How to eat healthily on £1 a day • Hacker News Board

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#41

Post by mtct » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:33 PM UTC

gnosis wrote: post #22

mtct wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, in first world, not even an homeless gain less than 2$ per day. So we can safely leave all the expenses for fuel and cookware out of the math.

If you think there aren't homeless people (and others) who don't gain any money at all, you are living in a fantasy world. Some don't get $2, not even $1. Some are lucky to get $0 instead of losing money every day. Sure, some homeless people get assistance from public or private sources, but many others are too mentally ill, depressed, or self-destructive to seek, find, or even accept aid (when aid is available, whic…

I'm talking about a mentally sane person. You can find 2$ (actually a LOT more) simply opening the trash bin near you.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#42

Post by monkeynotes » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:34 PM UTC

shubb wrote: post #3

The problem with this article is that a lot of things that are cheap for one serving go stale before you eat the second. For instance, on day one, he adds some mint which cost ~50p to buy, but he calls 1p because he only eats a little. He does not eat the rest of the mint that week, so it cost him ~50p, i.e. half the days budget. I am poor and eat very cheap. I do that using dry bulk foods and frozen veg. This is imp…

I know this is inappropriate but I got a kick out of imagining your customers dining on sand witches. Brilliant!

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#43

Post by shubb » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:35 PM UTC

hexonexxon wrote: post #38

shubb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is an important point. When I said bulk, I meant £10 of stuff, rather than the massive quantities you can get from Amazon. I think instant pay day loan companies like Wonga have done a lot for the cash flow problem. Personally, I've never used them, but if you have a bill and need to avoid a £50 late penalty, you can get a $100 loan at 1% interest a day, which is a brilliant value proposition if payday is…

1%?? Lol they charge 150% where I live until the regulators clamped down on them and class action lawsuits happened. Now it's $50 maximum per week they can charge, but they get around this with NSF fees and late charges. They also hit bank accounts with EFT withdrawal up to 3x per day if the first one didn't clear, which is $40 NSF charge each time. Unfortunately because these lenders signed a piece of paper allowing…

1% a day is 360% a year, which sounds very high, but is less than missing a payment sometimes. You would use them when it made sense, and borrow an amount that you could pay back. Many people are paid weekly, so it might cost £5.

Things were very bad in the UK until recently, and in many ways still are, but the companies have come under a lot of regulatory pressure, and are being... better. I'm afraid that sometimes you have to choose between 2 evils.

People are not dumb, and 1.2 million (3/100th the population) took a payday loan in 2009. You could credit a lower number to individual poor judgment, but these are rational economic operators borrowing small amounts at high interest rates to avoid hunger or larger losses due to cash flow problems.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#44

Post by fpp » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:35 PM UTC

shubb wrote: post #3

The problem with this article is that a lot of things that are cheap for one serving go stale before you eat the second. For instance, on day one, he adds some mint which cost ~50p to buy, but he calls 1p because he only eats a little. He does not eat the rest of the mint that week, so it cost him ~50p, i.e. half the days budget. I am poor and eat very cheap. I do that using dry bulk foods and frozen veg. This is imp…

Fully agreed - IMHO this article again shows how removed from reality some people are and seemingly nothing is left out to polarise society further (a/k/a the poor are only to stupid - look here they can live a healthy diet on even less).

a few thoughts on this article:

(1) compare the energy / fat / etc in this article with the rations given to the British people during WWII and shortly afterwards - I estimate the article's diet is even below those and nobody would ever dare to deny those enduring that time lived in abundance or a healthy diet.

(2) one more "... live on xxx £ for a few days" - Hypocrites, a few days does not make a difference. You can easily live on a few sugar cubes & apples (plus water) for 10 or more days. Most people would not feel different after that, and in our obese societies some even pay thousands of £s for such a minimal diet to loose some weight. The difference comes from 2-3 months or a year. When you're actually poor like many in the UK - being in such a situation (for indefinitely or until you win the lottery - about the same) adds a massive psychological toll on top that should not be underestimated. Hint to understand: If I tell you at the beginning of a 2 months software development task that all code you're going to write during these 2 months will be dumped unseen, ask yourself how much of a great coder you will be - so much about motivation and psychological toll.

(3) it is generally no fun to be poor even if some tell you otherwise - you're excluded from society, constantly humiliated and shown that you're worth nothing. This is even worse if you have children.

(4) With the changes in the social systems during the last decade(s) in Europe there is almost no chance to get out of this situation by yourself particularly if you're over 50 or have been unemployed longer than 2 years. And you get there much quicker than any politician would publicly admit. If you're self-employed, a few people not paying their bills, a few new contracts not signed - bang you're there.

