LIVING ON 20 € A WEEK

TIGHT BUDGET CHALLENGE (2 WEEK ON 2)

Day 8

Finally the day of shopping has arrived. With another 20 euros I bought the food for the second week. A piece of cheese, a pumpkin, some tomatoes, cannellini beans, apples, lemons and bananas, tuna cans, eggs, Greek yogurt, rice cakes and meringues as a dessert.

This time, I managed to buy more products, which could last a long time and could feed me properly. By mid-morning I was very hungry so I cut a banana into pieces and I ate it with Greek yogurt. For lunch I prepared a lemon risotto, using the rice reserves I had bought the previous week. At dinner I was supposed to go out with some friends, to whom I proposed a common dinner at my house. Everyone prepared something, so we shared different types of food and I avoided spending money on the restaurant. This solution has allowed me to forget the feeling of loneliness that struck me throughout the previous week.

Day 9 and 10

I finally feel good! Both days passed without any effort. My body has gradually become accustomed to not eating proteins like meat and fish (which were always present before the challenge) and instead favoring fruit, vegetables and rice. If for some reason I feel hungry, meringues come to the rescue and delight me with their sweetness.

Day 11

I started the day with a glass of water and lemon, and I tried a salty breakfast for the first time (two eggs and two rice cakes). For lunch, a friend of mine wanted to repeat the experiment done at my house a few nights before. I made baked pumpkin and brought it to lunch. I was struck by how this idea managed to bring people together around a table, as it happened in the past. It reminded me of Sundays at my grandmother’s house, where the table was our meeting point. In the evening, I wanted to eat only a few vegetables: tomatoes and some pumpkin left over from lunch.

Day 12

I started preparing some fresh fruit smoothies, for breakfast but also to take to university. Quick and easy: banana, apple and lemon. And if I’m still hungry, I’ll also bring Greek yogurt. My “schiscia” contains cheese, tomatoes and rice with tuna.

In the evening, I had dinner with a large fruit salad and meringues on top. Needless to say, it was delicious! My body has got used to savoring the sweetness of fruit, recalibrating the sweetness levels of my palate. Not abusing added sugar, now my cravings are soon satisfied.

Day 13 and 14

In these last two days of challenge, I felt good about myself. I managed to finish the shopping that I had carefully done without suffering or hunger attacks.

This experience allowed me to better understand how to manage a small budget. The first week I felt very lonely and excluded, unable to find a healthy balance between life and food. As a result, this second week I tried to buy products in more variety and quantity.

I found tricks to eat in company, creating “common” lunches and dinners where everyone brought something prepared by himself. Everyone ate a bit of everything and we gathered around a table. Finally I can say that I felt not only sharing but that I felt the opposite feeling compared to the previous week: happiness and joviality.

No less important, I managed to save a lot in just two weeks and I lost two kilograms, despite having eaten little fruit and vegetables and instead many carbohydrates.