Not starving to death in the DR ...

sunshine_79

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Jun 1, 2005
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Hola todos!

Hope all is well. Yep, still planning the trip in about 3 weeks. I think I've got most of my questions for now answered except:

What would you recommend for eating on a small budget? I don't need to go out for any fancy dinners until I'm working and on my feet but of course I have to eat something. And I've heard the horror stories about high prices on things like PB & J so I know to stay away from things like that. But in the meantime, while I'm finding work and getting used to everything, where/what do you think is the most economical way to eat? I don't have a problem with local food, either. I'm definitely not picky! I actually ate shavings from a camel hoof mixed with some kind of meat that had been festering in the desert sun all day in Balad ... and the sad thing is, it wasn't all that bad! Kinda like Spam mixed with those annoying little popcorn kernels that get caught in your teeth and gums.

And for the record, I'm going to be in the North.

Thanks!

Sunnie
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Dominican Food (rice, beans and a smattering of chicken or beef or some kind of meat) is very economical. All kinds of fruit is now in season and is cheap, especially from vendors trucks. Lots of vegetables, cheap. If you really want to economise, make some local Dominican working class friends fast. I have no idea how they survive and eat on their earnings.. But they do, and I'm sure one can learn a thing or two.
 

paddy

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Oct 4, 2003
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is it true that human waste is used as fertilizer in the dr? i've heard this and was wondering if it's true.
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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If you will live in Puerto Plata there are many small vendors on the streets selling local food, to descent prices.
Empanadas, fried Yucca balls, hot dogs, burgers. They cost 10-25 pesos each.

Plate of the day, usually rice, beans, chicken or any other meat, salad is about 70 pesos. If I buy that it is enough for 2 meals for me. But my son eats a whole plate.

If you cook yourself you will find all kinds of veggies, fruit very cheap.
Bread is about 2 pesos each, and a libra of Gouda cheese is about 150 pesos.
Milk 35 pesos, juice (natural ) 20 pesos, a 2 gallon at supermarket non-natural about 60 pesos, a package to stir with water 8 pesos.
Eggs about 2-3 pesos each, a bag of oranges 60 pesos, a pinapple 40 pesos.
Mangos in the city 3 for 5 pesos, and bananas 2 for 5 pesos...

You wouldn?t drink the water here, you buy a 5 gallon bottle at any corner store ( colmado ), supermarket or pharmacy.
The first time you pay around 200 pesos ( as you buy the bottle too ), then you just bring the empty bottle and buy a new. Cost 30 pesos.

If you eat out at restaurants there are many different, and not all expensive.
At Eskina in Puerto Plata ( in the very heart ) you get a super Faijitas de pollo with 4 tortillas for 150 pesos.
You get a medium pizza ( 8 pieces ) at Panaderia San Jorge by Texaco in the city for 120-150 pesos, depending on topping.

Then, of course there are more expensive places, the above just a few examples.
 

paddy

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Oct 4, 2003
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thanks..i've heard my question asked numerous times over the years..when people talk about eating vegatables and drinking water in third world countries.
 

carl ericson70

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Nov 15, 2003
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paddy said:
thanks..i've heard my question asked numerous times over the years..when people talk about eating vegatables and drinking water in third world countries.

Is this your first trip to the DR?
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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Simon & Nicky said:
3 for 5 pesos? - Can't buy three limes for 5 pesos - where do I go for my mangos?

All over POP honey.. that?s the price now..
From trucks, at the stands in the city, on the market..Even Leo, my old neigbour sits on his patio selling mangos for 3 por 5..

Ps. Escott is abroad, you can "borrow" some of his! ;)
 
Nov 5, 2004
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Mirador said:

Don't know if it's just me. But none of those links worked.

There are many differnet types of food, you will not find in the USA..and many you will find down here in the DR.

Be CAREFUL from which ppl on the street you buy from. The cute little Hatian boys...or the women who are there everyday...untill you know them...and how "new" their food is...if you buy it and eat it...you MAY get sick from it,

May not...but just a warning....
 

duhtree

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Jun 2, 2003
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It seems to be the same everywhere. To eat inexpensively just buy the local food stuffs. A sack of rice; a sack of beans; carrots, onions, root plants, a chicken once in a while, some beef bones for soup and a stove. With or without refrigeration these things have staying power. Soup is the glue that holds it all together. And I am not sure that the natives eat more than one major meal per day. Everything else is a luxury food if you are truly on a tight budget.
We are talking about a carribbean country not some colony on mars. The same simple culinary rules apply here as well as in your home town. Relax and when in rome.....

John
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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PeachezNcream84 said:
Don't know if it's just me. But none of those links worked.

There are many differnet types of food, you will not find in the USA..and many you will find down here in the DR.

Be CAREFUL from which ppl on the street you buy from. The cute little Hatian boys...or the women who are there everyday...untill you know them...and how "new" their food is...if you buy it and eat it...you MAY get sick from it,

May not...but just a warning....
Read the names of the links. They were a joke! I never have been sick from any purchase of street food btw. I use to buy pork sandwiches from the guy up from Rockys real late at night until he made me wait after letting a Dominican take my sandwich. Now I boycott the doper.

