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Make a nutritious meal for 30p challenge

B3B3 Posts: 25,218
edited May 2022 in The potting shed
You live in a tower block - no outside space. . Your cupboards are bare.
Challenge 1 
Your electricity hasn't been disconnected yet.There are four in your family. Design a recipe for a nutritious meal for £1.20
Moving on to Challenge 2
Your electricity has been disconnected but you do have £1.20.
Design a nutritious meal
Moving down to Challenge 3
There's just you. You have 30p
Design a nutritious meal for yourself
To make it easy. Your electricity is still connected.
Prizes will be awarded for the tastiest recipe.🏆🏅

I have genuinely been wracking my brains. I suppose I could come up with something for 1 and possibly 2 but 3 seems impossible to me.
Even if you multiplied it by 3 for a day and seven for a week, you'd be hard pushed to buy a week's food for £6.30 and ensure it was edible by the end of the week.
In London. Keen but lazy.
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Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Can you give some background to the questions please?
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,051
    edited May 2022
    Fire said:
    Can you give some background to the questions please?
    some loony Tory MP said you can feed yourself for 30p a day
    https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/tory-mp-claims-theres-no-need-for-food-banks-and-that-people-can-feed-themselves-for-30p-a-day/
    Devon.
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,218
    No. The government hasn't got any background either.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,218
    Thanks @Hostafan1. I misunderstood @Fire 's question😕
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • mikeymustardmikeymustard Posts: 495
    edited May 2022
    One freddo frog, 25p and you've got yourself some change!
    Might get a bit monotonous after a week or so.

    Or...¼ packet of basics spaghetti dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, fresh paremesan shavings and black pepper, served with a chilled pouilly fuisse.
    The other items were in my chef's larder so they don't count 🙂
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,827
    edited May 2022
    I can't think of anything that you'd be able to put together from nothing for 30p. Maybe as a proportion of larger packs of eg lentils and with some storecupbard ingredients like spices, cooking oil etc, but no, I don't think I could go to the shops with 30p and come back with all the ingredients for a balanced and tasty meal whether or not I had the gas/electricity to cook it with. I count myself lucky that I've never been in that situation (even as a student I could buy big bags of lentils, pasta, rice etc which would do quite a few cheap meals).
    With £1.20 you might get a cheap sliced loaf and a couple of tins of baked beans for beans on toast (no butter for the toast though). I would eat bread and beans cold if I was hungry enough, but it wouldn't be very appealing (my OH has been known to eat leftover cold beans in a sandwich). And no greens or fruit, so it wouldn't really be a balanced meal.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,218
    Well chocolate is a plant based food. It must count as one of your five a day. There might even be milk in it.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,051
    edited May 2022
    JennyJ said:
    I can't think of anything that you'd be able to put together from nothing for 30p. Maybe as a proportion of larger packs of eg lentils and with some storecupbard ingredients like spices, cooking oil etc, but no, I don't think I could go to the shops with 30p and come back with all the ingredients for a balanced and tasty meal whether or not I had the gas/electricity to cook it with. I count myself lucky that I've never been in that situation (even as a student I could buy big bags of lentils, pasta, rice etc which would do quite a few cheap meals).
    With £1.20 you might get a cheap sliced loaf and a couple of tins of baked beans for beans on toast (no butter for the toast though). I would eat bread and beans cold if I was hungry enough, but it wouldn't be very appealing (my OH has been known to eat leftover cold beans in a sandwich). And no greens or fruit, so it wouldn't really be a balanced meal.
    You'd have to save up your 30 p budget to allow you to buy the larger packs. You can't buy part of a big pack. 
    Clearly you'd have to walk to the shops too.
    Devon.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,827
    Exactly my point. If you have no food in and only 30p, you're stuck with freddy frog or similar. Maybe a cheap packet of biscuits but I'm not sure how much they are these days (I don't often buy biscuits).
    In terms of walking to the shops, we have reasonable choice within a 15-minute walk, but many people will have nothing, or just convenience stores and fast-food takeaway places, or they might not be able to walk that far. Whichever government bod said that clearly has no idea.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,051
    there are no shops within a 15 min walk from here
    Devon.
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