Partially because I’m trying to save as much money as possible for my move to New Zealand in July and partially because I think it will be an interesting and worthwhile project in its own right, I’ve challenged myself to eat only meals which cost less than $5 to make or buy this month. Over-5 temptations abound in New York City, but I am going to forgo them all in favor of inexpensive fare. This month will consist of exercising my cooking skills like they’ve never been exercised before, and of exploring for the best cheap eats in town.
I’ve set a few rules for myself, and they will be described further along the way. The biggest one is that, in addition to not eating any meal costing over $5, I can’t have more than one meal that costs over $3 each day. I’ve also devised a scoring system to gauge my success in eating cheaply this month. I’ll ascribe five points to every meal costing under $1.50, three for every meal costing under $3, and one point for every meal costing under $5. Another important rule is that I still have to strive to eat as ethically as possible. This means keeping in line with my usual habits of avoiding big box stores and factory farmed foods and the like.
Here it goes.
