View Full Version : My personal Live Below The Line Challenge
I found a site today that rattled my comfort zone. It's http://livebelowtheline.com/
It's an international challenge to spend no more than $1.50 US per day for your food for five days.
Below is a copy and paste from their 'about' page:
Live Below the Line is an incredible awareness and fundraising campaign that empowers those who want to eradicate extreme poverty within the next generation. Started in Australia in 2010, the movement quickly spread across 3 continents and is now catching on in the US.
1.4 BILLION people are forced to live every day on $1.50. Food, drink, health expenses, housing, transportation, education - all living costs must be covered by this amount. It's a feat impossible to imagine - but it's the reality for nearly one quarter of the world's population. The good news is we can effect change in this area.
May 16 – 20, 2011, is Live Below the Line Week. During those 5 days, thousands of people across the US will spend just $1.50 per day on food. In doing so, they will bring the issue of extreme poverty to the attention of their households and workplaces.
We'll all be challenged. We'll all struggle without caffeine. And we'll all have that not-quite-full feeling for 5 days. But we will do so because there are 1.4 billion people for whom doing without is not a choice, and that situation must change.
_________
Although the official challenge dates have passed, I am going to try this for a few days. I'm lucky as my freezer is almost completely full from the garden harvest and I have stocked up on flour, sugar, beans, rice...dried foods that we eat.
I'm not sure how I'm going to figure costs on some things - like the garden harvest? Spices that are in my cupboard already? Eggs from my hens? I don't even know how much a dozen eggs or an onion cost from the store now.
I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be eating some things that I don't care for that often - like lentils. But I'll sure try to figure in some coffee.
I'm going to strive for a somewhat healthy (??) diet, not just ramen noodles and oatmeal.
I'm not above grazing, but at this time of year, it's pretty sparse.
I'm not going to ask DH to join in. He's out of town for a few days so that helps.
Any suggestions are appreciated. And if you want to join me, better yet! :) Then we can share meal ideas! Updates to follow.
PS - I never was impressed with Rachel Ray's $40 a day show. I'd be more impressed if she'd show how to feed a family on $40 a week. This is $45 a month.
iris lily
9-12-11, 11:39pm
I wish you luck with this. Some people here are very good with extreme frugality--I am not. But beans, rice, and garden veggies are a good way to go for $1.50 daily. Plus an egg or two.
Marianne. I admire you so much for giving this a go! I would love to yes to this challenge, however having such a large family means I'd be faced with stretching myself even thinner than I already am. (i.e. Special meals for myself in addition to cooking/preparing meals for the rest of the family).
P.S. I second Iris Lily's suggestion on concentrating on beans and rice and garden veggies and things to keep the cost down, which would provide for proper nutritional value and daily intake requirements. Will be revisiting this thread topic over and over and will post ideas as I think of them.
Also, to add, oats.
August is such a good time to do this challenge as the produce is so cheap as the harvest takes place plus legumes. May would be much more difficult, I would think.
Go for it and post your intake please so that we can all learn and maybe implement some of the ideas.
Amaranth will have some ideas as well, I am sure.
Thanks. I already screwed up and started an entire pot of coffee out of habit. :|( In trying to read the label too early in the morning, I couldn't find how many servings per cannister, so some of this is going to be guess-math.
I decided to go with whatever I would have to pay to buy food now, even though I have plenty here. I'm heading into town this morning for a dentist appt, and will hit the store after that and jot down some prices.
Dinner after DH gets home will be a challenge. He'll eat some vegetarian meals, so I'm lucky there. I have a veggie stir fry that he likes, also thinking about burritos/tacos. Make taco meat for him, bean burritos for me.
How to figure costs on spices and some things still eludes me. I make so much from scratch, like taco seasoning mix, and all that is a lot cheaper than buying prepackaged things - so that will all be guess work.
After I shut down the computer last night, I had a moment of 'what was I thinking!!', posting this thing on the forum. Later I thought that since I like simple foods, it might not be that difficult. DS#1 is an inspiration. He's the family nomad, eats as simply (and cheap!) as he can, mostly Indian food. When I asked him why, he said something about 3/4 of the world eating less than he does. He's a 245 lb. vegetarian weight lifter, so not skinny. I'm remembering how he cooks when he's here - huge pots of stuff, then eat it for three days.
