live out of. Lead a lifestyle characterized by a particular item. This phrase appears in such idioms as
live out of a suitcase, meaning “to travel so much that one has no time to unpack one's belongings,” or
live out of cans, meaning “to eat only canned food for lack of other foods or time to prepare them.” For example, Traveling for months on end, he got very tired of living out of a suitcase, or We had neither gas nor electricity for a week and had to live out of cans.