Rice and beans is a staple of Dominicans and I am sure now since the costs of everything went sky high expats also. I figure if the Dominicans can stay skinny on it so can I! LOL

Escott
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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Most street vendors of local snackfood have their corners in the city, they sell quite alot, and I wouldn?t worry too much about getting sicker of that than from what you buy in the supermercados. Same as there, you check the meat etc so that it is fresh ( especially frozen, that is not frozen.. ).

El man, for instance in POP, at the second corner of Beller seen from Central Park... I got some burgers there the other evening for my son and his friends..
He is open 24 h, and do you know how much he sells?
Over 1300 hot dogs and 400 burgers a day! Add to that natural juices, sodas, sandwiches...

Heck - I am in the wrong business!! ;)
 

rellosk

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Mar 18, 2002
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Escott said:
Rice and beans is a staple of Dominicans and I am sure now since the costs of everything went sky high expats also. I figure if the Dominicans can stay skinny on it so can I! LOL
And don't forget about Yucca!
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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LOL... Yucca is absolutely a hit... in every way, shape or form!!!
Apart from my own Bolas de Yucca, they sell them for 10 pesos at Punto Frio in POP, hot and quite big!!!

And over the years I have learned that there is so much you can do with Yucca!!! We eat that very, very often, in meals, as meals, sidings...
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Escott is right, street food will not make you sick in DR. I used to eat street sandwiches late at night too, but I am on a diet now. I have never gotten sick.
Now here is a trick: make friends with escott and help him out in his finca (farm). I have eaten veggies from his finca and believe me, it doesn't get any better than that. He will be generous enough to fill you a giant bag of veggies that would last you 2 weeks. I think he grows, yuca, tomatos, pumkins, papayas and I am sure he has mango trees. If things would get seriously bad for you, give me a visit in santiago and I will cook you a big meal. Food is never a probolem in this island.
now do yourself a favor and buy or bring a nice sized pressure cooker. This will help you cook meat in less that 1/4 of the time, save gas and time. You can cook up beans, veggies and many other things in a pressure cooker. Great for making soups.
Eat lots of veggies and fruits and live a long healthy life.
AZB
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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I heard there's a couple of books on the subject:


1) "HOWTO - HISPANIOLA - live on less than US$1 dollar per day"

2) "100 ways to get a free lunch in the DR"


sorry, but I didn't catch the authors' names :bandit:
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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AZB said:
Escott is right, street food will not make you sick in DR. I used to eat street sandwiches late at night too, but I am on a diet now. I have never gotten sick.
Now here is a trick: make friends with escott and help him out in his finca (farm). I have eaten veggies from his finca and believe me, it doesn't get any better than that. He will be generous enough to fill you a giant bag of veggies that would last you 2 weeks. I think he grows, yuca, tomatos, pumkins, papayas and I am sure he has mango trees. If things would get seriously bad for you, give me a visit in santiago and I will cook you a big meal. Food is never a probolem in this island.
now do yourself a favor and buy or bring a nice sized pressure cooker. This will help you cook meat in less that 1/4 of the time, save gas and time. You can cook up beans, veggies and many other things in a pressure cooker. Great for making soups.
Eat lots of veggies and fruits and live a long healthy life.
AZB
Glad to see you are back on your meds.
 
Nov 5, 2004
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Escott said:
Read the names of the links. They were a joke! I never have been sick from any purchase of street food btw. I use to buy pork sandwiches from the guy up from Rockys real late at night until he made me wait after letting a Dominican take my sandwich. Now I boycott the doper.

Rice and beans is a staple of Dominicans and I am sure now since the costs of everything went sky high expats also. I figure if the Dominicans can stay skinny on it so can I! LOL

Escott

Well you never know what type of ppl ahve time to make a website!! :D:D:D

I try all kinds of things when i drink :D

I have gotten sinck from the late night Pizza at eh Esso in POP..I have been fine from all the empanada street vendors in POP and Luperon...and gotten EXTREMELY ill form the empanada street vendor ( at the CARIBE bus station) In Santo Domingo......

Guess it all depends on the time of day and how many ppl have bought b4 you...(i.e. if they leave the empanadas out overnight..or sell them the same afternoon)

Have had some GREAT food at outside vendors in SD....late at night..like 3am on the way home (to my brother in laws house) and have also gotten (very)sick from the late night SD "chienese food" resturant on the way home...

Then again I have a very sensitive stomach...and I have a parasite from Dominican water where i get sick quite frequently (even here in Canada) which they cannont find though Candian testing...and everytime I return to Luperon and explain to the doctors my symptoms...they give me pillls which make me better within the week. It's just i get sick everytime I return to Canada..

I have wondered since we get these parasites from the DR...will Dominicans get other paraistes in the water/food in other countries? A girl form Holland who lives there in the DR for many years has told me, that only young Dominican kids get this parasite, then their bodies get used to it. She htinks Dominicans will get a parasite their bodies are not used to when they leave their country...has anyone heard of this?