$2 a day food budget

Here's a tight food budget for anyone interested and some a way of highlighting the issue of "1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty, surviving on just US$1.25 a day" (or $2 Australian).

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A MELBOURNE man is living on a diet costing just $2 a day to teach Australians how to live below the poverty line.
He wants them to turn their backs on cheap fast food and the celebrity diet culture.

Having survived on his extreme poverty diet for the past 52 days, Richard Fleming is hoping to recruit 1000 Australians to eat for less than $2 a day for five days through his Live Below the Line campaign.

Having devised diet-based serves of such things as home-made soups (37c), hummus (24c), dahl and rice (41c), marmalade (5c) and peanut butter (8c), the Ivanhoe resident has shed 10kg so far but is still fit, healthy and easily manages 20km cycling each day as well as working.

"There is a level of stupidity in all this, I don't deny that," Mr Fleming said. "That is what has engaged people. It is about battling your hunger thoughts, and that is not with me any more because I think I have become stronger than them now.

Global Poverty Project Blog

US- Aid Democracy

Taking it further is the book below

Portfolios of the Poor - Book Link


Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day (Princeton University Press, 2009) tackles the fundamental question of how the poor make ends meet. Over 250 families in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa participated in this unprecedented study of the financial practices of the world's poor.

These households were interviewed every two weeks over the course of a year, reporting on their most minute financial transactions. This book shows that many poor people have surprisingly sophisticated financial lives, saving and borrowing with an eye to the future and creating complex "financial portfolios" of formal and informal tools.

Indispensable for those in development studies, economics, and microfinance, Portfolios of the Poor will appeal to anyone interested in knowing more about poverty and what can be done about it.

The authors thank the Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Financial Access Initiative for their generous support
 
Interesting challenge. I was looking at the prices and saw 36c for two eggs and was thinking where is he getting his eggs so cheap! Then I realised it was the in the US...
 
I'm making a pot of stew for supper, and for fun Rob and I figured up how much the meat, vegetable and doughboys cost.
We figured we could get 6 regular servings at 92 cents each.

And we missed our lunch, so we saved there .
 
Our food budget is about $10-15 a day for 4 people. That includes milk, coffee, snacks (we bake), cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, meat and 3 veg for dinner. And I've put on 21kg on that diet lol. We look for specials but we don't exactly go without.

Last night's dinner was pretty random and extremely cheap. The odd bits of weird lamb from a part side, slowcooked with a tin of baked beans/carrots/onions/garlic/spices, and a 40c day-old breadstick from the discount bin at the supermarket turned into garlic bread. Lot of work cleaning off the weird lamb (very fatty and full of bones so you have to pre-cook the meat - I do it in garlic and chicken stock and the smell is amazing - and then let it cool and remove the bones and obscene amount of solidified fat) but absolutely delicious and the whole thing came to well under $5.
 
Briefly caught the current affair show last night with a story on this.
They rightly warned people should consult a dietitian before going on the program for an extended period (>10 days).

I just did an estimate of the Calories in the first day's diet listed above.
It comes in around 1200 Cals, 45g pro, 25 fat, 182g cho (presumptions made about portions of dahl and rice.)

That would create an acceptable Calorie deficit for someone sedentary and under 75kg. Larger or more active people (heavy manual laborers) could require as much as triple this to lose weight without adverse health consequences.

And if the portions were increased proportionately, the diet has an unhealthy amount of fat, courtesy of peanut paste.

Other issues is there's inadequate fruit, which is high in anti-oxidants and vitamins.

A good government devised eating guideline recommends we get 5 cups of vegetable and 2 cups of fruit a day.

Dahl made from lentils or split peas is a very healthy alternative to meat.

Personally, if people want to save money, I think they are better doing it via moderating intake in other ways rather than restricting staples : alcohol, comfort foods, bought coffee, takeaways, restaurants, basically reduce processed foods and eat more home prepared meals.
 
recommends we get 5 cups of vegetable and 2 cups of fruit a day.
I wouldn't come close to that, and same goes with the amount of grains and meat/meat alternatives they tend to recommend. That is a seriously massive amount of food and we'd have to increase our budget something severe and choke down that much extra food.

We're not big people in this household (part of the reason our budget is so small). I'm the biggest at the moment at 75kg and 5'7", but I'm 9 and a bit months pregnant and lugging 21kg of extra Stuff around so I have an excuse :)
 
I think I would last about three days on this diet, being in a heavy manual handling job in sub zero-2 degrees environment.

