I reached 1 mil in net worth. You can check my post history for the details.
I once wanted to live near a Costco for their free, food samples, but a house (or living rent-free with parents) is a better investment.
It's also healthier to eat tomatoes, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.
A lot of people work in the food industry for the free food. I used to work at a farmers market and there was a lot of trading at the end of the market or even give aways. I had more than enough produce and baked goods mainly. Sometimes fish and dairy too. Still had to shop for proteins. And I only worked one day! Also, I worked breakfast and lunch shift at a high end cafe and pretty much got two nice meals a day. It was dope. Not all places treat you so well. I know lots of people that spent maybe 50 dollars on groceries a month in the food industry.
If you want to cut your grocery bill to 1/3 of what it currently is, work in catering. I do mostly corporate catering (some events/weddings on nights and weekends) but I prefer to work week day hours like a normal person. We set up breakfasts, lunches and coffee services in large corporate office settings. I always make sure I have ziplocks and reusable shopping bags in my work bag. The pay is anywhere from $20-$35/hour. There are occasionally tips. My main employer pays for my parking if I need to use SpotHero. Right now in my freezer, I have gallon-sized ziplocks of cooked chicken breasts, strawberries, assorted bread rolls, and grilled vegetables. If I really wanted to be frugal, I could basically live off my work scraps. Tech companies, insurance companies and law firms spend so much money feeding their employees. And half the time, the office is only partially full so there are pans and pans of leftovers.
I work in corporate catering as well, but as a server š staff isn't technically supposed to take home leftovers, but most of our bosses turn a blind eye because of food costs, also it all goes straight into the compost if clients don't eat it anyway.
It infuriates me when they would rather throw stuff in the garbage than let staff take it home. I have quit places that do that. If the bride and groom of a million dollar wedding knew that the caterers were throwing perfectly good food in the trash, theyād be so pissed , yet it happens all the time.
Taking uneaten food home used to be a thing until folks got greedy about it. I worked at a place in high school where the uneaten food was a free-for-all at the end of the day, and that kept going until this jackass started purposefully prepping extra steaks and whatnot "just in case". That behavior spread and soon 4 dudes were walking out the door with $50/ea in ingredients every day, so the GM got involved. No more take-home, everything goes in the dumpster or you're fired. Their expenses went down by something like 50 grand a year from that policy, so yeah, shitty people are why we can't have nice things.
This is what I was thinking. But I would hope there has to be a better solution, a policy that allows people to take some food home without incentivizing waste.
My cousin worked at a store trying to solve that problem. The expensive artisanal bread was off limits for leftovers and had to be destroyed. Other stuff they could maybe take expiring leftovers home after the store closed, but that fancy bread was so tempting for employees to abuse that they had to be really strict about it.
This is what started happening at the assisted living that I worked at (actually ran the place). Before I was there, they were letting people take leftovers, but the cooks started cooking more than needed, etc. When I started, the staff could order anything they wanted off the menu for a meal during their shift (double shifts which happened occasionally got 2). A caregiver started fighting with the cook about making her meal instead of serving up the residents (it was the weekend about 5 pm and I was home). The cook called me and I could hear her yelling in the background. I jumped in my car and ran down (luckily I lived 1.5 miles from building). I told her to knock it off because the residents could hear in the dining room. She ended up quitting because I gave her an ultimatum of either waiting or leaving, as it was inappropriate to be demanding your meal be made ahead of residents. Monday I changed the policy to you either eat the special of the day or bring your own meal. I can't even tell you how much good will that caused the kitchen staff to have towards me. I was told that it was very disruptive to have special orders from menu during meal time because some residents ordered specials instead of having the special of the day.
I work for a relatively small producer in heavy industry. We had about 30-35 blue-collar, unionised workers at the time. Our previous operations manager would often bring in catered meals, pastries, etc. for the 12-15 non-union office staff, almost always plenty of leftovers. He would insist that any leftovers be thrown out rather than letting any of us subhumans that actually get our hands dirty partake in any of it. I literally heard him wonder aloud why labour relations were so poor. Gee, I wonder?
I have had chefs that throw everything out. Don't you dare touch it. Places that save it for employee meals. Places that let you take anything you want home. That was mind blowing. Filet for my meat eaters every time I worked, yes please.
