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A lot of people have incomplete information about what the $1.50 refers to.
This figure refers to the extreme poverty that 1.4 billion people (20% of the world's population) across the world must endure. It is derived from the fact that, on average, these people earn, through various means, only about $550.00 per person, per year. This figure is calculated at Power Purchasing Parity, which means that the number has already been adjusted for different values of currency and differing prices around the world. In other words, the $1.50 is all you have, it is not adjusted for food stamps, soup kitchens, lunch programs or anything else.
IT IS ALL THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO FEED THEMSELVES EACH DAY.
Doing this for five days gives people in the US a chance to feel the hunger that 20% of the world must endure. If you truly want to live like the bottom 20%, you would also have to cut out any food that needs to be frozen or refrigerated as these poor people do not have these resources. You would be able to grow your food and/or fish and hunt to supplement your diet. Life for this group is largely centered around the constant search to grow/gather/hunt for food. The $1.50 per person is earned through various means, often informal jobs or tasks.
Many here have commented that it would be hard to eat a balanced diet that has variety. That is the point. This is a problem of the poor across the world. Many suffer from malnutrition or other nutritional deficiencies.
A decent overview of the problem can be found in this Ted talk.
A lot of people have incomplete information about what the $1.50 refers to.
This figure refers to the extreme poverty that 1.4 billion people (20% of the world's population) across the world must endure. It is derived from the fact that, on average, these people earn, through various means, only about $550.00 per person, per year. This figure is calculated at Power Purchasing Parity, which means that the number has already been adjusted for different values of currency and differing prices around the world. In other words, the $1.50 is all you have, it is not adjusted for food stamps, soup kitchens, lunch programs or anything else.
IT IS ALL THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO FEED THEMSELVES EACH DAY.
Doing this for five days gives people in the US a chance to feel the hunger that 20% of the world must endure. If you truly want to live like the bottom 20%, you would also have to cut out any food that needs to be frozen or refrigerated as these poor people do not have these resources. You would be able to grow your food and/or fish and hunt to supplement your diet. Life for this group is largely centered around the constant search to grow/gather/hunt for food. The $1.50 per person is earned through various means, often informal jobs or tasks.
Many here have commented that it would be hard to eat a balanced diet that has variety. That is the point. This is a problem of the poor across the world. Many suffer from malnutrition or other nutritional deficiencies.
A decent overview of the problem can be found in this Ted talk.
But this is not what the post is about: we are not referring to people throughout the world. In some countries it is easy to eat on $1.50 per day, per person. Here in America it almost can not be done, but the good news is: most people, at poverty or close to poverty level know of food banks that will provide them with food as well. The food banks, normally do not charge anything and many even offer fresh produce and meat, as well as eggs. So, I think you are looking at the subject in a little different way, than the rest of us.
But this is not what the post is about: we are not referring to people throughout the world. In some countries it is easy to eat on $1.50 per day, per person. Here in America it almost can not be done, but the good news is: most people, at poverty or close to poverty level know of food banks that will provide them with food as well. The food banks, normally do not charge anything and many even offer fresh produce and meat, as well as eggs. So, I think you are looking at the subject in a little different way, than the rest of us.
But I think the OP was intending to get people here thinking about how or even if they could survive on $1.50 in the United States without the help of other people or institutions.
Is is possible to do this in the US? Maybe. I would not recommend it.
If I had to live on $1.50 per day, I probably could survive by not eating some days, and saving my money for the highest value foods I could find: rice, beans, lentils, and potatoes. I could supplement my food intake with food grown in a garden: tomatoes, corn, and peppers. In many areas of the US (even many cities), I could buy and raise a couple of egg-laying hens.
One thing is for certain, I would be a lot thinner. Probably healthier too.
As for how hard it is to survive in the United States on very little money, I would recommend watching Morgan Spurlock's show: 30 Days: Minimum Wage. In it he and his fiance both try to survive for 30 days while working minimum wage jobs. The money he earns is more than $1.50 per day, but he has to try to get housing, food, and pay his bills with his and his fiance's meager paychecks. If you are interested in watching this, the video can be streamed on Netflix.
While I know I have taken this thread in a different direction, this is an issue that I feel very strongly about as human being. We live in the richest nation in the world, so we don't worry about food security. We have the programs and social safety nets that keep people from starving, but others across the world are not so fortunate. And many of these people across the world live in poverty while working in the factories manufacturing the cheap products we consume here.
Thread Hijack Over. You may now resume your normal thread discussion.
A lot of you don't make any sense. Obesity? Diabetes? That's the least of your concern. The whole point of this challenge is to show you there ARE people who are forced to live this way everyday, not just 5 days. They still manage to live; they're not dead.
