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For an engineering design class, we are required to live for one week on $2 a day, or a total of $14 for the whole week. That covers costs of transportation, entertainment, and food. The class is about designing medical devices for the developing world (Africa), so we're learning how the Africans live. So how do I live for one week on $2 a day? (We're not allowed to beg for food / money or do anything illegal.) Ideas so far: Rice-only diet. Find the biggest, cheapest bag of rice available and live off of that for a week. Alcohol-only diet. Buy Everclear, spend week in a drunken stupor.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:41 |
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| # ? Jun 20, 2013 00:58 |
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eat lovely heavily processed foods, because they are cheap as gently caress. thanks developing world.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:44 |
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chickencheese
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Catch some pigeons or some squirrels.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:48 |
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Is that adjusted for inflation rates? $2 would get you a shitload more in Africa than it would in the US.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:51 |
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ashgromnies posted:Is that adjusted for inflation rates? $2 would get you a shitload more in Africa than it would in the US. Agreed. But no, $2 USD whether you're in bumfuck Africa or NYC.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:54 |
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If any part of your mark includes sustainability, then rice-only is going to be a lovely way to go, because you'll be pretty stuck for nutrition. I have a question about the specific rules. If you were to find the biggest cheapest bag of rice, you'd end up with way more rice than you could eat in a week. But will the cost be calculated from the amount of rice used? Say, a $5 bag of rice that contains 50 servings, would you be able to use only ten servings of that in the week and say you spent $1 on rice? Because if that's the case it'll be a cakewalk. Otherwise, what mindphlux said.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 18:54 |
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Yes it's based on how much you eat per meal. That way you can't just stockpile a week's supply of steaks before hand and say "I didn't purchase anything!  "Any suggestions for recipes though? Besides rice?
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:23 |
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A 5lb bag of flour, some water, and some salt could (barely) feed you for a week. You'd need to get a sourdough starter going first, of course.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:28 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Yes it's based on how much you eat per meal. That way you can't just stockpile a week's supply of steaks before hand and say "I didn't purchase anything! Rice and beans and fried potatoes is about as calorie dense per unit cost as you can possibly get short of drinking vegetable oil. One time as an experiment (2 years ago) I fed myself for 30 days on $47 and change. Basically everything I ate was variations on rice, beans, flour, potatoes and oil. I had a few eggs, canned vegetables, and a mini fast-food hamburger once when I really felt like spoiling myself. BEHOLD: MY CAPE fucked around with this message at Jan 10, 2009 around 19:37 |
| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:30 |
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Small whole frozen chicken Rice Potatoes Beans Edit: Beaten really really fast. mugrim fucked around with this message at Jan 10, 2009 around 19:39 |
| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:36 |
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Not adjusting for inflation and having to include transportation and what not I dont see how this is remotley possalbe yet alone a good idea for a week. Thats a horrible idea of a project, imo.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:38 |
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ashgromnies posted:Is that adjusted for inflation rates? $2 would get you a shitload more in Africa than it would in the US. I think you're referring to a purchasing power parity measure, and you're right, a quick google search told me that prices in Africa are about 20% that of the US. With only 2$ a day though, you're still over the poverty line of one USD a day (depending on where you live in the States). Anywho, I think medieval people used to eat some sort of flour porridge. I'm not sure is flour would work, but it's worth a try. Flour has got to be the cheapest calorie source around here.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 19:50 |
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10-pack of Ramen is $0.95. 6 bagels is $3. 12 eggs is $4. 3lb bag of rice is $4. How is this hard?