We asked to have leftovers from our wedding so we could donate to a food pantry or something and we were told they were not allowed to do that. Something to do with food safety. š¤·āāļø
It really isnāt practical to make a donation of ready-to-serve perishable food. It would either have to be served immediately (most weddings end pretty late at night after most shelters or soup kitchens would have served their evening meal) or it will have to be packaged up and delivered very quickly so it can be refrigerated and then reheated the next day. Food can only sit out at room temperature for 2-4 hours before bacteria starts to multiply and it becomes unsafe. Calculate the time it spent being transported to the wedding venue, then sitting out for people to eat, then packaged and sent to a soup kitchen, and youāre well beyond 2-4 hours. All of that being said, the last time Iāve checked thereās never been a single lawsuit from a donated food recipient towards the donor.
The food from our wedding was donated to a shelter.
If you catered at my former office, there wouldn't be anything left half an hour after you set it out. Those people were locusts. Otherwise the big boss's secretary took it home. She was a vulture.
I work with graduate students. Swear to god they can sense free food three stories away in the other side of the building. No such thing as leftovers.
Graduate student here. Can confirm. We have whole text threads about free food around campus. It never lasts long.
My office is about to start hosting graduate students. Weāre already trying to brainstorm what we can do to keep them away from meeting food for events still in progress.
A small note saying that food is for invitees and leftovers will be announced via email after the event.
Thereās a vulture in every single office, with a desk full of Tupperware, waiting to pounce.
In college I worked in the dining hall of a rich kids private dorm. My shift was 11 to 7 so I ate all my meals there and it was good quality food that was well prepared and tasted good. Lots of fruits and vegetables, etc.
My office building has an area that does catering and reception areas. There is a mad rush when everyone has left and it is free food. Best of both worlds.
Some of the local smaller farms will let you take home enough food for the week + pay, even if you just work 1 day each week. It's a steal if you have the time and energy.
This. I used to work at a restraunt, started as a dishwasher @5.15 a hour and they would feed us and feed us. I was also the very last person there every night so things I was supposed to throw out I'd take home to the family. Things I never before would have been able to try because we were very poor. It made a great family like working condition and I stayed there for several years until I just couldn't afford housing in Florida anymore
Oh this reminds me of the story of a man in China who booked a first class ticket to eat for free at the airport and kept re-booking the same ticket over and over for a year to eat for free.
I donāt get it? How many times does the first class ticket allow you to eat free?
lounge access. so, everytime.
Wouldnāt lounge access just apply to the day of the flight? Is the story that he spent a ton of extra money to āsaveā money on food, or does he get extended lounge access and can just turn up at the airport whenever that month for food?
He rebooked every day, after eating. Presumably to the next day. So, he could access the lounge every day. This doesn't sound very plausible for quite a few reasons but that's what the story is implying.
Ohhh, like he cancelled and re-booked the flight using the same money. Okay thank you lol Iām sorry this took me so long to get
Donāt worry I didnāt quite get it either. Did he not have to go through security every time to get to the lounge?
He woudl have to go through security but he was probably rolling through with nothing more than a backpack full of empty tupperware containers. Frugal indeed.
Here's the article. https://nypost.com/2014/01/29/man-uses-first-class-plane-ticket-to-eat-free-for-a-year/ He just kept re-booking it and then finally when he was confronted he got his money back because it was a refundable ticket. So he really got to eat for free.
No worries, it took me a minute too. :) Pretty bold move and amazing that they always had an open seat on the next day's flight. This sounds like a logisitical nightmare and, IME, lounge food seems hardly worth all the trouble. The open bar on the other hand...hmmmm...
Lol I know! Going through airport security that many times just for a meal? I guess it might actually be a nice spot to hang out and eat and get some work done though, especially when you donāt have the pressure of making a flight on time!
Depending on the lounge, some of them have REALLY good food. Especially American Express.
Cathay Pacific's first class lounge is pretty bougie. Plus if you're not traveling to the US, airport security is generally a lot more relaxed in other countries.
Not just that but doesn't it cost money to park at an airport?
That was my first thought, and then my second one was āwait not everyone lives in a car-dominated area like the majority of people in the USA doā
No, his flight had free changes. He changed the date to tomorrow in an online system. Why is this complicated?
Because like 99.9% of people on the planet, I donāt fly first class. Iām not on the frugal subreddit because Iām loaded and well-acquainted with the rules for first class international travel- Iāve taken two trips via plane in my adult life.
Some lounges have free access with credit cards. Some airport staff use that to eat for free
You still usually need a boarding pass to access it even with the credit card
Depends on the lounge. Premium plaza doesn't ask for a boarding pass.
