Woman goes viral after challenging herself to live off just £1 a day

Savvy shopper goes viral on TikTok after challenging herself to live off just £1 a day amid the cost of living crisis – as she says it was ‘extremely difficult’

  • Kathryn Leech, 26, from Manchester, lived off of just £1 a day shopping at Aldi
  • She made a TikTok to highlight the dangerous impact of the cost of living crisis
  • The digital media manager found challenge to be an eye-opening experience 
  • She filled her basket with pasta, sweet corn, tuna, bread and kidney beans
  • The video has been viewed over 681,200 times and racked up 30,700 likes 

A savvy shopper has gone viral on TikTok after challenging herself to live off of just £1 a day shopping at Aldi amid the cost of living crisis. 

Kathryn Leech, 26, from Manchester, wanted to see how difficult it would be to live on a £7 weekly food shop budget, and shared the result in a series of videos online.

The digital media manager pointed out that the tiny budget is something that some people may actually have to live off and found the challenge to be an eye-opening experience.

‘It was extremely difficult to make meals with such a small budget, and I had to eat the same thing every day which got incredibly boring,’ she admitted. 

Kathryn’s supermarket of choice for the challenge was Aldi, and she filled her basket with pasta, frozen sweet corn, tuna, bread, kidney beans and tortilla wraps to make a week’s worth of meals. 

Kathryn Leech (pictured), 26, from Manchester, wanted to see how difficult it would be to live on a £7 weekly food shop budget, and shared the result in a series of videos online

The digital media manager (pictured) pointed out that the tiny budget is something that some people may actually have to live off and found the challenge to be an eye-opening experience 

‘With the current cost of living crisis and the constant rising inflation, a lot of people are having to cut back just to get by,’ Kathryn said.

Kathryn’s three meals everyday for seven days 

BREAKFAST: Toast and butter

LUNCH: Kidney beans and pepper wraps

DINNER: Tuna and sweetcorn pasta

Here is the cost of her shopping for the week: 

Bread – 65p

Wraps – 85p

Kidney Beans x2 – 49p x2

Peppers – £1.16

Pasta – 32p

Tuna x2 – 59p x2

Sweetcorn – £1.19

Mayo – 49p  

‘For a lot of people it doesn’t matter how much they budget; the real issue is that the average cost of living is consistently rising but salaries aren’t at the same rate.

‘This is quite an extreme food budgeting challenge, but it was interesting for me to see if it’s possible to live on a budget this small which some people might actually have to do.

‘I ate the same thing every day for the whole seven days. I had toast, kidney beans and pepper wraps, and Tuna and sweetcorn pasta.’

Reviewing the experience, she said: ‘It was extremely difficult to make meals with such a small budget, and I had to eat the same thing every day which got incredibly boring.

‘It also wasn’t healthy as there was no way I could get enough nutrients in, and I definitely didn’t eat enough calories.

‘The hardest part was eating the same food every day. It wasn’t filling and it wasn’t healthy.

‘However, I made the food in bulk, so it cut down on cooking time as I only had to cook a couple of times for the whole week, and I just warmed it up each day.

‘I think it’s an eye-opening challenge, and I would recommend it if anyone wants to try an extreme food budget to see if they can do it.’

She shared the start of the challenge in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 681,200 times and racked up over 30,700 likes.


Kathryn’s breakfast which consisted of butter and toast only cost her 65p for the week however it doesn’t have much nutritional value 

For her weekly lunches she would eat a wrap every day with kidney beans for 49p and peppers for £1.16  

Kathryn had the same dinner of Tuna, sweetcorn, mayo and pasta every evening for seven nights 

She shared the start of the challenge in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 681,200 times and many rushed to the comment section to give their opinion on the challenge 

One user wrote: ‘The point is… you shouldn’t have to.’ ‘Couldn’t eat that 3 times a day for a week. No meat either. No proper sustenance. Vitamins protein,’ said another person.

‘That’s a snack?’ wrote a third person. Another person suggested: ‘Always buy a whole chicken u can do so much with it.’ 

‘Very helpful, well done! Sometimes you need a cheap week to get you through!’ said someone else. 

‘No chance. I see dinner, and at a push, plain toast for breakfast,’ another user commented. ‘Where’s the food?’ joked another person.

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