Posted on by rinaz

Is it possible to eat for 10 euro a day?

I feel like such an auntie! So, fair warning that this post could be a little boring! 

Being a housewife with Cart as the sole breadwinner, lately I’ve been thinking of ways of trying to save money. Of course, the best way though is to get a regular job and contribute to the household expenditures. But, till then, probably one of the easiest way is to check on what we consume on a weekly basis.

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Frozen Sushi? This is so wrong

While Italy is known to have a high cost of living, if we knew how to manage our budget, it would still possible to have a good meal for half the price compared to heading to restaurants. Moreover, I actually like going to the supermarkets and look for a good promotion, and that’s when I thought to myself. Is it possible for two people to survive on 10 euro a day for meals?

Lets find out!

Breakfast :

Normally breakfasts are a simple affair for Italians, basically it consists of cereal, toast or pastry, juice and a cup of coffee. Not a lot of food, but just enough to tide over till the next meal.

Cereal costs about 3 euro and juice costs about 2 euro each and can last two people about 5 days. While coffee costs about 2 euro a pack and that can last about a 2 weeks. And milk costs 1.30 and its enough for 3 days. While I drink rice milk as I’m a bit lactose intolerant. That costs 2 euro and it lasts for about 4 days.

All in all, that costs about 2 euro a day.

Lunch :

Normally lunch for Italians are the biggest part of their daily meals.

It’s a little bit hard to calculate for this because depending on what the menu would be like, usually it would be a different food a day as it could be  pasta or lasagna or risotto depending on what the person feels like eating.

Moreover, I’ve already prepped and frozen some food, like this pack of chopped carrot, celery and onion which is the base of many Italian cooking. Its quite handy and time saving to have them prepared in advance.

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Also, I normally eat alone (so sad!) since Cart would be at work . But since he’s also vegetarian, many times I’d be cooking a bit of meat like Pollo alla cacciatora or Polpette for myself because I feel more comfortable that way, since he’s not around :p

All in all, a pack of 500g dry pasta would cost about 1 euro, that’s enough for 5 portions, a bottle of tomato sauce costs about 1 euro, good for about 3 portions. And with 5 euro worth of carrot and celery and onion at the wet market chopped and frozen, you could have like 3 (most times even more) months of ready to use soffrito!

Whereas chicken costs about 4 euro each and meat costs about 4 euro-ish per half a kilo. And that’s enough meat to last me for about a month since I dont eat meat everyday.

Lets see, when divided, that’s about 5 euro for two people (I eat lunch alone though!)

Dinner :

For dinner we’d usually have something less filling than lunch and we’d usually have food like mashed potatoes with seitan,  fritata with mushroom, baked potato with rosemary, bean salad, piadina … stuff like that …  usually accompanied with sliced bread (which by the way, when freshly made is one of the most delicious thing to eat) *drools like Homer*

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A pack of mashed potatoes costs 2 euro and a pack is enough for 6 portions, seitan costs about 3 euro which is enough for 4 portions, eggs costs 1.50 euro for 6, potatoes cost about 3 euro for half a kilo, beans cost about 1 euro a bottle, piadina about 2 euro for 5 pieces. And whole bread as seen in the top shelf in the picture, is about 3 – 4 euro which will be enough to last for about a week. Maybe less if you’re a toast monster like me :p

And that costs about 3 euro for two people.

Verdict :

So, can two people actually survive on 10 euro per day?

Hypothetically, yes. But probably in real life situation, its not realistic because there are some things that you have to take into consideration like buying whole, packaged foodstuff, and stuff like that would usually take you over your budget. But if you combine your budget and do your marketing to once a week for about 50 euro, I think its totally doable to have good meals for two people.

Nevertheless, this is a lot more affordable compared to eating out most of the time!

And now, I’m totally auntified because this is the type of conversations that mothers and grandmother’s usually talk about  -_-“

15 Replies to “Is it possible to eat for 10 euro a day?”

  1. I think if i know how to cook I’ll most probably count the amt of money I spent on the ingredients I buy diligently, cause quite frankly I enjoy these kinda things (going to the supermarket, comparing items and prices etc.) lol.

    Btw if Cart’s a vegetarian, do you use separate utensils when cooking meat? Just kinda curious. 😀

    1. But I feel cooking isn’t difficult, its more a matter of experimentation and trying out if you like certain food, and if you like it, you do it again and if you dont like, just dont do it again lor :p

      Its impressive how marketing is actually quite fun yeah, looking at the interesting things to be found 🙂

      If I’m cooking meat, I take care not to mix the utensils together when cooking vegetarian food at the same time, and also when I’m serving them. But once these utensils are washed, Cart is fine with eating from them.

  2. You… are… good!!

    🙂 It’s important to do the dollars and cents… you’re not *aunty* at all.. just very practical. Now I wish I could be more thrifty by cooking and packing like you too!

  3. Pingback: Tweets that mention Is it possible to eat for 10 euro a day? | Marina's Bloggariffic -- Topsy.com

  5. wow that is quite a big breakfast actually, toast, coffee, juice milk and cereal all at once, over here, the typical breakfast is actually just a croissant and a coffee at the bar or some milk with cereal or biscuits at home but not altogether.

    1. My diet now that I’ve lived in Italy is now turned upside down I think. Breakfast used to be the biggest meal of the day when I was in Singapore and I used to eat Nasi Lemak, or Fried Noodles. Now its the smallest. Usually I’d just have a bowl of cereal or a ciambella and juice. That’s it. I’m amazed at how little food that is

  6. well, back whn i was not working, very broke as a student, etc. i would spend a certain amt on groceries and make sandwiches for every meal! haha. economical or not? it’s healthy and it’s yummy. just that i have to wake up earlier to prepare it every day. if one is careful with what they buy, they definitely can achieve this kinda budget for home-prepared meals, as u have shown. 🙂 i like this post! thumbs up!

    1. Sammiches! What kind of sammiches did you make? Back in Singapore, we’d usually just make sardines ones or egg sammiches or chicken sammiches … or tuna ones … I didnt know of so much varieties.

      But speaking of sammiches, the type of sandwich bread here from what I see in the supermarkets are all treated with alcohol, so we just eat the types like shown in the picture above. I dont miss sandwich breads though, cos Italian bread is SoooOOoo goooddddddd

      But it makes me wonder, how those sandwich breads are made in Singapore.

      1. it’s usually just gardenia / bonjour white bread or wholemeal bread. 🙂 then it’s usually lettuce, tomatoes, ham/chicken, cheese. or if i’m very hardworking, it’s ham/chicken, with a fried egg and lettuce, tomatoes. haha… very balanced. i have all the food groups in my sandwiches. lol

        1. Huh?? Bread treated with alcohol?? :S:S Really?? I’ve never heard about it..

          Oh and speaking of bread, try to bake some yourself. It’s damn esay, and you can do tones of experiments with it..

          But yea, cooking by yourself is not even an consideration in Sweden. You HAVE TO do it.. Eating out way more expensive because of the high labour costs.. But that’s great cos you really get to know what you eat. Somehow that’s really satisfying.. 🙂

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