Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to eat healthily on £1 a day

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 158 posts

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#71

Post by yummyfajitas »

fpp wrote: post #44
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 a…

Your claims are a little surprising, at least from an American perspective. Our various welfare programs are so generous that our poor can (and often do) eat like gluttons.

I was under the impression that UK welfare benefits are far more generous than those in the US - is that incorrect?

(Full disclosure - I've spent a grand total of 5 days of my life in the UK, most of it in zones 1-2 of London. I know virtually nothing about your situation, which is why I'm asking.)

[edit: citation on poverty and gluttony. I'm surprised that this is still a controversial fact.

http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/whusa11/hstat/hshi/pages/210oo.html http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa11/hstat/hsa/pages/221oo.html ]

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#72

Post by Paul_D_Santana »

fpp wrote: post #44
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 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 it in your cart.

You will be amazed at how your food choices will change. For example, once I started doing this, I shifted to buying fruit and vegetables that were in season (and thus less expensive), rather than just buying things randomly and oblivious to the cost. The same goes for choices of meats, fish, and even non-food household items like soaps, detergents, toiletries, etc.

This is by far the best method of spending less on groceries that can apply to everyone. If you've never done it, I challenge you to try it just once. And if you have any suggestions on how to make this strategy even more effective, please let me know!

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#73

Post by mikelat »

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,…

The higher cost of healthy food may have something to do with the shelf life, but I think subsidies have a lot to do with swaying consumer choice. It's deadly especially when coupled with the fact that obesity is a slow and gradual change that can go unnoticed for years.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#74

Post by Samuel_Michon »

RBerenguel wrote: post #66
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is simply not true. I live in the third most densely populated country in Europe (after Monaco and Vatican City), the Netherlands. It has 1287 people per sq mile. Yet, the country has plenty of rural areas from where it takes hours to walk to the nearest town or even the nearest shop. Belgium, the UK, Germany, and Italy are ranked 4, 5, 7 and 9 respectively. They too have large rural areas. In the less densely p…

Clearly the commenter means in cities or towns, or generally inside the public transportation system. I'm from Spain (and I have been to several other countries in Europe from the list you give.) I live in a small town (22000 inhabitants) and I don't have a car. Anything I need for day-to-day life I can find in town, for anything else I use public transport to get to Barcelona, which is just 30 minutes by train. In m…

“Clearly the commenter means in cities or towns, or generally inside the public transportation system.”

I doubt that’s what he meant, because that wouldn’t be much of a statement to make. When you live in a town or city, of course you can walk to a grocery store – that’s not unique to Europe.

I lived in rural northern New Mexico, the 6th least densely populated state of the 50 United States. Even there, I could walk from my home to Wal*Mart, a nearby gas station/taquería or farmers market. Walking on the side of a state highway just isn’t much fun, especially at night.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#75

Post by hexonexxon »

mtct wrote: post #53
hexonexxon wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extreme poor area I lived in was also full of drug addicts who spent all night going through trash bins and cleaning out anything of value to support their habit, so if your plan is to mine for recycled bottles and cans to return then you're in for a surprise when you find out that hustle has already been cornered by violent drug addicts and alcoholics who won't let you near their garbage 'turf'. They also rob ea…

So, why you don't move to another (better) area? It's not like you have an house or anything else that bind you there. To be clear, I'm not saying that is an easy life, I'm only saying that is difficult die of starving in a modern first world nation

They do move around, and are typically arrested and ticketed by police for doing so. If you were to move to a suburban area a resident would complain about the hobo pushing a shopping cart and squatting in the woods so you would find yourself being given a "starlight tour" which is when the police drive you to the middle of nowhere and kick you out of the vehicle at 2:00am.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#76

Post by fpp »

Paul_D_Santana wrote: post #72
fpp wrote: 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 would go a step further - it looks more like the usual spring weight-loss plan plus some cynical spitting on the poor.

The Victorian age is back in the UK and seemingly not only by wealth distribution (that has already been achieved a few years ago). The NeoCons would say we're half way there (on the journey back to times before the Age of Reason).

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#77

Post by kragen »

gnosis wrote: post #39
hexonexxon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

true, I also don't like these articles when the guy magically has a rice cooker, strainer, pots/pans and all cooking utensils ready to go. these articles should be done starting in a single room occupancy hotel with a hot plate and nothing else, because that's what you get when you are poor: nothing.

That's if you're lucky enough to be in a hotel, and not out on the street, where you'd be lucky to have access to even a hot plate.

The guys who sell flatbread on the street here cook it on reused refrigerator condensers on top of a bed of charcoal, which can be on the ground between rocks, or more commonly, in a metal pan atop a (presumably stolen) shopping cart. This is better than a hot plate if you can reliably find nontoxic wood.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#78

Post by jiggy2011 »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #71
fpp wrote: 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…

Your claims are a little surprising, at least from an American perspective. Our various welfare programs are so generous that our poor can (and often do) eat like gluttons. I was under the impression that UK welfare benefits are far more generous than those in the US - is that incorrect? (Full disclosure - I've spent a grand total of 5 days of my life in the UK, most of it in zones 1-2 of London. I know virtually not…

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 wing press will often print examples of families on benefit who are pulling in large sums of money from the taxpayer. I think in most cases these are cherry picked cases.

You do of course get more money if you have children, so perhaps if one can produce enough children to benefit from economies of scale it becomes more likely.

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#79

Post by kragen »

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…

Sure, if you're depressed or otherwise crippled, you can earn nothing. But I assume $2 is still about 200 beer cans at Reynolds Aluminum Recycling in the US, right?

Re: How to eat healthily on £1 a day

#80

Post by kragen »

mtct wrote: post #53
hexonexxon wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extreme poor area I lived in was also full of drug addicts who spent all night going through trash bins and cleaning out anything of value to support their habit, so if your plan is to mine for recycled bottles and cans to return then you're in for a surprise when you find out that hustle has already been cornered by violent drug addicts and alcoholics who won't let you near their garbage 'turf'. They also rob ea…

So, why you don't move to another (better) area? It's not like you have an house or anything else that bind you there. To be clear, I'm not saying that is an easy life, I'm only saying that is difficult die of starving in a modern first world nation

You have friends there. You can live without a house, but you can't live without friends.
Post reply on HN