‘No one should have to budget this much’: Manchester woman goes viral living off £1 a day – eating nothing but rice puddings, crumpets and beans

A woman has gone viral after taking part in an eye-opening challenge, living off just £1 a day and surviving on rice pudding, crumpets and tinned goods like beans and sausages.

Kathryn Leech, 26 from Manchester, took up the extreme budgeting task to see if it was physically and financially possible to live on a £1 daily supermarket shop.

As the cost of living continues to rise, many Brits are looking for creative ways to cut back on their outgoings.

While Kathryn's frugal spending may be seen as radical, the digital marketing manager says many people in the country have to survive on this minuscule budget.

To showcase product ranges, the Mancunian scoured both Asda, Tesco and Lidl for bargains.

She purchased a range of food from Asda’s own ranges including 23p rice pudding, 35p crumpets, and 42p tinned beans and sausages.

In Tesco, she chowed down on 31p tinned peaches for breakfast which she enjoyed, but for lunch and dinner, she ate the same meal – spaghetti with onions, carrots and tomato sauce, costing a total of 68p.

Meanwhile, in Lidl she opted for ginger nut biscuits for 39p to serve as breakfast, lunch and a snack, followed by a chicken and mushroom noodle pot for 49p and a bread roll for 21p for dinner – going over the £1 budget by 9p.

"I found this challenge quite difficult as £1 isn’t enough to be able to get all your nutrients in for the day, let alone enough calories," Kathryn, who previously did a similar challenge shopping in Aldi with a strict weekly budget of £7, told NeedToKnow.online.

"I did it to raise awareness about the struggles some people are facing but also to help with some cheap options people can try if they need to shop on a budget this small.

"I found Asda easier than Lidl and Aldi because there were so many more options.

"Asda is obviously a bigger supermarket and their ‘Just Essentials’ range is extremely affordable.

"At the end of the challenges, I discovered that no one should have to budget this much as I didn’t feel full at all.

“It even affected my mood to eat so little. It’s not a healthy way to live.”

Despite working with a such small budget, Kathryn managed to whip up a range of meals to keep her going.

She documented the highs and lows in a video series that she shared with her 24,000 followers on TikTok.

Impressed viewers were quick to share what they had to say about the thrifty series.

Many said they would not be able to live on the items themselves, while others shared their own stories.

"Am sorry but I would be starving," wrote one person.

Another user commented: “I’d simply starve and wouldn’t be able to move.”

Someone else added: "Today I lived on 32p bread for breakfast (toast) with 16p spaghetti hoops on toast for lunch and 44p reduced Co-op mash for tea."

"God u need nutrition," commented someone else. [sic]

Another person said: “End up being ill just eating them.”

"Sorry, rice pudding for breakfast??," added one user, to which Kathryn replied "Anything can be breakfast if you want it to be" with crying smiling emojis.

“Crumpets aren’t lunch!” another user insisted.

"Asda does a fantastic markdown every day on fresh fruit & veg, fresh bread and cakes, fresh meat, fish and ready meals," recommended another user.

"Good god seriously," wrote someone else.

"Plastic food for the poor. More state poison," added another user.



EDITOR'S NOTE: Digital press are kindly asked to include a hyperlink to Kathryn's TikTok where possible: https://www.tiktok.com/@everylittlepenny

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