Eating on a Bangladesh budget: Day four

Inspired by a visit to Bangladesh with Save the Children, I’m trying to eat on 40p per day – like the villagers we met.

Running on empty

Today I tried to put right a gap in the picture. The villagers in Pailakandi do hard physical work on their 40p worth of food. So I went for a gentle two-hour, 27-mile bike ride through the mist.

I’ve eaten less than 1600 calories today, when with the ‘work’ on the bicycle I’ve used around 3200. That’s an unhealthily large deficit and I’m feeling decidedly lethargic.

On the bike ride I saw a rabbit in the road, recently killed by a vehicle. I gave serious thought to bringing it home to eat, but left it where it lay. Another few weeks of this and I’m sure I wouldn’t be so squeamish.

Taste over calories

All this has made me realise just how poor my choice of food has been, choosing taste and variety over calories. The highest energy per penny in my food list comes from flour, so I need to be making and eating chapattis like they’re going out of fashion.

Chapattis have been the hardest food to make and cook, but incompetence, idleness and a search for tasty food has led me into calorie trouble.

It’s my last day tomorrow so I must get it sorted.