What or how does it feel like living / eating for just under $20-$25 per week? I am here to share with you the very impossibility itself that I alone endured day to day. Under 1800 calories.

I won’t bother introducing you all my ‘life stories’ as a sort of emotional intro-mercials. Because I am not here to make you feel worser or lower by way of comparison. But I implore you to stay for a moment for the insight.

For many of you this is likely to be another epiphany of yet another impossibility. And I am here to share with you the possibility of still living within this paradigm in an even more restricted ways and means of survival.

Meal 1 / Breakfast

Keto flaxmeal breakfast with egg, butter and coconut oil (bought previously on a tri-annual bulk spending budget on February). Or just simply four eggs (2 microwave poached, 2 boiled) with 40g of butter. Below I'm putting out a flaxmeal version instead.

• 25g of Melrose Organic Omegapet flaxseed supplement. Good news for you who live in the northern suburbs - Kakulas Sisters also stock linseed (whole seeds) as well as the meal'ed versions at very affordable prices.
• 3 eggs (cheapest 600g variants I've found thus far).
• 35g of Woolworths homebrand butter.
• 1 teaspoon Bio-Medicals coconut oil (get it here). However, interestingly Myfitnesspal recognises the barcode as "Nutivia brand". Although you will not be able to find the exact caprylic / carbonic / lauric acid chain breakdown. Calorie wise - they are very similar to each other and more or less the same with other "boutique" coconut oils you'd find at three or four times the price tag.

This meal cost $1.09 per serve.

• Melrose Organic flaxseed  (2kg bag as part of tri annual bulk food buying) initial cost - $13.24. As each serve: 19 cents. Say at most 30g per serve: 2000 / 30g = 67 total servings. thus 67 days per daily 30g total serve. Therefore $13.24 / 67 servings = 19 cents each single serve.
  If using linseed meal from Kakulas Sisters (1kg as initial investment) - $5.30. Each serve = 16 cents. 1000g/30g per serve = 33 total servings. Therefore $5.30 / 33 total servings = 16 cents each single serve.
• The eggs (600g smaller variants) Weekly replenishment cost - $7.5 (for 3 cartons of 12 = 36 eggs) 3 eggs as each serve = 62 cents  ($7.5 / 36 eggs  = 21 cents each egg)
• Woolworths homebrand butter Weekly replenishment cost - $3 (500g) or $2 for 250g (if previous week surplus are available) 35g as each serve: 21 cents.  (3 divided by 500 / 35) 500g offers 14.28 serves of 35g. Hence $3 / 14.28 servings = 21 cents.
• Bio-Medicals coconut oil (2 litres as part of tri annual bulk food buying) initial cost - $37 As each serve (1 teaspoon): 7 cents. Say 4ML (teaspoon) per serve onto food = 2000ML / 4ML = 500 total servings. Therefore $37 / 500 servings = 7 cents each single serve. 

Inbetween Meal/s

Three to four 375ML glass of straight black coffee. Helps to abstain hunger anywhere between three up to five hours. Around two and half to three hours later (after breakfast / meal1) these are usually times when I'm starting to feel hungry and tired. Should the coffee gets cold within half hour I add more water and microwave for on high for a minute. Also to make sure I meet my daily Keto salt intake I sprinkle some (iodised sea salts + himalayan's) in one or two serve.

1. A tablespoon of any instant / existing available whole coffee beans (in this case Woolworths Homebrand instant coffee granuled) with boiling water (please by all means invest in a good fluoride-removal water filter).
2. 10 (or up to 15ml) of harvey fresh whip cream (unwhipped) for each glass. I fail to see the purpose in actually "whipping" the cream and serve on top of the coffee; only to find that it will melt into the coffee anyway.
3. 6g of raw cacao powder for each glass (equivalent to two smallish teaspoons). I'm using Phragos which is on recent record the most affordable on eBay since January 2016. 1kg delivered for $26. Four months later still okay in supply. Though there is slightly more carb/fibre content in this one than what I would've liked (27g).
4. Stevia (whatever is available either liquid or crystals form) 3g crystals for each glass.

On the more luxurious $35 a week plan I could afford to make my own raw egg protein shakes (which simply are two raw eggs, up to 40ml of whip cream unwhipped, and 14g of cacao powder and stevia drops on a 800ml water bottle).

Sometimes I could get away with two and half glasses. But others I may need up to four to pass the time. Macros as best calculated with Myfitnesspal: more or less up to 200 cals. up to 17g fats, 6g carbs (4 fibre from cacaos). Little to no protein.

Total resource consumption and cost breakdown

Each 375ML glass of coffee is 30 cents. 30 cents x 4 glass = $1.20 per day.

• 200g Woolworths Homebrand instant coffee granuled beans / any existing shared coffee in pantry Lasts for every 1.5 months replenishment cost - $4 (for 200g) Hence every 4.5g serve = 8 cents each ($4 / 45 serves = 8 cents)
• Harvey Fresh Whipped Cream 600ml Every 2 weeks replenishment cost - $2.1 (600ml / 10ml accomodates up to 60 serves of coffees). Each serve for straight black coffee (10mls) = 3 cents. ($2.1 / 60 serves = 0.035)
• Sugarless® Stevia Crystals 250g  Initial cost - $6.75 (special price @ Coles on 5th April). Projected usage: buy every 4 weeks. Each serve into straight black coffees (2.5g) = 6 cents.
• Raw Cacao Powders 1kg (1kg as part of tri annual bulk food buying) initial cost - $21.5 (990g / 6g = 165 serves). Each serve for straight black coffee (6g) = 13 cents ($21.5 / 165)

Meal 2 / Postworkout

• 35g of TVP textured vegetable protein (total vegetable protein from Kakulas Sisters). Sometimes depending on how hungry I am I could use up to 50g TVP. But in this case I go by my doable regular minimum (35g dry powder weight).
• 1 hard boiled egg.
• 35g of butter or two and half tablespoons of extra virgin olive oils.
• 60g boiled cabbage or 1 full cup of DIY sauerkraut (up to 90g).
• Only if within workout days - 15g of whey protein concentrate (from last year/s previous tri-annual bulk spending) + 5g of creatine with a glass of water. I would drink this first then wait for a several minutes before consuming the actual above meal.

This meal costs less than 90 cents per serve. That is the meal only, without the whey protein.

Meal 4 / Prebed

Depending on how I felt many days I would encounter another slight hunger pang/s, but paradoxically on very few days (even on training days) I would feel no need for another prebed meal except a 3 or 5g of stevia flavoured BCAA on a 400ml water. An initial investment of $33 for 500g goes a long way. I am still yet to finish my batch from previous 3/4 of last year annual bulk food purchased supply.

However regardless - again, on a $35-$50 per week plans I would be able to enjoy another raw egg shake which consists of one raw egg, 8g of  cacao powder, and 30ml heavy cream. But on $20 to $25 per week plans those are no longer possible. Hence this is just simply a simple keto hot chocolate on a single 375ML glass / cup serve. It calms and provide warmth during winters which is a must.

Total Calorie breakdowns

More or less 1800 calories per day. Around 140g of fats. 50g Carbs (30g of fibre), 85g to 90g of protein. For those times when I'm really hungry - I could extend to 1900, but those were paradoxically (and thankfully) few in occassions. As a sidenote all this is as accordingly to maintaining a slightly modified Ketogenic ratio of 70/20/10; a ratio I've chosen to live and to sustain since the end of 2015.

 $4.50. That is correct. All this for living at just under $4.50 per day.

But "Wait", you asked. "How does that make sense? $4.50? But that turns out to be $31.50 per week?", "I thought you're only meant to be spending $20 to $25 per week!!?? You're cheating aren't you!?"

Self-Arrogance? No. I instead both implore and invite you - to read my manuscript (at its' current edition), garner yourself more attention over how all this is possible.

What I bought Versus what I actually consume

Should anyone wish to be incessantly technical I am more than happy to further deliver my rationale and methodology below. This has been a process that has been effectively in continuum for at least six or so months.

Let us begin with a breakdown of what I actually bought from last week grocery cycle (so in this case it's May the 12th, 2016).

• 500g butter Woolworths Homebrand: $3
• 3x 600g eggs: $7.5
• 3x Woolworths Homebrand sardines: $2.10 (73 cents each)
• 1x Coconut Cream 400ml : $1
• 2x Woolworths Homebrand Salmon: $4.6 ($2.30 each, an increase I noticed from $2.20 in recent year/s)
• 1x Woolworths Homebrand Pesto (16th of May is my birthday; so I'm giving myself bit of a treat) of course this remains only a luxury condiment treat and thus this Pesto is excluded from my actual diary above. As nevertheless - the above food diary still represents what I actually and honestly eat realistically on most days and as regularly on average calorie trackings as they are.

Hence, the total Principal Spending / actual expenditure I had to make out of my own pocket cash is: $18.20 (until May the 19th)

...And now versus / compare this expenditure with what is currently available. What I am actually consuming as remaining previous surpluses. All of which these of course - were previously and honestly bought within the $20 to $25 per week limit brackets and I was able to preserve and lengthen their survivability supply:

Hence, what I actually am doing is that I am surviving on the previous week's reservoire and buying only what is needed for the next week ahead.

You might think that at first all of the above surplus are impossible to make given the questionably low $20 - $25 per week budget. The key here is knowing how to preserve, restrict, recycle and reuse from what you've initially bought towards the next.

Do you have so far any budget plans you would like to share with others? Please leave your thoughts and feedbacks below! Share and empower one another with humility.