# my new vegetarian diet



## jobo (Dec 9, 2019)

now i didnt mean to go vegetarian, it was just an accident, im not that keen on meat generally, but have a great love of sausages

it all started when i got into a debate with my sister, a rerun of one ive had on here,  her view that the government's benefit calculation of 6 pounds, thats 6 dollars as near as dam it, per adult was totally inadequate and giving rise to both malnutrition and obesity, which in itself is counter intuitive. and leading to the proliferation of foodbanks

 mine, that 6 pounds is far more than adequate, even generous and if they cant live very well on that its because they are greedy or lazy or just spending the money on something else and then getting free food from the foodbank, which makes them greedy and lazy

she took that hard as she spends an absolute fortune on food at boutique supermarket for her and her husband

so she said, id like to see you do it, i replied i already spend only half of that on food, but raising the anti, for only a little more effort, i could like most of the world live perfectly well on a $ a day

so a bet, three months on a $ a day, the looser to give £ 100 to charity

 so first day i got my thirty pounds and went to the poor peoples shop on the local precinct, its sels ends of lines and brands no one has heard off.

and hit the frozen veg section, they very in price, peppers are dear, mushroom are very cheap, but they average out at about 30p a pounds, so I bought 30 pounds wight for 10 pounds cash. which is when i became a vegetarian, i was going to buy some cheap cuts of meat and make soup, but had no more room in the freezer

Then i walked a 6 mile round trip to an indian shop, for indians, bought 30lb of rice, 10 pounds of chickpeas and a load of spices for another 10

then blew the last one on milk, cheese flours and eggs and cereal

 i wont go into great detail detail on my meals , but as an example today ive started with cereal and milk for breakfast, home made hummus and home made flat bread for dinner,

a a vegetable curry and rice for my main meal, its so big i have to eat it out of the frying pan, i dont have a plate big enough. to be followed by cheese and biscuits for supper.

the $ a day t5hing,, easy piecy, it's about half of that when you see how much i had left at the end of the month, so half a $ a days is easily doable

ive got a bit more adventurous since and jump about between indian, chinese and italian themed meals

and my health and energy levels have never been better and the little bit of fat i did have has gone, which is why despite the bet being won, im still doing it


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 9, 2019)

Is that 6 pounds a day? So 600 a month? For a person or for an entire family? And is it just for food, or is that the benefits for everything (good, gas, electrics, rent)?


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## jobo (Dec 9, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> Is that 6 pounds a day? So 600 a month? For a person or for an entire family? And is it just for food, or is that the benefits for everything (good, gas, electrics, rent)?


its £6  per day, per adult for food( i think its actual£5.70 ?)
its not 600 unless you have hundred day months
so £180 per month,

fuel clothing etal are similarly broken down into a daily allowance, and if your on benefit as least most of your rent is paid


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 9, 2019)

jobo said:


> its £6  per day, per adult for food( i think its actual£5.70 ?)
> its not 600 unless you have hundred day months
> so £180 per month,
> 
> fuel clothing etal are similarly broken down into a daily allowance, and if your on benefit as least most of your rent is paid


Wow, that was a major mind fart. Yes 180 a month, which for conversion google says its $236.

That's still a mind boggling amount to me. I'm pretty sure that I spend about $60-70 per month on food for both me and my fiancee, definitely never more than $100 (not including when we go out to eat or go to a bar or stuff like that). I don't know how I'd go about spending that much each month on groceries.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 9, 2019)

Also congrats on winning the bet. You planning on doing it forever, or just a couple months?


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## jobo (Dec 9, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> Wow, that was a major mind fart. Yes 180 a month, which for conversion google says its $236.
> 
> That's still a mind boggling amount to me. I'm pretty sure that I spend about $60-70 per month on food, definitely never more than $100 (not including when we go out to eat or go to a bar or stuff like that). I don't know how I'd go about spending that much each month on groceries.


food does seem to be cheaper in america, we have the EU price fixing nonsense that puts our groceries well above what you can buy them for on the open market, but a quick trip to one of our boutique supermarkets would quickly part you from your $ 70 $ in return for a lot less than a months food


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## jobo (Dec 9, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> Also congrats on winning the bet. You planning on doing it forever, or just a couple months?



im going a head, i'm not, not eating meat, i'm just not buying it..

its cheap, healthy and takes almost no preparation/ cooking time, apart from making your own hummus which is a bit labour intensive


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## pdg (Dec 9, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> That's still a mind boggling amount to me. I'm pretty sure that I spend about $60-70 per month on food for both me and my fiancee, definitely never more than $100



We spend roughly £60-80 ($80-100 ish) per week on foodstuff - for two adults, two kids and two dogs (the other animals feed is bought separately, so not being counted).

