What is the absolute minimum you need to survive on?

HappyMJ

Aphidgirl wrote: »

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.

A lot of my diet is also fresh fruit and vegetables. Hardly any of it is actual meat. It's recommended to have 7 portions of fruit and vegetables per day and I aim to eat that..so today I'll be having a handful of grapes for brekkie along with cereal, a crumpet and glass of apple juice, a satsuma (mid morning) with a 25g pack of Walkers crisps, a banana (lunch) along with a vegemite and cheese (yum) sandwich, a half a sweetcorn cob (with my tea) with a side salad consisting of a handful of baby plum tomatoes and a bit of cucumber tossed in some olive oil with some mixed herbs. I've got frozen mixed berries which I'll have for dessert later in the evening. I've also got in the fridge or cupboard celery, spinach, frozen sweetcorn, frozen peas, carrots, peaches, pears, prunes in juice, sultanas, tinned tomatoes and onions. I've just recently finished off the broccoli, spring greens, spring onions, salad leaves (they don't last long), peppers and the pre-sliced stir fry veg (they also don't last long). Meat is usually just a small portion of chicken or pork which is quite cheap. Last night we shared 8 Richmond sausages £2.89 in Morrisons (108cal per sausage) between us with rice, sweetcorn, peas and carrots. I had 4 and a half and OH had 3 and a half. I might have rice, potato or pasta with my dinner. That's my idea of a balanced diet. I'll also have plenty of tea/coffee/squash/fruit juice during the day. Cereal for breakfast and usually previous night left overs for lunch or sandwich or I'll make a pasta or rice salad. Can you do that for £20 a month including all of my toiletries and household cleaning supplies?

StumpyPumpy

Aphidgirl wrote: »

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.

The OP didn't say surviving for a month. The question was about the minimum to live - this is well below the general minimum. I could survive for a month on much less than this, but then I am overweight so could afford to lose a few pounds, but I wouldn't post it as an example of general living.

And it is interesting that you think I am being "dramatic" when all I am doing is stating the numbers (with references and working) I said that it wasn't nutritionally balanced because just because you eat vegetables etc. does not automatically make your diet balanced. This diet is a prime example of that.

I'm not going to do a nutritional analysis because as I said, the lack of calories in this diet alone will kill you but a glance will show a large proportion of the minimal calories it does provide come from added sugar (eg cornflakes, baked beans - and did you know that over half the calories of a tin of "healthy" carrots comes from sugar?"), there is a general lack of fresh vegetables and leaf crops and an over reliance on dairy products (milk, butter, cheeses and yoghurts) It doesn't take a genius to spot that.

The statement "a lot of my diet..." doen't infer anything comparable with this diet. This diet isn't "A lot of" it is "All of". A lot of my diet is vegetarian as my OH is a vegetarian but that doesn't make me one. Therefore I do not need to take special care of my iron levels in the same way my OH does because the "not a lot of "bit of my diet tends to be red meat.

SP

p.s. the "dangerously unhealthy" phrase in my original comment was in reference to the low level of calories not the over all nutritional content.

engineer_amy

HappyMJ wrote: »

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

Yep electric currently £12 per month. I live on my own, don't have a lot of electrical/entertainment equipment, don't put things on standby etc, plus I don't spend massive amounts of time in my house. I had been paying 26 per month and ended up about £100 in credit, they dropped it to £9 per month until I was back at a zero balance and for the last 6 months Ive been paying £12 pm which roughly covers each quarterly bill.


I have oil heating. Last order was about 10 months ago for £350 and I still have over a quarter of a tank left. I suppose I should pro rate that cost over the year. But I generally don't feel the cold, my internal thermostat must be quite high as im always warm. Even in the winter the heating would only be on for about an hour a day in the evening so im not going to sleep in a cold bedroom. The only exception is if it is particularly cold and I have visitors around.


My household costs are generally quite low, but the only thing I actively try to reduce each year is my insurances (car and home)

engineer_amy

HappyMJ wrote: »

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. ?

