back to article Fried-egg sarnies kick off Reg man's quid-a-day nosh challenge

Coffee, bacon and black pudding were strictly off the menu this morning as this hack kicked off his "Live Below the Line" challenge with a couple of fried-egg sarnies and a mug of builders' tea. Until Friday, I have to subsist on just £1 a day for food as I participate in "an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that' …

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  1. Andrew Moore
    Thumb Up

    Good luck Lester...

    In a slightly similar vein, I'm actually calculating exactly how much I spend on food a week. It looks like I'm going to blow through €6 before the end of the day (and that's after cutting down on extravagances like shop-bought sandwiches)

    1. Reading Your E-mail
      Joke

      Re: Good luck Lester...

      Wish you well, although Fried-Egg Sarnie would be a great name for a future Android OS :)

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        FAIL

        Re: Good luck Lester...

        Android OS names are incremented alphabetically. The next one should start with K, then L, M, N, O etc. They are also all desserts/sweets, so that's two reasons why you won't be seeing Fried-Egg Sarnie as an Android OS name.

  2. FartingHippo
    Trollface

    Not joining you. Sorry.

    Ironically my lunchtime steak and ale pie - complete with delicious mash and gravy - cost £5.00.

    (Should have saved this post for Friday, when it really would have hurt.)

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

      That's really unnecessary. Steak is but a distant dream this morning...

      1. wowfood
        Devil

        Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

        Went to a beefeaters on Saturday. Steak skewers, 10oz Ribeye (medium rare) with bacon cheese and a gorgonzolla sauce, and then a banoffee sundae for desert. £30 well spent methinks.

      2. big_D Silver badge

        Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

        You need to look at reruns of Morecombe and Wise, where they hung up the tea bags to dry, that will save you a few extra cents.

        1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

          Re: Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

          The tea's rough enough already, without recycling the bags.

          1. JDC

            Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

            I'll be heading through Barco de Avila tomorrow, are you allowed red cross style food parcels?

            1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

              Re: Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

              I'm not, but I'll buy you a coffee for the offer, if you fancy it.

      3. IsJustabloke
        Happy

        Re: Not joining you. Sorry.

        console yourself with this thought; if his entire meal is a fiver I doubt he's having much steak either ;-)

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. BorkedAgain
    Thumb Up

    Best of luck with that, Lester!

    Strikes me as a hell of a challenge...

  4. joeW

    A week on eggs and lentils?

    You should have budgeted a few quid for extra bog roll methinks.

    Joking aside though, fair play to you.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Exchange Rate

    Are you sure the exchange rate is correct? Looking at Oanda I see EUR -> GBP is 1,18710 which gives you for GBP 7, EUR 8,31. Thus loads more to spend.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: Exchange Rate

      Try here:

      http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=5&From=GBP&To=EUR

      5 quid = 5.93323 euros

  6. wowfood

    Dozen eggs for a euro?

    You can't even get half dozen for £1 anymore over here.

    1. JeeBee
      Go

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      Yeah, a dozen eggs is around £2 over here. Then again, he doesn't get cheap noodles or Tesco Value Sliced Foam, err, Bread. Also there's learning the time the supermarket puts out the damaged food for cheap and going there everyday to try and pick up a bargain. And lastly, for a long term plan, grow your own veg using cheap veg seeds (lidl, etc) - not that many UK people on the breadline seem to do this.

      The bones are a good idea for flavour, but not easy to get in many places in the UK. Chick peas and Rice is a good idea, again he can't get vast bags of value pasta shapes it appears. Dried lentils? Dried beans?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

        " Also there's learning the time the supermarket puts out the damaged food for cheap and going there everyday to try and pick up a bargain."

        Well, you'll have to endure the scrum of rabid pensioners. Maybe wait til afterwards, and pick up any roadkill OAPs who are trampled to death, and eat them. Is that allowed?

    2. Shrimpling

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      Yes you can... I drive past a farm on the way to work every morning selling eggs at £1 for 6

      1. Benchops

        Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

        Umm, that works out at £2 for a dozen eggs... that's somewhat over €2

    3. Andrew Moore

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      I have two chickens, and I worked out that after feed, bedding and sundries, I am paying just over 30c for a dozen eggs.

