This week I am trying to live on five pounds for a week (monday to friday) for food. You can learn about this by going to my previous post. We are now at the half way point so what am I thinking. Well mainly I am thinking…hungry, hungry.
I have managed to stick to the budget but I do have some thoughts about this which you should be able to hear over my rumbling tummy!
46p for a week's cereal choice
- Finding and choosing food takes quite a while. Instead of a bank note and ‘give me that please’ it is a matter of scanning the shelves looking for the tightest price you can. This often means really bad value as the only packs I can afford are the smallest ones so I can buy something but the amount I get is tiny compared to what could get if I had more money for the same item such as Pasta.
- Variety. I am already bored of a meat free diet of mainly bread and pasta.
- Vices. I do not smoke or drink much alcohol which is great since I can afford neither. The lack of caffine is getting to me too.
- Size Matters. I am not a small fellow, at about six foot and two eighty pounds in weight it needs more fuel for my engine!
- Reduced Rack. Major supermarkets reduce the cost of food in the late afternoon and evenings and you can get some really good deals with items dated that day for consumption being some 80-90% off their normal prices. I just have to time it correctly and get in first!
- Work and Temper. I am starting to feel a bit cold while sitting at the computer and I have a lot less desire for complex tasks than normal plus my mood is not great as I am constantly hungry.
- Avoid the urge to eat once a day. Spread the food, do not eat it all at once. Made that mistake!
Jamming for 35p. Taste's fine!
More on Friday…roll on the weekend! 🙂
GBS
Hi Gavin,
I always find this type of experiment interesting. I’ve tried similar experiments over the years myself. Here’s some things that I’ve learned:
I suggest steering clear of pasta unless you’re craving it – it’s not very filling unless it’s whole grain, and that’s hard to find cheap in my experience. I find brown rice more satisfying and I often see big bags of this for quite a small amount (I’m in the South East US for reference’s sake). For breakfast, skip the corn flakes (I don’t know about you but when I eat cereal I eat a lot – usually 1 big box lasts about 2 meals if that) – I find oatmeal is far more filling – it has tons of fiber- and usually very cheap too. Steel cut oats are the heartiest from what I hear, but I use quick cook mostly because they’re inexpensive and I’m impatient. For a sweet snack, mix in a spoon or two of jam.
Beans are your friend (well, at least at meal time). Dried beans here go for less than $1 for a pound, which depending on the bean, can yield 2 or more pounds when reconstituted. If you don’t want to reconstitute dried beans (I don’t like the texture myself)- dried lentils don’t require any advance prep to use them, at least not in the recipes I’ve tried. Canned beans are good but not always on mark down. No matter what, beans have a lot of fiber which, again, helps you feel full.
For variety (at the very least for color, everything above is kind of earth tone), I suggest picking up a mix of whatever fresh fruit/veggies or frozen veggies that are on mark down. Finally maybe tortillas or day-old bread from the bakery.
Spices are the hardest thing to find on a very limited budget – but if you can find a place where you can measure your own amount, you can usually do better than buying the little jar at the market. At one local store, I can find a variety of spices from a company based in Mexico at bargain basement prices sold in plastic bags rather than glass jars.
Oh, drink plenty of water (several glasses a day – sources vary on the exact amount) – it’s said (I’ve never verified the scientific truth of it, but it does seem to work) that often when we feel hungry, we’re actually experiencing warning signs of dehydration.
You’re half way through, but maybe this will help get you through the 2nd half! Good luck with the rest of your experiment!
-John
Hello John,
Many thanks for your detailed comment on this posting. You offer a lot of good advice which I shall try and follow. It is a new experience for me doing this and I am on a steep learning curve. I agree with the pasta and water advice right off the bat. Water is vital and pasta is not good if it is more than a small part of the total diet. Being in the UK I shall have to see if the pricing and products you recommend match but I shall have a look and see what I can do.
Additionally I followed your profile link to your wargaming blog. Good stuff and a great and humorous read too. Thanks for your postings on USE ME.
Thank you for taking the time.
GBS
I’m not sure if a week is enough for this experiment. For a valid field test I recommend at least three months. I hope you took note of weight, blood pressure, sugar levels etc before you began as we will need to compare.
Or is this not the right thing to say to a large man with a frayed temper? 🙂
Grrrr!
This is a one week experiment for the ‘feel’ of it. The feel of what it would be like. So it is not scientific and I must admit I am not enjoy it much. But it is only another 36hrs! The children keep taunting me with their ice cream!
GBS
I find this a very interesting experiment. I think the most “dangerous” thing is lack of protein and vitamins. Eggs are a good cheap source of protein (the Value brand eggs are just as good as the higher priced ones, but come in colossal pack of 15 or so, so that ups the price). The trouble is that fruit and vegetables are so expensive here in the UK (compared to Belgium -I guess that has to do with oversees transport in this island country). So vitamins become a hard thing to get enough of. I supose for one week it will matter little (though I bet you’ll be hungry by the end of it), but in the case of people/families who have to live like this all of the time, it really is a problem.
Thanks Sam,
Being in 1.00GBP a day means I cannot afford big packs, I can just manage what I need day to day. But yes, food prices in the UK have gone up a LOT in the last two years. I am doing this so that I can better understand the problem and perhaps muse on a way around it.
GBS
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