I'm rather new to Consumerist, but in my short time here I've discovered that the people who run this site really like cats.

Lentils and Chickpeas are good, too.

Don't know about the eggs, though. I pay a little extra for my eggs, since I get them locally at the Farmer's Market on the weekends. At least then I know they came from happy chickens. :)

Wow, apart from the kale those items are always on my shopping list. We have also been buying whole wheat spagetti with a simple tomato sauce, pretty good for you and very cheap per serving.

Cats. You can usually find them for free on Craigslist.com and they're high in protein.

My only beef with this is that nuts are actually pretty expensive, at least in these parts - even in bulk, and even if you buy the broken-pieces ones.

Dried fruits like apricots are often pretty cheap, and keep longer than fresh fruit (any food's not really cheap if it spoils before you eat it). Fresh spinach is usually pretty cheap, too, if you buy the unwrapped bunch, not the stuff in the plastic bag which is a rip-off. Really, you're gonna wash it anyway (right? right?) so how much effort do you save by paying the extra two bucks to have someone put it in a bag and tear the stems off for you?

9 grams of fiber in a banana?! According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, a medium banana has 3.1 grams.

This is a nice list, but the "under a $1" is ultimately misleading.

Most of these cannot / are not really eaten alone, like the linked article states with it's serving suggestions.

What's really the point of oats for under $1, if you "Sprinkle with nuts and fruit" worth $4 or such?

@purplesun: Me, too. I pay just $2.00 a dozen for eggs from truly pastured chickens at our farmer's market, though. It's less than the organic "cage free" eggs at the supermarket.

My favorite low-cost healthy summer food is zucchini. If you can't get armloads for free from a neighbor with a bumper crop, zucchini is just $2.00 for a big basket from my farmer's market.

Nutrition info:
Zucchinis contain useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (384 IU [115 mcg]/100 g). Zucchinis are also an excellent source of vitamin C. Dark green zucchini also have some beta carotene and all types provide small quantities of minerals. Skin colours range from almost black, dark green, pale green, pale green with grey, and yellow. The darker the squash, the more the nutrients.

With their high water content (more than 95 percent), zucchini squashes are very low in calories. There are only 13 calories in a half-cup of raw zucchini, with a slight increase to 18 calories in the same quantity cooked.

Definitely wash your zucchini but don't peel because most of the nutrients are in the skin.

Source: [health.learninginfo.org]

10. Watermelon
You can't buy a whole watermelon for a buck, but a serving is only 20 cents or so and it has good amounts of Vitamin C, potassium and lycopene.

And if you get an erection for more then 4 hours, contact your Dr.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

What about rhubarb? I don't know if they're healthy or not, but most people find it growing in their back yard.

I'm eating #3 and #4 together tonight!

Chop the kale into little pieces, steam it, and mash it in with the potatoes (which you are separately boiling and preparing to mash). Add a little skim milk into the mashing for smoothness. You can either eat it that way (as a side), or you can boil a summer sausage in with the potato, then take it out, cut it up into pieces, and add those to the mash to make it a full meal.

It's a modified version of a Dutch dish called stamppot. I'm not the biggest fan of the cabbage family (kale is in it), but this tastes really nice. I always mash skins on, but it's up to you.

You technically want an equal weight of kale and potatoes, which looks like way too much kale but it shrinks like crazy when you steam it. I usually just go with whatever proportions I feel like.

Also, #8 -- "garbanzo" is fun to say! :D

@temporaryscars: I just about spit out my coffee when I read that.

I love craigslist!

@Skiffer: I agree about it feeling a little misleading. I spend a lot more at the grocery store when I'm looking to be healthy. My in-laws get around it by growing a lot of vegitables on their own.

@MeredithK02: I suppose if you ate the banana peel, that might boost the fiber content a bit?

@MeredithK02: Caroline eats her bananas wrapped in twine. Thanks, I'll make the change.

Regardless of the actual prices of these items, it's a great reference to have if you're poor and on your own (like me). It's good to know which foods will actually help me stretch the dollar and still, um, not get scurvy.

@purplesun: Chick Peas and Garbonzo Beans (#8 onthe list) are the same thing.

Dinner Ketteh sez: DO NOT WANT!

Well, maybe the eggs. kthnxbai

@purplesun: Does a pissed off chicken produce an unsavory egg? Just wondering. What if said chicken is usually happy and just having a bad day?

kale + garbanzo beans = crazy delicious

@Walrii: Mmm, banana peel. I usually deep-fry my bananas with a Fiber One batter to boost the fiber.

My favorites,
1. mushrooms, low in cal and fairly cheap
2. sauerkraut, great staple.
3. polk sallet, leafy green found in Southern USA
4. Stew-adding various healthy greens with minmum drip flavorings can bring you meat flavored meal with minimum protein but good healthy veggies.
5. Fish, Fish is the protein approved by God, so It must be good for us since he designed both.

@Front_Towards_Enemy: Ah, you're right! See, I need my coffee. ;p I stand by the lentils, though.

@blue_duck: I've never done such an experiment. However, I know for my own mental health, happy chickens produce eggs that make *me* happier to consume them. When I used to eat eggs from sad chickens, I always had a twinge of guilt attacking my insides. Not cool.

I wish I could stand the smell or taste of bananas. *sigh* Revolting things, those.