Now this is starting to be fun. In a weird sort of way. :)
flowerseverywhere
9-13-11, 8:33am
check out these recipes from "the hunger challenge" for ideas
http://hungerchallenge.blogspot.com/2008/10/hunger-challenge-recipes.html
someone recently posted they were going to do the San Francisco hunger challenge which was to eat on a food stamp budget. It puts things in a different perspective if you realize that is about 3x your budget. Wow.
I see the empathy side of it. The math bothers me. $1.50 in a rural area of a third world country is a different $1.50 than in the urban USA. When you live in a mud hut with no utilities, spending a larger proportion of your income on food just happens since there's no utility bill, no car insurance....
Re food stamp budget - food stamps are scaled to income. A person with very little income will get $200 a month for one person (in Florida). That seems like plenty to me, not challenging.
Thanks for the link, Flowers. I'll check that out.
Reader, I agree with the math part. There's also cooking costs that could be factored in...I'm not going to build a fire outside to make some chow. Some third world people might have a cow or goat for milk, cheese, while others wouldn't. So many variables.
The food stamp allotment in FL shocks me! I have no idea what it is in Kansas now, but a few years ago I had a friend living on SS disability, less than $600 per month. She got $16 a week in food stamps.
I sure could make $200 a month work, too.
I‘m figuring $0.15 per cup of coffee, $0.05 to $0.10 (+ or -) for seasoning, depending on how much I use. Even though I have hens, I’m going to consider eggs at the same price that a friend charges for hers.
Here’s how things went yesterday (Tuesday):
Breakfast: I blew my breakfast budget by drinking 3 cups of coffee w/ a tsp of sugar - $0.45
Started sour dough bread that’s supposed to cost $0.50 per loaf to make. I already had the starter which consists of flour, water and time.
Lunch: I scored some chicken hind quarters on sale for $0.68 per pound. I used one leg (drumstick) to make a pot of soup. I added chicken broth, some veggies from the garden, a handful of rice, some cabbage I already had and seasoning. I have an ancient cat with grain allergies, so I make her food using chicken. I always get a pint or quart of chicken broth from that to put in the freezer for cooking, so I consider that free. I’m calling the meal $1.00.
Supper: Leftover soup and a slice of sourdough bread - $0.05
The total today was $1.50. I had plenty to eat, but I was eyeing the cookies in the cupboard later. I put the cookies in the freezer.
I drank plain water during the day. So far, so good. Not nutritionally complete, but not too bad.
I’m starting homemade yogurt this morning.
DH surprised me by saying that he’d join me in the challenge when he gets home. When I told a friend about it, she asked (after a long pause) 'Does that include chocolate?' :o)
You're an inspiration to me Marianne! The ironic part of all this, as in eating for less than $1.50 a day, is that it's probably (by far) WAY more healthy for a person as compared to the normal (conventional) way we all tend to eat.
One area I thought of, as a way of helping you on your $1.50 a day adventure, is suggesting that you drop by your local butcher shop or meat department (where you shop), and seeing if they have any fresh bones they'd be willing to part with (for free). Ours does, often, I just never ask for them anymore, because I find there is never enough meat left on them for them to be beneficial for what I require them for, but in the case of yourself who is looking to challenge yourself for a short five day period, the cost-free bones would be a welcome addition to a pot of homemade (garden fresh) vegetable soup!
I have a hunch this isn't going to be a healthy diet some days! :o)
The local market sells the bones as 'dog bones'. And you're right, there's not much meat, if any, left on them. I'm fine with a pot of soup with just a dab of meat, or a bowl of beans. With DH joining in, it's a different deal. Not that he would ever pressure me for anything, but I'm already putting the pressure on myself to make foods that he likes.
One thing that has surprised me is the portion size. After I measured out the oatmeal this morning, it was 'uh, that's all??' I'm craving coffee and milk, but I think it's more psychological than anything. Too much thinking about food! LOL
My daughter worked for a well-known anti-hunger coalition in NYC, and they sponsored a food stamp challenge, asking people to live for a week on 28.25, which is what the average NYC food stamp allotment is.
I was out of town on business that week, which was a bummer, because I would have loved to have done it, but my DH did it. Unfortunately, he really is not a healthy eater anyway, so his strategy was to stock up on peanut butter, Saltines, and Campbell's soup. NOT what I would have done. I would have gone the rice and beans route; however... the biggest lesson it taught him was how much it sucks not to have choice. It's fine for us simple livers to enjoy the fruits of our backyard harvest and brag about how little we spend on food, but many of us have a safety net in the bank.
It was an interesting experiment to be sure.
Marianne, I know there are great blogs to help you. The members of this forum turned me on to them. Try onedollardietproject.wordpress.com. In the meantime, I'll search out the others.
Originally posted by Marianne.
I have a hunch this isn't going to be a healthy diet some days!Maybe, maybe not. Here's my take on an additional idea related to the continued effort to provide good solid nutritional value to the cause. How about a can of pineapple (slices), where you could divvy up a slice or two each day to help carry you through the week?
Catherine. Your husbands food list made me smile! Not hard to tell you've cared for him extra well for a long, long time! :)
Thanks, Catherine. I had to chuckle about DH's food choices, too!
That's a good idea, Mrs-M. I bought a can of peaches yesterday and was going to divvy them up to eat with the yogurt, but the pineapple would be easier to do with the slices.
My new, awesome neighbor just called and asked if I would like a gallon of goats milk! Perfect timing! She's recently got some goats, but has no intention of milking them, so I don't know where she got the milk. DH won't touch it, but I loved it when we had access to it years ago.
Lentils are inexpensive, filling, versatile and a good source of protein.
Lentils are inexpensive, filling, versatile and a good source of protein.
Yes, they are. I have a partial bag here. I made lentil burgers one time and DH even ate one. I think I like split peas better (DS#1 calls them green lentils) but it could be because I grew up with them. It was just a few years ago that I ate the brown ones. Either way, one can get a lot of mileage from a $1 bag.
Wednesday’s meals (I’m sure some of you are going to be choking and gagging through some of these 'meals'…)
Breakfast - roasted dandelion tea (I did the dandelion root last spring), sugar, splash of milk - $0.05. Tasted terrible, I think I kind of burned it when I roasted the root, so I added more sugar and milk, another $0.05.
Poured it down the drain and made coffee, drank 2 cups - $0.30
1 serving of oatmeal w/ scant tsp sugar and cinnamon - $0.12
1 slice sourdough toast with 1 pat of butter - $0.13
I started to make three quarts of yogurt in the slow cooker - $0.96 per quart of milk, starter from the last batch of yogurt. It will be ready to eat tomorrow morning.
Lunch - tomatoes, cucumbers and onion from the garden, 2 tbsp sour cream and dill - $0.12
Dinner - I had something else planned since DH was going to be home. He called to tell me that it would be late, so I decided to just grab something simple. I was going to make an omelet (bit of ham, cheese and broccoli), but I didn't have enough money left. Plus I really wanted a glass of milk.
2 slices sourdough - $0.10
One T butter - $0.10
Two scrambled eggs - $0.26
8 oz milk - $0.24
Daily total - $1.47
I thought I was getting a free gallon of goat milk, but that deal fell through. *sigh* I am really craving milk, fruit...choices! :o) I'm getting rather tired of sourdough bread, too. The coffee is a big chunk of my daily allowance, so I might drink tea instead.
Today I'll have more variety as I'll make larger dishes and figure cost per serving.
If you're looking for more milk than your budget allows, Amy Dacyczyn always used powdered. Not great, I know, but cheap.
Soups are really great dollar stretchers. A great lentil soup...yum!
This thread reminds me of how expensive I've found basmati rice to me. I love that kind, but I can't see how people of reduced income can afford it, they have to eat more mundane rice.
This is a very interesting project Marianne and you seem to be doing really well with it. I'd like to get my grocery bill down and you are inspiring me to do so.
If you're looking for more milk than your budget allows, Amy Dacyczyn always used powdered. Not great, I know, but cheap.
It used to be a lot cheaper, but not anymore, or here anyway. I buy it now to use in various mixes, but locally it's $7.95 for a box that makes 8 quarts. $4 a gallon for that stuff??? Just a side note on powdered milk - I recently learned that the reason it's always non fat is because it would have to be refrigerated if the milk fats were left in. Makes sense that the fats would go rancid.
