Tag Archives: $1.50 Challenge

The $1.50 Challenge End and Results

Congee (rice porridge)
Congee (rice porridge)

The $1.50/day challenge ends tomorrow.  For me, it ended sooner than I thought it would.  Even though it did, I have to say that this challenge was very humbling.

On Day Two, I continued eating the pre-made meals I made for the week.  Breakfast consisted of the congee soup, free coffee and soy milk, and water.  For lunch, I had fried rice with a few carrot/celery sticks.  For dinner, I tried to be a little more inventive with my food and attempted to create an Indian version of a burrito using the leftover lentil soup and some of the shredded chicken.  I added Naan bread to the dollar count ($0.50).

Dinner was where the problems started to set in.  I ate a few bites from dinner and then stopped.  The cat ended up coming over and eating the rest of it for me.  I just wasn’t interested in it.  By breakfast on Day 3, I tried to eat some of the free cereal and free soy milk, only to find I had no interest in eating at all.  This is where I could sense a problem is arising.  To go two meals in a row and choose to not eat than to eat a poor man’s meal, that says something very strongly to me.  There was a health problem arising.

As I contemplated ending the challenge to eat something healthier and more heartier (i.e. more than $1.50), I looked at my lunch of lentil soup and realized I was not hungry at all.  I was about to go 3 meals straight without eating.

The last time I went through multiple meals of not eating, I was in a poor country…Morocco.  I went 3 days without eating before my driver had to step in and arrange for me to eat something that met my palate (which ended up being Chicken Tagine Citron).  That’s just the way that I am.  I’d rather not eat than to eat something that was mediocre or boring.

This challenge humbled me in realizing just how fortunate I am.  I’m thankful for the bounty that God has given to me over the years.  Then I was humbled in realizing that even though I felt like I was starving by day three on only $1.50/day, there are people out there that don’t even have $1.50/day to eat the bounty I was able to create.  Some may go days without eating, but that’s not by choice or stubbornness because the food doesn’t agree with their palate.  They’d gladly eat a rotten banana peel from the dump if that’s all they could find.

I never really appreciated the life that I’ve been afforded until I took this challenge.  It makes you thankful for the little things you take for granted.  At the same time, it makes you feel compassion for those who only dream of being able to have access to such bounty.  It also makes you wonder what is wrong with this world when there are so many countries that have way more than enough to feed their people that we find ourselves wasting so much food at every meal.  Somehow we can’t find a way to share the wealth with those who have nothing.

Why can’t we help those find means to fight their hunger?  I know in this day and age we are faced with countless issues on why we cannot end hunger, like war and politics.  But when you look at hunger as a human rights issue, war and politics do not matter.  Human beings matter more.  They always will.

After I ended my challenge on Day Three, I noticed that I started getting very ill.  I knew my health may become an issue by changing my diet and not having access to plenty of fruits and vegetables.  That was the main reason I decided to end the challenge.  At the beginning, I did have that ‘what if’ this lowered my immune system and I became ill, but I was willing to forego the scare just to challenge myself to understand what the majority of the world is struggling with.  Well, the ‘what if’ went into a full blown fever, vomiting, inability to keep liquids or solids down, and later a horrible respiratory infection.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the medical services available to me.  Yet, there are people out there that don’t have access to medicine or medicinal food (i.e. the good ole chicken noodle soup, broth, or orange juice).  Some people don’t even have access to clean water.  Some people have to walk miles just to fetch a jar of water.  This is the world we live in.  The difference between the haves and the have nots?  Money and Where You Live on this planet.

I think many of us dream of One World someday where hunger and access to clean water is a thing of the past.

I donated $250 (my fundraising goal) to UNICEF through the Live Below the Line challenge.  If you’d like to donate a few dollars to help children worldwide have access to food, water and medical supplies, please join me in donating.

If you can’t donate a few dollars, think of gathering a few non-perishable food items from your kitchen and dropping them off at a local food pantry or food kitchen.  If you can’t afford to spare food or money, consider donating some of your time to help out at a food kitchen or pantry.  They always need volunteers.  Find ways you can help stamp out hunger in the world.  Sometimes it starts in your very own neighborhood.

Day One: $1.50 A Day Food Challenge

I decided to do this $1.50 A Day Food Challenge a week earlier and post up my results for each day of the 5 day challenge.

