What is the absolute minimum you need to survive on?

greensalad

andyfromotley wrote: »

Oh thats where i am, another refugee from the south. You won't believe what you can rent for that price up here!!

We currently live in a fairly nice 2-bed flat in a not so nice part of town/Surrey. Perfectly OK but by no means fancy. £1250.

I found a premium, "luxury" new build flat in the centre of Leeds, garden, gym, allotment patch etc £725 pm! I mean we wouldn't even need that, but if we can find something similar to our current flat, we can save a house deposit in about 18 months.

StumpyPumpy

faithcecilia wrote: »

Yes, it doesnt make for a very exciting diet, and thankfully I don't have to cut to that level just now, but I did about 10yrs ago when clawing my way out of debt. Watering down milk, buying whatever fruit/veg/bread etc was reduced to 10p at the end of the day, lots of economy pasta based meals, that sort of thing.

Very quick sample list based on Tesco

8 pints milk £2
1kg oats 75p
500g cornflakes 31p
500g spagetti 20p
Pasta sauce 45p
4 tins carrots 76p
4 tin potatoes 80p
2 tins spagetti hoops 40p
4 tin peas 84p
2 tin baked beans 48p
4 tins soup £1
2 tins sweetcorn 70p
3 tins fruit £1.40
500g dried split peas 53p
500g dried green lentils £1
4 loaves bread £1.60
Butter 85p
2 x 4 pack yogurts 66p
Cream cheese 49p
Hard cheese 75p
Toilet roll £1

Total £16.77 leaving just over £1 for YS bargains

Its not a perfect diet and thankfully I dont currently need to stick to such a tight budget, but it is possible.

It is less than not perfect, it will kill you. I've just crunched the numbers using the nutritional info on the Tesco website and where there is any doubt over exactly what you have suggested, I have taken the most calorific option. I am ignoring the insufficient amounts of certain essential nutrients as the calorie count is enough. The above shopping list comes out thus:

cal per 100ml/g     Total Cal
8 pints milk £2                        64         2,909
1kg oats 75p                          376         3,760
500g cornflakes 31p                   373         1,865
500g spagetti 20p                     351         1,755
440g Pasta sauce 45p                   33           145
4 tins carrots 76p                     31           198
4 tin potat£s 80p                      69           952
2 tins spagetti hoops 40p              50           410
4 tin peas 84p                         63           466
2 tin baked beans 48p                  87           731
4 tins soup £1                         48           768
2 tins sweetcorn 70p                  110           572
3 tins fruit £1.40                     48           394
500g dried split peas 53p             333         1,665
500g dried green lentils £1           342         1,710
4 loaves bread £1.60                  237         7,584
Butter 85p                            745         1,863
2 x 4 pack yogurts 66p                 80           160
Cream cheese 49p                      215           430
Hard cheese 75p                       266           532 

                                         TOTAL   28,869 

Which, over the course of a year equals 950 kcal per day.
Using the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate BMR and thereby minimum calorific intake, to maintain weight at that level you would need to be a sedentary dwarf of 2'2" weighing 30lb. Any more active, taller or heavier and you will be losing weight quite dramatically.

Or to put it another way if you are a sedentary female of average height (5'6") and with a BMI of 25 your maintaining calorie intake is 1821 so you would be in deficit by 871 kcal, which in turn would lead to a BMI considered to be indicative of anorexia in less than 7 months.

Of course, the calculations around BMI and BMR are open to debate, though they are indicative approximations of the average person. And things might look different if you were a 5'3" woman of 21st - though you'd still manage to lose nearly 2/3 of your body weight in a year on this, and would still kill you in the long run (plus malnutrition would get you quite quickly too).

Even on a lose weight thread, the above diet would be considered dangerously unhealthy for more than just a couple of days, it certainly isn't sustainable as a "save money" measure.

SP

HappyMJ

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

It is less than not perfect, it will kill you. I've just crunched the numbers using the nutritional info on the Tesco website and where there is any doubt over exactly what you have suggested, I have taken the most calorific option. I am ignoring the insufficient amounts of certain essential nutrients as the calorie count is enough. The above shopping list comes out thus:

cal per 100ml/g     Total Cal
8 pints milk £2                        64         2,909
1kg oats 75p                          376         3,760
500g cornflakes 31p                   373         1,865
500g spagetti 20p                     351         1,755
440g Pasta sauce 45p                   33           145
4 tins carrots 76p                     31           198
4 tin potat£s 80p                      69           952
2 tins spagetti hoops 40p              50           410
4 tin peas 84p                         63           466
2 tin baked beans 48p                  87           731
4 tins soup £1                         48           768
2 tins sweetcorn 70p                  110           572
3 tins fruit £1.40                     48           394
500g dried split peas 53p             333         1,665
500g dried green lentils £1           342         1,710
4 loaves bread £1.60                  237         7,584
Butter 85p                            745         1,863
2 x 4 pack yogurts 66p                 80           160
Cream cheese 49p                      215           430
Hard cheese 75p                       266           532 

