Surviving on £1 a day for food and drink

[sage]

With the spiralling cost of fuel and other essential items, particularly the cost of heating your home, it has been been reported that a further million people will be plunged into poverty over the next month, with half of them children. Many families will be faced will the awful choice of eating or heating.

The UK average spend of food and drink is £40 a week. However many survive on a fraction of this. Therefore to shine a light on this, experience a little and raise some money, My lad and I will be living on £1 a day each on food and drink for a week, a total of £14 for the two of us.

We are going to start this on Easter Monday (a kind of belated lent) and hopefully manage the full 7 days. Obviously this won't be easy but I won't pretend this is anything like suffering many people will be going through around the country.

Almost 2 years ago, David and I launched a campaign on here to raise money for the Derby Mission Food Bank when many people were laid off due to Covid. I am looking to do the same again, with anyone who can afford it donating to the same cause. I am hoping we can raise £1000. I will be donating the difference in what I would normally spend on a supermarket shop for the two of us. 

I will set up a specific DCFC Fans donate account and provide a link in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, maybe posters could share experiences and ideas around this area. Many on here will be able to donate but many posters may also need help, so I hope we can come together and help each other.

I will do a diary entry on here on how we manage, how we shop, what we eat and how we feel.

  

[Rev]

All credit to you and your lad, fantastic idea to raise awareness around this issue. 

If you get through it, they'll be a P&O position available immediately.

[Malagaram]

3 hours ago, sage said:

With the spiralling cost of fuel and other essential items, particularly the cost of heating your home, it has been been reported that a further million people will be plunged into poverty over the next month, with half of them children. Many families will be faced will the awful choice of eating or heating.

The UK average spend of food and drink is £40 a week. However many survive on a fraction of this. Therefore to shine a light on this, experience a little and raise some money, My lad and I will be living on £1 a day each on food and drink for a week, a total of £14 for the two of us.

We are going to start this on Easter Monday (a kind of belated lent) and hopefully manage the full 7 days. Obviously this won't be easy but I won't pretend this is anything like suffering many people will be going through around the country.

Almost 2 years ago, David and I launched a campaign on here to raise money for the Derby Mission Food Bank when many people were laid off due to Covid. I am looking to do the same again, with anyone who can afford it donating to the same cause. I am hoping we can raise £1000. I will be donating the difference in what I would normally spend on a supermarket shop for the two of us. 

I will set up a specific DCFC Fans donate account and provide a link in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, maybe posters could share experiences and ideas around this area. Many on here will be able to donate but many posters may also need help, so I hope we can come together and help each other.

I will do a diary entry on here on how we manage, how we shop, what we eat and how we feel.

  

Will donate

[sage]

47 minutes ago, Rev said:

All credit to you and your lad, fantastic idea to raise awareness around this issue. 

If you get through it, they'll be a P&O position available immediately.

I'm hoping to play for kr Derby next year and I'm just getting used to the EFL approved wage bill. 

[Eddie]

Well done, mate. Happy to contribute a few quid to your efforts - and if you get through that week in one piece, I'm equally happy to reward you and Junior with a nice 75cl bottle of Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel with which to slake your thirst.

[bimmerman]

There's a YouTube channel called atomic shrimp where the guy does this and similar challenges,worth a watch to get some ideas how to do it. Best of luck,very Nobel of you ?

[Miggins]

I'm looking forward to following this,  @sage, and well done for highlighting this at this time. An added challenge would be to make the food nutritious. Listening this morning to Radio Derby talking to vulnerable families was very disturbing. Good luck.

[sage]

27 minutes ago, Miggins said:

I'm looking forward to following this,  @sage, and well done for highlighting this at this time. An added challenge would be to make the food nutritious. Listening this morning to Radio Derby talking to vulnerable families was very disturbing. Good luck.

I will certainly look at the nutrional path I have to lead. I'll do my best but I fear a week of mainly cheap white bread, rice and pasta. 

 

[Miggins]

13 minutes ago, sage said:

I will certainly look at the nutrional path I have to lead. I'll do my best but I fear a week of mainly cheap white bread, rice and pasta. 

 

Jacket potatoes at the large supermarket next to B and M are only 14p each and they are large!!

[Eddie]

6 minutes ago, sage said:

I will certainly look at the nutrional path I have to lead. I'll do my best but I fear a week of mainly cheap white bread, rice and pasta. 

 

Pea soup, mate. At the moment, soup is all I can get the Memsahib to eat.

I made this last night (serves 2)...

• 250g green split peas
• half an onion
• 50g old tired ham
• ham stock cube
• one stick of celery
• small knob of butter
• tablespoon of vegetable oil
• half a litre of water

Method

• Dice onion and celery
• Fry onion and celery in butter and vegetable oil for 5 minutes
• Set aside
• Make up half a litre of stock (just the water and a stock cube)
• Put in pan with the split peas and ham
• Add the fried onions and celery
• Simmer for 45 minutes
• Blitz with hand-blender
• Serve with croutons or a bit of old crusty bread.