First, I just want to make the disclaimer that during this time period, I used free items as part of the challenge.  After all, if you’re lucky enough to get free food anywhere in the world, it counts towards food on the table, including what you’re paying out of pocket.

BREAKFAST

Granola w/ soy milk
Coffee w/ soy milk

Today’s breakfast was a free meal.  One day, I was given a bag of Cascadian Farm Organic Protein Granola.  It’s one of those free merchandising bits that happens around New York City every now and again.  Some marketing group stands outside handing out samples.  In this case, I was given a full bag of granola.

I had a bowl of the granola along with soy milk that I got from my office (free).

I am also a coffee fiend.  I won’t be able to make my own coffee because it fits outside of this week’s budget.  This week, I’m going to use the free coffee and soy milk offered at the office.

LUNCH

Ingredients to Lentil Soup
Ingredients to Lentil Soup

Lentil soup
Carrots/Celery Crudites
Ranch dressing

Throughout the week, I’ll be using the carrots/celery.  A bag of carrots was $0.99, and the celery was $0.89.

For lunch, I had a bowl of Lentil Soup I made from my crock pot.  The ingredients pictured here produced 4 bowls of soup at $0.24/bowl.

Keep in mind, that lentil soup can be drab and boring.  In order to make it more flavorful, it is important to sauté the onions and tomatoes prior to putting them into the crock pot.  It makes a world of difference.

LENTIL SOUP

Ingredients

2 Cups of Lentils
Water
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup onions, diced
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Madras Curry Powder
Salt
Pepper

Directions

1. In a crockpot, put the lentils in the pot, covering it with water, leaving about an inch of water above the lentils.

This recipe produces 4 bowls of lentil soup. Each bowl is $0.24/bowl.
This recipe produces 4 bowls of lentil soup. Each bowl is $0.24/bowl.

2.  In a saucepan, heat the olive oil.  Add the onions and a pinch of salt, cook until translucent (about 1-2 minutes).  Add the diced tomatoes, cooking until the tomatoes are soft, almost liquid (about 3-4 minutes).

3.  Add the curry powder, salt and pepper to the crockpot along with the tomatoes/onion mixture.  Stir the ingredients.

4.  The lentils are done in 2-3 hours if cooking on high temperature.  At low temperature, it is 4-6 hours.  Check the lentils after 2 hours and stir to make sure the lentils do not clump or burn at the bottom. The lentils are done when the beans are soft.

Makes 4 servings

Cost breakdown:

1  4 lb. bag of lentil soup = $2.00 (only used roughly 1/2 a pound, which equates to $0.25)
2  tomatoes (6 pack of tomatoes = $1.29. 2 tomatoes=$0.43)
1 onion = $0.30 (1/4 of an onion = $0.08)
Spices/oil $0.20
TOTAL: $0.96 for 4.  1 bowl = $0.24.

Lentil Soup.
Lentil Soup.

Lunch Cost breakdown:

Lentil soup: $0.24
Carrots: $0.99/bag (cost will appear this one time to encompass all 5 days)
Celery: $0.89/bag (cost will appear this one time to encompass all 5 days)
Ranch dressing: $0.05 (One bottle was $0.79. I used only a fraction of it and may not use it again)

TOTAL SO FAR: $2.17

NOTE: Challenge is $1.50/day for 5 days.  Because I’ll be using the carrots/celery over the course of 5 days, it’s just easier to calculate the cost now for the entire bags instead of trying to figure out the cost of a single stalk of celery or a single carrot and how much was used in each dish.  Total amount of money that can be used over these 5 days is $7.50.  Money remaining: $5.33.

DINNER

Fried Rice
BBQ Chicken Sandwich
Green Beans
Fried Bananas

Basic Ingredients: Chicken, Carrots, Celery, Garlic and spices.
Basic Ingredients: Chicken, Carrots, Celery, Garlic and spices.

One thing that I always make when I buy chicken is stock.  I boil the chicken with carrots, celery and various spices.  After it’s done, I not only have chicken stock to use in various soups and recipes, but I also have the chicken, carrots & celery to use in other dishes.

Using these ingredients as the base, so far I’ve created chicken fried rice and congee (rice porridge).

