Should have started sunday afternoon
So you could launch yourselves down the pub at 5pm for a well earned pint.
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 …
" 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.
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!
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...
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).
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.