Incredibly filling and tasty too. It didn't need any seasoning - the ham was quite salty on its own.

 

[sage]

16 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Pea soup, mate. At the moment, soup is all I can get the Memsahib to eat.

I made this last night (serves 2)...

• 250g green split peas
• half an onion
• 50g old tired ham
• ham stock cube
• one stick of celery
• small knob of butter
• tablespoon of vegetable oil
• half a litre of water

Method

• Dice onion and celery
• Fry onion and celery in butter and vegetable oil for 5 minutes
• Set aside
• Make up half a litre of stock (just the water and a stock cube)
• Put in pan with the split peas and ham
• Add the fried onions and celery
• Simmer for 45 minutes
• Blitz with hand-blender
• Serve with croutons or a bit of old crusty bread.

Incredibly filling and tasty too. It didn't need any seasoning - the ham was quite salty on its own.

 

Add up the cost of the ingredients. 

 

[Miggins]

A stock cube makes rice a bit more tasty.

[Eddie]

23 minutes ago, sage said:

Add up the cost of the ingredients. 

 

500g packet of split peas is 70p, so 250g is 35p

1 kg of onions is 75p, so half an onion would be 5p

Ham stock cubes (Knorr) is £1:20 for a box of 8, so 15p

Smoked ham £1:20 for 175g, so 50g is 34p

Celery is 39p, so one stick is 6p

Butter is £1:70 for 250g, so 5g is 3p

Vegetable oil is £1:20 for a litre, so 1p

 

Total price £0:99p for two people.

I didn't include the price of the bread. The bloomer loaf we used was 80p and we probably used 10p worth of that. The cheapest bread at Morrison's is 50p, so probably 5 or 10p. So you're well within the target, and could have another meal (pasta, rice or even toast and jam). Cheapest Morrisons jam is 90p. Pasta (Fusilli) is 75p for 500g. Tilda Basmati rice is about £1 per kilo if you buy in bulk. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Eddie

[Eddie]

If soups are your thing, consider this one I made for the Memsahib a couple of days ago.

Chicken (ha ha, up yours swear filter) a-leekie soup - serves two

• 1 chicken breast portion (1 kg Butcher's Choice frozen chicken = £3.50, approx 7 in a pack, so 1 breast fillet = 50p)
• 2 leeks (500g = 95p usually 3 in a pack, so 2 leeks = 64p
• 35g pearl barley (500g = 55p, so 35g = 4p
• 1 carrot, diced (1 kg = 40p, so 1 carrot = 5p
• dried parsley (pinch) (11g = 85p, so a pinch = 2p)
• dried thyme (pinch) (11g = 85p, so a pinch = 2p)
• 2 chicken stock cube (10 Tesco own brand stock cubes = 50p, so 2 cubes = 10p)
• half an onion, diced (1 kg of onions is 75p, so half an onion would be 5p)
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped (Celery is 39p, so one stick is 6p)
• 500 ml water
• butter (Butter is £1:70 for 250g, so 5g is 3p)
• oil (Vegetable oil is £1:20 for a litre, so 1p)
• Salt and pepper 1p

Method

• fry onion and celery in oil and a little butter for 5 minutes
• bake chicken in oven for 30 minutes, dice into 0.5cm chunks
• Slice leeks into 1-1.5cm thick slices
• Dice carrot into 0.5 cm pieces
• Make stock with water and stock cubes
• Place in saucepan with chicken, onions, celery, carrot, pearl barley.
• Simmer for 30 minutes or until pearl barley softens (add further water as necessary)
• Add leeks, simmer for a further 5 minutes
• Season with salt, pepper, thyme and parsley

Serve with croutons or chunks of crusty bread.

Total cost (including bread)  £1.63p for two people.

Note - this soup is incredibly filling. Could add a second chicken portion and double the pearl barley, up the water to 1 litre and you would easily be able to feed 4.

 

[Eddie]

If you fancy ramen/noodles, why not make your own? I do (my version of spicy Udon noodles) about once a fortnight, and it's really quite fun.