There is a petition running at change.org that already more than 475'000 Brits have signed to asked bigmouth IDS (work & pensions secretary) who claimed he could easily live on £7 a day to actually do it and do it for longer than a few days - sign it to at least show you disregards with these politics ( http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/iain-duncan-smith-iain... ).

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#45

Post by claudius » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:36 PM UTC

elmuchoprez wrote: post #4

This reminds me of a project I did in November of 2006 when I decided to eat for $1/day for the month. The whole thing is chronicled here: http://www.hungryforamonth.blogspot.com/ I wouldn't say what I did was exactly healthy though.

Note that £1 is $1.54 and that pricing is not necessarily the same in the US and the UK, where I found the UK to be more expensive than Germany when it comes to groceries – tight competition really does help to bring prices down.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#46

Post by wisty » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:36 PM UTC

cbhl wrote: post #11

shubb wrote: post #3

The problem with this article is that a lot of things that are cheap for one serving go stale before you eat the second. For instance, on day one, he adds some mint which cost ~50p to buy, but he calls 1p because he only eats a little. He does not eat the rest of the mint that week, so it cost him ~50p, i.e. half the days budget. I am poor and eat very cheap. I do that using dry bulk foods and frozen veg. This is imp…

The article also excludes the cost of electricity/gas to power the stove/microwave, the cost of water to cook e.g. pasta and clean the pans after, the cost of the pans amortized over your meals, the cost of plates and utensils... If someone else is paying utilities (say, your local university, or your landlord), and you already own kitchen equipment (say, hand-me-downs from your mum) perhaps this is a reasonable assu…

The cost of electricity is quite low. If you are actually so broke you can't afford it, there's probably places you can leech. It depends on where you are, but 10c / kwh won't be a huge cost. Say 5c to cook a bowl of soup.

Then there's the rice cooker - good for a year, and costs $20. That's another 5c.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#47

Post by psidebot » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:40 PM UTC

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #35

The amount of highly processed carbohydrates is frightening and far from "healthy"[1]. It's unfortunate, but to eat healthy costs more, because healthy food spoils. I look at it like this: if a food doesn't spoil[2], it is most likely because bacteria and fungus can get no nutritional value from it. Do I want to eat that? 1. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Scienc... 2. There are some exceptions,…

For moist food at room temperature maybe, but a lot of healthy food resists spoiling by being stored dry or cold.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#48

Post by monkeynotes » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:40 PM UTC

hexonexxon wrote: post #38

shubb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is an important point. When I said bulk, I meant £10 of stuff, rather than the massive quantities you can get from Amazon. I think instant pay day loan companies like Wonga have done a lot for the cash flow problem. Personally, I've never used them, but if you have a bill and need to avoid a £50 late penalty, you can get a $100 loan at 1% interest a day, which is a brilliant value proposition if payday is…

1%?? Lol they charge 150% where I live until the regulators clamped down on them and class action lawsuits happened. Now it's $50 maximum per week they can charge, but they get around this with NSF fees and late charges. They also hit bank accounts with EFT withdrawal up to 3x per day if the first one didn't clear, which is $40 NSF charge each time. Unfortunately because these lenders signed a piece of paper allowing…

150% a DAY??

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#49

Post by tracker1 » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:43 PM UTC

gnosis wrote: post #18

Here[1] is a similar experiment, which initially started with a $1 per day budget for 30 days. "Here are the rules: 1. All food consumed each day must total $1 for each of us. 2. We cannot accept free food or “donated” food unless it is available for everyone in our area. (i.e. foraging, samples in stores, dumpster diving) 3. Any food we plant, we pay for. 4. We will do our best to cook a variety of meals; ramen nood…

When I was 19, I spent about six months pretty much eating ramen, rice, and apples... It sucked a lot.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#50

Post by jiggy2011 » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 5:43 PM UTC

shubb wrote: post #43

hexonexxon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1%?? Lol they charge 150% where I live until the regulators clamped down on them and class action lawsuits happened. Now it's $50 maximum per week they can charge, but they get around this with NSF fees and late charges. They also hit bank accounts with EFT withdrawal up to 3x per day if the first one didn't clear, which is $40 NSF charge each time. Unfortunately because these lenders signed a piece of paper allowing…

1% a day is 360% a year, which sounds very high, but is less than missing a payment sometimes. You would use them when it made sense, and borrow an amount that you could pay back. Many people are paid weekly, so it might cost £5. Things were very bad in the UK until recently, and in many ways still are, but the companies have come under a lot of regulatory pressure, and are being... better. I'm afraid that sometimes…

WONGA, one of the most popular in the UK quotes APR of 4214%!

Of course that sounds worse than it is because the loan is short term.

Still though, I wish there was a more reasonable solution to this problem. I wonder how much of these rates are due to the risk involved in loaning to the sort of people who take these loans and how much of it is "because they can".