When making chicken stock, you can use whole chicken, chicken quarters, or any chicken part you want.  You can also use any spice you’d like.  I generally use Asian spices, especially star anise, to flavor the stock and the chicken, because I like to make a lot of Asian dishes with the chicken and stock.  I recommend not just throwing in a variety of ingredients.  Try to stick to a ‘spice theme.’  For this batch, I used ground cilantro, garlic, ginger, ground ginger, bay leaves, and kaffir lime leaves.  It allows for a bit of an Asian flare, but not too powerful like it would be if I added star anise to the mix.  Star anise will give you the equivalent of the Pho soup flavor.

Keep in mind that there are a variety of ways to make chicken stock.  This is my way, which I find to be the easiest, hassle free way to make stock.

CHICKEN STOCK

Ingredients

chicken
water
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced celery stalks
spices
salt
pepper

NOTE: To make this process easier, if you have a stock pot with a deep steamer insert [like the one featured from Cuisinart here], use it so that it will make it easier to keep the stock and the ingredients separate.  If you do not use a deep steamer like the one featured in the link, you’ll have to manually separate the ingredients from the stock and then feed the stock through a cheese cloth as seen in these examples.

Directions

Fill a large stock pot with water, place over medium high heat.  Place steamer in the stock pot.

In the steamer, place the chicken, carrots, and celery in it, along with the spices, salt and pepper.  Boil for a little over an hour (i.e. until the chicken is fully cooked).

When the chicken is done, remove the steamer from the pot and put the chicken/vegetables into a large bowl to cool.

All that should be left in the pot is the stock.  Wait for it to cool down to a warm (manageable) temperature before transferring the stock to jars or bottles.

After the chicken/vegetables have cooled, separate the chicken from the vegetables/etc. and shred the meat, put the meat aside into a resealable container.  Use the vegetables immediately after for your next dish.

NOTE: If you are using glass to transfer the stock into, here are some points to remember.  1. When the stock is between warm to hot, transfer it to the glass container.  Make sure to use a towel to hold the glass while you fill up the container.  2.  Quickly put the lid on it and set the jar aside to let the stock cool down.  3.  When you hear a pop, that means that the jar has sealed.  4.  Keep the jar out until it is lukewarm (room temperature) to the touch before putting it into the refrigerator or freezer.  This usually takes a few hours.

Glass is very temperamental to hot/cold.  You do not want to put hot glass into a cold environment or vice versa.  The glass will break.

THE MEALS

Fried rice
Fried rice

Since the meat/stock is being used to create other dishes, I’m going to list the meals as they go, but include the cost to make the base here and add the supplemental costs as we go along.

COST BREAKDOWN:

2 chicken quarters (4 lbs. at $2.16 (it was on sale), each quarter at $0.54/each) = $1.08
Celery/Carrots added to price from lunch.

TOTAL SO FAR TODAY (+Lunch): $3.25

Keep in mind that this is $1.50/day challenge.  The total cost here is going to be combined for the 5 days of the $7.50 total, because each of these recipes are being used for multiple meals.

What I ended up having for dinner was 1/2 serving of fried rice, bbq chicken on a biscuit, and green beans.  For dessert, I had some fried bananas that were given to me for FREE from a Thai restaurant I go to all of the time.

Additional costs:

Rice ($1.49/3 lbs.  1/2 lb. of rice used) = $0.25
1 egg ($1.29/12 eggs.  1 egg used) = $0.11
1 bag of frozen green beans = $1.00
1 biscuit ($1.09/10 biscuits) = $0.11

OVERALL TOTAL TODAY (All meals): $4.72

I made fried rice from the chicken/vegetables mixture.  It netted 2.5 servings.

Congee (rice porridge)
Congee (rice porridge)

I also made congee (rice porridge) from the chicken/vegetables/stock.  This netted 4-5 servings.  [The garnish is spring onions that I grow at home.]

I will be using the green beans over the course of the next few days, so I thought I would add the total cost to today’s total for the entire bag (like the carrots/celery).  Between the fried rice and the congee, I was able to generate 6-7 more meals for the next few days.

There is still rice, chicken, carrots, celery and green beans leftover to create additional meals over the next few days.  There are also 3 more bowls of Lentil Soup to devour.  As we go through each day, I’ll only add any additional costs beyond what was already accounted for today.

A Day in Someone Else’s Shoes

How would you like to spend a few days in someone else’s shoes?

Over the weekend I received two challenges to live on $1.50/day.  At first, I thought that was ridiculous.  There’s no way that I could.  But it stuck in my mind.