Iris, I agree on the rice. El cheapo rice is pretty lousy in texture and taste. My favorite is Jasmine. My daughter and I used to split a huge bag that we bought at an Asian store. Super cheap that way. The last time we bought a bag, it was so unbelieveably bug infested that we never bought there again. It might have been just that one shipment, but it left a lasting impression...ick.
Marianne. You've been so creative with meal menus. Way to go on that! Racking my brain right now in an attempt to storm other ideas for you, but your doing so well that I'm hard-pressed to offer-up any other suggestions.
Eating for less than $1.50 a day is interesting and can even be nutritional and wholesome, however, over time, the limited food groups would become tiresome. Makes me really appreciate the fact that we are graced with so much in the way of options Re: food group choices and ingredients when it comes to meal allowance and preparation.
Hats off to you! Awesome job!!!
treehugger
9-15-11, 1:48pm
It used to be a lot cheaper, but not anymore, or here anyway. I buy it now to use in various mixes, but locally it's $7.95 for a box that makes 8 quarts. $4 a gallon for that stuff???
I have found that, too, much to my surprise. I was raised on powdered milk, because it was much cheaper back then than fluid milk. Not any more. But, I do keep it on hand because several of my bread recipes call for it and it is handy to use if I run out of milk and am not planning on shopping for a few days.
As for low budget meals, I do pretty well by shopping almost exclusively from the grocery store sale flyers (and planning meals around that) and using a price book. Sure, it means that we can't eat whatever we want when we want it, but that's OK.
Kara
Ooohhh I LOVE these extreme frugal challanges! I have tried to eat for $1.50 a day but am having difficulty just because I eat so darn much! I'm very active and eat about double the calories that a "normal" person does so have trouble paring expenses. Plus I don't cook or like hot food (am sort of an unintentional raw foodie type) and seem to live totally on HUGE veggie sandwiches (with some sort of protein) and fruit and fruit smoothies for lunch and dinner and a couple of bagels with nut butter and a cup of coffee for breakfast. Hard to get down to $1.50 on that kind of food but am going to "try" to cook more even if it's just spaggetti from a jar - something even I can do and is probably inexpensive if I don't eat the whole thing - which I usually do :-)!! My other big problem is that I leave home early in the morning (eat breakfast and drink coffee in my car) and often don't come back until early in the evening. So I have to figure out a way of taking lunch and some extra food with me. Easy if it's sandwiches and fruit and raw veggies but can't figure out how to take cooked food - especially since I'm not near a place to heat it up. Suggestions???
The only thing I can think of is a wide mouth thermos. Hot or cold food should be around the same temp a few hours later. But if you don't care for hot food, you'll probably still be hating it. :o)
For my challenge, I thought about all the inexpensive Indian foods that our son makes when he's here, but the bottom line is that I really don't care for a lot of the seasonings that he uses. While my $1.50 a day diet would be considered very boring, not extremely healthy by many, it works for me. I ate a boatload of various salads and veggies this summer, so I'm ready for the heavier meals of winter. Gotta get that layer of fat on just in case it's a long, cold season. :o)
Kara, that powdered milk has kept me from the grocery store, too! I usually use it in cooking and baking, no one is the wiser. I stock up whenever meat, cheese and the like are on sale and like you, plan my meals around that. I have been able to keep our monthly grocery bill to around $225 a month. Eating less meat has helped, and DH hasn't complained. How do you use your price book?
treehugger
9-15-11, 7:54pm
How do you use your price book?
Basically the method I learned from The Tightwad Gazette. I keep a notebook in my purse with different categories on separate pages (rice/grains, beans, baking, etc.). Then I record the item, size, price and unit price for each of the several stores that I compare prices at. That way, I know where to go for each type of food.
It's not a perfect system because prices change all the time, but it really helps to get a sense of what's usually cheapest where. And it especially pays off when I see something on what I think is a good sale. With my pricebook I know for sure and then I can stock up. Using my pricebook is how I figured out what's worth it to buy at Costco (where some things are tons cheaper than grocery stores and some things a lot higher).