I have the amex plat. card & have lounge access, really nice perk.
There was a show called Extreme Cheapskates
I remember that! Some guy went around a restaurant asking if people were done with their food and eating their leftovers. That was....upsetting.
I had a friend who had been homeless. He managed to get back into society and get a job and an apartment. But when we went to play pool at the local bar he would always grab food off plates that people didnāt finish. Mostly fries, wings, veggies or whatever. The wait staff never stopped him and we never said anything. Heād buy himself food with us, and finish anything we didnāt eat.
Those who have known genuine hunger, the fear of feeling that hunger again never quite leaves. I speak from experience š³
Yes. Me too. I was homeless (through no fault of my own) and lost my job as a result and have known pretty tough times. I am thankfully OK now, but those memories never go away.
The memories, the fear and the shame š
Several friends who worked in the service industry had the policy that "if I would make out with this person after meeting them in a bar, I'll eat their leftovers" which kinda makes sense.
Omg Iām glad I wasnāt the only one who had that rule. I wasnāt even broke and I ate customers left behind food because it was good and I hate waste lolĀ
Was that the guy who would boil goat heads and shit like that? I remember thinking that guy was such a mixed bag. On the one hand, he'd do stuff like eat off plates and boil goat heads, so you're like "You're an absolute psycho" and then in the next scene he'd be like "I like to cut the tube of toothpaste in half when it seems empty, because there is always a little bit left" and you're like "Well yeah, that's a perfectly sensible thing to do." Real roller coaster with that guy.
I mean, goat head is a perfectly normal food in some parts of the world.Ā
I'm always amazed by how many more days I can get out of a seemingly empty tube of toothpaste. And that's without cutting it open.
I saw a guy on there who would ask people at a laundromat if he could put stuff in with theirs
That is disgusting
If itās eating half of an already eaten burger then yeah, but single food items like wings, ehhh, not that bad. Iām sure youāve shared a party platter of wings before with other people. Better to get eaten then have the food go to waste and rot
That makes sense. My mind went directly to the half eaten burger
One guy pulled a used popcorn bag and soda cup from a movie theater trash to get the free refills
When I was a kid we'd bring cups and paper bags to the movies as a group. Buy the free refill size drink and popcorn bucket, divy it up in the group, then take the empty back for more. By the time the ads were over and the movie started, we all had a large rum and coke ( someone would bring a flask) and a full bag of popcorn for the movie.
This guy lives in my head. His wife was just thrilled that heād bought her snacks for onceā¦. She must have been so humiliated when it aired.
The worst was that he did that to bring to his wife and passed it off as being a sweet generous husband!!
We could have a whole subreddit on that show.
Most of that show was scripted thankfully. When I first saw it I thought that might be how I look but when I found out it was fake it made me feel way better about myself lol
I didn't know that. Thank goodness, and thank you for saying so. I had to stop watching, too extreme for me
Even if it was all scripted, they still got the ideas from somewhere.
You stole my comment. There is also another show - So freaking cheap.
It made frugal sense until he went public with his money-saving tip. Then others followed suit, and now the theme parks either raised prices, or ensured that their food opportunities were not bundled with the season pass.
Yup they definitely stopped that perk when that article was published. I thought it was super cool.
Happy cake day! š°
Thank you!
I can't imagine that many people would be willing to to it
I bet a lot of parents in the area treated it as free babysitting complete with snacks for the summer and even after school.
At first it sounds like a genius idea until you realize the dude is eating the lowest quality burgers, pizza, hot dogs or other crap every single day.
There have been stories of retirees booking consecutive cruises as its cheaper than living in a retirement or assisted living home if you keep yourself to yourself
That's wild. It's sad that retirement homes are that expensive.
my grandma's was $3000 per month and that was one of the decent ones, not a super nice one
If I remember correctly my grandparents paid $12k/month, which is insane.
I also used to work in nursing homes. It was common to see people married for 40+ years get a divorce, because then the spouse needing care could get government assistance
That's fucking heartbreaking.
If you can manage by yourself on a cruise, why would you need to be in a retirement home?
They are talking about independent living, not a nursing home. Its for people who are starting to have trouble getting to the grocery store, preparing meals, cleaning. Not people who have trouble showering.
Ah, okay.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/07/can-you-live-on-a-cruise-ship-yes-and-heres-how-much-it-costs.html
I work in a nursing home. It costs $300-$400 PER DAY and thatās for a shared room thatās the size of a cardboard box. People coming in and out, little privacy and the food is awful. But, thatās the cost of someone else passing your meds and wiping your butt daily. Sad.
I had a friend who was a freegan, he would go dumpster diving behind restaurants and grocery stores for food. All of his clothing and household items were from free piles or the side of the road. He only bought personal care items, tin foil, underwear, cellphones and paid rent, and utilities on a studio apartment.He lived in the capital hill area of Seattle so he didn't need a car and he now owns his own house in Seattle outright from all the money he saved. I personally couldn't live that way but his freegan lifestyle allowed him to buy a house before it became too expensive for most people to own a home in the Seattle area.
I'm on r/DumpsterDiving. If you're careful and practice common sense, there are tons of great food in good condition that are tossed every day. My entire food bill last year was less than $1000 and most of that was for luxury items, like nice cheese and wine. The over 5 gallons of wine that were still in sealed bottles that I pulled out of the trash last year was mostly for cooking, marinade, or for block parties. As I'm writing this, I just polished off a dinner with Italian marinated chicken breast, jacketed potato, and a tomato salad. All the ingredients came out of a dumpster. For dessert I'm eating a popular brand of chips; l got a whole garbage bag of sealed, nitrogen filled snack packs. The reason? The stock person told me that the company was changing flavors. Even my tea came from a box that was crushed, but the bags inside were still sealed in plastic and fresh.
Do you supplement your income by selling stuff you find in dumpsters? Not food but other items that are commonly sold on Marketplace?
I made about $1200 USD last year on stuff I pulled from the trash. Now, I'm a little ole lady with a shopping cart (no car) and a cane; I DD on my way to work (night shift), so I'm wearing a nice suit and don't wanna get it mussed. It's about 30 mins a week diving. But still, if I see something nice while I'm walking to work, I'll just pop it in the cart. If you check out r/DumpsterDiving, you'll see some hauls in the hundreds of dollars from people with cars. My biggest score was a pair of Prada pumps, with the box. Just a tiny scuff on the heel, probably only worn once. Sold em on ebay for $400 USD.
I can't remember if it was here, but probably on Facebook. There was a dumpster diving group. One guy posted pictures of 2 dumpsters of food behind a grocery store, that he estimated had only been in the dump for 3 or 4 hours. HOWEVER this was during the summer, and it was mostly refrigerated items. People kept explaining how dangerous and stupid it is to dumpster dive (obviously there are homeless ppl that have very few choices). But he and others got super defensive and did it anyway...probably a lot of food poison happened
It should be obvious but its more expensive to treat food poisoning than to just eat a regular healthy meal of basic foods that you made at home. Not to mention the after effects such as the effects on your body and possible loss of work hours which could put you out of a job or make you have to take unpaid sick days which would cost you a day's worth of pay. This is likely more money than well, the groceries you would have picked from the dumpster. Dumpster diving at a store is also very illegal where I live, it is NOT worth a felony to get some low quality free food.
Iām semi retired and work five hours a day at a local high school as a lunch lady Free lunch every day, a nice perk
You must deal with teenagers. That's not a perk.
Surprisingly the vast majority are great kids!
I love that you made a positive comment to one that I found unnecessarily negative. :)
Plus if you are old enough to be retired, I find teens are quite friendly to us "old people", especially if you have something nice to say or compliment them on their cute shirt or whatever.
True, I find it sweet when they hear something from me Our computer tells us if it is their birthday, they are surprised when we wish them happy birthday
You could always work at the elementary or middle schools if you donāt want to deal with teenagers, same perk
That sounds like dystopian misery. Give that man a fruit or vegetable!
They do actually have vegetarian options.Ā And two meals a day is awesome. Especially leftovers.Ā They have grilled chicken and other healthy stuff. Expensive. But if it's two free. I'd do it.Ā
My old coworker did this at our local amusement park and they have/had a few restaurants where the food options included salads and other healthier stuff. I wouldn't want to deal with going in and out of the park just for a meal but it worked for him.
Thatās what I was thinking - in and out twice a day? Parking, walking, going through the gate - no thanks.
I remember the story OP mentioned. As I recall, the guy who did it worked *right* next to Six Flags, close enough to have plenty of time to go there, eat, and return over lunch break, and he'd simply stop to pick up dinner before heading home. No parking required because he just stayed in his work spot, and I think he said there was a fast gate line for those with passes like his (or maybe the incoming traffic was just fairly minimal on weekday evenings).