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:07 |
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Gadamer posted:10-pack of Ramen is $0.95. 6 bagels is $3. 12 eggs is $4. 3lb bag of rice is $4. How is this hard? No car. Nearest grocery store is 2 miles away.  Edit: If I get a friend to drive me, I'll still have to pro-rate the gas used for the trip.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:17 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:No car. Nearest grocery store is 2 miles away. You can't walk two miles? Also, you could definitely just do rice for a week. You don't need to enjoy it, you just need to stay alive.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:27 |
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Steal a lot of food.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:32 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:No car. Nearest grocery store is 2 miles away. So how are you going to "get the largest bag of rice you can find" or really any food whatsoever without a grocery store? You don't have public transportation or a free university bus you can take that would get you closer to a grocery store... or your own two feet if worse comes to worse (bring something with you to lug the rice and stuff in, like a suitcase with wheels or a wagon or a cart or something if you don't want to carry it)? You are supposed to be learning how the Africans live - they probably would just make the hike. Honestly, it's for a class, your professor probably has no idea you live two miles away from a grocery store and probably isn't going to do the research to find out. Just pretend you live closer and pretend like you didn't go out and get wasted and blow $20 on beer and pizza and just pretend like you lived off rice and a 40. Who cares? Or since it's summer in Africa, just go to the store and get some fruit that grows in Africa and say that you probably could have picked it if it was the appropriate region and the appropriate climate rather than winter in a completely different country (assuming it's winter where you are) or go to your neighbors house and explain the assignment and ask if you can barter with them or do some chores in exchange for some food or just invite yourself over to people's houses all week. If you get other people to feed you or drive you somewhere, I don't see why you'd have to consider it your money spent. Is there some African tradition where if you invite someone over for dinner or give them a ride, they must compensate you for this? I would assume Africans do rely heavily on their community and everyone helping each other out to get by. This assignment is dumb. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at Jan 10, 2009 around 20:46 |
| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:36 |
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If you have to live on 12 bucks and go to class while using your expensive calculator, computers, buy more paper and such, your professor is stupid. Yeah you could live on 2 bucks a day for a week. Cooking it wouldn't be that hard unless you only had a whole foods near you. But if he's including your student live this sounds impossible.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 20:54 |
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HClChicken posted:If you have to live on 12 bucks and go to class while using your expensive calculator, computers, buy more paper and such, your professor is stupid. Yeah you could live on 2 bucks a day for a week. Cooking it wouldn't be that hard unless you only had a whole foods near you. But if he's including your student live this sounds impossible. We're only counting food, transportation, and entertainment in the $2 a day. BTW, the stores within walking distance are: Dollar General (has snacks and stuff but no fresh food) and Whole Foods.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 21:00 |
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The idea is to live within a very small budget, much like Africans have to. That's why you're not supposed to have others feed you. The average African can't just go to his friend's house and eat a Domino's pizza when he gets hungry, he has to make do with whatever he's got, and if he does get food from his neighbors, it's probably made from the same ingredients he normally uses. When I was in college, I would bike two and a half miles to the grocery store or Wal-mart. Why can't you do that? It's not that difficult, even when I was totally out of shape. Gary2863 fucked around with this message at Jan 10, 2009 around 21:11 |
| # ? Jan 10, 2009 21:02 |
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Do you live in the north? Does what you eat have to be food you pay for? ...Where was that thread about the guy who was broke and someone suggested that Canada geese are dumb as gently caress but also incredibly tasty? As I recall, he ate like a king.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 21:31 |
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I hear that if you eat nothing but white rice for about a week, your poop becomes white. Sounds like a great opportunity to test this out while doing your professor's assignment?
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 21:33 |
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How much does it cost you to go to class? Is there going to be room in your budget for food at all? What about amenities like toothpaste, are they supposed to be factored in? I agree that this is stupid. Adjusting for the price differences still would have been limiting enough to be illuminating, I think.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 21:37 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:We're only counting food, transportation, and entertainment in the $2 a day. I hope your pro-rating your posting on this internet comedy website as "entertainment". This assignment sounds poorly thought out. The goal is to probably make you realize you can live on less, and Africans would walk instead of owning a car or something. Just make it up how much you learned from that. Still don't know how living a fo-ascetic lifestyle will help you to better design third world medical devices. This is an interesting blog post that compares what families families around the world eat in a week and what they spend on it in USD. Check out the African refugee camp family and the Indian one; there is no way you could get that food for that price here. http://bentlyr.wordpress.com/2008/0...the-world-eats/
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:00 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:We're only counting food, transportation, and entertainment in the $2 a day. Whole Foods has bulk bins. Buy beans and rice.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:00 |
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You can survive with no food for a week, just drink water. That's 14 bucks in your pocket my friend.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:09 |
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There was an excellent blog following a couple who each lived off a dollar a day of food for a whole month, let me find it for you. Behold! The one dollar diet project! http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/about/ Start on day 1 of September 2008
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:11 |
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I refuse to believe that any prof. would think this was a good idea. There have got to be people in your class who have to pay bus fare every day. Based on what I pay for bus fare living in a teeny town, that's double your week's money right there. It just doesn't sound like any fun or anything very enlightening. The most I can get from this is "welp, looks like this is relatively impossible. Guess life is hard for the rest of the world, I think I'll play my DS and have a sandwich." I'm voting you're full of poo poo and this is some cockamamy bet you made with a friend or you're a broke college kid and all you have is fourteen bucks. Get out hookin' like the rest of the gals.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:21 |
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Dr JonboyG posted:Catch some pigeons or some squirrels. Medical cathetor tubing: 2.50 bbs: 2.50 large bag of rice: 5 1 mixed drink at happy hour: 4= $14 Mcguyver a slingshot. Pigeon and rice all week. Do it.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:26 |
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http://twodollarchallenge.org/ I'm not making this up, I swear. Also, we're exempt from most of the harder rules. Like having to heat up our own water if we want to have a hot shower (cost of fuel must be pro-rated).
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:27 |
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My college law professor always bragged about living on $1 for lunch for 36 some odd years, and attributed his wealth from this action. Those $1 eggrolls sure were good though, and filling.
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| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:33 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:http://twodollarchallenge.org/ So if you're already exempt from the actual hard rules, just walk to the grocery store and buy some beans and rice and you'll be set as far as food goes. It's sort of dumb to be like "I want to endure the hardship of the Africans!" and then be like "Oh no, you want me to walk two miles? That's ridiculous." Or barter like I suggested before - which is obviously one of the things you're supposed to do since it's explicitly set out on how to barter in the rules. They say you can't ask friends and family for help but it seems like you can still barter with them though the rules are a little unclear. Ask your friends if you can help clean up and wash dishes in exchange for a delicious cooked meal or offer them something in exchange for a ride to the grocery store. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at Jan 10, 2009 around 22:47 |
| # ? Jan 10, 2009 22:45 |
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What kind of advice were you coming here for if "go to the grocery store and buy the following" isn't sufficient?
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 00:00 |
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The pigeon idea may seem gross at first.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon Then you realize that doves and pigeons are very similar and that the rock dove or common pidgeon that is found in north america and europe was domesticated for food. And probably eats better than some African peoples. Seconding the pigeon. The avian flu, mere puffery for starving Africans such as yourself.
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 00:13 |
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Loaf of cheap bread and mustard can fill you up. Take mustard packets from fast food places for even cheaper living! 1.25$ (average) Then supplement every day with a McDonald's dollar menu item. That should turn you off of food the rest of the day. As far as recipes go, consider that a luxury of the industrialized world.
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 01:31 |
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Supplies: 1 spoon 1 bag raw flour Combine, serve immediately.
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 01:47 |
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5 lbs whole grain flour -- $6.73 salt 26 oz ----- $0.89 10 oz baking powder ------ $2.82 vegetable shortening --- $3.00 total: < $14.00 Assuming you have access to (relatively) clean water, you can make enough bannock from this to last you about two weeks given modest rationing (thats 4-5 decent sized loafs of a VERY dense flatbread). We had to do this on trail once since our supplies got dropped in a swamp. Think back to the days when troops used to be rationed hardtack on the battlefield. Its basically the same idea, only much much tastier.
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 02:00 |
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WhAmmyBarr posted:...Where was that thread about the guy who was broke and someone suggested that Canada geese are dumb as gently caress but also incredibly tasty? As I recall, he ate like a king. Not that I support poaching or anything but you can literally walk up to the them and break their necks. And they are tasty. Not that I'd know.
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 02:22 |
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KabukiAvenger posted:5 lbs whole grain flour -- $6.73 Sounds nice. Recipe? Not many geese or pigeons on campus. We have squirrels and stray cats though? How does cat taste?
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| # ? Jan 11, 2009 02:34 |
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| # ? Jun 20, 2013 00:58 |
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Sounds nice. Recipe? 4 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons veggie shortening/lard/butter/margarine/something fatty Mix ingredients with water until it has a nice doughy consistency - not sticky. Kneading for 5-10 minutes then press the dough into a roughly frying pan sized cake (no more than about an inch thick) or roll into 1" diameter loaves. Grease up your pan/cookie sheet/hot stone or piece of metal, and cook the first side till the crust is browned, flip and continue to cook until you can stick a fork or toothpick in and not get sticky dough to come out. If you're doing this on a stove, I'd use medium-high heat and probably lower it for the 2nd side. Really though, its a bread best done in something like a reflector oven with an open fire. (read: a sheet of metal bent over next to a fire wherein you lay the bread). If you want the real frontiersman experience, leave out the baking powder altogether, and youll end up with a dense, filling bread that sits in your stomach like a stone. The shape and form of your bannock will depend entirely on your preferences - adjust quantities of fat as desired, and even add sugar or spices (cinnamon!) if you have it. BONUS: If you can scrape together the supplies with enough cash to spare for a jar of peanut butter, you'll never know you were living in poverty! KabukiAvenger fucked around with this message at Jan 11, 2009 around 06:25 |
| # ? Jan 11, 2009 02:48 |
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