                                         TOTAL   28,869 

Which, over the course of a year equals 950 kcal per day.
Using the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate BMR and thereby minimum calorific intake, to maintain weight at that level you would need to be a sedentary dwarf of 2'2" weighing 30lb. Any more active, taller or heavier and you will be losing weight quite dramatically.

Or to put it another way if you are a sedentary female of average height (5'6") and with a BMI of 25 your maintaining calorie intake is 1821 so you would be in deficit by 872 kcal, which in turn would lead to a BMI considered to be indicative of anorexia in less than 7 months.

Of course, the calculations around BMI and BMR are open to debate, though they are indicative approximations of the average person. And things might look different if you were a 5'3" woman of 21st - though you'd still manage to lose nearly 2/3 of your body weight in a year on this, and would still kill you in the long run (plus malnutrition would get you quite quickly too).

Even on a lose weight thread, the above diet would be considered dangerously unhealthy for more than just a couple of days, it certainly isn't sustainable as a "save money" measure.

SP

Thank you....I can never work out how anyone can survive on such low grocery budgets that's why I jump straight on to these posts and argue my point. It's not healthy it is impossible...even with a range of YS you still need quite a bit more cash to get by. If I as a 6 foot tall man weighing 13 stone with a moderately active lifestyle ate that over a month I'd be tired constantly and have zero energy to want to actually do anything to improve my situation. I need to spend at least £210 per month between 2 adults on groceries to get a balanced diet and have all the necessary items to keep myself clean and healthy and my house clean....and even I think that's very low. The last 2 months I actually spent £560 (£280 per month). £18 a month for everything...no chance. It makes me ill just reading that people would be willing to do that to themselves for a month just to save some pennies to pay the rent. Life is more important than paying the rent.

determined_new_ms

I've just lost my job so have been doing this very exercise. It's a good job I've developed a lot of MSE skills over the last 8 years so holting spending & cutting back doesn't feel too hard...

My oh & I have separate finances but joint account for household/joint expenses. At the moment we are keeping our child minder on as we both get/got childcare vouchers so childcare is paid up to the end of August. If I haven't found a job by then we will have to give notice. Our situation is a little complicated as we have custody of my grandchild (mother has MH problems and so she came to us a year ago, she turns 2 on Saturday. Because of the difficulties she has faced - and still does by not living with her parents - we want to keep on the CM for as long as possible because it's my intention I'll get another job so don't want to unsettle her)

Mortgage £529
council tax £136 (over 10 months)
home phone & BB £17
mobile phone bills £22
gas & electricity £65
TV licence £12.12
water £37
cc payment £26 (we have been stoozing this cc balance for about a year. Have the funds in an account that is accruing interest and we pay the min payment each month)

Total £910

Food is around £250 but am looking to cut back here.

Childcare is roughly is between £805 - £700 pm depending on how man days are in the month. Usually (for this and next month) we have to top it up by about £280-170 after childcare vouchers. Sept if I haven't found a job will be £580 so will be a big chunk from our savings.

engineer_amy

Very interesting thought!


It would depend on whether I had lost my job or not




For general cutting down
Mortgage 513.16
Insurances 29.22
Rates 70.91
TV licence 12.12
Electric 12
Groceries 100
CC min payments 50 approx.
Car tax & Insurance 33.75
Diesel 40
Car loan 350


Total 1211.16


There is no cost in there for a mobile as it is paid through work, however if I lost my current job, I would get rid of the car as there is a decent transport network near me, pay of the loan with it (worth sufficiently more than the outstanding loan) and get a sim only deal on a cheap handset approx. £10, so my monthly essentials would come down to £797.41

HappyMJ

engineer_amy wrote: »

Very interesting thought!