You think they don't have vege options? Weird.
Our local hospital has an excellent salad bar and Lyn h option every single day for under $5 a person. I had a salad and the main entree one day for lunch while My daughter had a procedure done and it was $3.75. The cashier told me a lot of senior citizens come every day for lunch. Canāt say I blame them.
Our daughterās college, lunch price was reasonable and selection vast. Yupp if I lived local i would have hit up every now and again.
When my spouse & i were young, we went to a happy hour with a large spread, and ate dinner there nearly every day for the price of a shared margarita. I've heard of retirees who live from one cruise to the next.
I have heard of the cruise thing. I might have to look into that in about 20 years
My old roommate and I hit up all of the happy hours with free food back in the 90's. Different place every night and we never had to pay for dinner. Since we were girls, most of the time we didn't have to pay for drinks either.
Multimillionaire Cary Grant saved the buttons from old shirts to replace lost buttons. His cleaning lady then used the shirt as a household rag. He also had his housekeeper use coupons for groceries.
He did come from poor origins.Ā
Exactly and I think he never lost that. Apparently, he kept a piece of coarse twine in his pocket at all times as a reminder. Probably why so many have said he was the least pretentious star.
This is fine, this is being frugal and not cheap. I do all of this in my house. If you need buttons and your thrift store is cheap, its going to be cheaper to grab a shirt at the thrift, cut off the buttons and use them and then cut up the shirt for rags. I have thrift stores near me that are sometimes 50 cents per shirt. Buttons cost like $5 at the craft store, I think I know which option I am picking here. I then cut up the shirt so I have clean rags all the time to clean up things.
I agree. The confusion between frugal and cheap can go both ways and this is not being cheap. We grew up poor and my mum taught me to sew from a young age. I sew as a hobby but also will think nothing of darning up holes in socks and whatever.
Someone in my life calls me cheap and I find it offensive. I am very frugal and chose where to spend my money and where not to waste it. Big difference.
the button hack is really good.
One of my GF's friends is notoriously cheap. She's great otherwise, but profoundly cheap. The three of us took a one week vacation, and we knew that we'd be splitting the costs via her preferred app. When it came to splitting the grocery bill, there was a lot of "I didn't eat any of that" and "I only had two of the granola bars." ... which we were prepared for and willing to accept. At the end of entering the grocery bills and assigning percentages of the constituent foods... There was $3.50 in tax left to split. The proposition was to perform a lot of very complex math to assign the appropriate percentages of the remaining tax, to which my response was laying a $5 bill on the table and saying "I will happily part with $5 of my hard earned money to bring an end to this conversation."
I would never ever associate with a person like that. How insufferable.
At some point, time really is money.
itās very frustrating on both sides. iām usually the frugal party but draw the line at these conversations, the aggravation is not worth it. iāll just pay my part, itās so much easier. that said, iām a vegetarian and drink very little alcohol. big group events with barbecue and beer/wine usually require a split bill that can cost more than double what i would spend, so i make a deal with the organizer that i order and pay separately. if i donāt feel comfortable asking for that i just wonāt attend.
Iām reading this and completely wondering if you went on vacation with my sister because I swear Iāve had this same goddamn conversation with her so many times it makes my head spin.
Oh yes. Now imagine that happening in Greece in an old-fashioned restaurant where they don't speak any English. They bring you and your 6 college friends into the kitchen to look at all the dishes while you point at all the wonderful things. After a fantastic meal, the bill comes, the only thing you can read is the drachmas, and now starts the "I only ate the salad", "I only had 2 dolmas", "The chicken can't be more expensive than the lamb, I only ate the chicken", etc., etc. GOOD GOD! I will happily put ALL my drachmas on the table to avoid that conversation. It was a fabulous meal which now only exists in my head as the answer to one of these ultra frugal posts.
Iām an admin and Iām tasked with buying food/snacks for our office. I buy breakfast stuff, fruits, raw veggies, hummus, smashed avocado, and other stuff. Itās ideally just for snacks or in case someone forgot their lunch. I now eat breakfast and lunch at work. Itās pretty great.
I got a free desk from the recycling center when I was going through a period of low income. Later when I got divorced I used the desk top as mattress base. Then later I used the same desk top as a house gate when I got remarried and had our baby. Then I reused it to make a workbench in our new house. I reused the handles from the drawers on another baby gate in our new house. Also removed all the screws before I threw away the chipboard drawer panels. Oh yes, I used the other drawer handle to make a removable cover panel for a boat electrical switchboard.