Ingredients

• 300g plain flour (plus a further 30-40g for dusting etc) 1.5 kg = 65p, so 350g = 15p
• 2g salt - 1p
• 2g hot chili powder (optional) - 1p
• 140 ml water

Method

• place flour in bowl
• dissolve salt in water
• Mix chili powder (if using) into water, stir to distribute)
• Pour water containing salt and chili powder over flour.
• Mix initially with a spoon/spatula. As the dough comes together, start using your hands and knead for 5 minutes.
• Place ball of dough in a plastic bag.
• Tread on the bag 30 times to really give the dough a pounding.
• Roll back into a ball
• Repeat the tread and re-roll 3 further times.
• Let the dough rest for 3 hours.
• Take a well-floured pastry board.
• Roll out the dough as thin as you can (say 1 mm).
• Flour the sheet of dough thoroughly.
• Fold the bottom edge of the dough to half way.
• Flour it again.
• Fold the top edge of the dough to cover the previous fold (so it's now 3 layers thick)
• Take a very sharp knife and cut across the folded dough (top to bottom) to form thin ribbons of pasta (for that's what it is) about 2-3 mm apart.
• When you've done a dozen or so, unroll the threads you have cut carefully, tossing in (yet more) flour.
• Continue until you have cut the whole think into strips (dusting as you go)
• Take a very large saucepan, half-fill it with water and bring to the boil.
• Take your floured pasta/Udon noodles and drop them into the boiling water.
• Stir for a few seconds using a wooden spoon. This will
  • Stop the noodles tangling too much
  • Stop the pan from boiling over (flour is a great 'seed' for bubbles to form around. If left unchecked, the water will very quickly boil over
• Cook pasta for 3 minutes
• Pour contents of pan into a colander to drain
• Serve immediately as an accompaniment to something else (say pasta sauce, vegetarian chili etc)

This will have produced enough pasta/Udon noodles for 2 people easily at a price of around 10p each

[sage]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

500g packet of split peas is 70p, so 250g is 35p

1 kg of onions is 75p, so half an onion would be 5p

Ham stock cubes (Knorr) is £1:20 for a box of 8, so 15p

Smoked ham £1:20 for 175g, so 50g is 34p

Celery is 39p, so one stick is 6p

Butter is £1:70 for 250g, so 5g is 3p

Vegetable oil is £1:20 for a litre, so 1p

 

Total price £0:99p for two people.

I didn't include the price of the bread. The bloomer loaf we used was 80p and we probably used 10p worth of that. The cheapest bread at Morrison's is 50p, so probably 5 or 10p. So you're well within the target, and could have another meal (pasta, rice or even toast and jam). Cheapest Morrisons jam is 90p. Pasta (Fusilli) is 75p for 500g. Tilda Basmati rice is about £1 per kilo if you buy in bulk. 

Unfortunately you can't buy those amounts. I'm trying to buy what I eat that week within the week. I'm only doing it for a week but I would certainly do it if it were longer. I'm going to think about what 'stock' items i will allow myself ie butter, stock, oil, spices 

[Miggins]

33 minutes ago, sage said:

Unfortunately you can't buy those amounts. I'm trying to buy what I eat that week within the week. I'm only doing it for a week but I would certainly do it if it were longer. I'm going to think about what 'stock' items i will allow myself ie butter, stock, oil, spices 

There are two approaches to this.

You could buy in bulk and then only eat £1's worth a day. This would be hard but not as hard as just going into a shop with £1 a day to spend on food. Whatever you choose I will donate to such an essential cause.

PS Large baking potatoes in Aldi were 14p each last week. Now 19p. ?

 

[Eddie]

44 minutes ago, sage said:

Unfortunately you can't buy those amounts. I'm trying to buy what I eat that week within the week. I'm only doing it for a week but I would certainly do it if it were longer. I'm going to think about what 'stock' items i will allow myself ie butter, stock, oil, spices 

Yes, I itemised each menu so you could see at a glance which meal represented 'value for money'. The trick would be, I suppose, to come up with an overall spend for the week, make your purchases in one go and then, what you've got has to see the week out for you both, so you have just £14 to play with.

I generally use a lot of butter, but a 250g block is more than enough, even if I'm baking.

Sunflower oil is a great all-purpose oil for shallow-frying - it fries at a much higher temperature than olive oil or coconut oil (my other frequently-used oils). I never deep-fry - instead, I have a load of woks of different sizes.

Stock pots are nice, but cubes are much cheaper. Home brand flours etc are generally excellent - and for the most part, Aldi is far cheaper than Tesco/Morrisons.

DIY pasta would be the way to go if I were doing it. Sue says she would buy one or two packs and then several pasta sauces (really, she means get me to make several pasta sauces).

[sage]

58 minutes ago, Miggins said:

There are two approaches to this.

You could buy in bulk and then only eat £1's worth a day. This would be hard but not as hard as just going into a shop with £1 a day to spend on food. Whatever you choose I will donate to such an essential cause.

PS Large baking potatoes in Aldi were 14p each last week. Now 19p. ?

 

I will probably buy £10-11 in one shop then fill gaps with 'end of day shopping'.

I haven't sorted it all out yet, but i should put a limit on shopping and cooking/preparing time.

[Boycie]

Baking potato’s are ok but it’s the cost to bake em that’s the killer for people on low income.

Food banks have stopped taking root vegetables at the moment I hear.