15-Bucks a Week

Written by Victoria
Tuesday, 29 July 2008


Life is expensive these days for a working-class girl. Gas prices, rent, even RICE is way up! What's a girl (heck, even a guy) to do when the clock strikes LUNCH each day?

Gone are the days of $40 a day, or even $50 a week. Do you really want to blow $200 a month on eating out? I can think of much better uses for that money.

So is $15 a week for lunch REALLY possible? Yes, it just involves some MINOR sacrifices. I'll share with you the best spots to find a variety of foods for $3. Some, though not all, include a beverage. I've even taken eating healthy into consideration and it is for this reason I won't mention McDonalds or any other fast food establishment.

Has anybody seen the new calorie-count menus? 1300-calories for the Angus Burger? Hilarious!

Middle Eastern

My pick for this week is the "middle eastern hamburger"- the Falafel. This yummy food is deep fried chick-peas in a pita with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and peppers with that white gyro-like cream sauce. The falafel balls alone are only 180 calories, add the pita, the lettuce and the sauce and you have about a 350-400 calorie max lunch. It's a good source of fiber so it's filling.

Most falafel places charge between $2 andfalafel.jpg $3.50 for a regular falafel but there are two places in particular where you can get them on the lowest end of the spectrum and they taste EXCELLENT.

Ali Baba located at 126 MacDougal between West 3rd and Bleecker offers the best tasting falafel in town, by far. At $2.50 for a regular falafel it's still sub-$3.00 but doesn't leave any room for a beverage. A short walk down MacDougal closer to the corner of Bleecker Street is Yatagan (104 MacDougal St.). Just as yummy as Ali Baba but only $2.00 for a falafel and $2.50 for one with a dalup of babaganuj, makes it the cheaper of the two and if on a tight budget, the preferred. Another thing I really dig about Yatagan is that they have the hot chili sauce available for you to apply yourself. I LOVE pepper so I am more than happy to apply a handsome amount on myself without the frustration of asking for some more and getting the half a teaspoon.

Grab a bottle of water for a $1.00 or buy Vitamin Water at Walmart for $1.00 and you have lunch for $3.00!

Supplement Suggestion

So for $2.00 you can have a falafel. Great. It's pretty healthy, filling and tasty. But some people may need a little something extra. My suggestion, keeping with a healthy trend would be to bring along either a yogurt or cereal/snack bar from home. DO NOT BUY THEM INDIVIDUALLY FROM THE SUPERMARKET, what they charge you for one, you can almost have a box full.

For yogurt, I suggest either Fiber One, Light & Fit by Dannon or Axelrod- all offer under 90 calorie per serving options with no fat. Cereal bars are a good option as well. Special K has the new 90-calorie bars in a variety of yummy flavors including Chocolate Raspberry. Also Fiber One has a good option for a snack bar with about 140 calories in each bar but with a mega 9g of fiber and even 2g of protein.


Check back next week for another set of cheap eat picks. And if you too have your own suggestions for lunch-time cheap and healthy eats, please feel free to share with the community!

Article Source: 15-Bucks a Week

Published on www.ArticleMark.org