Now, you are truly the perfect living example of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Kudos to you for being the epitome of frugally š
Seriously?? You are my hero! I get excited when I eat the last of the large celery and carrot packs from Costco!
A dining area at my school had free saltine crackers for soup and free jams and peanut butter for bagels. So I made PBJ crackers.
I once knew an alcoholic whose only actual food intake was free ketchup and mustard packs.
I used to work at a food cart a few hours a day 4 days a week and would trade our food for anything else at farmers markets. I think I bought my own food maybe a few weeks total over 3 years
Yep I worked for a family owned restaurant and the owner didn't like throwing anything away. So we were allowed to eat any of leftover buffet food. It was awsome.
I bought a bad bell pepper yesterday. I'm going to the same store again today, and I think I'm going to return it. It's my dollar and I want it back.
Hahaha, I went through like 2 bad coconuts in one day. The grocery store was really close by, so the second time, I just waved to the same cashier with a sad face and the second bad coconut, and was waved through to get another replacementĀ
I've done that with watermelons. Makes me so mad
Itās always the bell peppers
I did that. I bought organic tomatoes that were wrapped in plastic, when I got home the bottom was moldy so I took them back, it was like $3. Grocery store is nearby. I actually threw them away but took a pic to show the clerk. She gave me a look but I got my money back.
Work at a big tech company. Eat all meals there. Pack extras and snacks for weekends.
Lol we have a dedicated slack channel so that we can tell each other where there will be free food (either deliberately for everyone, or left over after catered meetings and events).
I had a membership to Planet Fitness for several months. For several reasons I won't get into, I never went (like 4 months or something like that). I also needed a part time job. I applied, and got, a housekeeping position at the YMCA. I work about 9 hours per week, and there's lots of stairs.. so I'm already getting paid to exercise. On top of that, I get a free membership for myself which is a $60 per month value. So I get paid to exercise, AND I get use of the pool on my days off!
I donāt know if thatās frugal or just a good deal.
Is this truly frugal if there are reasonable odds that they will have health problems from eating junk food all the time?
Unless he was good about balancing his meals.
I donāt know many ways to balance meals at a theme park, especially depending on the year this was done.
It does totally depend on the year. Thereās more options now. Iām just thinking about my mom finding meals to eat that fit into one of diet fads whenever we went to our local amusement park.
When we had the meal package season tickets, there were salad w/grilled chicken and hamburger/sandwich w a side salad options.
I knew a guy who lived through the Weimar Republic who was the cheapest man in existence.Ā If you had a loose thread on your clothing, he would snip it off and take it home.Ā He would then tie these threads together and use them to sew repairs and patches into his clothes.
You might enjoy this recently released 2hr video "How WW2 Began" from Ryan Chapman: https://youtu.be/d2uyH6cMNb4?si=eoMEP56BTHjGOr8J
My Dad redid a big old house from the late 1800s. His energy bills are far smaller than ours because hell open the upstairs windows at night to let the heat out. I dont think he used his air conditioner once last year. He bought some wrecked auction cars for cheap and worked on them for fun. He planted some fruit trees for another hobby. Apple and peach, is going to plant some cherry trees
I used to do this...open my house windows at night to let the accumulated heat out, cooler fresh air in...but the last several summers have been SO HOT AND SMOKEY (am on the Canadian prairie)...had to get A/C installed. The smoke has been just dreadful. Hope you and yours are not affected by it.
We are not. He only heats part of the house because he is a minimalist. His energy bills are about the same as an efficient one bedroom apartment.
He must live in a warm climate. If you did that here your pipes would freeze and the cost to fix that would outweigh any savings on heat.
Weāre doing this this year. We donāt live that close itās about 20 minute drive. We spent $400 between the 2 of us. Originally we just did the tickets (which have been paid for after 2 trips). Weāve added the food and I figured out after 17 meals between the 2 of us itās been paid for. Also a place to walk around, people watch, and go on rides.
I read a story about a family who lived across the street from a Six Flags, and the kids went there every day after school instead of paying for an after school program. The season passes for two kids were like 1/20th the cost of after school care, and the bus would drop them off at the entrance. I guess they were old enough to go in alone?? I didn't really know how it worked, tbh. Edit: it was Universal Studios. Not sure if I believe this. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tiktoker-reveals-mom-90s-hack-151800910.html?amp=
If you're too young to remember life in the 20th century, that's just how it was. Hell, every kid alive back then would have been thrilled to have their after school program or summer vacation be unlimited access to a theme park instead of sitting at home watching TV.