I was possibly a bit too hasty in saying that, I meant if it turned out that I was unemployed for longer than about 3 months with no sign of offers on the horizon, I would more than likely consider selling it.
Id say I was pretty employable, I have a first class degree in accountancy, 11 years experience in recruitment and accountancy, last 5 years being in management with a lot of different skills, being involved in all areas of the business. Realistically, if I had to, I would take a job with a significant drop in salary as long as my mortgage was paid each month

bexster1975

Engineer Amy

I think your last statement is key. Too many people are unwilling to do " whatever it takes" to pay the bills. Sometimes needs must. I agree based on your experience it's unlikely you would be unemployed for long, and very likely you could become self employed if you desired. I think with your general attitude to rolling up your sleeves you are unlikely to have long term problems with earning.

Bexster

andyfromotley

engineer_amy wrote: »

Id say I was pretty employable, I have a first class degree in accountancy, 11 years experience in recruitment and accountancy, last 5 years being in management with a lot of different skills, being involved in all areas of the business. Realistically, if I had to, I would take a job with a significant drop in salary as long as my mortgage was paid each month

Of course you are, that was obvious, why else would you have that user name.................???!!!!:rotfl:

engineer_amy

andyfromotley wrote: »

Of course you are, that was obvious, why else would you have that user name.................???!!!!:rotfl:

The username stems from the time I went to uni the first time round, and was studying engineering. Just wasn't imaginative enough to think up a new username when signing up here

andyfromotley

Oh...... i was hoping that it was done with irony!

Aphidgirl

HappyMJ wrote: »

A lot of my diet is also fresh fruit and vegetables. Hardly any of it is actual meat. It's recommended to have 7 portions of fruit and vegetables per day and I aim to eat that..so today I'll be having a handful of grapes for brekkie along with cereal, a crumpet and glass of apple juice, a satsuma (mid morning) with a 25g pack of Walkers crisps, a banana (lunch) along with a vegemite and cheese (yum) sandwich, a half a sweetcorn cob (with my tea) with a side salad consisting of a handful of baby plum tomatoes and a bit of cucumber tossed in some olive oil with some mixed herbs. I've got frozen mixed berries which I'll have for dessert later in the evening. I've also got in the fridge or cupboard celery, spinach, frozen sweetcorn, frozen peas, carrots, peaches, pears, prunes in juice, sultanas, tinned tomatoes and onions. I've just recently finished off the broccoli, spring greens, spring onions, salad leaves (they don't last long), peppers and the pre-sliced stir fry veg (they also don't last long). Meat is usually just a small portion of chicken or pork which is quite cheap. Last night we shared 8 Richmond sausages £2.89 in Morrisons (108cal per sausage) between us with rice, sweetcorn, peas and carrots. I had 4 and a half and OH had 3 and a half. I might have rice, potato or pasta with my dinner. That's my idea of a balanced diet. I'll also have plenty of tea/coffee/squash/fruit juice during the day. Cereal for breakfast and usually previous night left overs for lunch or sandwich or I'll make a pasta or rice salad. Can you do that for £20 a month including all of my toiletries and household cleaning supplies?

Fair play HappyMJ, thats alot of fruit n veg! I definately don't eat even 5 portions a day, maybe 2-3.

I definately couldn't buy all that for £20 a month. I accept that larger-bodied people need to eat more than me. I guess I'm lucky in a way that I am very petite and don't have a big appetite, so it's easier for me to spend less on food.

I recommend going into M&S about an hour before closing. You can pick up bags of fresh vegetables and delicious healthy salads for about 30-50p each. They usually last for a few days after the use-by date so could be a great way to shave a few quid off the food bill if you eat alot of veggies

Angry_Bear

HappyMJ wrote: »

... Can you do that for £20 a month including all of my toiletries and household cleaning supplies?

Well no, but you can do a balanced diet for a lot less than the diet you've quoted (and we are talking minimum to live on in this thread). For example, if you switched a lot of the fruit and veg out for seasonal equivalents. Dropped the brand names (Walkers and Richmond). Make other nutritionally-equivalent switches such as "baby plum tomatoes" for "tomatoes". And those are just a couple of examples.

I'm curious to know what you think you could cut your groceries down to if you absolutely had to, and still get a balanced diet. Just as a thought-exercise?

That being said, I don't think you can get enough to eat - here I mean enough nutritionally, flavour optional - for £20 a month. And I don't think you could live on the previously suggested £18 diet, even for a month, without suffering some damage to your health.