Never pay more when you can pay less
That's the topic of today. If you are interested you can always check out my previous posts:
Rule 2: Don't buy garbage. Topic: Water
Rule 1: Don't pay someone to cook your food. Topic: Am I crazy
I'll admit, in Canada I really don't have to pay very close attention to my budget for food. At the grocery store there are some items that I would think twice before buying (choice steaks are often about 50HBD/ 25K Naira) and Lobster can be even more expensive. However, food takes up a small percentage of my overall budget.
Housing is by far the larger portion of the average Canadian's income. Many people paying more than half of their wages to have a place to live.
That isn't the case in many developing nations. In the Philippines where my wife's family live housing is relatively cheap but FOOD is their huge expense! According to a friend @jmis101 she has also told me that:
Then feeding which comprises of a lot
Now when the Hive Learners were talking about inflation it came up that many members, especially the Nigerian ones, bought in bulk to save money. Great idea USUALLY
Why is Bulk only usually a good idea?
Here are my reasons in on particular order.
ONE. If you have more you tend to eat more
Ever see the size of the average American (or Canadian). Tends to be pretty large! Why? There is so much food available. It takes a lot of willpower to say no when yummy food is nearby.
TWO. If you have more you tend to give more
Let me ask you: If you have food and your neighbors are hungry what will happen? Usually they will : Ask you for food. Steal your food. Or you will help out by Giving them some food.
THREE. Bulk isn't great if you can't afford it
Sure paying half price per kilo when you buy 50 kilo's is a good deal. Except that still means a large price to buy it. If the item is N 30,000 and you only have N 20,000 then you can't buy it and you just feel sad because you have to pay the full price per kilo 😓
FOUR. Bulk can get heavy
Sure you can get a great deal if you buy 100kg of soya beans. Really cheap way to feed a family for a long time. Then again, every try to lift 100kg of soya beans? Better take a strong friend and lift together. It gets HEAVY
Five. Bulk can be embarassing!
Imagine taking the bus home with a 50kg sack of groundnuts. Having to heave it in and drag it down the aisle. Everyone looking at you wondering....Why??? Embarassing. Or from personal experience. Purchasing 10 x 2kg bags of sugar then placing them in the car. No problem...until I go across the border to the USA and the border guard wonders why I have so much white powder in the vehicle. Then I get pulled over for vehicle inspection. Embarassing
Six. Bulk can go bad if not eaten in time
Throwing out bad food always makes me sad. Throwing out a huge bag of food because it has gone stale or rancid just makes that feeling worse.
But I'm still going bulk to show how to minimize budget!
Now the rules as I see them:
- Only going with staple products. Nothing processed
- Only going with products that do not need refridgeration or special storage
- Only going with products that are under $2.15HBD / N1000 for 2000 calories.
Why?
Not processed because processing means it will be more expensive than the non-processed version.
Only going with food that doesn't need cold storage because one power outage and a lot of food is lost if the item needs cold storage.
Going for 2000 calories for under $2.15HBD
.....because 2000 calories is typical daily requirement for an adult
.....$2.15HBD/1000 Naira--that's the World Bank cutoff for extreme poverty.
How to standardize the cost
When you see the price of a food you will see how much it costs per 100g, or per Kg, or per paint, or per can etc. However, that makes it hard to see how expensive it is in comparison to your daily nutritional needs.
So I'll be posting both the price to buy (so you can compare to the price at the store) but also posting the price per 2000 calories.
Since our budget is a maximum 1000 Naira per day
.... food over 1000 Naira for 2000 calories would be unaffordable.
.... food under 1000 Naira for 2000 calories would be affordable.
.... the lower the cost per 2000cal the more money left over for other expenses.
Carbs, Fats, and Proteins
A quick primer on these three macronutrients.
Carbohydrates are used for energy. Typically the cheapest type of food but your body cannot survive on only carbs.
Fats are used for energy AND to make hormones and other body compounds. Required for life, especially the omega 3, 6, and 9 varieties. Usually intermediate price between carbs and proteins.
Proteins are used for the body to repair itself, make enzymes, and more. Can be used for energy if needed. Typically more expensive so usually the most expensive of the three groups.
Finally the staple food list with price per day:
)Typically has about 3000-3500 cal/kg.
