Living on £1 a day

Roxy07

Is it possible and still eat healthy? any tips?

geordie_joe

It depends on what you mean by £1 per day. Do you mean actually only having £1 per day for all your needs, or just £1 per day for food?


Some woman did it a few years ago, there was a tv programme about it.

elsien

I'd guess it was possible if you started off with a well stocked store cupboard and did it for a limited period of time. In the long tem I'm sceptical, unless you're round at friends and family scrounging off them every other day.

geordie_joe

Thisis the woman I was talking about

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1641364/How-I-lived-on-1-a-day-for-a-year.html

But if you google "living off a pound a day" or something similar you will find many people have tried it.

Own_My_Own

elsien wrote: »

I'd guess it was possible if you started off with a well stocked store cupboard and did it for a limited period of time. In the long tem I'm sceptical, unless you're round at friends and family scrounging off them every other day.

That's not really living for £1 a day :rotfl:

I could spend £100 on food this week and £7 next week, technically
living on a £1 a day for limited period of time.

Roxy07

I suppose if you live on cheese/beans on toast everyday it's possible.. but I doubt you would survive for very long.

geordie_joe

Roxy07 wrote: »

I suppose if you live on cheese/beans on toast everyday it's possible.. but I doubt you would survive for very long.

Many people have, or claim to have lived for a year, but it's only spending £1 per day on food.

The woman in the link did it by going to events that had free food and also picking food from the countryside.

SailorSam

I think you could do it if you ate the same type of things over and over again. Rice and pasta, then buy bags of assorted frozen veg and make your curry; chili: and sweet & sour sauces. Lots of dried lentils and pulses. Cereal for breakfast. Then lots of HM soups.

Sharon87

You could do it buy basics and value pasta/rice, basics chopped tomatoes, bascis beans, kidney beans, packet noodles, basic herbs, basic cheese (luxury item!)

You can also grow veg yourself or buy it reduced from supermarket. I think supermarket reductions will be a big help. I also suggest cooking big batches of various meals and freeze them (and label them). So make cheap soup with lots of veg, or veggie chilli (kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, dried herbs/chilli powder/other veg like mushrooms, peppers)

It will be a vegetarian menu mostly! Except maybe value ham...

HappyMJ

You also need an amount of calories each day for energy. A man reasonably active needs about 2,500 calories per day. The cheapest item in the supermarket per calorie is vegetable oil and plain/self raising flour. Vegetable oil has 828kcal per 100ml and currently costs 10p/100ml. To get 2,500 calories you'd need 300ml costing 30p. Of course that's not a very balanced diet so you need to create a balanced diet and cost it all out. The maximum you say you want to spend is £1 per day and it's mostly flour based products such as bread and pasta...again that isn't very balanced either as it's mostly carbs so you need to add at least 5 small portions of fruit and veg each day, a small portion of meat each day or a protein such as beans or nuts, you need a small serving of milk, cheese and yoghurt or something similar each day and if vegan a substitute...a serving or two each week of an oily fish, a few eggs...etc.... It can be done for £1 but you find it very difficult to get a balanced diet....and of course you'd want to spice things up with the very minimum of salt and pepper, butter and some spices. My aim is for every meal to not cost more than £1 each. Breakfast can be a fortified cereal such as Ready Brek with fruit...the minimum cost of that would be 10p using Asda Ready Oats and 9p for 200ml of semi skimmed milk and 6p for half a banana. That's already 25p....and it's only 250 calories. Try getting 10 times that and not too much fat or simple carbs for under £1....very hard...good luck.

[Deleted User]

'A Girl called Jack' manages on a tenner a week in her blog and she feeds herself and her small son.

I can be pretty frugal when I have to be but I do like fresh fruit and veg.My monthly budget is around £60.00 and I (as my DDs have said, can stretch a pound until it almost snaps:):))
This is just for food alone and nothing else.I think I'm fairly healthy on it.I have found that often shopping became almost automatic at times and

I'd go to the supermarket every couple of days and chuck things into the trolley without thinking .

Then I had a light bulb moment when I did a stocktake of my cupboards and freezer and found I just couldn't get any more food in ther.so I now go to the shops only when I have at least 10 things on my shopping list that I NEED not want, but Need.
Stuff I have run out of for example.I cook from scratch virtually everything I forage berries,especially at this time of the year.Nothing edible gets binned anymore Veg gets turned into soup which in turn extends my evening meal.I have cut back on portion sizes of meat and bulk out mince etc with lentils or oats.If I have run out of something I try to adapt what I have in the cupboard instead of nipping to the shops.menu planning is essential and my freezer still seems to be full :)