This morning, The Today Show spoke of how Gwyneth Paltrow accepted Mario Batali’s challenge and how she did it.  Her challenge though was $29/week.  A family on food stamps generally lives on $4/day.

$1.50/day for 5 days is $7.50.  That was the challenge presented to me.  That was the challenge that One.org is putting out there to the world.  Nearly 1.2 billion people in the world live on $1.50/day for food.

I’ve read a few articles from people that accepted the challenge [like this one who lives on a vegan diet].  The comments I’ve read on these articles are really first world problems.  There was a constant: you can’t eat healthy on that diet.  That was the point of the experiment.  It’s not a matter of ‘You can live on $1.50/day’ challenge.  It’s a challenge for us to understand what it means for 1.2 billion people in the world that live on $1.50/day.

1.2 billion people in the world don’t care about GMOs, pesticides on their food or whether the food they purchase was organic or not.  All they care about is that it’s food on the table.  I’ve watched documentaries on children going through the dump (completely barefoot) looking for anything edible to eat…like a rotten banana peel.  Sometimes all people can afford is the rotten food that’s being thrown out.

I’ve been in markets where all they’re selling is rotten meat, vegetables and fruits.  The smell is so atrocious, but that’s how they live.  Even the indoor supermarkets have flies swarming all over the food.  This is normal to them.

The humbling part of my journey was realizing that even though I was witnessing poverty, I was seeing them through Burberry sunglasses.  I had security with me.  I had my own driver.  Yet, I was witnessing hardships and the life of people in a third world country.  Even though many are starving and are destitute, they look at you with a smile in their soul.  Their kindness is genuine.  They do unto others as they hope God will do unto them.  They live with the philosophy that if they work hard and do things pleasing in God’s eyes today, then tomorrow God will shower kindness upon them.  If the next day they find that God did not find their works good enough to reward them, they work harder the next day.  They give to the widows and the elderly, even when they have very little.  They are always performing acts of charity.

To me, that is a life principle.  It also makes me thankful for each and every day I wake up to the life that I live.  There are times when I feel like I’m not doing enough for my works to be pleasing in God’s eyes.  But then I’m reminded of the people I’ve met in third world countries that live by this principle of doing things to be worthy of God’s favor.  All they want is food, a roof over their head…the basic necessities.  That’s the only favor they are asking from God.  It makes what I ask for completely selfish and foolish.  Just take a look at my purse wardrobe.  One bag could feed someone for 1,000 days…and yet, I think I’m not doing enough to be rewarded properly… (first world problems).

From April 28-May 2, One.org is challenging the first worlders out there to see what it is like to live on $1.50/day.  PerfectionistWannabe.com is accepting that challenge.

Considering that this site leans more towards the good eats, this will be somewhat of a challenge.  Luckily, these past few weeks, I’ve already been putting the challenge to work.

For those who have access to an Aldi, I highly recommend going in and buying your groceries from them.

Just recently, I picked up 4 chicken leg quarters (about 4 lbs worth of chicken) for $2.17.  Wow, right?  I just happened to walk in when they put the $2 off sticker on the packages.  Normally, they’re $4.19 for the 4+ lbs. of chicken.  It’s $0.95 per pound.

With that chicken, I can easily make chicken stock by boiling a couple of the chicken quarters.  I shred up the boiled chicken for other dishes.  That’s roughly $0.54 per chicken quarter.

For the chicken that has fallen off of the bone, I make chicken noodle soup with the leftover celery and carrots (celery and carrots vary in price, but are both under $1 per 1-2 lb. bags).

The chicken stock I reserve for other dishes (including soups).

I picked up a bag of dinner rolls that came out to $0.50.  There were 8 rolls in the bag.  You can generally get a loaf of bread for $0.85.

A can of tuna is $0.59.  A six pack of tomatoes is $1.29.

In other words, Aldi is a great place for the budget minded folks.  After discovering I could buy chicken for $0.95/lb. there, I have a difficult time wanting to spend 3-4 times that at the supermarket for the convenience just because I’m there buying other groceries.

There are a variety of dishes you can make with this sort of budget.  Believe it or not, there are also ways of getting free food on top of it all.  So during April 28-May 2, I’ll be sharing with you just how I was able to live for 5 days under this budget AND still be a foodie.  And yes, I will find ways to get free coffee and almond/soy milk.  There are ways.

Will you accept the $1.50 challenge?