Or about 667g for 2000 calorie
Cost N 306 / day
Put in a blender to make wheat. Great for making breads! Good source of calories with some protein as well (15%)
)It's even cheaper than wheat which is surprising.
It would only work out to N220/day and it an excellent source of complete protein (35-40%)
Side note: Great for making Soya Milk (Indispensable for me)
The pulp from making soya milk is called Okara and is great filler for bread.
)Now that is literally a ton of corn.
However, it works out to only N161 / 2000 calories.
Grind it up to make cornmeal for tortilla, cornbread or other foodstuffs.
Good for carbs but little protein or fat.
)However at N431 per 2000 calories it is actually the most expensive food on this list so far.
However, it still qualifies as affordable as it is under the N1000 cap. It is primarily a good source of carbs.
)At 329 Naira per 2000 calories Oatmeal is surprisingly expensive.
However, its cheaper than rice and makes a great breakfast. Good for carbs, some protein, and lots of fiber.
Plus it is good in cookies :)
)Groundnut works out to about 316 Naira daily.
However, the best part of peanut is that (1) it is high in protein but (2) it is high in fat. In fact you can separate the fat from the nut to get 20L of Peanut oil and 31Kg of peanut meal.
Not a bad was to get some quality oil and have lower fat peanut protein left to make into cookies, cook into bread, or find a use for in other dishes.
)and at 345 Naira for 2000 calories it is an affordable part of the diet also.
Only has carbs but honestly sugar makes lots of things taste so much better.
)At 225 Naira / 2000 Calories this is certainly an afforable source of food.
It's low in fats or protein so can't be used on its own but still worth making sure its on the table.
Almost entirely carbs but also has some vitamins and minerals.
Table of basic staple foods
| Food | Cost / Day |
|---|---|
| Maize/Corn | N 161 |
| Soya Bean | N 220 |
| Yellow Garri | N 225 |
| Wheat Grain | N 306 |
| Ground nut | N 316 |
| Oatmeal | N 329 |
| Sugar | N 345 |
| Rice | N 431 |
On average the cost of food would be N 250 / day or about 54 cents / day.
That would cover calorie content of 2000 / day and give a variety of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
Where did I get this list?
Simple:
In the bible in ancient times lots of bread. Look as the story of Elijah and widow...grain and oil to make bread as staple food.
In ancient Rome lower caste people often ate puls which was an old time version of oatmeal and also beans.
In modern American prisons lots of soya protein. Why? Cheap and nutritious.
In old time Canada. Lots of beans and peas. Why? No refridgeration and gave people energy to keep on working.
However while that DOES cover the macronutrients it does NOT cover all the vitamins and minerals that a person would need. I'm sure that the cooks out there could tell me what could be made from this list better than I can.
I do know it would mean:
Cereal with soya milk for breakfast. With some sugar to sweeten it.
Bread or biscuits to eat during the day. With Okara or protein powder to make it more nutritious.
Corn chips for snacks.
Corn bread to go along with rice and beans for dinner.
As for the Garri. No idea how that is eaten but it would be on the list 😎
Earlier I said that there are drawbacks in buying bulk. This is not saying it would be easy to eat on 30K Naira per month. However at 250 Naira per person per day it is at least possible to look for a solution, depending on what all the other costs add up to.
However, I'll leave it at that for today. On another day I'll write about how to balance out those staple foods with other vegetables and fruits to make for a better diet.
I'll write about how to process those vegetables and fruits to store them over long periods of time without spoilage.
So many other things still need to be worked out.
However, water at 80 Naira per day (see last post) and food at 250 Naira per day (this post). 1/3 of our budget is gone for food and water but 2/3 of our budget is still left to try and shave out a living.
Looking forward to exploring that further in upcoming posts.
If you made it down this far thanks for reading! As always a shoutout for those people who said they were interested in reading this post:
@monica-ene, @emreal, @etorobong, @jmis101, @beautiefair @deborah-yelemu, @jjmusa2004, @nkemakonam89, @drceeyou
anyone else want to get pinged when I make most posts let me know and I'll add you. Don't want to be on the list? No problem let me know and I'll happily remove.
Thanks
Maybe there is a mistake somewhere, is it #250 or #2500?
Because if it is #250 per day is not possible in any way, that could only happen for managed one square meal(maybe only for either breakfast, lunch or dinner)
Garri is made with hot boiling water, eaten with soup in molded form.
