Daily Mail Live Below the Line Article

[Deleted User]

Easily done if you want to eat cornflakes and beans on toast. Me and the kids could quite happily do it but I might get resistance from the wife...

VfM4meplse

My big problem with this is also the egg factor.

She is 4 months pregnant yet eating undercooked eggs, against advice. Salmonella, anyone?

PasturesNew

I've kept and added to a spreadsheet every receipt from every shopping trip since the start of the year, to see how much I DO spend on food etc. It's easy to fool yourself you're not spending much, only to realise you're spending more than you thought. So I've been checking.

I have spent under £1/day on food alone this year to date.. The Challenge includes the cost of drinks and to do the Challenge I'd have to stop my drinks (instant coffee and fizzy pop in the main). My coffee costs £2 and lasts a month - but for the Challenge you've only got £5 in total, so the coffee'd have to go.

When people "do it for the papers" we've no idea if they actually just cooked that stuff and binned it, before having their usual food/drink etc as there's nobody in their house checking.

It's easier to live on £30/month than £5 for 5 days as you get the benefit of 'bulkier buying' though. While £30/month is quite achievable, £5 for 5 days is harder.

For these 5-day things you really need to "eat what you fancy/can afford" as there's no joy in the food. I'm sure 5 days and being pregnant won't hurt her - she's probably still drinking booze on a night out too.

GreyQueen

I've kept my numbers for all categories of expenditures since the late nineties. At the end of the year I total them up on a spreadsheet.

In 2015, I was spending £8.78 a week on 'housekeeping' which equates to £1.25 a day. And since my 'housekeeping' category includes non-food consumables like loo roll, cleaning materials and laundry powder, I think it's reasonable to conclude I am living on £1 a day for food. I do grow some of my own veggies and fruits on an allotment, too, and choose to buy some wonky bargains from an independant greengrocer at £1 a huge carrierbagful (or sometimes two bagfuls for £1).

Hell, I bought an organic free-range chicken last weekend from Liddly for just under a fiver and ate the last of it last night. Could have streeeetched it a bit further with soup but CBA this time.

I can get 110g grammes for pig liver for 28p from the butcher and this is enough to make two very nutritious meals with some veggies. Certainly more healthful than loading up on carbohydrates like rice and pasta and will keep you satiated for about 16 hours, in my experience.

When money is very tight, you need to be careful of the amount of nutrients you're getting for your money.

thriftwizard

I can see why she struggled; not being able to use the contents of my storecupboard, or home-produced food, would leave me floundering, I have to admit. I generally spend about twice that per person per day in general (which includes cleaning stuff etc.) but as there are 7 of us I'm in a position to take huge advantage of bulk buys; £6 for a 25kg sack of Wilja spuds today, for example, and £1.50 for a net of onions, which knocks the cost per serving right down. I'm slightly baffled by some of her choices; cabbage is a lot cheaper than broccoli, for example, down here. Lentils or chickpeas might have provided protein more cheaply than chicken drumsticks. And five days is a short span of time, meaning you can't spread your resources & invest in things that will serve more than one purpose, like flour & yeast.

I take my hat off to her for at least trying, but I think she could do with actually reading Jack Monroe!

Wednesday2000

If I ever was in this position I would go to Aldi or Lidl and get fruit and veg there and add a bag of lentils, rice, dried beans etc...

To be honest if I was in such a precarious position I would probably try to focus on ways that I could make more money or get a better paying job rather than trying to survive on such a small amount!:eek: It seems ridiculous in this day and age that anyone should be living like that in one of the richest countries in the world.

AnnieO1234

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

If I ever was in this position I would go to Aldi or Lidl and get fruit and veg there and add a bag of lentils, rice, dried beans etc...

To be honest if I was in such a precarious position I would probably try to focus on ways that I could make more money or get a better paying job rather than trying to survive on such a small amount!:eek: It seems ridiculous in this day and age that anyone should be living like that in one of the richest countries in the world.

The origins of the Live Below the Line challenge though weren't about people living on low income in the UK, but rather an attempt to replicate some of the hardships felt by people who aren't lucky enough to live in a country like the UK.

xxx

Scrimps

GreyQueen wrote: »

I can get 110g grammes for pig liver for 28p from the butcher and this is enough to make two very nutritious meals with some veggies. Certainly more healthful than loading up on carbohydrates like rice and pasta and will keep you satiated for about 16 hours, in my experience.

When money is very tight, you need to be careful of the amount of nutrients you're getting for your money.

I hope you dont mind me asking, feel free to say so if you do: are you quite a small eater? I only ask because I am trying to eat a nutrient dense diet on a budget and really really struggle to eat cheaply. A lot of it has to do with skill and knowledge but staying satiated for 16 hours...I would love that! I would honestly like to change my apetite levels.

The origins of the Live Below the Line challenge though weren't about people living on low income in the UK, but rather an attempt to replicate some of the hardships felt by people who aren't lucky enough to live in a country like the UK.

I did wonder about that, thanks for clearing that up.

GreyQueen

Scrimps, the words 'small eater' have never ever applied to me. You could make any relative or friend p themselves laughing to even suggest such a thing.

I'm 5 ft 10, large-framed and have always eaten like a horse. Key phrases applicable to me are along the lines of she must have hollow legs and where does she put it all?!

I'm eating along the lines recommended in a book called Primal Blueprint - probably available in your public library but you can get all the info off the excellent blog by the author http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Seriously, carbohydrades stimulate insulin release and make you very very hungry. So you gorge and gorge and fatten and still feel so hungry that it's like your stomach is trying to digest itself. Proteins and good quality fats like olive oil, butter, nuts, avocado have the opposite effect.

This morning I had a large salad (two hardboiled eggs, a grated carrot, a chopped up celery stick and a few other bits and bobs, varies by the day) with a slug of EVOO and a couple of teaspoons of sesame seeds over the top. And biked several miles and did 2 hours gardening on that calorie load, which will see me un-hungry for 5-6 hours.

In the next hour or so, I shall cut two chunks off the 29p of pig-liver purchased this afternoon (£2.50 a kilo), wrap each one in a rasher of bacon and bake in a moderate oven in an open pyrex for about 20 minutes. Served with some cooked veggies it won't need a starchy accompanyment like spuds/ rice/ pasta and I'll be happily un-hungry for about 16 hours. And will have the other half to have another day.

Don't ignore other cheap and excellent proteins like tinned sardines.

Eating this way for 7 weeks, haven't been the slightest bit hungry and have managed to lose 12.5 lb without even trying.

AnnieO1234

That sounds like an interesting diet GreyQueen although I'm not sure I could get in board with that much liver! Xxx