What a boring diet and hardly adequate. Day 24's dinner is hardly sufficient even to someone on a diet. I think a more interesting, nutritious, filling diet could have been made than this slave ration option.
 
Dahls pretty yummy and we used to eat lots of it when we started out.
With the addition of a decent spoonful of good curry paste, a can of home brand tomatoes and a can of home brand tuna ( you really cant tell the difference between it and brand names at twice the price) it makes a good meal for a couple of nights for 2 and just lovely at this time of year.

Thanks for the reminder.
 
I think I would last about three days on this diet, being in a heavy manual handling job in sub zero-2 degrees environment.

What a boring diet and hardly adequate. Day 24's dinner is hardly sufficient even to someone on a diet. I think a more interesting, nutritious, filling diet could have been made than this slave ration option.

I wouldn't eat much more food than on this diet. But I certainly don't live your lifestyle :)

I reckon I get by on one meal a day plus snacks.

Dhal is the best meal. Tricky thing is buying the right lentils and then soaking them long enough. But when you get it nailed and add the right spices it is an amazing dish that gets better each time it is reheated!
 
People can't stay away from fast food so there is no way they will go on this under $2/day plan even though they will come out healthier, and with more cash in their wallet. We are a nation of fat basterds who like to stuff our mouths with tasty food.
 
since we started cooking large scale in the creusot with cheaper cuts of meat and whole grains and lentils our food bill has halved because we have lunches for the following day and often a third late night snack.

is awesome. i love slow cooking.
 
That is a seriously massive amount of food and we'd have to increase our budget something severe and choke down that much extra food.

It actually isn't a serious amount of food Elf. Let's look at it:
- 2 medium size pieces of fruit or 2C fruit salad 140 Calories
- 2 cups of salad for lunch 50 Cals
- 0.5 cup of legumes for lunch 100 Cals
- 0.5-1 cup of potato/pumpkin for dinner 75 Cals
- 1.5-2 cups of cooked vegetables for dinner 50 Cals

That's 415 Calories.

That's about 30% of the Calories you would require if not pregnant or breastfeeding, and leading a reasonably sedentary life. And it is a smaller % for someone bigger or more active than you.

Due to time pressure and ignorance, westerners choose to eat too much of more convenient higher Calorie foods laden with starches and fats, and reduce the intake of the above. But it is the above that make a serious difference re artherosclerosis and cancer.

Yes, eating like this might be a bit more expensive in a remote area away from vege markets, but what's the price of a heart attack in your 40s or 50s, or bowel, breast, or prostate cancer in your 40s, or artherosclerosis that inhibits the flow of blood to the ciliary muscle that controls the accommodation of the eye's lens, thus requiring prescription glasses for the rest of your life.
 
Briefly caught the current affair show last night with a story on this.
They rightly warned people should consult a dietitian before going on the program for an extended period (>10 days).

I just did an estimate of the Calories in the first day's diet listed above.
It comes in around 1200 Cals, 45g pro, 25 fat, 182g cho (presumptions made about portions of dahl and rice.)

That would create an acceptable Calorie deficit for someone sedentary and under 75kg. Larger or more active people (heavy manual laborers) could require as much as triple this to lose weight without adverse health consequences.

And if the portions were increased proportionately, the diet has an unhealthy amount of fat, courtesy of peanut paste.

Other issues is there's inadequate fruit, which is high in anti-oxidants and vitamins.

A good government devised eating guideline recommends we get 5 cups of vegetable and 2 cups of fruit a day.

Dahl made from lentils or split peas is a very healthy alternative to meat.

Personally, if people want to save money, I think they are better doing it via moderating intake in other ways rather than restricting staples : alcohol, comfort foods, bought coffee, takeaways, restaurants, basically reduce processed foods and eat more home prepared meals.


Anyone interested in Organic Fruits & vegetables Supplements ( much cheaper than actually buying them) PM me. ( I could not resist the temptation to advt :)
 
Interesting challenge. I was looking at the prices and saw 36c for two eggs and was thinking where is he getting his eggs so cheap! Then I realised it was the in the US...

you could get 600g X 12 for $2 eggs at aldi so it works out to be 0.16c each or around 0.33c for 2 eggs!
 
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