It makes up major lunch or dinner.
I also want to chip in that this minimum wage is normally earned by an average person, who should be married with kids.
Without engaging in other businesses and multiple jobs won't survive.
But let's stick to the single individual plan, I will love to learn from this.
Though it's going to be difficult, by the look of things.
Truth, not possible.
Each time I come across your post, I learn new ways to manage my resources inorder to survive. The portion that got my attention much is that of getting goods in bulk, am glad you ironed your points clearly. Buying in bulk is good but has the negative side as well, most times, instead of bulk goods to help one manage resources, it may end up leading to wastage. When we have a lot we would be tempted to eat more and of course give more than expected, at the end, you may end up finishing the goods before the stipulated time you laid down for yourself.. the worst one is if the goods are perishable...
Hehe... Yeah having to throw food away is so sad. It always makes my wife angry when that happens and I'm always to blame (at least in her eyes 🤔). That's why I love my food dehydrator. That's why I learned to pickle foods. How to can meats. How to make jam.
But I can only put so much into one post. Even as it is I'm writing far too much for an average Hive post.
But I'm so glad that people like yourself are reading!
Thank you.
You are really doing a great job, we are very grateful.. keep on the good work sir❤️❤️
Thank you. I don't think this post was received as I intended it. It wasn't intended to be a diet recommendation it was intended to be setting the bar at the absolute minimum to sustain life. I really just want to post the next portion to explain myself better but I'm far far from home right now so I can't do it.
I really do appreciate your kind words though. I promise if you stick with me to the end it will all make sense.
Or I'll make a complete fool of myself trying to defend the undefendable.
Time will tell 😎
From what I am seeing already, I am rest assured that the end will definitely make sense and I can't afford to miss out....
I hope I can live up to the hype :)
Got delayed on today's post (if you are curious you can check out here:
https://www.ecency.com/hive-153850/@terganftp/a-very-long-trip-back
But I promise I will get back to it...eventually. So much to write about :)
Expensive is a word only used by poor people or people who are Don't have permanent Source of income to earn enough money, for rich people nothing is expensive
Hmm... not sure I agree with that statement.
I believe my employer would be considered a rich person. In Canada he is probably worth about 3 Million or about 1 Billion Naira. I do not know if you would consider that rich, but I do.
With that much money he can purchase pretty much any foodstuff he wants, he could buy almost any vehicle and can easily afford to send his children to school and university. When he daughter went to a University far away he purchased a home for her there so she would not have to rent.
Again, I consider him a rich person.
However, get got rich through hard work, careful saving, and investing. He knows the value of money and he is frugal in what he spends. IF he spends carelessly even 3 million is not enough. He knows that choice beef is expensive. Recently he purchased a huge tenderloin steak for about $200 (100,000 Naira) and proceeded to spend over a month preparing it for a feast for his family and friends.
It was awesome and gave me a great story to tell. But he knows it was an expensive meat.
He also brews his own beer and takes great pride in his brewing skills. He refuses to buy regular beer because (1) he likes his own custom brew taste better and (2) he knows it costs 4x as much to buy from the store.
Being rich doesn't mean "Expensive" isn't a word you use. Being rich means that you can afford expensive things if you choose to. Getting rich means you don't buy expensive things all the time :)
Feel free to disagree but that's my opinion
Thanks for posting and the feedback!
LUNCH
Fried fish with boiled rice and stew with grape juice.
INGREDIENTS
Fish (mackerel) -- 126.7kcal --102g = #250-#300(depends on how you price though) 154g
Rice (white raw) -- 221.7kcal -- 64g = #220 for a cup weight 283g
Tomatoes -- 18kcal -- 82g = Still have some left from morning meal.
Onions -- 7kcal --19g = If we bought the #100 portion, this is settled, if not #10
Pepper -- 5kcal -- 15g = Settled
Pumpkin leaf -- 1.7kcal -- 4.4g = #50 weight 42g
Vegetable oil -- 190kcal -- 21g
Grape - 63.3kcal -- 192g
DINNER
Fish and yam porridge with orange juice.