That's nowhere near being extravagant either.



jobo said:


> food does seem to be cheaper in america, we have the EU price fixing nonsense that puts our groceries well above what you can buy them for on the open market



We also have a lot of growth protection and stimulation additives banned from use in or on things destined for human consumption, which bumps the price up a bit due to lower yield.


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## jobo (Dec 9, 2019)

pdg said:


> We spend roughly £60-80 ($80-100 ish) per week on foodstuff - for two adults, two kids and two dogs (the other animals feed is bought separately, so not being counted).
> 
> That's nowhere near being extravagant either.
> 
> ...


we've also got food arriving from all over the world, its just dear coz theres tariffs on it, if we removed the tariffs it would still be the same food, only cheaper

 a lot of the EU food standard stuff is just protectionism, there's little actual science that its harmful or the fda would ban it, it just forces up prices for european beef or whatever, got to keep those french farmers happy or they blockade paris


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## Buka (Dec 9, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> Wow, that was a major mind fart. Yes 180 a month, which for conversion google says its $236.
> 
> That's still a mind boggling amount to me. I'm pretty sure that I spend about $60-70 per month on food for both me and my fiancee, definitely never more than $100 (not including when we go out to eat or go to a bar or stuff like that). I don't know how I'd go about spending that much each month on groceries.



$60 to $70 a month on food for you and your fiancée? Do you guys actually eat or do you just look at the food?


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## Steve (Dec 9, 2019)

We spend a lot on food, maybe $400 or so for us.  But the dogs eat like 6 cups a day.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 10, 2019)

Buka said:


> $60 to $70 a month on food for you and your fiancée? Do you guys actually eat or do you just look at the food?


It helps that we only drink water, and for the most part our meals involve rice/chicken, tacos, pasta and veggies


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## jobo (Dec 10, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> It helps that we only drink water, and for the most part our meals involve rice/chicken, tacos, pasta and veggies


 that's not very different to my diet, it does seem that the healthier the food in your diet is is, the less it costs to live

that as long as you steer clear of food that is marketed as being a healthy alternative, as that seems very expensive. they charge more for items that have lower sugar, lower salt, lower fat etal. which is odd as your getting less, so should pay less


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## drop bear (Dec 10, 2019)

jobo said:


> we've also got food arriving from all over the world, its just dear coz theres tariffs on it, if we removed the tariffs it would still be the same food, only cheaper
> 
> a lot of the EU food standard stuff is just protectionism, there's little actual science that its harmful or the fda would ban it, it just forces up prices for european beef or whatever, got to keep those french farmers happy or they blockade paris



Also what does your local checkout chick in a supermarket generally earn?

We have high food costs but also get high wages.


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## pdg (Dec 10, 2019)

drop bear said:


> Also what does your local checkout chick in a supermarket generally earn?
> 
> We have high food costs but also get high wages.



Generally minimum wage - so £8.21/hr if over 25, less if younger.


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## Randy Pio (Dec 11, 2019)

kempodisciple said:


> It helps that we only drink water, and for the most part our meals involve rice/chicken, tacos, pasta and veggies




Mmmmm, tacos...


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## pdg (Dec 11, 2019)

drop bear said:


> Also what does your local checkout chick in a supermarket generally earn?
> 
> We have high food costs but also get high wages.





pdg said:


> Generally minimum wage - so £8.21/hr if over 25, less if younger.



I do think that direct comparisons like this don't tell even part of the story though.

Things like housing costs come into it, and taxation, and healthcare.

It's easily possible to earn more money and be worse off...


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## Buka (Dec 12, 2019)

On the subject of vegetarian and vegan....

Vegan is an old Abenaki Indian word. It translates to "Lousy hunter".


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## Gweilo (Jan 2, 2020)

Nothing a bacon sarny cant cure


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