I am lucky and have a lot of different stores to choose from in my area, but I want to make sure I don't waste my time and gas driving too many places. So, I only go shopping every 2 weeks and I hit different stores on a rotating basis. For example, I go to Trader Joe's and Safeway or Lucky every other Saturday (depending on who has better sales items). I make a Costco usually once a month or less and I can go on my lunch break since it's close to my work. Then I fit in a trip to any one of the others (Smart N Final, Food Maxx, Target, Grocery Outlet, asian and Mexican markets) once every few weeks, either on my lunch break or on Saturday with my regular shopping.
That was probably more info than you wanted. :}
By the way, I spend about $100 a month for myself and my husband. We don't eat out, but we do have dogs and cats whose food costs are on top of that $100.
Kara
By the way, I spend about $100 a month for myself and my husband. We don't eat out, but we do have dogs and cats whose food costs are on top of that $100.
Kara
Holy mama! That is just outstanding!! Are you vegetarian? I'm assuming that you also eat from your garden? (More details, please.)
With that huge variety of stores in your area, I can see why you'd keep a notebook. I have one small town market 12 miles from my house, Sam's and Wally World is 35 miles from here..oh, and the buggy Asian market. That's it. I'd have to drive 2 hours to get to a city that has Mexican or anything else. So I buy locally and pay the higher prices.
We're gradually eating more vegetarian meals, but I still have to toss DH a pork chop once in a while. We could buy a side of beef locally (Black Angus are my neighbors down the road), but I know that if I had it in my freezer, we'd eat beef all the time. Plus I don't think I could look a cow in the eyes and say, 'I'll take that one'. But it'd be cheaper per pound.
There's just the two of us now, but once or twice a month we have big family dinners and send leftovers home with the kids. DS#1 stays with us for several weeks when he's in the USA, too, but that's only once every year or two.
And all this is probably more than you wanted to read, too. You have inspired me to do more! (with less) :o)
Thursday
Breakfast
2 cups coffee - $0.30 This is stupid, hot tea from now on!
1 cup homemade yogurt - $0.24
Lunch
Split pea soup
Split peas (green lentils) - $0.83 (the bag says 10 servings)
Chicken broth from the freezer plus some water
Onion and garlic from the garden
2 bowls of soup - $0.17
I was prepared to caramelize onions, or fry them really crisp for a topping, or add a blop of bacon grease if I had to. It tasted so good by using chicken broth, I ate it the way it was. Good stuff, filling and simple.
Dinner
DH said the soup sounded good, so we had it again for supper.
2 bowls of soup - $0.17
8 saltine crackers - $0.12 (!!!!)
Later I had:
One cup homemade yogurt with a dribble of homemade vanilla - $0.26
Cup of hot tea - $0.05
Daily total - $1.31
______________
When I first started this, I thought that if I didn’t have so much homemade stuff and a garden, I’d be seriously screwed. Today I have a different attitude. It’s all about gradually making the changes, focusing on portion control, flavors, variety, etc. YMMV
treehugger
9-16-11, 5:04pm
Holy mama! That is just outstanding!! Are you vegetarian? I'm assuming that you also eat from your garden? (More details, please.)
Hmmm, I realize now that looks sort of boastful the way I wrote that, and that wasn't what I meant at all. We struggle making ends meet, so $100 a month is really all we have to spend on food. If I had more wiggle room, I would definitely spend more on this part of our budget.
We eat a lot of beans and rice. A lot. We aren't vegetarians, but we do eat a lot of meatless meals. I only buy meat that I can find on sale for less than $2 a pound. We eat too much bread (it's filling and I bake it myself, so it's cheap). I only buy the one or two vegetables and fruits that are on sale, so our produce intake is not varied enough. We do have a garden but neither of us are natural greenthumbs and our yield has been dismal this year. There are so many things I miss that I just never buy any more (avocados, tomatoes, goat cheese, arugula, fish...).
OK, now all of that sounds like I need a pity party, and I don't mean that either. Our budget is what it is, not something to boast about or be sorry for. But some day I will buy goat cheese and salmon all the quality organic produce we can eat! :D
Kara
Originally posted by Spartana.
Easy if it's sandwiches and fruit and raw veggies but can't figure out how to take cooked food - especially since I'm not near a place to heat it up. Suggestions???Hmmm... that's a tough one, leave it with me for a bit to ponder....... P.S. The Thermos is an excellent start!
Originally posted by Marianne.