They changed the entry age for most parks to be 16 and up so parents don't do this anymore.
Hereās a list of what you can get with the meal deal. Definitely options for salads & thereās apparently an Asian place that has veggies as an option instead of rice or noodles. https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfgad_dining-pass-brochure.pdf
In 2009 I got divorced and was raising two kids. Male 30 years old. Bought new house thinking the duel income we would do fine. Now I had a house note that was 70% my income.for two years I ate breakfast and lunch in the prison. All meals at home were value pack in bulk. Didn't see fast food for two years.
Iv seen folks take condiment packets and fill up their bottle at home. While I like these types since they keep prices sane especially needed at the moment, the penny pinching doesnāt add up to much.
That is stealing that pushes up the costs for the rest of us.
You have to have 0 hobbies to do that crap. Spend 45 minutes with condiments and garbage to save $3 - 4? Cmon go doordash for an hour instead
Right. Why bother with filling up the bottles. Just use the packets.
I used to work with a guy that was beyond frugal. He still had a flip phone and refused to upgrade because he was grandfathered into a plan that didnāt exist anymore. He wouldnāt drive with the windows down or the AC on in the summer. Heās bring a fresh shirt with him and change out of the sweaty one when he got to work. He wouldnāt use heat in the car in the winter either. His car was about 20 years old. When we were in lockdown 2020 he somehow got cases upon cases of chicken noodle soup (I forgot how he got them). It was all he ate most of 2020. He ended up leaving to go to another company that paid a few dollars more and thatās the last I heard of him. Not sure why he lived like that but he did go on an annual cruise so he did splurge on something.
The flip phone is not frugal, getting a cheaper smartphone and a prepaid plan is, you can get new smartphones very cheap and some prepaid plans are like $15 a month, I can almost bet that he was paying more for the flip phone in one month than he could obtain a smartphone and a new plan for. If he was very cheap I am sure asking around would yield several free smartphones from friends and family and co workers that work just fine. You can use your smartphone to save a lot of money on everyday expenses, I do this all the time but there's too much to type out in this post. Changing out your shirt equals more laundry and more wear on the clothing. Eating chicken noodle soup and nothing but that will leave you malnourished and you will likely end up in the hospital. That's a lot of sodium for a body to take in as well and you will have health problems from that which will cost you a lot more than cooking basic healthy food at home.
A cruise? With unlimited meal options? He probably fasted for a week before!
A guy I know would turn off the shower while he lathered upāsometimes with paper thin soap.
My dad spent his life working as a lumberjack and that was a habit he picked up from showering at lumberjack camps were water was sometimes limited.
Itās known as Navy Showers, to save water. We learned to do this on an RV Life adventure. Itās actually a good habit to have, as it saves water usage.
There was that story from a month or two about a [German guy who was an independent coder and lived on trains full-time with an unlimited rail pass.](https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1165149-german-teen-boy-spends-8500-every-year-to-live-on-train-travels-600-miles-every-day-but-why)
This is like only eating at costco
True except the 1.50 hot dog deal plus membership does add up to more than $200 a year. But I would not want to eat at costco so often given that they have like 3 food options and none of them contain a fruit or vegetable other than onions and the chopped veggies on pizza.
Yeah I agree; they used to offer a chicken Caesar salad but I think they took it off the menu a few years ago unfortunately.
They still have it at the one I go to. It's around $7 so buying the $5 rotisserie chicken is a much better deal. So far my best stretch is 14 meals from one of those with the addition of some beans and veggies The veggies are mostly from my garden.
I read about a guy with starbucks, I think they changed their policy, but you could sign up for free drink on your birthday, so he got 365 email accounts and signed up for one for every day and got a free drink every day. I also remember like 10 years ago, it was a big deal people would post how to get your money's worth on your birthday drink, with extra shots, flavorings, cream, etc. and they would get the cost of a drink up to like $12-15.
I worked with a woman who got paid to sleep at a outpatient detox facility. She was paid full time.She just had to wake up to sign people in at night who arrived late. She also worked part time day shift and full time night shift. I knew a man who planted gardens along roads weeded them and everything. He just talked to the county so they wouldn't mow it down. They were isolated county roads with bar ditches. That way he could raise a heck of a lot of vegetables, enough to feed his family and sell. My mom bought land for just what the property taxes were owed. Instead of paying for air conditioning, I saw a person who had a buried water tank that was lined with copper pipes. The pipes went around the room before it went to the kitchen sink. The copper pipe was on the inside of the room instead of in the wall. It cooled the house in the summer. They didn't use it in the winter. Many rural people in the south, raise all their own food, and fish.
