Can anyone help us?

caronc

I'm not going to say it isn't doable - sadly too many people in this country have no option but to do so week in week out.


Could I do it - of course I could if I had no other option. Would it be nutrionally sound nope, would it be varied nope. Yes I can buy 1kg of rice for 45p which is around 12 portions and the same if I buy spuds or bread or 15 eggs or a jar of jam. They need to form the basis of a lot of meals as I've spent the money so need to use as much as I can of them. So for a week basically eating the same things day in day out is fine but tbh the thought of doing this week in week out is soul destroying....

What would I buy
wholemeal bread 36p
eggs 15 £1.19
Cooking bacon 500g 57p
jam 28p
tinned toms x 2, tinned chickpeas at 3 for £1
long grain rice 1kg 45p
tinned spuds 35p

mushy peas 16p
onions 1kg 65p

carrots 1kg 43p

dried spaghetti 20p
baked beans x2 46p

curry sauce 30p
stock cubes (10) 50p

Total - £6.90



Breakfasts (6 days) would be toast and jam with average 22 slices in a loaf this leaves 10 slices of bread and probably half a jar of jam
Sunday breakfast - 2 bread, 1/2 tin toms, 2 eggs, 100g bacon

14 other meals would be
Bacon, carrot, rice and onion using 200g bacon, 200g rice, onions, carrots, 4 stock cubes (4 portions)
Bacon hot pot 200 g bacon, 1 tin beans, carrots, onions, 1/2 tin potatoes ( 2 portions)
Scrambled egg and beans on toast x2 using 4 bread, 1 tin beans, 4 eggs (2 portions)
Potato, mushy pea, chick pea and egg curry - 1/2 tin pots, onions, carrots, mushy peas, 1/2 tin chickpeas, curry sauce, 6 eggs (3 portions) served with rice
Spaghetti with tomato sauce & chickpeas (3 portions), 1.5 tins toms, 1/2 tin chickpeas, onions, carrots, 300g spaghetti topped with a poached egg



This would use up most everything except rice, stock cubes, jam,some bread and couple of eggs. The eggs could be used to replace toast & jam for breakfast with eggy bread.


Approx veg portions for the week(allowing 200g peeling loss in both the carrots & onions) - 28 so a portion per day short of the guidelines.

natlie

When I was 18 things were getting progressively worse money wise until one week I had lived of a packet of walkers crisps from the corner shop a day for a week I had no money for petrol, to drive to mums for a meal and I had no energy to walk any further to find any other source of food, I spent 6 months homeless just staying with friends when I could or sleeping in my car - this kick started a severe bout of anorexia that lasted until I was 21 and 7 stone (I'm 5 foot 10) I survived but I don't enjoy challenges where people try and live off a £1 a day mainly because none of the real deprivation, poverty, illness and poor mental health plays a part in it. Its worth reading Jack Monroe's Blog/Twitter as she has very strong views on it