I ate a boatload of various salads and veggies this summer, so I'm ready for the heavier meals of winter. Gotta get that layer of fat on just in case it's a long, cold season.Salads are the part I love best about the hotter months. Like yourself, by the end of the summer season I'm ready for more thicker, heavier meals. Meals with substance! A layer of fat you say? No problems there!!! Hahaha!!! Still packing weight (some of it) from my last birth. Old Man Winter, bring it on!!!!! P.S. Awesome menu, and the pea soup, OMG, sounds delicious! I LOVE pea soup!
Treehugger. Way to go on your monthly food-budget! That is awesome!
Friday
Breakfast
3 cups of hot tea from one (yep, one) tea bag. Good thing I like weak tea - $0.05
I got busy in the kitchen and didn’t eat.
Lunch
Fresh tomato, onion, celery, bell pepper, ¼ cup rice, seasoning and a can of black beans - $1.00 ?
I ate about ¼ of it - $0.25
Friends came over in the afternoon…carrying a pan of cherry bars! :o)
One cherry bar - $0.35
2 cups of coffee - $0.30
Neither of us felt like eating supper, but later I ate some homemade granola -
Granola - $0.15
Milk - $0.24
I really wanted a ham sandwich instead.
Daily total - $1.34
Treehugger, I think you should be proud of yourself! I didn't think your post sounded boastful at all. You are my new hero.
We ate a lot of bread, beans, anything cheap, when the kids were young. I was a stay at home mom of three, and the money just wasn't there. I was a little more concerned about nuitrition for them, so we always had some kind of fruit/veggie side dishes, but the main course was whatever could be stretched out - a lot. I was the casserole queen.
:laff:
Saturday
Breakfast
2 slices French toast, made with really stale sourdough bread, egg, milk, cinnamon - $0.25
1 tbsp butter, total - $0.10
2 eggs - $0.26
No lunch, early dinner
Dinner - Spicy Linguini
½ pound of nitrate filled smoked sausage - $1.25 (on sale)
Lots of onion and bell pepper from the garden
1 jar homemade salsa - $0.25 (?) All veggies came from the garden
Italian seasonings - $0.15
Linguini - $1.30
Four big servings at $0.74 per serving.
Daily total - $1.35
Marianne. Oh yum, what time is dinner? Ha-ha-ha!!! Sounds delish! You have a real knack for creativity Re: this challenge. P.S. Absolutely LOVE the sounds of the homemade salsa with it!
Whew. I'm glad that's over. I'm thoroughly enjoying coffee this morning and had a big glass of milk. There is some fruit that's calling my name, too.
I didn't make some of the dishes I had planned early on, mostly because life happened and time was an issue. They probably would have been healthier. I still have tomatoes and cucumbers in the frig, but I was so tired of them before I started this. I learned that I really don't like sour dough bread that much.
I didn't starve, but my jeans aren't as snug now. I think the thing I hated the most was the craving for foods I'm used to eating - as much of and when ever I wanted them. I was surprised at how much all the little stuff - honey, coffee, etc - that I take for granted - added to the daily total. I'd either have to do without, or cut back somewhere else.
But I'm glad I did it. I'm more aware of some things now, and more grateful for what I have, you know?
The first time I tried that recipe I thought 'this isn't going to work'. Salsa and Italian seasoning just didn't sound right together. It's ended up being a favorite here. The recipe calls for a full pound of sausage, but I couldn't afford it. :o) It ended up being fine, still plenty of flavor and DH got all the sausage he wanted.
He didn't actually do the challenge, but he ate whatever I fixed with no complaining. He told me that he was fine with soups and beans...bless his little heart.
Thanks for sharing your experience Marianne, it really got me thinking about how much I spend on food and what it is I really need versus what it is I really want.
Marianne. I'm with Jania, and would also like to extend a thank you to you for tempting this challenge. You did so well! Sure makes one take a second look at areas of our diet where we could comfortably cutback and be no worse off for the wear.
Lots of good ideas here. Different ways of looking at things, too.
Thank you for sharing this with us. The variety you created seems to have helped.
When doing challenges like this, people seem to run into two opposing situations. If they make multiple servings of something, they get tired of it. If they don't make multiple servings, they sometimes run out of time to cook and wind up not eating at all. Has anyone tried making more dishes up front, but making them all different? So the convenience is there, but not as much of the repetitiveness?
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