    4. Goldmember

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      Yes you can. The giant Walmart/ Asda near me does 6 free range eggs for £1. Then again, I do live up North.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

        @ Goldmember

        You do realise that a dozen is 12 I assume, therefore said 12 eggs would cost £2 or about €2 not the €1 that was paid.

        1. Shrimpling

          Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

          @ Ivan 4

          The line we are replying too when we say we get 6 for £1 would be "You can't even get half dozen for £1 anymore over here."

        2. Goldmember
          Facepalm

          Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

          @Ivan 4

          Quote: "You can't even get half dozen for £1 anymore over here."

          HALF a dozen would be 6. Hence my comment about buying 6 eggs, which you can indeed buy for £1 (up north).

    5. Lars Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      I am more concerned with the age of the eggs. Anybody with childhood memories with eggs kept in water in the small shops. If it floats it's too old, the more air there is the older. Or eggs on top of some system with light beneath, perhaps, revealing if there is a chick inside. Eggs at supermarkets tend to be old, and there is not much to do about it.

    6. Michael Dunn
      Coat

      Re: Dozen eggs for a euro?

      I seem to remember during a spat we had with another European country some seventy odd years ago, when we had an allocation of one egg per week, a dozen eggs on the bl*ck m*rk*t cost 5 shillings, allegedly.

      Yes, it a 'Utility' coat.

  7. EddieD

    All the best mate

    And may Saturday arrive as fast as possible (I doubt I could make do with only 30 teabags, so fair play).

    Eggs and chickpeas - eek.

    I think I'd be living alone if I had that diet.

  8. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Calories

    A quick tot-up at the calorie counter gives the following:

    1kg rice (raw) ~ 4,000

    800 gm loaf ~ 2,100

    1kg chickpeas (dry) 3,700

    12 fried eggs ~ 1,000

    Bones - reckon on 200gm of fat @ 8cal/gm = 1,600

    semi skimmed milk (iltr) ~ 600 - shoulda gone for full-fat!

    and ignoring the teabags & spices as being insignificant.

    That gives a total calorie intake of about 13,000 for the week, or 1,850 / day. So you might even lose a bit of weight - though I doubt that was part of the plan. Now, about those greens ...

    1. Tom7

      Re: Calories

      Not many people seem to have spotted that this is a five-day "week". That's 2,600 calories per day. According to the NHS, the average man needs about 2,500 calories per day to maintain his weight - about right.

      1. Pete 2 Silver badge

        Re: Calories

        From the article:

        > Or rather, I have to make do with just €6 for the week

        But you're absolutely right. I wonder is anyone's going to wait until Sunday evening to tell Lester ...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Calories

        "According to the NHS, the average man needs about 2,500 calories per day to maintain his weight"

        According to the same NHS, the average man is an FB, and would be well advised not to maintain his weight.....

  9. Pete 31
    Thumb Up

    Good luck

    Slightly peeved I had to donate a round number. Perhaps it's sad but I like it when people raise XXX pounds and 13p...

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: Good luck

      Good man - I saw your donation. I may counterattack later by chipping in the £4 to round that back up.

  10. Corinne
    Happy

    Amateur!

    Unless you like your tea exceedingly strong, you should be able to get at least 1.5 mug's worth of tea from each tea bag. Just make sure you remove the bag before adding the milk then put it to one side on a saucer or similar, and it will keep even overnight and still give off some amber goodness next time you brew up.

    @Wowfood - depends on how fussy you are about your eggs. Asda has 15 eggs for £1.34 if you don't mind them being not free range, & a couple in each box being on the small-ish size (but still around medium). Morrisons are a little more expensive, but still around £1.65 for the same number of slightly smaller eggs.

    1. Green Nigel
      Trollface

      Re: Amateur!

      From my school days!

      Question, "What goes in dry, comes out wet & gives pleasure for two?"

      Answer, " A tea bag!"

      After everyone has had a polite chuckle chip in "Ha ha! Fooled you all, it was a willy!"

