Can anyone help us?

Mrs_pbradley936

There is a thread on DT and a poster has set us a challenge and if it can be done I know some of you can do it!

This is it:

"I have a challenge for all you MSErs claiming that people in low income are just being lazy when they live off takeaway pizzas and all they need to do is pull their socks up and learn a little about budgeting and cooking. It might even be fun.

So you are a single person living in a flat share on the minimum wage. You have been told that it is entirely possible to feed yourself for £1 a day if only you use a little imagination and apply yourself. You've used the computers in the local library to look up a few low-budget recipes and are willing to give it a go.

You enter the local Tesco with £7 jingling in your pocket and a shopping list for the week's groceries. You need to buy ingredients for 7 days worth of meals, 2000 kcal a day. You have no store cupboard of ingredients and as your flat mates are lazy benefit scroungers who live off dominos pizza they don't either. Your dear old mum has loaned you a saucepan, a baking sheet, a wooden spoon and a chopping knife until you can afford to buy your own. She has also given you a canister of 1-cal spray oil. The communal kitchen has an oven and an electric ring. You also own a plate, a bowl and a set of cutlery. You have half a shelf in the communal fridge and half a shelf in the communal cupboard to store your things.

So what do you buy and what do you eat. You are willing to go meat-free for part of the week but not every day. You also don't want to be eating the same thing every day (so buying a sack of porridge oats and having them for every meal won't cut it). You also want a balanced diet, so a sack of economy sausages won't do either. People on a budget can't worry about ethics so battery farmed chickens and eggs are fine, and no need to worry about pesticides either. You also have no allergies and are willing to try new things, including spicy food or any innovative sources of protein.

It's OK to have the same breakfast each day but lunch and dinner must be varied at least a little. And you're fine also just drinking water.

Tesco is your only shop. There is one within walking distance and you're strong enough to carry a bag-for-life in each hand (which dear old mum has also loaned you).

So what do you do!"

This is the thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5745219/more-austerity-deaths

onlyroz

As on the other thread, this is my attempt at budgeting for breakfast:

1 kg porridge oats, 75p. 188 kcal per 50g. Make with 300 ml of water or milk.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/299669085

2.27 litres whole milk, £1.09. 132 kcal per 200 ml.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254656399

These would make 7 breakfasts of 386 kcal each for a total of £1.84. You would also have 650 g of the porridge left over. If budget was really tight you could double the portion of porridge and make it up with water, although I think that plain “skinny” porridge tastes utterly vile. This would provide 7 breakfasts of 376 kcal for 75p.

You could buy a jar of honey to sweeten it for 99p, 49 kcal per tablespoon:
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258158216

Or perhaps a kilo of sugar for 69p, 40 kcal per 10g.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/252528422

Or perhaps you could add some bananas, 90p for 6, 154 kcal each.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/285157326

So breakfasts for a week cost between 75p and £2.74, getting you 376 - 540 kcal of your daily calories.

VfM4meplse

onlyroz wrote: »

So breakfasts for a week cost between 75p and £2.74, getting you 376 - 540 kcal of your daily calories.

Regrettably, there is a major social flaw in your otherwise sensible plan: non-weight conscious people don't think about calories, they think about getting food that appeals to their tastebuds and eating it until they are full to bursting.

Personally, I think 3 proper meals a day is a bit much for anyone, let alone someone with just £1 to spend on food a day. One main meal should be supplemented with much smaller snacks.

onlyroz

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Regrettably, there is a major social flaw in your otherwise sensible plan: non-weight conscious people don't think about calories, they think about getting food that appeals to their tastebuds and eating it until they are full to bursting.

Personally, I think 3 proper meals a day is a bit much for anyone, let alone someone with just £1 to spend on food a day. One main meal should be supplemented with much smaller snacks.

Fine, go for it. What would you buy?

onlyroz

My lunches will be egg-based.

I can buy 15 eggs from caged hens for £1.19, at 62 kcal each.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/299626009

20-slice wholemeal loaf 55p, 93 kcal a slice
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/288407096

500 ml mayonnaise 41p, 41 kcal per tablespoon.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/300201367

Total cost £2.15. Assuming each lunch involves two eggs, two slices of bread and two tablespoons of mayo, this is 392 kcal per meal. Options include scrambled or fried egg on toast (using the mayo for butter), boiled egg and mayo sandwiches. You could also make french toast by dipping the bread in the egg (possibly adding some of the sugar if you bought some for the breakfasts) and using some of the 1-cal spray to fry it.

VfM4meplse

onlyroz wrote: »

Fine, go for it. What would you buy?

My post wasn't meant as a criticism to you. £1 a day is extreme, so extreme measures are called for.

The answer would be to eat just one meal a day based on YS bread / other carbs with salad / veg to provide water soluble vitamins, and buy a large packet of Tesco's value cornflakes and some full fat milk (to be diluted down with water) if I was desperate for a snack. The fact of the matter is we eat too much anyway given how sedentary we are.

I'm not suggesting it's a balanced diet, but then I fail to see how anyone in this country can not afford to eat if they sacrifice non-essentials (and by that, I include the TV license).

Exile_geordie

VfM4meplse wrote: »

My post wasn't meant as a criticism to you. £1 a day is extreme, so extreme measures are called for.

The answer would be to eat just one meal a day based on YS bread / other carbs with salad / veg to provide water soluble vitamins, and buy a large packet of Tesco's value cornflakes and some full fat milk (to be diluted down with water) if I was desperate for a snack. The fact of the matter is we eat too much anyway given how sedentary we are.

I'm not suggesting it's a balanced diet, but then I fail to see how anyone in this country can not afford to eat if they sacrifice non-essentials (and by that, I include the TV license).

Buy UHT and your money goes further too

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

You are willing to go meat-free for part of the week but not every day. You also don't want to be eating the same thing every day (so buying a sack of porridge oats and having them for every meal won't cut it).

This is where the challenge is unrealistic. £1 per day is subsistence living, and subsistence means survival only.

You could technically survive (and probably be healthier than a fair proportion of the population) on porridge with water, home-made potato & nettle soup, and snacking on value carrots.

onlyroz

Exile_geordie wrote: »

Buy UHT and your money goes further too

Good point.

Exile_geordie

For clarity on this challenge that onlyroz has set - she makes it £7 because she didnt quite understand when i posted about this book https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/make-meals-under-1-chef-miguel-barclay-budget-cooking-tips-food-a7580161.html

And that its not making do on £7 per week but making food where a portion costs £1 or under.

2 vastly different things that she has got very mixed up.

onlyroz

I now have between £2.11 and £4.10 to cover evening meals. I also have left over:
1 egg
6 slices of bread
170 ml whole milk

This is the cheapest chicken I can find. A 1kg mixed pack of thighs and drumsticks for £1.79, providing 230 kcal per 100 g.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/301193258

1 kg value long-grain rice 45p, 265 kcal per 75 g
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258386314

500g pasta 20p, 296 kcal per 170 g
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297844134

500g value passata 35p, 69 kcal per half pack
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/275095074

1.16 kg frozen mixed veg, 92p, 36 kcal per 80g
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/299539389

Cost £3.71

Assuming we have chicken each day and split it 7 ways that is 143 g and 329 kcal. Meal ideas:

Roast chicken drumsticks, 160g mixed veg and 150g rice (931 kcal)

Egg-fried rice (using the spare egg and 150g rice) with stir-fried diced chicken thighs and 160g veg (993 kcal)

Diced chicken, passata and 170g pasta (694 kcal)

Perhaps some sort of pudding could be made with the left over bread and milk?