Life generally needs food and shelter.
Tortillas are cheap carbohydrates – 4 dollars or so for 20 Tortillas which is 2000 calories. Tortillas are easier to carry with than bread and can be eaten without needing to be cooked (are already precooked). They are not as high in salt as chips or gold fish. Being homeless or camping preserved food that you can take with you like beef jerky is nice yet it generally has a pretty high salt content.
I have been eating the Torillas with Frank’s Hot Sauce. Good flavor though I think it raises the salt content substantially. I don’t eat 20 Tortillas a day though still putting a salty hot sauce on every one might getting to daily intake of salt much faster.
The combination Tortillas + Frank’s Hot Sauce tastes good, it is cheap, easy to transport comparable to a big loaf of bread – though if the hot sauce spills in the bag it is more annoying with all the pepper capasin that wouldn’t be a problem with non-spices, though spices help improve my hunger which makes the Tortillas more palatable. The hot sauce is also a bit of risk mitigation due to dryness of Tortillas on choking – always having water bottle filled and with you not always easy being homeless.
Each Tortillas have some protein which is nice. Potassium seems to be something that is a bit harder to get nutrition wise being homeless. A feel bottle of orange juice (one you keep in the fridge and pour over days) gives 60% of daily value of potassium. Potassium supplements are limited to 1 a day and are limited to 2%. Further gummy vitamins (easier on stomach) don’t seem to have calcium or potassium which means you need to get them from other sources.
A $3 big yogurt (Lucerne) that can be bought from the supermarket has 30% daily potassium a good amount of protein and calcium. There are cheap packets of tuna that are easy to take in your bag with you around $1 yet too much tuna can be a problem due to mercury – there are also salmon packets though they are not always as cheap. Roman Noodles and Instant Rice are nice and pretty cheap for carbohydrates if you have somewhere to cook and access to water. Dried milk is nice – potassium and protein.
I got some Nescafe Taster’s Choice instant coffee which makes 105 cups for around $11 – two cups of Starbucks which I like vs 105 cups (that I also like, though less human interaction).
How much things cost and what people have access to likely varies dependent upon what city you are in. Probably doesn’t sound like much but a few dollars could mean the difference between a bus pass or no bus pass stuck or not stuck in a dangerous area – the savings can be helpful. Having some ideas and creative problem solving data so if you get stuck in a similar situation might help.
Question – homelessness looks bad from an image level, PR Public Relations level – I could choose not to share this data, many likely choose not to share. Will the investment be appreciated? Might factor into others sharing or not sharing life saving data in the future. What is humor – Golden Rule equates to takes one for the team?
Being homeless looks bad in an untrustworthy world – sure you want to share that data with a world not entirely invested in seeing you have a better future? Counter argument people are generally good maximize profit at the expense of others isn’t a real thing? I share despite the cost – though people that might have my best interest at heart might suggest I not share for good reason.
Worthy of note a $20 usb air pump and a $20 Intex Twin Inflatable mattress in combination could give homeless a bed for over a month – doesn’t fix easy access to bathrooms or drinking fountains, or blankets for when it is cold. That said $40 for a month+ of good sleep could help significantly. I say a month because not sure how long the wear and tear is out in the open – I have gotten some significant use in a month though I broke the usb-c port on the pump because I wrapped the cord around the pump and store quite a bit of weight (clothes+blanket+food) in my bag. A can of Off Spray is nice too though not sure of liability considering less access to easy showers – that said less attacks by mosquitoes helps improve sleep. All that said might have to move under a bridge when it rains if you don’t have a tent.
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