It would depend on whether I had lost my job or not




For general cutting down
Mortgage 513.16
Insurances 29.22
Rates 70.91
TV licence 12.12
Electric 12
Groceries 100
CC min payments 50 approx.
Car tax & Insurance 33.75
Diesel 40
Car loan 350


Total 1211.16


There is no cost in there for a mobile as it is paid through work, however if I lost my current job, I would get rid of the car as there is a decent transport network near me, pay of the loan with it (worth sufficiently more than the outstanding loan) and get a sim only deal on a cheap handset approx. £10, so my monthly essentials would come down to £797.41

How employable are you? I would reconsider getting rid of the car if you were to lose your job. A car is very useful for earning money or even by saving money. As has been said you can get to the supermarket quickly if you spot a great deal online or even just go for YS shopping. If I were to go to the supermarket I'd have to walk there and as buses don't run late around here it would mean a taxi back home defeating the point of YS shopping. If you are worried about not making the payments then get insurance to cover those payments. A job description might come up and say "own transport required". If you said you had none you might find yourself not able to apply for the job. If you said you can arrange your own transport you'd have to go the effort of finding another car and getting insurance again all in a very short space of time. The standing cost of the car is just the insurance, road tax and a bit of depreciation. You only need to use it a few times a week to keep it's condition good and you can wash it yourself for not very much outlay. You could even SORN it keeping it off road and it's MOT up to date (you need to get the garage to drive it to the garage for you-they have insurance for that) and be ready to re-insure and re-tax it when you get a job offer.

And...electricity £12 a month ...well done...no gas/wood/oil?

tizerbelle

Here's mine - single person, 1 dog, 2 cats

£130 Food/Groceries
£70 Pets - food/insurance
£335 Mortgage
£64 Council Tax
£39 BB/TV/Phone
£25 Water
£82 Gas & Electric
£12 TV Licence
£11 Mobile
£10 Home Insurance

£778 total

Aphidgirl

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

It is less than not perfect, it will kill you. I've just crunched the numbers using the nutritional info on the Tesco website and where there is any doubt over exactly what you have suggested, I have taken the most calorific option. I am ignoring the insufficient amounts of certain essential nutrients as the calorie count is enough. The above shopping list comes out thus:

cal per 100ml/g     Total Cal
8 pints milk £2                        64         2,909
1kg oats 75p                          376         3,760
500g cornflakes 31p                   373         1,865
500g spagetti 20p                     351         1,755
440g Pasta sauce 45p                   33           145
4 tins carrots 76p                     31           198
4 tin potat£s 80p                      69           952
2 tins spagetti hoops 40p              50           410
4 tin peas 84p                         63           466
2 tin baked beans 48p                  87           731
4 tins soup £1                         48           768
2 tins sweetcorn 70p                  110           572
3 tins fruit £1.40                     48           394
500g dried split peas 53p             333         1,665
500g dried green lentils £1           342         1,710
4 loaves bread £1.60                  237         7,584
Butter 85p                            745         1,863
2 x 4 pack yogurts 66p                 80           160
Cream cheese 49p                      215           430
Hard cheese 75p                       266           532 

                                         TOTAL   28,869 

Which, over the course of a year equals 950 kcal per day.
Using the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate BMR and thereby minimum calorific intake, to maintain weight at that level you would need to be a sedentary dwarf of 2'2" weighing 30lb. Any more active, taller or heavier and you will be losing weight quite dramatically.

Or to put it another way if you are a sedentary female of average height (5'6") and with a BMI of 25 your maintaining calorie intake is 1821 so you would be in deficit by 871 kcal, which in turn would lead to a BMI considered to be indicative of anorexia in less than 7 months.

Of course, the calculations around BMI and BMR are open to debate, though they are indicative approximations of the average person. And things might look different if you were a 5'3" woman of 21st - though you'd still manage to lose nearly 2/3 of your body weight in a year on this, and would still kill you in the long run (plus malnutrition would get you quite quickly too).

Even on a lose weight thread, the above diet would be considered dangerously unhealthy for more than just a couple of days, it certainly isn't sustainable as a "save money" measure.

SP

I think the point being made was that you can survive for a month on this kind of food if you have to. If you've only got £20 to spend on groceries then you can do it, your not gonna starve, but it's a short-term solution if your skint one month, not a diet you'd keep up for a whole year!

Although, alot of my diet is based on vegetables, fruit, lentils, cornflakes, pasta, beans on toast etc. so if this is 'dangerously unhealthy' then it's a miracle I'm still alive! I think you're being a bit dramatic there.

CKgeordieinlondon

faithcecilia wrote: »

This is all fair enough - I could go into the fact Im veggie, I freeze milk, etc etc but theres no need. The question was how much could we each manage on as an absolute minimum; I stated what I could, you what you could.

Funny enough I was just talking about this the other day.

I'm not a vegetarian, far from it. However whenever I've been short of money the first thing to go off the shopping list is meat.

Someone also suggested that your list was short of essential nutrients, it looks quite the opposite to me.

andyfromotley

engineer_amy wrote: »

Very interesting thought!

Electric 12

If this is correct i am in awe!!:money: