How I ate 3,500 rubles for a month and started thinking about a revolution

Why did I decide on this experiment

At the end of last year, the now former Minister of Labor, Employment and Migration of the Saratov Region, Natalya Sokolova, said that 3,500 rubles a month is enough to meet the minimum physiological needs of the body.

The official was soon fired, and a series of various experiments # Makaroshki_ Challenge and # Sokolova's diet swept across the country, the participants of which tried to eat for this amount.

It is noteworthy that many of the experimenters tried not to refute, but to confirm the thesis of the former minister Sokolova. Perhaps unknowingly.

It turned out that on 3,500 rubles one could live comfortably and even indulge oneself with gastronomic delights. However, the methods of the participants varied, and this significantly influenced the purity of the experiment.

Some considered the costs in portions, taking into account, for example, the cost of a spoonful of sunflower oil. But they don't sell it with spoons, which means you have to spend money on a whole bottle.

Others took out buckwheat and homemade pickles from the bins, without taking this into account, although it is unlikely that both appeared on the shelves for nothing. Still others took food "past the checkout" in establishments.

In a word, it became obvious: in order to find out something about the possibility of living on 3,500 rubles a month, you need to try it yourself.

Where did this amount come from?

The story with the "makaroshki" began at a meeting of the working group in the Saratov Regional Duma. We discussed the size of the subsistence minimum for local pensioners. It was proposed to increase it from 7,990 to 8,278 rubles, while about 3,500 rubles were allocated for food.

On average in Russia, the subsistence minimum for a working person is 11 310 rubles.

The minimum set of food products, according to Rosstat, costs 4,065.66 rubles. In December, when I conducted my experiment, it was estimated at 3,989.17 rubles on average in Russia and 4,811.39 rubles in St. Petersburg, where I live. But I still decided to stay at the figure of 3.5 thousand for the purity of the experiment.

What are the introductory experiment

It is obvious that the results of experiments, even under completely identical external conditions, will be different for different people. Therefore, introductory is needed.

Food spending

My husband and I spend an average of 3,500 rubles a week on food, but 1,000 of them are his meals. (By the way, he flatly refused to participate in my experiment.) Usually we buy chicken breast fillets, vegetables and fruits, cereals, pasta, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and so on. This is the basis of the diet, to which other foods are already added.

Our grocery basket does not have much in common with the one established by the state. The monthly norm of 10, 5 kg of bread, I hardly overpower in a year. But we eat more vegetables than the authorities allow, although it is negligible from the point of view of the so-called healthy diet.

In the experiment, I will try to deviate slightly from the usual diet, although the idea of eating fried potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner looks attractive.

Calorie content of food

If you count on the average formulas, I need more than 1,500 kcal just to ensure the basal metabolism. That is, this amount of energy is necessary for my body to blink, drive blood through the body, and so on. This is more than the average woman usually needs. But I'm taller than the average woman and even the average man, so I can afford it.

As a result, a little creeper, like Thumbelina, is not enough for me, so it will not be so easy to save on the number of products. A sensible approach is to increase the calorie content of the diet at the expense of cereals. But I, as you will learn later, will choose the unreasonable.

Financial performance

I like to save money and manage money rationally, but this is a position in life, not a necessity. I usually look for discounts because I see a game element and a budget-friendly action here. There is no need to save money, especially on food, and I never have. And this circumstance will be reflected in the course of the experiment.

First week of the experiment

For many years we have been planning a menu for weekdays, but so that there is room for maneuver if one day you want something special. Therefore, I began the experiment by scheduling meals - however, without any liberties.

I didn't have the money to fix the mistakes, so I had to plan a little too much so as not to starve at the end of the week if the food ran out. Therefore, I added dishes from the "just in case" section to the menu, but chose such that the products for them were not perishable. So it would be possible to carry them over to the next week if food remains.

The menu for 7 days looked like this:

Breakfast	Cheesecakes with sour cream
Dinner	Soup with lentils and bread
Dinner	Fried cabbage with chicken, cucumbers
Snack	Apples, bananas, kefir

I also included oatmeal in the shopping list (suddenly the cheese cakes run out earlier than a week) and canned food for the jellied pie. If the fried cabbage ran out ahead of time, it would be replaced by lentils left over from the soup, or pasta, which were also included in the shopping list.

I was also not ready to give up coffee with milk, because in this case the experiment would have failed at the very start.

If 3,500 is divided by 31 December days, it turns out that you need to spend no more than 790 rubles per week.

But in the first week, I deliberately decided to use more, since some of the products like butter and flour could be used for the whole month. To find the best deals, I used the Foodil app, which accumulates store discounts, made a list and headed off.

Here's what I bought:

Product	Quantity	Price
Sunflower oil	1 l	60 rubles with a discount
Pasta (feathers)	1 pack	30 rubles with a discount
Candy packaging	184 g	75 rubles
Flour	1 kg	35 rubles
Bread	½ loaf	19.4 rubles
Tuna (canned)	2 banks	85 rubles for 1 can
Milk	3 l	40 rubles per liter
Cabbage	2 Kg	17 rubles for 1 kg
Cucumbers	850 g	58 rubles for 1 kg
Cottage cheese	3 packs of 180 g	40 rubles with a discount for 1 pack
Eggs	10 pieces.	50 rubles
Hen	1.4 kg	110 rubles for 1 kg
Sour cream	1 pack, 450 g	40 rubles with a discount
Coffee	1 pack, 95 g	129 rubles with a discount
Lentils	1 pack, 800 g	40 rubles
Cereals	1 pack, 800 g	10 rubles
Seasonal apples	720 g	60 rubles per 1 kg
Bananas	640 g	47 rubles for 1 kg
Total: 1,258 rubles, 2,242 rubles left.

There is no salt and sugar on the list - here I decided to cheat a little and not buy a kilogram of both for two spoons. I used those that are at home. But the spices had to be sacrificed.

When preparing food for the week, I strictly followed the menu. True, the process itself was strikingly different from the usual. For example, usually for cheesecakes, I add quite a bit of rice flour to the cottage cheese - not because of gluten, it's just that the calorie content is lower. In the conditions of the experiment, I had to return to the traditional recipe.

Normally, for a soup, I would buy a chicken breast and send it to cook right with the meat. I would also buy ready-made chicken parts for dinner. Here I had to take the carcass, cut off the breast, legs, wings for the second, and send the rest to the broth. Nothing fancy, but time consuming.

Lentils for 40 rubles impressed, giving the soup an unforgettable gray-brown color. I just fried the chicken parts for the second course in oil.

To understand how much I eat, I counted calories for the entire first week. I managed to gain 1,500 kcal per day, but mainly thanks to sweets and bread, which I started to eat even as a snack.

The second week of the experiment

At the beginning of last week, I was worried that the purchased products would not be enough for a week, but only cheese cakes and chicken ran out. The fried cabbage stood in the bowl and did not spoil, and the hand did not raise a hand to throw it out with a limited budget. The saucepan with the soup glittered invitingly with its chrome-plated side, but I didn't want to answer her call.

So the menu looked something like this:

Breakfast	Oatmeal with cheese and boiled egg
Dinner	Stupid soup
Dinner	Chicken breast with wacky cabbage
Snack	Apples, bananas, kefir

I didn’t have to buy much as the products were left over from last week. I purchased:

Product	Quantity	Price
Chicken breast	730 g	170 rubles for 1 kg
Milk	3 packs	40 rubles per pack
Cheese	272 g	299 rubles for 1 kg with a discount
Halva	1 pack of 350 g	60 rubles
Kozinak from peanuts	50 g	16, 65 rubles
Puffed rice	1 pack of 30 g	11 rubles
Total: 413 rubles, 1 829 rubles left.

By the third week, I had to go "rich", the money remained. But the enthusiasm faded away. In the mornings, I sadly chewed oatmeal, or rather, what was sold under that name for 10 rubles.

Let's be clear: I love oatmeal in almost any form, I eat it often. True, I buy the one that is almost not processed and needs a long cooking - it is healthier and tastier this way. It was sad from the dust with pieces of some kind of garbage and grains (not oats).

Oven-baked breast and pasta boiled instead of cabbage (here I gave up twice: I bought a more expensive breast and threw away the cabbage), slightly brightened up the dinners. But mostly life was made bearable sweets.

The third and fourth weeks of the experiment

I had plenty of food left, to which I almost never returned, and 1,800 rubles, which I spent on halva and kozinaki. The remaining two weeks I drank coffee with sweets and that's it. This is not the first time like this in my life, so yes, it is real.

It took about 500 rubles for sweets, 320 rubles for milk. I also sometimes ate leftover cheese from a jar where I had rubbed it a week earlier. As a result, by the end of the experiment, I had almost a thousand of 3,500 rubles left.

But the financial issue is not that interesting here. What can not be said about the sensations that surprised me very much myself. I thought that everything would be simple, because I periodically limit the amount of calories I eat and do not feel anything special about it.

The restriction on money was given to me much more difficult, leading to a state close to deprivation.

