back to article El Reg Quid-A-Day Nosh Posse crawls towards finish line

The El Reg Quid-A-Day Nosh Posse has entered the final furlong, with less than 24 hours to go before members can enjoy something considerably more substantial than the meagre rations which have sustained them since Monday. And as the finish line comes into view, the effects of the Live Below the Line challenge - to exist on …

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  1. Pypes
    Pint

    Should have started sunday afternoon

    So you could launch yourselves down the pub at 5pm for a well earned pint.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: Should have started sunday afternoon

      Indeed. The weather's nice here, so I'll have to hold that appointment with the bar terrace until tomorrow afternoon.

      1. Pypes

        Re: Should have started sunday afternoon

        Surely after such an ordeal, other people should be buying you a pint, in which case your not technically breaking the rules.

        That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

  2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    Well done to all you deprived noshers. Keep up the good work til tomorrow. And then you can bask in the bacony delights of brekkie.

  3. stucs201

    First post-challenge meal pics too?

    I'm assuming some impressively large meals will follow completion of this challenge. Will we be seeing those too?

  4. Eradicate all BB entrants

    This is why I take any ....

    ..... job I can get if I am out of work. A consistent diet of beans and pulses would make me suicidal :/

  5. Cliff

    Foraging

    If foraging is legit, good time of year for nettles which boil down to a lactic-y spinach replacement. Chuck in some wild garlic and salt, it's bearable and at least some food chloroplasts and roughage

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Foraging

      " it's bearable and at least some food chloroplasts and roughage"

      I think with the finish line in sight they'll have decided to try and sleep it out. Anybody who's ever tried eating significantly reduced calories will know how you feel colder, more slothful, and sleepier. And sleep sounds better to me than trying to eat nettles, beetles and the like.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What time do you technically finish? Can you get $takeaway_of_choice to deliver at $:01?

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Well, since I started on Monday morning, I think it's only right to end with breakfast on Saturday. It is tempting, though to crack a beer at midnight.

  7. SimonWWW

    Not enough peeps have been here to say well done, so I am making the effort - thanks for taking one for the team, i.e the rest of us.

    Enjoy the overdose of fat and sugar you will shortly receive.

    Cheers

  8. JDX Gold badge

    That curry...

    .. looks pretty great, actually.

    If it's a struggle to deal with the monotony of just a few days' simple diet, think about doing it your whole life!

  9. Yugguy

    The Spar across the road from my work is selling MASSIVE chicken salad/chicken tikka battons for a quid. Yer man should shop there.

  10. Robert Moore

    Reading with great interest

    As I got my layoff notice a couple of days ago, I am making notes.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Reading with great interest

      Commiserations mate!

      Work yer arse off to get back on the merry go round, 'cos in my view financial markets are looking exactly like 2006 all over again, and we all know what happened next. My (then) employers folded in 2007 and I elected to take an immediate job offer on significantly lower pay to stay in employment rather than hold out for the right one, and in hindsight that was a very good choice. YMMV.

      Good luck!

  11. Arachnoid

    You should use chopsticks

    It makes the food seem to last longer and gives you time to digest properly.........Just kidding you'll still be starving. makes you wonder how the Viet Cong ever lasted so long on just rice and a few additives.

  12. Ian Michael Gumby

    Interesting...

    First,

    I think its a job well done, but what exactly were you trying to prove?

    (Beyond raising awareness?)

    My father told me a story from back in the time he served. ('44-46) He was 14th Armored. They came in and broke down the gates of a PoW camp freeing both British and American soldiers. Both were living on the same diet, yet when the Brits saw the tanks they were bouncing around celebrating. The Americans were more lethargic and looked in worse shape.

    He reasoned that most of the British soldiers were living on reduced calories so that the change in rations had less effect on them when compared to the Americans.

    To your experiment, it would be interesting to see the normal caloric intake of your participants to see the relative difference and compare it to their notes about hunger.

    There's a Sheriff in AZ who boasts about feeding his prisoners on $.24 a meal per day. That's less than your Quid a day. He can do this because he's buying at wholesale and in bulk.

    I wonder if you would have allowed the participants to pool their monies so that they could have bought in bulk and then separated out the rations?

    Or the ability to barter between participants?

    (An extra egg vs 2 cups of rice as an example?)

    The other interesting questions is if in communities where resources are scarce is there a tighter relationship between community members?

    Just some random thoughts...

    1. John 62

      Re: Interesting...

      And people say evangelical christians are legalists!

      It's only for a week, so try to live in the spirit of the thing. Though the case could be made for allowing bartering because that's what real people living in these conditions do. 'course, then you'll probably be getting rid of your fridge/freezer/storage containers/(even a cooker in some cases) to go properly authentic (many kudos to Lester for going with the big pot on a fire system).

    2. YetAnotherLocksmith Silver badge

      Re: Interesting...

      Yes, that psycho Sheriff should be a role model for the poor. If you can't handle the crap food he dishes out, don't do the crime, etc.

      Fact is he has been taken to court for using food that is marked for animal feed. And 24 cents per meal, times 3 a day isn't far from the lower limit of the possible. Indeed it isn't that far from £1 a day.

      It has been shown that giving inmates a vaguely complete meal reduces poor behaviour. Even just adding vitamins reduces bad behaviour.

      So having people subsisting on £1 a day isn't really going to help society, and screwing the inmates for 15p a day on food really isn't helping anyone. Food is a negligible cost compared to everything else. Make it a proper part of the solution and everyone benefits.

  13. Arachnoid

    Addidtionally

    The raising of Chickens,Rabbits,Wild fowl and Pigs which can live off your scraps or natural resources whilst providing much needed protein [at the appropriate time] or in the Chickens case on a daily basis.

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