      "

  11. Steve Todd

    Do they not have street markets over in Spain?

    That's the kind of place you should have been looking, and for things like boxes of veg. Meat, and dairy are mostly right out.

    1. Pete 2 Silver badge

      Re: Do they not have street markets over in Spain?

      If Lester's markets are anything like the ones I've been to in Spanish towns, the meat is not covered and unrefrigerated on display, of an unknown age and origin. I'd prefer to go vegetarian. Though the veggies will only be what's in season, so not a lot of choice at this time of year.

      1. Locky

        Re: Do they not have street markets over in Spain?

        As I recall, most of our supermercat meat is also of unknown origin

        1. RainForestGuppy

          Re: Do they not have street markets over in Spain?

          "As I recall, most of our supermercat meat is also of unknown origin"

          Rubbish everybody knows where it comes from, it was the one that fell in the 3.30 at Kempton.

    2. Andrew Moore

      Re: Do they not have street markets over in Spain?

      They do- they are called mercadillos- great for fresh fruit and veg.

  12. LPF
    Thumb Up

    Did you have any open air markets around your place, the amount you can bug for £1 will feed you for quit a bit, but yeah agree on the bog roll, your stomach is going to act up big time! Plain rice is a bugger, should have ot some more herbs to kick it up a notch!

    But fair play to you mate!

  13. taxman
    Thumb Up

    If Hugh fearlessly eats it all

    I'm sure you could. If you're not adverse to a little blood and stuff you should be able to put in fresh road kill to the 'stew' as that is free! And there should be wild growing herbs around you in Spain to add flavours to a basic 'stew'.

  14. JimmyPage Silver badge

    Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

    Because I image some of those ingredients will take a lot of cooking.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

      It's a fair point. I'll add up the real cost, including energy, at the end of the challenge.

      1. JeeBee
        Mushroom

        Re: Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

        You could always burn your own dung for heat and cooking!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Devil

          Re: Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

          "You could always burn your own dung for heat and cooking!"

          I doubt it. If the tods are dry enough, and your diet high enough in plant materials, then there's a chance it will give out some modest heat because the lignin fibres that your body hasn't digested do have a similar energy content as wood fibres of similar weight. But lookin at what Lester's selected the rice doesn't look to be whole grain, eggs will leave nothing, chick peas will be good, so on balance I reckon he'll be crimping off lengths of regular clay, and that doesn't burn well even if dried.

          If you don't have any other choices, dried elephant dung picked up off the African savannah may be a just about useable fuel, but for the reasons above I doubt that Reg writer droppings will be anything like as good. This is why sewage plant companies have to use fossil fuels to incinerate sewage sludges. If Lester has got some of the fine sieves used in (for example) sedimentology, then he could dissolve his dreadnoughts and used tissue in a bucket of water, and filter the resulting solution, rinse a few times, and he'll have the lignin fibres on their own, ready to use as soon as they are dried. Even so, any neighbours may take issue with Lester's renewables, and the actual energy recovered will be very small indeed. Like most other forms of renewable energy, in fact.

      2. stu 4
        Thumb Up

        Re: Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

        in that case, probably worth boiling up the rice in just two batches for efficiency ?

        2 because I'm assuming use of a fridge is cheating.

        I must admit, I'd have just went for making a big veg soup (+ the bones - that was a good idea), and maybe a bunch of flour (50p 2kg bag would make loads of bread). Nice soup and fresh bread ! soup would only need cooking on day 1 and would last all week. Only other need for cooking would be a batch of bread on day 1 and day 3.

        - Just made enough leek and potato soup at the weekend for 6 meals: 3 quid. (2 leaks, potatoes, onion, stock cube)

        stu

        1. Green Nigel
          Pirate

          Re: Does this £1/day include energy costs ?

          Cooked rice is a common source of food poisoning. It should be cooled directly after being fully cooked, then stored in a fridge for no more than one day.

          The risk is that spores of Bacillus Cereus remain on partially cooked rice, which germinate into bacteria. These will then multiply and may produce toxins that cause all manner of nasty side-effects. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins, so the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat.

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