How To Retire 6 Months Every Year
(Page 12 of 22)
May/June 1970
By Irv Thomas
1. Keep home foods down to the simplest of preparations, mostly those that can be mixed with milk or water.
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2. Breakfast should always be a home meal because it requires the least of all utensils and condiments. A non-fried breakfast is best for digestion early in the day.
3. Avoid processed store foods like TV dinners or any completely pre-prepared foods. You pay a tremendous percentage for the convenience, and if some seem cheap it's because the quality is poor.
4. Find the best of the neighborhood restaurants (they may be the moderately expensive) and stick to their cheapest foods. There are such things as 22 cent burgers, and I suppose there are people who can stomach them, but I have never been one of those people.
5. The most reasonable meals, and the ones you can usually depend on for quality are eggs, fish and liver. Don't overlook salads; $1.50 might seem expensive for 'rabbit food' but it can be an entire meal in itself, and very healthy.
6. Eat at the counter so you don't feel obligated to tip. I have found, to my happy surprise, that I get every bit as pleasant service from waitresses I consistently never tip. Another myth busted.
7. If you pay more than $2.50 for any meal, you are paying for atmosphere, not food. If you are irresistably drawn to dinner dating, try Saturday afternoon lunch. It's easily as rewarding socially, and far more economical.
8. Try to find a good Chinese restaurant. They have a huge variety of very healthy and inexpensive dishes - especially for group dining - and it can really take the edge off a monotonous economy diet. Chinese and Filipino cooks, incidentally, are among the best you'll find anywhere.
9. If the place you work does not have an inexpensive cafeteria n ose around some nearby large companies. They are frequently open to the public but, even if not, it isn't at all difficult to move right in as though you belong. These should be 20-30% cheaper than commercial eateries.
10. Many people do quite well on two meals a day, a late breakfast and an early dinner. Excellent if you have that kind of flexibility in your day. A bowl of soup is an effective and cheap in-between dinner-postponer. So is toast and coffee.
11. Try to stop thinking of food as an experience or a reward, and see it simply as fuel. Tasty fuel, to be sure, but that's all.
EATING IN
I have lived variations of my own "work six months - retire six months" plan for 12 years and I agree with almost everything Irv says in this excellent article.
It has been my experience, however, that one person definitely CAN enjoy a more varied, more filling, infinitely more satisfying and less expensive diet by eating IN.
As a matter of fact - although a refrigerator is indispensable - a stove isn't even necessary. A simple little one-burner hot plate will do the trick and a two burner unit can really set you up in grand style.
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