In our house, we are trying to eat for �������ã1 per day per person during Lent - with Sundays off.
The money we save is going to local homeless charity. Blogging about it here:
https://onepoundoneday.wordpress.com/
Won't be drinking much beer - but have some cider left from the autumn made with free apples!
So far we are one week in.
Initial thoughts are that it's possible for our family to eat for �������ã3 a day - although in week one our daily spend was often around �������ã3.20.
The challenge is whether we can do it healthily - fresh fruit is expensive. Hoping to get a nutritionist from the local university on board to give us weekly feedback.
Cheers
Martin
Brilliant! :thumb: What a great idea; but that's a heck of a target!!
I'm not a nutritionist but we do keep a close eye on what we eat so here goes with some cheap and cheerful items that we use:
o Dried pulses. It takes forethought to put them in to soak overnight (bicarbonate of soda speeds up the soaking process) but they are highly nutritional with loads of fibre. The nutritional values are very similar so avoid the exotic (and expensive) ones.
o Daft as it sounds, tinned tomatoes are nutritionally better than fresh due to the travel and on show time. They are also extremely cheap and can bulk up almost any meal.
o Spices. Avoid the mixtures and the arm and a leg prices charged because someone else has mixed them. The addition of a small amount of spice can lift a meal to a different level altogether. e.g. A small amount of cayenne pepper goes a long way to livening up any dish!
o For meat buy a whole chicken. Roast it as a "first pass", make gravy from the juices (lift out the chicken, stir in a heaped dessertspoon of ordinary plain flour then add 500ml of water and bring it to the boil). With decent portion control a single chicken can provide a lot of meals.
o After removing 98% of the meat from the chicken simmer the carcass for at least an hour with a few whole carrots and a chicken stock cube, strain off the liquor, pick out the carrots and the remaining meat off the carcass, add a few pulses to the liquor and return it to the stove. Blitz it all with a blender when the pulses are tender and "Bingo!" a gallon of nourishing soup!
o As you pointed out, fruit and vegetables are expensive but necessary for good health. (Over ten years ago, in Dunbar, I noticed that a local shop was selling individual apples at 50p each!! No wonder they fry Mars Bars up there!) Weirdly, one of the cheapest fruits seems to be bananas that have come halfway round the world; but dried prunes mixed in with breakfast porridge will give the required nutrients and at the same time remove the need for sugar.
I hope that the above tips are beneficial, best of luck with your challenge and please keep us posted on progress. :thumb: :thumb:
