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New TV pitch idea. Me & Annunziata Rees Mogg both get given three quid a day and a family of four to feed for a month. Living in adjacent too-small flats on 12th floor with broken lift and miles from the supermarket. No car. Barely any kitchen equipment. See who cracks up first.
You start with completely empty cupboards and £3 in change, mostly coppers you have to feed into the self service machine in the supermarket because you’re embarrassed to hand the massive pile of change to a human being. What’s your first meal for four going to be, @zatzi?
And it has to be a dinner, because if you’re only having one meal a day it needs to be a substantial one. Aim for 1500 calories per adult and try to balance it as best you can. You’ve got no storecupboard supplies, two hobs, no oven. Over to you.
This was my life, although I did have an oven, I unplugged my fridge and freezer because I couldn’t afford to run them. I’ve written about it extensively and that’s how I started writing cookbooks, for anyone who doesn’t know the origin story, start here: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2012/07/30/hunger-hurts/
For everyone saying I'd walk it, the plot twist is that you never really recover from poverty. I still can't open my own front door to an unannounced knock, still get anxious putting my PIN in in the supermarket, still hoard canned food, still get unreasonably upset if I'm cold..
...A R-M would demonstrate that living in poverty in the moment is an exhausting challenge, but you're all mistaken if you think me putting myself back into my worst living nightmare would be easy. That's why I said who would crack up first. There's every chance it would be me.
Everyone mentioning that Michael Portillo did something similar, yes he did.
And then some years later he told a single mum that if she had just kept her legs shut, she wouldn’t have ended up in poverty.
That mum was me. My response was unfit for broadcast. He learned nothing.
And then some years later he told a single mum that if she had just kept her legs shut, she wouldn’t have ended up in poverty.
That mum was me. My response was unfit for broadcast. He learned nothing.
In response to this phenomenal response, I've republished some of my original essays on my website. Some were written in poverty, some afterwards. Start here, with The Difference Between Poverty & Poverty Tourism: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2018/06/27/difference-between-poverty-and-poverty-tourism/
My Ready Meal Is None Of Your F***ing Business: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2018/02/17/my-ready-meal-is-none-of-your-business/
I Can't Even Open My Own Front Door: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2015/02/19/i-cant-even-open-my-own-front-door/
I'll put more up later. Still writing. It's going to be a late night.
Done. I'll probably be told to pull some stuff out in the morning, so I'd read it now in its raw cold fury if I were you!
(CW: Could be triggering re suicide, poverty, debt, mental breakdown. Be careful with your precious selves.
) https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1288629538751164416?s=19
(CW: Could be triggering re suicide, poverty, debt, mental breakdown. Be careful with your precious selves.
) https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1288629538751164416?s=19