I became aggressive, began to feel class hatred and was already looking out for an armored car, from which I would agitate against these rich, because they can buy themselves already cut chicken without skin, oatmeal for 50 rubles in a cardboard box and my adored grenades, which in no way wanted to fit to the budget.

And this state continued even after the experiment was over. On the one hand, it was psychologically difficult for me to buy what I wanted. On the other hand, I once burst into tears after we left a grocery store, because my husband said, "Something's a little expensive."

For reference: his strategy was correct, you could just go to a nearby store and save 200-300 rubles when buying the same products. I myself with both hands for such sanity. But not this time.

In addition, the painful desire to save has spread to other areas, although the restriction was only on nutrition. How, in the end, can you spend money on a movie if you can buy so much chicken on it?

Why the experiment took place but failed

I know that some Russians are forced to live on amounts less than 3,500 rubles per person. You can somehow exist on them, but it would be better if no one ever had to do this. Still, food is one of the basic human needs.

I did it in 3,500 rubles, but the food in the last two weeks can hardly "provide the minimum physiological needs."

Obviously, I could have met the remaining amount with normal food, but I didn't want that kind of food. I didn't want anything, to be honest. That is, you can live on 3,500 rubles a month, but life turns out to be so-so.

Especially when you consider that a person limited to this amount for food is unlikely to hide millions somewhere for entertainment and other pleasures. It will not work to compensate for a deficiency in one area with an excess in another.

As for the physical condition, I have nothing to say, since the psychological discomfort did not leave the opportunity to assess it adequately.

In addition, I want to note two points:

To really understand what it is like to live on 3,500 rubles a month, a month is not enough. It is not difficult to hold out for four weeks, even if you live on water and bread - the body still has a large margin of safety. But at the same time, you are too keenly experiencing the moments that you encounter for the first time.
There is a huge difference between situations when you are trying to fit into 3,500 rubles in order to save, and when you have nothing but this amount. In the first case, you feel pretty comfortable, because you can always exceed your budget if you fail. In the second, too much depends on saving, and this concerns more of the psyche than the stomach.

What conclusions did I draw

1. The more people, the easier

I talked about the torture with cabbage and soup, which did not want to end. If my husband wanted to participate in my experiment, the soup would run out in half the time, and another first course would replace him. It would be easier to survive the limitations.

2. Variety needed

The conclusion that follows from the previous one: the more varied your menu, the easier it is, because the food does not have time to get bored. True, in a limited budget, this diversity will be more artificial than real. Even if according to the behest of Tosi from "Girls" to cook 100,500 potato dishes, it will still be potatoes.

3. A lot of time is spent on savings

Looking at discounted apps and store catalogs, walking through a bunch of supermarkets instead of a one-time purchase in one place, preparing a variety of dishes from a limited range of products - all this takes time.

Sometimes you understand: it would be better if I worked these hours, and would not have to save. But this option is only suitable for those who have piecework pay.

4. Savings apps work

Depending on what you buy and for what amount, the total savings from purchases per week amount to hundreds of rubles.

5. Better to plan long term

Even a month in the context of savings is a short time to compile a menu. It is better to plan for a longer period. Then you can, for example, buy and cut a few chickens, and then get only drumsticks, thighs or fillets out of the freezer.

Long-term planning is also good in the context of buying large packages: for example, you don't buy 1 kg of flour every month, but buy a 10 kg bag at a bargain price. But for this it is better to "pinch off" the budget of each month than to spend all the money on flour in one of the weeks and starve.

6. Allocate money for impulse purchases

This recommendation runs counter to one of the top saving tips. But when it squeezes, you should have 50-100 rubles hidden for a little joy. Put them on a bag of gummy bears in the checkout area. Even though you know that you will fall prey to a marketing trick, you will feel better.

7. It is worth saving on the quality of products in moderation

Sometimes the difference between a cheap item and an average price item is really visible. Even if this contrast does not affect health, you should not underestimate the power of taste buds. If an incomprehensible whip in a plate spoils the mood more than saving it improves, the game is not worth the candle.

8. It is sometimes useful to conduct such experiments

Although I went a little cuckoo while trying to eat 3,500 rubles for a month, I still see potential in such experiments. True, not through the prism of money.

It is sometimes helpful to switch to any dietary system that is different from your usual diet for a while. This will help you find recipes for new delicious dishes and diversify your diet.

For example, let's say you decide to become a vegetarian for a short time - not out of humanism, but for the sake of experience. At first, you will cook something familiar, just without meat. And then the craving for variety will push you towards culinary discoveries.

Alas, my experiment does not confirm this, because I have not tried hundreds of budget recipes, but simply reminded myself once again that halva is delicious.