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Comment by MichaelBurge | Hacker News Reader

I spend something like $6/day on food. No need for 'hacking' or subsisting on nutrient paste - just buy groceries like rice, beans, meat, eggs, corn, potatoes, etc. and cook them. I recommend a pressure-cooker as a great way to cook things without you having to stand in front of an oven.

Buy a ham for $20 and it'll last you a week. At least the ones I buy, you turn on the heat, stick the ham in the oven, and come back in 4 hours.

If you're like the old me and are constantly eating out, I recommend saving yourself a couple tens of thousands of dollars and cooking something.

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> cook them

But how much time and effort does it cost you?

I am like old you, constantly eating out. I'm also constantly tired of work (yes, it's usual developer crunchtime story, and no, I'm not being taken advantage of, I'm doing it out of my free will for certain reasons), and use the remaining energy to either work on my hobby project, write music, take piano lessons or just spend time with my wife — often, eating out. And while my salary allows me to, I'd rather save time and energy on cooking and spend it on things I'm really passionate about.

I use an electric cooker (got it used for like 60 bucks), ingredients go in, food comes out, takes ten minutes to chop stuff and program it, it will tell you when it's done and will keep stuff warm until you want to eat.

Oh, this sounds so enjoyable compared to multicultural restoraunt scene or actually putting an effort to cook something interesting.

You may have a mental image of a mother or grandmother standing in front of an oven for 2 hours tending to some cooking pies or cutting up potatoes; and maybe there are a dozen messy ingredients scattered about the countertops.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I throw some calories into a container, hit a button to apply heat, and come back in N minutes when it's done. I also use paper plates, napkins, and plastic forks to avoid having to do dishes(however, do wipe the container you use to cook).

I appreciate your feedback, but I am honestly challenging you to show me a $2.15 meal that is 800 calories, no sugar, 50g protein, 33g healthy fat, 12g fiber + the recommended amount of micronutrients (calcium, magnesium, etc). And it can be prepared from scratch in under 5mins. This is what DIY soylent gets me.

As far as I have researched, it can't be beat with "normal" food.

Overnight Oats is a great recipe for breakfast and is prepared in 5 minutes. It won't hit the $2.15 mark and it's roughly ~400 calories, ~40g healthy carb, ~40g protein, and ~10g fats, ~10g fiber, but its easy to make. (All depends on the brands you use to make it).

Toss 2 scoops protein powder, 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1/4 cup steel cut oats in a jar and shake, refrigerate. Add fruit if you like.

Cook with your wife. Make it a date night and stay in, cooking together, or with family too. I did this with my gf last week and we had a blast while we made pasta from scratch.

But I will say this can't be done often. We try to cook together at least once a week, but more often than not we eat out cause its fast and we both work long hours + long commutes.

Pop some fruit and fresh green veg in there and you have a winner. Stir fry cuts the time down as well. Mushrooms and cabbage cut small, 3 or 4 mins, served with a dash of soy sauce with rice done in a rice cooker.

Porridge for breakfast. Fruit/cheese for lunch.

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