It won't kill you to eat ramen for 5 days. The point is to show you how hard it is.
There ARE millions of people with diabetes that are supposed to eat that way everyday...and they can't, because to do so would literally kill them.
No, it may not kill me to eat ramen for 5 days....but it would at least put me in a coma. Why?
I have diabetes.
Last edited by rainroosty; 04-27-2013 at 10:21 AM..
But I think the OP was intending to get people here thinking about how or even if they could survive on $1.50 in the United States without the help of other people or institutions.
Is is possible to do this in the US? Maybe. I would not recommend it.
If I had to live on $1.50 per day, I probably could survive by not eating some days, and saving my money for the highest value foods I could find: rice, beans, lentils, and potatoes. I could supplement my food intake with food grown in a garden: tomatoes, corn, and peppers. In many areas of the US (even many cities), I could buy and raise a couple of egg-laying hens.
One thing is for certain, I would be a lot thinner. Probably healthier too.
As for how hard it is to survive in the United States on very little money, I would recommend watching Morgan Spurlock's show: 30 Days: Minimum Wage. In it he and his fiance both try to survive for 30 days while working minimum wage jobs. The money he earns is more than $1.50 per day, but he has to try to get housing, food, and pay his bills with his and his fiance's meager paychecks. If you are interested in watching this, the video can be streamed on Netflix.
While I know I have taken this thread in a different direction, this is an issue that I feel very strongly about as human being. We live in the richest nation in the world, so we don't worry about food security. We have the programs and social safety nets that keep people from starving, but others across the world are not so fortunate. And many of these people across the world live in poverty while working in the factories manufacturing the cheap products we consume here.
Thread Hijack Over. You may now resume your normal thread discussion.
Bingo!! That was the exact intent of the thread. The discussion somehow devolved into pooling family funds and managing for a week on the aggregate amount. The homeless have no "family funds" nor do they have refrigeration or a place to cook a big pot of something. Some have suggested the nutrition in "a cup of lentils" or "an egg costs 20 cents". But how does one find the store that sells lentils by the cupful or eggs by the each? And having found it, where are the facilities to cook same?
Yes, for five days, a family of four or five could buy enough food to eat something for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They portions would be small and there would be no seconds. Everyone would go to bed hungry but able to hang in there until the end of the five days. I've found that you can stand almost anything if you know when it's going to end. But for the millions of indigent people who can see no end in sight, they have only a side dish of despair.
Here's a British presentation of "How to eat healthily on £1 a day"--that's about US$1.50 at the moment. The recipes they list mostly sound pretty good.
Here's a British presentation of "How to eat healthily on £1 a day"--that's about US$1.50 at the moment. The recipes they list mostly sound pretty good.
this is basically the challenge that the OP is talking about, only it is in UK instead of America. It still can not be done over a long period of time and we are talking about someone who can and will put the time and effort the challenge. The average person, living at the poverty level will not do this. Over weeks or months people can not exist on $1.50 per day, per person and eat healthy..
this is basically the challenge that the OP is talking about, only it is in UK instead of America. It still can not be done over a long period of time and we are talking about someone who can and will put the time and effort the challenge. The average person, living at the poverty level will not do this. Over weeks or months people can not exist on $1.50 per day, per person and eathealthy..
Of course, they can't. That's the point. That poor people world-wide suffer health problems because they have such a poor diet. The OP offered a challenge: Eat on $1.50/day for five days. Not "see how long you can live on $1.50/day". The challenge is to see how difficult it is to subsist on that pittance, but not over the long term.
It's kind of a false challenge. For people in wealthy countries, the difficulty is figuring out the cheap things that will fill your belly for a few days, when almost everything in the stores is much more expensive. The items you might end up with are everyday things, but you have to analyze the relative cost of a whole store full of food to find them.
For someone living in a poor country, what you're likely to eat tomorrow or next week or whenever is pretty well defined. There won't be much variety--it'll be basic starches and a few vegetables and protein items which will hopefully keep you not too unhealthy, and lots of people will be buying (or bartering, or foraging, or growing for themselves) those exact same things. The issue isn't being ingenious to meet a budget, but being on the verge of malnutrition 100% of the time.
For my husband and me, that would be $15 for 5 days. Whew, that's not much, but it could be done, I think.
I'd probably go with dried legumes for protein, rice, potatoes, and frozen veggies.
Bananas can be cheap and nutritious, but I think most other fruit is out of the question. (It can cost $1.00 for an apple here. One apple!)
We can't eat eggs (allergies), but eggs are cheap and nutritious, too.
We'd be lacking in calcium, though. If we could use the garden, we could grow greens for calcium.
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There ARE millions of people with diabetes that are supposed to eat that way everyday...and they can't, because to do so would literally kill them.
