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I'm a college student (so dumpster diving wasn't on my mind lol), but I'm mainly asking this question out of hypothetical curiosity. I did wonder if there was a way to try to make it work through purchasing in volume - I bought a few cases of MRE's last month for under $5 a pouch overall, and that felt cheap (but I was worried about the high sodium and lack of fiber).
The main goal for MREs isn't to be cheap, it's to be nutritious, shelf stable, and easy to prepare. There are certainly cheaper ways if your only goal is to be nutritious.
I made some burritos a couple weeks ago. Mainly rice and beans, with some beef, cheese, and salsa for flavor, seasoned to my liking in a flour wrap. The intent was to freeze them for quick meals, so no fresh veggies. One or two of those paired with a salad would be quite nutritious, and probably cost less than $1 each. If I skipped the beef and cheese, it would certainly cost less than $1 each.
The bulk of those meals would be rice and beans, and you can buy them in bulk, but they're still cheap even if you don't.
You should get a pressure cooker. It lets you cook dry beans in 45 minutes or so, instead of soaking overnight then cooking for hours. They have lots of fiber.
There's someone on ebay selling MRE's for way less than $5 a pouch. I can try to find the link if you want. But it's not that great a plan imho.
There's a youtube video of a prepper who survived on stuff like MRE's for a month at home, just to see what it would be like. It was miserable.
See if chefstore.com has an outlet near you. It's a good place to get bulk ingredients.
I think we're thinking of the same seller - mine was 24 pack for ~$70. I do have a high tolerance for mundane foods and food preparation (was taught to not be picky and just make sure to eat balanced meals), so I wasn't too glum when eating the MREs. It actually was nice to break them down and throw them into my lunchbox to eat between classes.
No luck with Chef Store unfortunately.
Look also for Grocery Outlet, Costco, and places like that. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=canned+foods+surplus looks interesting. There was once an actual store chain called "canned foods surplus" (there was one near my school) but I guess it's gone now. The other hits from that search look promising.
I think as screwed up as the US currently is, there aren't actual food shortages in most places, so you can get by one way or another.
The US is capable of self-sustaining food production, and I live in a state that produces a large portion of the overall nation's food. I don't think we're in any danger of shortages in that regard at all.
Remember, I'm fine. I made this thread for curiosity, not necessity. I figured it'd be a good idea to try to think of ways to eat healthy on a budget to save money, but if I have to buy more than the minimum I can (and likely will).
I did find a Costco nearby to the campus, but I don't have a membership card. There is a local grocery store though, and my roommates and I buy stuff as needed.
If you believe me, I bought the MREs as a reserve for the apartment (inspection dates were good and they were cheap enough to justify the purchase over alternatives), and I do enjoy them from time to time.
I've found Costco membership to be worth it, ymmv. If you have family at the same address (or maybe your non-campus address) you can put two people on single membership. That helps too.
When I was in college I managed to get by for 3 months on just egg fried rice and it cost me about £2-£3 a week (about $3-$4). I was only getting 1000 calories a day but I was getting the rest of the nutrients I needed from the eggs and a bag of frozen mixed veg.