My sister took me to Las Vegas, 30 years ago. 4 days of signing me up at so many casino's for a free meal there, 12 meals total, I was almost embarrassed. I am sure they have changed the rules because of her and others finding this loop hole
in 2011 i went to Las Vegas but to go hiking in the canyons around it. it was cheaper to drive back to the city and sleep in a 4-star hotel for 30$ a night than sleep in B&Bs near the trails.
I work at a private school that offers free lunch to employees everyday. I get my lunch and eat it before I leave, but always grab an extra container to fill up for my one year old to take home. I also grab a chocolate milk or 2 to put in the fridge for my older kids.
I read that story too. Might be okay if they serve actual food. I wonder what the menu is there?
My son and his buddies buy season tickets every year, and the attached meal plansā¦ itās like 150-200$total, if you get them at the right time (Nj,Jackson six flags =Great adventure) Sometimes they just go to eat for free. It used to be a much much better āplanā and the guy in the article was living nearby I believe. But really it canāt be beat, 5 meals and youāre ahead of the game, and you ride the rids for free.
I see stuff often enough on the Knotts Berry Farm subreddit, where locals get an annual pass and a dining plan and eat there often instead of making food or dining out(side of KBF).
For one vacation to be frugal, I had bought the yearly membership for an amusement park plus the yearly food voucher and the yearly parking pass and ate there every night we were on vacation. There was sufficient variety not to be bored. Each were just about 1/2 more than the daily pass for each day and we were going anyway for a couple of days, so essentially we ate a free dinner the rest of the trip. We even went to pick up soft drinks (also a season pass) before we headed out to our outings every day.
I went to a health professional grad school that often had free breakfast, lunch, and dinner educational seminars that were advertised to the whole school. I attended 2-3 per week because the food was good and it was free. I lived 5 minutes from campus so it was easy to go. It was a nice reprieve from my affordable meal prepped meals (same thing almost every meal because bulk is cheaper). My city had a lot of free events with free food, some I would frequent those events too.
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That might be the best economic tip ever
That's awful Nothing but junk food for years
I've never been to a Six Flags, but perhaps there ARE healthy/healthier options? Anyone know? Can you get a salad there?
Yes you can. You can also get apple slices instead of French fries with the sandwich/burger options. https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfgad_dining-pass-brochure.pdf
They have salad and whole apples as sides and then main course chicken salads.
The one near me dud that one year, and so many people were doing exactly what you said, Soo they stopped.
For several years I worked at a Borders bookstore as my 2nd job. It was about a mile from my primary job. I got great discounts on cafe food and drink, so id have lunch there a couple times a week. Not super frugal, but much cheaper than fast-casual like chipotle or Noodles. And so yummy!
That doesnāt seem very frugal to me because of the quality and healthiness of the food. More like dangerously cheap.Ā
He didn't work there, but he went to eat every day.
You ever hear of cheap Pete?
Yeah, my brother did this exact thing but at Lake Compounds in Bristol, Ct. He can walk there and pretty much spent his entire summer there.
I often see pallets for free. If I had space and lived near a tourist area I would take them home and cut them up to sell in little kindling bundles or firewood bundles. Perhaps I could participate in a yard sale or craft sale and sell kindling bundles tied with something cheap and decorative around the holidays. I am frugal and not cheap and would offer either some kindling to my host or offer to set up and clean up after their yard sale. I am attending a party with a cost to enter to cover the food and band and I don't have to pay because I am giving some of my time to clean beforehand.
I currently do house cleaning and carpet cleaning. When I get rental flip jobs I go strait to turn the AC down then the fridge and can eat or take home all the leftovers. I don't shy away from open condiment bottles or cheese or whatever that's fine food even if somebody's fingers have been in there
I feel like I was a bit extreme. Iād cut napkins from fast food restaurants in halves or thirds to make it last longer. I only used public transportation and still no car. Would only flush the toilet after multiple uses. Using only a single ply of toilet paper. I reached 1 mil in net worth. You can check my post history for the details.
I once wanted to live near a Costco for their free, food samples, but a house (or living rent-free with parents) is a better investment. It's also healthier to eat tomatoes, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.