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

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#11

Post by cbhl » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:31 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…

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 assumption. But for those who are actually in poverty, the upfront capital cost of cooking tools and the hidden costs of energy in cooking might be prohibitively expensive.

That said, cooking in bulk is indeed cheaper. So if you're trying to conserve, it might help to find two or three good friends and cook your meals together.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#12

Post by Samuel_Michon » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:36 PM UTC

dobbsbob wrote: post #8

A loaf of bread where I live is $4. Blew his daily budget with one purchase. Cant buy single eggs even from a local farmers market here so thats another $4-6. Cheese is probably the most expensive item at $10. If you bought everything this guy ate youre looking at $60 or so and it will last about 5 days, which is 7gbp per day. Must be cheap food in the UK

Well, the author bought everything in larger quantities while conveniently not taking into account limited shelf life. He also makes trips to 5 different supermarkets to get the cheapest prices, which takes a lot of time (research & shopping) and gas.

One of the best ways to cut costs is to not cook for one, but to cook together with others. Then you can buy in bulk like the author suggested.

I live alone and I do cook for one. I probably spend more on food than most. However, I chose to live in a compact city with relatively low rents. This way I don’t need a car. I live in walking distance of supermarkets, health food stores, farmers markets and bakeries. I live 1 minute from a bus stop, 5 minutes from the main train station. What I spend more on groceries, I make up for in low rent and using public transport instead of owning a car.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#13

Post by cbhl » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:38 PM UTC

dobbsbob wrote: post #8

A loaf of bread where I live is $4. Blew his daily budget with one purchase. Cant buy single eggs even from a local farmers market here so thats another $4-6. Cheese is probably the most expensive item at $10. If you bought everything this guy ate youre looking at $60 or so and it will last about 5 days, which is 7gbp per day. Must be cheap food in the UK

The trick to the author's math is this:

A loaf of bread has, say, 24 slices in it. If you ate two of them, then the cost of bread was that day $0.34, when you amortize the loaf of bread over twelve days. If you can find a $2 loaf of bread with 24 slices, it's only about $0.08 for a slice of bread.

But yes, I agree -- if you actually had to maintain this budget, you'd probably buy one kind of breakfast, lunch, and dinner and eat it every day for a week.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#14

Post by yesplorer » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:39 PM UTC

I see some of these posts as more of experimental (just like the motive of the 5000 Brits) than practical. You don't eat solely to sustain yourself or avoid hunger. Enjoying the food and being comfortable with whatever you are eating really counts as well..

"But when it is your way of life, and you haven't got any choice over it, it's not a fun experiment."

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#15

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:41 PM UTC

dobbsbob wrote: post #8

A loaf of bread where I live is $4. Blew his daily budget with one purchase. Cant buy single eggs even from a local farmers market here so thats another $4-6. Cheese is probably the most expensive item at $10. If you bought everything this guy ate youre looking at $60 or so and it will last about 5 days, which is 7gbp per day. Must be cheap food in the UK

[deleted]

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#16

Post by icebraining » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:41 PM UTC

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

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.

In the bbc article the woman's diet for day one consisted of: Breakfast: - one piece of toast and margarine (6p - cost of tea) - one cup of tea (6p - cost of toast - cost of margarine) - one "unethical" egg (8.7p) Lunch: - one ham sandwhich, presumably just bread and ham (29p) Snack: - one "value" scone with jam (6p) - one apple (free?) Dinner: (37p combined, I imagine there are some more "free" ingredients in here)…

Not sure where you bought that apple, but I'm pretty sure that's more expensive than a full kg an a grocery store.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#17

Post by mtct » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:44 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…

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.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#18

Post by gnosis » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:46 PM UTC

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 noodles
     can only be prepared if there is no other way to stay under one
     dollar. (We have six packages and will buy no more)

  5. Should we decide to have guests over for dinner they must eat
     from our share; meaning they don’t get to eat their own dollar’s
     worth of food.

"Each day one of us will post an entry here with a photo that details how things are going..."

[1] - http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/it-star...

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#19

Post by DanBC » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

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.

In the bbc article the woman's diet for day one consisted of: Breakfast: - one piece of toast and margarine (6p - cost of tea) - one cup of tea (6p - cost of toast - cost of margarine) - one "unethical" egg (8.7p) Lunch: - one ham sandwhich, presumably just bread and ham (29p) Snack: - one "value" scone with jam (6p) - one apple (free?) Dinner: (37p combined, I imagine there are some more "free" ingredients in here)…

UK supermarkets tend to have 3 ranges of own brand goods.

Cheap, which they call value.

Expensive, which they call finest or luxury.

Regular.

Here's a link to the scone product. (https://secure.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=25828...)

Here's a link to a price comparison website. (http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/grocery-categories/Scones_in_...)

So, you can get value scones at 50p for 10, with these ingredients {Wheat Flour,Water ,Sugar ,Vegetable Oil ,Sultanas (7%) ,Whey Powder ,Raising Agents (Disodium Diphosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate) ,Pasteurised Whole Egg ,Preservative (Potassium Sorbate) ,Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)}

Or you could get Tesco Finest Butter And sultana Scones at £1.50 for 4, (37.5p ea) with these ingredients {Wheat Flour,Sultanas (21%) ,Buttermilk ,Cornish Unsalted Butter (11%) ,Sugar ,Free Range Pasteurised Whole Egg ,Cornish Clotted Cream (3%) ,Raising Agents (Disodium Diphosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate) ,Salt}

(https://secure.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=25384...)

Some of the value items are good. But you need to be careful. As you say, these value scones are not nice. Even the finest scones aren't great, compared to scones you can buy in cafes.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#20

Post by lnanek2 » Sat, Apr 27, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

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.

In the bbc article the woman's diet for day one consisted of: Breakfast: - one piece of toast and margarine (6p - cost of tea) - one cup of tea (6p - cost of toast - cost of margarine) - one "unethical" egg (8.7p) Lunch: - one ham sandwhich, presumably just bread and ham (29p) Snack: - one "value" scone with jam (6p) - one apple (free?) Dinner: (37p combined, I imagine there are some more "free" ingredients in here)…

If you buy a single fresh scone individually at a supermarket stand or at a bakery - that's going to cost a dollar. If you buy a bag full of factory made ones in mold proof packaging and full of other preservatives, then you'll have the budget cost version. If your grocery has them, they'll be bagged up in quantity right next to the bagged bread. Definitely not that expensive artisan bread in the loose bag, though.