Revisiting the rules

As the start of the challenge approaches I've had a lot of conversations about how I will cope, what I will eat and so on. Its really exciting that so many people have been inspired by the challenge its self - and it's certainly all across the media as well. Over the last few days it seems that every major media outlet have had a story or two about it.

Many of the stories are about people taking part, and the reasons for the challenge. And then there are the recipes....

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A friend sent me the following link earlier via text:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/recipes/9180726/How-to-eat-for-2-25-a-day

It contains a recipe for smoky breakfast eggs that costs $1.55 to prepare. Now although $1.55 seems a lot for breakfast when that only leaves you 70c for the rest of the day, what really struck me was the ingredients being used:

•     ½ onion, finely diced
•     ¼ tsp smoked paprika
•     ½ tsp ground cumin
•     ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
•     ½ can baked beans
•     ½ can diced tomatoes
•     1 egg
•     1 medium potato, cubed
•     cooking oil

I texted back and the following conversation took place:

Me: Yes I see these recipes and believe they don't actually meet the rules of the challenge.
Friend: Oh?
Me: I covered it in the blog. The cumin for example... That's $2 a box. You have to outlay the $2 whether you use a pinch or a whole box.
Friend: No... you only have to account for the portion you use, I thought the rules were quite clear on that
Me: Check the Sept 7 post on the blog. The rules contradict... I therefore err on the side of caution

<Friend goes off to read the post from the 7th at this point>

Friend: F***... you have over thought it spectacularly!
Me: Of course I have! But am I right about the contradiction?
Friend: No you aren't right. Its quite clear. You have over thought it.They just havent been clear enough.
Me: OK. But just seasoning right?
Friend: Just seasoning...correct. But you have to work out the cost per pinch, shake, teaspoon etc.
Me: So where does seasoning stop???

And that, for me, in the $2.25 a day question. Where exactly does seasoning stop?

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 OK lets review - as I said in the post a few days ago there are rules which seem to contradict:

• The full cost of all the items you consume must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food items such as rice, pasta, noodles and eggs etc.
• For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and spices, simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping proportionally. Separate your items before the challenge so there’s no need to be digging around in your cupboards.

Lets try and explain my thinking - if I have to account for the cost of the whole packet of pasta as part of the weeks budget of $11.25 then why are the rules different for seasoning? In the above recipe the oil is part of the $1.55 but not the cost of the whole bottle? So is oil seasoning? If oil is seasoning then surely I could cook with butter or margarine. So is butter and margarine considered seasoning?

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Lets look at another recipe - this time sent from Oxfam to those of us supporting Oxfam during the challenge - surely they must know the rules:


Zeb's Perfect Porridge (five portions)
 
300g Harraways Rolled oats  @ $3.69/800g = $1.38
500ml Milk  @ $1.98/L= $0.99
100g Brown sugar @ $1.69/500g = $0.34
50g Butter @ $4.99/500g = $0.50
Total = $3.21
Per day = $0.64

OK now this is even more confusing - under my understanding of the rules they have spent $3.69 on rolled oats, $1.98 on milk, $1.69 on sugar and $4.99 on butter - which it appears to me that they spent $12.35 on the ingredients to make porridge. Erm - isnt that breaking the max spend for the week just on porridge??

I have to admit I am now very confused. Do I just have to account for the actual cost of ingredients in the amounts I use them? If so, that totally changes everything.

For example - I pay $3.99 for a 100g packet of instant coffee. I made a decision that there was no way I could justify the outlay as part of challenge. But I can get at least 30 cups of coffee out of that packet - I could definitely justify 13c a cup....

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So I now sit as a crossroads... which set of rules so I follow? I think I am leaning towards the harder challenge of only using an ingredient if I take into account the whole cost of buying the ingredient - if I want bread I have to buy a loaf and to benefit most from that investment I have to eat the whole loaf. If I want an egg I have to adjust the menu to eat all that I buy. The alternative is that I go out tomorrow and purchase items in bulk. I'd buy 3kg of rolled oats because it's the most economic way of buying them and the cheapest price per portion, even though I will only use a tenth of that during the week. It means I can buy margarine - I'd accepted that I'd be eating some pretty dull bread/luncheon meat sandwiches. I can season everything at a few cents per meal. Milk? No problem - I dont need to pay $1.80 for a litre - I can just buy 2l for $2.40 and drink half of it. Want eggs? Buy a tray of 30 rather than half a dozen. But for me - that's going away from the challenge. I am attempting to live Below The Line after all. If I was in poverty I wouldn't have the money to buy in bulk, or to let food go to waste. In my opinion, every cent I spend on the weeks food should come from the $11.25 I have for the week. I'll think on it...