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How to eat healthily on £1 a day

bbc.co.uk

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Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess in the US may be different, but in Europe people usually make the weekly food shop either during the week (after work or before work) or on Saturdays. Almost everything is closed on Sundays. Also, what do you mean by built-up areas? In Spain, Germany and UK (countries where I've spent most time) you can get to almost any place with public transportation. Maybe they come once an hour, but for planned shopping…

This is the comment I responded to: “You can get by basically anywhere in Europe without a car. Sure, you might have to walk 20 or 30 minutes or so (one-way), but the wear on your shoes from that is absolutely negligible.” Ask yourself whether you agree with that statement, because it’s quite different from what you have been presenting.

I do. The original comment talks about living without a car. You may need to walk 20 or 30 minutes to get to the public transportation to get you to your destination, and this is what I have been presenting all over.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if everybody eats potatoes and bread all day... that's enough for you because it satisfies an incredibly obtuse quantitative metric?

If someone gets fat off potatoes and bread they are consuming too much. They could reduce consumption of potatoes/bread and spend the money they save on vegetables.

This whole discussion is an example of why reductionism should be handled with care.

Have you considered how easy it is to stuff yourself with simple carbohydrates? Do you

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#153
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

I agree. Some of the meal choices were pretty ridiculous too. Toast and jam as an entire meal? And the title of the article is "How to eat healthy"?? There is one absolute best way to spend less on groceries, and it is something that everyone can do, regardless of where you live, what diet you're on, or how much money you have. What's the secret? When you're shopping, write down the cost of every item before putting…

I obsess over price per ounce of my food while I am in the store. (Though it gets harder as I age and my brain weakens, and as prices and sizes get intentionally harder to compare)

Even still, I myself that groceries I eat are super cheap compare to food I throw away and restaurant meals. (And I avoid packaged meals and name brand cereal, which are near restaurant priced)

Every now and then I remember that the vast majority of people don't or can't think about food costs, and shudder. Paying $2 for a bottle of water with a scoop of sugar poured in. $5 for a box of Kellogs instead of $3 for generic. $4 for the frozen brocolli with fake cheese sprinkled top instead of $2 for plain. Etc

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if everybody eats potatoes and bread all day... that's enough for you because it satisfies an incredibly obtuse quantitative metric?

If someone gets fat off potatoes and bread they are consuming too much. They could reduce consumption of potatoes/bread and spend the money they save on vegetables.

Fat people have lots of fat. Muscle and bone amd cardiovascula health and brain mylenation are another matter.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#155
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government definitions of "poor" don't necessarily equate to what you and I would call "poor," due to politics (basically, getting more people identified "poor" helps you get votes if you're the party perceived as better able to help the poor, and in the US one party has dominated the poverty issue and used this strategy for a number of decades). For example, someone I knew in high school (a number of years ago now)…

During my teen years, my dad made a pretty good software engineer salary, and we lived in a paid off house with a big yard and lots of computers. But with 8 children (and the associated tax exemptions) and substantial charitable donations, we often had net taxable income that was well below various "poverty" thresholds.

Income is a poor approximation of wealth, indeed.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends, for the most part being on welfare doesn't allow for an extravagant lifestyle at all. Especially if you are a single person living alone. Job seekers allowance (the standard benefit for the unemployed) will net you around £50 per week. Out of that has to come all of your expenses including energy , food , travel etc. You may be able to get rent covered by separate housing benefits. Of course the right w…

> Job seekers allowance (the standard benefit for the unemployed) will net you around £50 per week. // Our family live on far less than that each per week after housing and we're working ... clearly we're not doing it right but it seems that is more than sufficient. Indeed my experience is that those I know on benefits can afford to live quite badly, wastefully.

In the US, public transport is at least $20 per week, for a minimum commute.

x2 for 2 wage earners.

$1/day(!) per person is another $5 each.

Replacing worn out clothes adds a touch.

Water/sewer is ~$5/wk/person for very light use. Energy for light/heat/cooking is similar.

That is bare minimum for survival.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#157
post #92
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The better areas are taken by those with money. You can move to a better area, but the police will turn up before long to move you on.

Obviously is not a simple life. Dangers are everywhere from drug dealers to policeman. But to keep this short the fact is the same: For a mentally sane man (or woman) in USA is very difficult die of starvation.

At some point the assumption of sanity breaks down, in this lifestyle.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#158
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Some of the meal choices were pretty ridiculous too. Toast and jam as an entire meal? And the title of the article is "How to eat healthy"?? There is one absolute best way to spend less on groceries, and it is something that everyone can do, regardless of where you live, what diet you're on, or how much money you have. What's the secret? When you're shopping, write down the cost of every item before putting…

I obsess over price per ounce of my food while I am in the store. (Though it gets harder as I age and my brain weakens, and as prices and sizes get intentionally harder to compare) Even still, I myself that groceries I eat are super cheap compare to food I throw away and restaurant meals. (And I avoid packaged meals and name brand cereal, which are near restaurant priced) Every now and then I remember that the vast m…

I totally agree, because I used to be one of those people. I just added to my cart what I was going to eat for the next week and whatever the price was at the register, that's what I paid, often in complete surprise (and horror) at how much the bill was.

Now, we consciously look at prices before putting items into the cart, and like you said going for store-brand and avoiding packaged food. (On non-packaged food: I am continually astounded at the ridiculous amount of fruit and vegetables you can buy with just a few dollars.)

In this way, we save literally hundreds of dollars per month. It is downright incredible!

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