INGREDIENTS
Fish (mackerel) -- 103.4kcal -- 83.4g = Can manage the remaining one from our lunch
Yam - 221.7kcal -- 167g = yam from morning
Pumpkin leaf -- 16.7kcal -- 61.9g = manage the remaining one from afternoon meal
Onions -- 10kcal -- 27g
Pepper -- 5kcal -- 15g
Palm oil -- 190 -- 21g = can buy a liter #1500 and use for the month.
Nice one again. I actually compiled the staple food list. But was too busy to come here to share it. I would still find time to share it. Sorry for the seeming disappointment. Not intentional by any means, if you know any Nigerian, you'll know we go heavy on multi-tasking, so I do a lot of things, and somethings creating a proper balance is a tough one!
Sincere apologies.
But I wonder, the emphasis of calories, is a bit nuance, anyway, that seems to be the safest way to measure food output.
However, that doesn't work as much here in Nigeria. Nigerians are all about eating and not getting hungry, and not meeting a calorie benchmark. So, this means that people are going to eat based on their hunger levels, and not based on calorie needs.
Another important point is that, the recommended calorie intake is 2000 just for females, and for males its about 2500. I highly suggest that your analysis should factor that in,
But in Nigeria here, we don't follow universal principles, because we operate and live in a less than ideal situation.
For example, considering how hot it is over here, energy demand is higher for an average Nigerian which makes the calories standard not the best for us. But since calories is the best way to talk about food, here is what I found:
Additionally, as someone pointed out already, no one eats beans, rice, soya bean, flower, or anything in exclusion. They are usually prepared to make it more enriching or at least more palatable. So, maybe, the next post should factor this in as well.
A hundred more calorie demand you know may tilt the balance. I think it's best to be very accurate with the analysis. Nonetheless, I love all the work and effort you've been putting in.
I think my post was poorly understood. I really hope I can clear up the confusion on my next post. However, I'm far from home and I can't post what I really want to right now. I will be posting some pictures from my trip if you want to see my home province in Canada though.
As for the 2000 calorie benchmark. That is what the average Canadian burns. We live a much more sedentary life here. I'm certain the average Nigerian burns more because I'm almost certain they work harder. As for the hot temperature...cold weather burns even more calories but that's a whole different topic.
As for eating to keep hunger away that again is a whole topic in itself. However, 2000 calories will give a person enough energy to get through the day IF they are sedentary. Hard workers will obviously need more. 2000 calories of oil and carbs will leave a person hungry all day long and when they eat more they will get fat (just look at the Average American or Canadian). 2000 calories (or so) with a fair amount of protein and fiber will make people feel much more satiated (no more hungry stomach) and keep them from getting fat.
As for a 100 calorie deficit...the body can adjust to a small amount like that....just ask anyone who needs to be a diet. However, you are right the numbers MUST be adjusted to individual activity levels, age, sex, and so on.
As for eating each item in exclusion..well, that would be a pretty awful diet and that wasn't the point. Typically people use staples as the base of their meal. Then they liven it up with spices, vegetables, fruits and so on. Of course a mix of all those staples keeps things interesting. However, I chose those staples because they are some of the most versatile and easily found items that are ubiquitous (found everywhere).
Thanks for the reply and yes, there is far more to this topic than one post could ever capture. I just hope you'll keep reading until I can get this finished. If not I'll be writing to no audience but I expect t finish this someday.
Lol! Thanks for the detailed feedback. I got somethings wrong as well at some point.
Thanks for working hard at this. I really appreciate. I just discovered you own this community "Be Frugal Not Stingy". If you need some hands, I'd would be willing to help.
I'll be sharing my feedback directly on there soon. Was researching on the rate of inflation of those staple foods that's why it's taking longer than usual, plus I am very busy offline.
Thanks for your kind reply as always!
I will never turn down an offer of help. However, I need so much help and can offer so little in return. If you read some of my posts, tell me when I'm wrong, and give a thank you when I'm right that would so awesome! Of course the more information I have about the prices of things the better posts I can make about how to live frugally...which is a topic that's important to me. The other half though is to use the financial freedom found by frugal living to help others and not be stingy!
My whole reason to be frugal on every expense is to be generous when helping others. Hopefully I can write about that someday.
As for starting my own community. My food information was too boring for Foodies Bee Hive. My shopping information was too specific for Market Friday. My posts just didn't seem to fit anywhere else.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate it so much. Knowing my posts have even a small audience make it worthwhile.
You're welcome! I'll be as supportive as I can!