I would like to know where eggs -- even a half-dozen -- are still under $1, though. Not in New York City and so far not anywhere I've found in Northern Virginia. That said, even at their current high prices they're still great filler protein for the money.

For a dessert on the cheap, bake peeled, cored apples. I usually mix oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar together, stuff it into the cored center of the apple, and top with a little pat of butter. Put it in the oven at 375*F and bake until apples are soft. You can also roll the outside of the apples in cinnamon sugar before baking- it sticks pretty well on its own.

@EtoilePB: They're talking about the ordinary white supermarket eggs, not the brown organic eggs you probably buy.

/snark

Macaroni is healthy and inexpensive as well as being tasty.

Actually, I got a 10 lb sweet watermelon for 2 bucks at my farmers market, so it's damn close to a dollar if you want to count it

Nuts are not that cheap. I love nuts and used to eat lots of almonds as snacks, but almond prices have gone through the roof in the last year or so and I cut back.

@temporaryscars: And there is more than one way to skin/prepare them.

The moral of this list is you can say any food costs under $1.

I say that fesh salmon is a healthy food buy for $1. you just get a really small portion.

nuts are CRAzy expensive--except for peanuts, which are gross, and mixed nuts, which are mostly peanuts. cashews and almonds (my faves) are pretty pricey. maybe i should plant some nut trees...

and "under $1" is kind of useless--under $1 for how much of the food?

This is exactly the conversation we had over at Digg about this.

It's nice to know these are relatively inexpensive items to add to your meal to make you healthier, but in reality, these are only cheap in specialty supermarkets, where the majority of low income people do not shop at.

If you go to a regular shopping center for any of these items, you'll end up seeing markups of 100%-200%.

@MeredithK02:

7. Bananas
They are high in potassium and contain about 3 grams of fiber in a single banana.

Um where do you see 9?

We have a lot of farms around here, and a dozen healthy, free-range eggs will easily cost right around $2.

We do a lot of fresh green beans in my house. My kids actually really like them, and they're cheap as all get-out.

I interpreted the egg price as meaning ONE SERVING is under a dollar, not a dozen eggs.

Eggs are great for quick, cheap suppers. My teens love omelets or scrambled eggs with diced tomato, herbs, and a sprinkling of shredded cheese in them.

The incredible edible egg! (Thank you, Madison Avenue.)

Kohlrabi is cheaper than broccoli and the taste is rather similar.

"10. Watermelon You can't buy a whole watermelon for a buck, but a serving is only 20 cents or so..."

WTF are you guys buying your watermelons? The small round ones (basketball sized) are like 3.99$ each.

Quinoa. Cheap and a complete protein.

I would be thrilled to find a cache of nuts for under $1 in Los Angeles.

I mean, I guess if I buy them by the pound and calculate it as such to less than $1, I'm good to go, but I'm certain doing so will equate to about six nuts (of any kind)--hardly significant.

Facetiousness aside, the point is that nuts are way too expensive.

Qiunoa rocks. I cook it in water and a little orange juice and some dried cranberries, and it is crazy good and so much protein.

@guymandude: Doesn't the sentence just prior to the quote you cite specifically state you cannot buy a whole watermelon for one dollar?

I guess hoping to find "two-pack of Hostess Cupcakes" on the list was a bit unrealistic...

Black beans. Versatile enough to fill out burritos / tacos where you don't have much money for meat and tasty enough to stand on their own when all you have is rice.

@FrugalFreak: Poke sallet (properly spelled) is the absolute last thing I would eat before I starved to death, as they say.

My favorite trick is to save the water from cooking beans and vegetables (in the freezer) then combine it with vegetables from my CSA share that need to get used up, plus a can of tomato sauce if there are not enough tomatoes and a couple cloves of garlic, some spices, and the end of a bag of pasta. This makes a good hearty minestrone. There's always much more then we can eat, and the leftovers (practically free) are welcomed by our friends and family who come nosing around on Friday asking if we "have any of that soup."

@TWinter:

True, nuts are NOT cheap. You're lucky at the market to find any below $6.00/lb, and some packages run upwards of $12.00/lb for walnuts (what I buy most of, and know prices pretty well).

You can do better at the bulk bin, but they're still spendy.

@speedwell:

Thanks for the proper spelling of Poke Sallet. I've been wondering for years about "Polk Salad Annie", the 1969 song written and performed by Tony Joe White.

I can hear the song in my head to this day:

"Poke....
Poke salad annie "(I think the song has salad, not sallet)

And it makes total sense that it would be, basically, a weed you could eat if you were really broke and destitute, fits with the rest of the lyrics.

I understand it causes severe gastrointestinal distress if not cooked properly, too.

@alumicor: It was originally 9...Jay edited it, but the original article that's linked to still says 9.

I love me some bannanners, but they sure got a lot of cob to 'em.

All dried beans - they are so inexpensive and full of protein. There are a million ways to eat them. Many do not need to be soaked overnight, including black beans. And if you cook them yourself as opposed to canned, they are less mushy and have no BPA from the can lining. Black beans take 1-2 hours to cook, but if you're home anyway there's no work involved. You can literally pay $1 or less for a pound of beans, and that makes the equivalent of 4 or more cans.

Black or kidney beans, some cooked rice, bell peppers and vinaigrette make a great summer cold salad. Same with white navy beans, cut tomatoes and basil with vinaigrette (I like to add mozzarella, but that would be a luxury item and not necessary).