Welcome to #ChopLifeDiaries, a series documenting how Nigerians eat and all the ways they spend their money on feeding. In a country where people spend up to 59% of their income on food, we’re following our readers’ food journeys during the week and documenting expenses related to shopping, fast-food meals, market runs, restaurant dates, and every bite in between. In this time of rising food inflation, #ChopLifeDiaries reveals how folks from different walks of life are figuring out their food budgets in different cities

Today’s subject is a freelance graphic and product designer. He gets to walk us through his eating habits and meal plans.

Income

Today’s subject is a young and lively lad residing in Lagos state. Having recently graduated with a BSc in  Geology from FUPRE, he ventured into the world of freelancing as a Graphic and Product Designer while also trying out his hands-on social media management and getting side gigs from it, man needs to make extra cash. Even though he lives on Igando-Lasu road, the ever-busy part of Lagos, he has found refuge in remote work, escaping Lagos traffic. With a very weird sense of humour typical of every Nigerian firstborn, they try to multitask and try to be hands-on even though this sounds like irony. Join us as he shares his money story with us, what he does, his income, how he spends and saves money, and how he still manages to be a part of the Chop Life gang on his way.  

Can we meet you? Tell us a little about yourself; ( What you do i.e your occupation and the role you play, Where you stay, and any other thing you feel comfortable sharing with us) 

I’m a freelance Graphic and Product Designer. I’m also a social media manager. 

I stay in Lagos, along the Igando-Lasu road Afolabi bus stop to be precise. I work remotely from home so I don’t always have to face the hassle of Lagos traffic. I’ll pick working from home any day and anytime. I’m a graduate of Geology from the Federal University of Petroleum. Finally, I have a great sense of humour for my position as the last born of the family. Lest I forget, I’m also a musician, not professionally yet though.

What’s your annual income and what’s the payment structure like? Give us an estimate

Well, I don’t have a fixed income because like I said, I’m a freelancer, but between last year and now, I’d say my annual income should be around 1.5 million to 1.8 million annually as a fresh graduate. It’s shaky though.

Please let us in on your recurring monthly expenses apart from food?

Apart from food, I spend money on data. I spend about 10k a month on data and airtime. I don’t know how to buy clothes, so I buy clothes spontaneously. There’s no budget or any plan, so I can’t say what clothing I should wear. Transportation! Yes! It’s a big deal now because of the hike in fuel prices, but thank God I work remotely so I spend on transportation when I’m going to church or if I want to go somewhere to chill, which rarely happens cause we’re single in this kingdom, waiting for God to remember us. Then yeah, I give too, both to church and others so that’s it.

Budget

Give an estimate of how much you spend on food per week, you could run us through your typical food timetable daily. What do you like to eat? If you skip breakfast? Typical hacks you have to cut down food costs e.t.c

It all depends on whether I cook or not. I do not have a food budget because the prices of everything change every week, so I just buy food whenever I’m hungry. Food that can satisfy me. But if you insist I put a number to it, I’ll probably say 5-7k(food and snacks I buy, not cook) on food weekly cause I have a bag of rice and beans at home, so I cook them with something else. Once in a while when I’m out of foodstuff, I go and restock. So apart from restocking and all, it should be around 5-7k or sometimes 10k self depending on my appetite.

Here in Lagos, I hardly eat cooked food outside apart from fries, and it’s because there are no restaurants close to me. I’d have to transport myself to a restaurant and I don’t like anything that’ll stress me out, so if I’m not cooking, I buy bread, akara, coiled fried fish, yam, and tea. 

I don’t eat eggs cause the taste makes me throw up, but I know I need eggs, so here’s what I do. Anytime I want to eat eggs, I make it by frying tomato paste in oil for some minutes, then adding already mixed eggs with onions and peppers into the tomato while still frying. This would give it a very nice flavour but eliminate the egg taste. That’s how I eat eggs. That’s a hack for you.

Then, I always keep peanut butter at home. Peanut butter goes with custard and pap and is spread on bread. My favourite meals are Bread and tea. I skip breakfast when I have work to do and I want to finish it in the morning, but if I don’t have any work, I’m not skipping. Even when I was a student, I still ate breakfast because learning makes me hungry the most.

When it comes to food hacks to cut costs, buying in bulk is still the best way of cutting down food costs. You can also get a hobby as it helps keep your mind away from food. Like, I can play video games all day and not remember food. I can forfeit my meal for a football match too.

How much does it cost you to prepare your most recurrent meal?

Like I said before, bread and tea. It doesn’t need preparing, just stirring, lol. But buying the bread and the 3-in-1 hot chocolate I like using cost me 1550 or 1600 because of the bread size. But if you want to talk about something I prepare often, it’d be the egg stew I mentioned. I love to make it, and my sister loves it too. It costs about 1300 naira to make it if you have other ingredients at home like salt, oil, seasoning cubes, thyme, curry, etc. 

Cooking at home and Take-outs or eat-outs, which do you prefer and which do you feel is cost-efficient?

I prefer cooking at home when it’s not swallowed because I think I make the best stew, spag, noodles, and jollof rice. I enjoy the food I cook with passion. But if it’s swallow, which involves soup, I always like to have a woman’s touch to it, so I eat out. It’s my own bias though. I enjoy eating swallow and soup when it’s cooked by a woman; it tastes different. 

Cost efficiency, depends on what you’re cooking, the number of people you’re cooking it for, how long you want it to last, and the availability of a freezer and light to power it. There are some meals I’d like to cook at home but when I remember it’s just me that’ll eat them, I’d just opt to buy outside cause power generation is really bad in my area and I cannot store the food which would lead to wastage so it’s cheaper to buy outside in that sense. There are some soups too that it’s cheaper to buy outside than to cook yourself, cause if you want to cook yourself you’d think of all the goodies to add, but when you buy the soup in bulk from outside, you’d calculate well and be more prudent in spending. So, it all depends.

Your favourite meal to cook?

Still my egg stew every day, anytime, and always.

When you buy food, where are your favourite places to eat out or order from?

I’m not very selective with food as long as the food is good. The only thing I factor in is the distance to the place, the cost, and what they sell. But if I want to eat out in Lagos, I don’t like to order, cause I don’t know if it’s me but, I like to sit down at the restaurant and eat. I go to a Jendol mall around my area and eat at their restaurant. That’s aside from the small eateries popularly known as bukka’s I go to once in a while.

Tell us your monthly food budget and how you spend it? Do you sometimes spend more than your budget or are there specifics you put in place to ensure you do not spend more than your monthly food budget? 

I don’t have a food budget, but I know I spend up to or over 50% of my income on food due to the high cost of food and high cost of consumption from my end too. I wish there was physical evidence for all food I’m eating

If you were to be a food spice, which food spice would you be and why?

Ginger, Well, the African slang “you dey Ginger me” is kinda what people tell me whenever I’m around them. I’m the definition of energy. In my campus church, I was given a mock award for the most energetic member

I’m always bringing the heat, the energy, it’d be Ginger cause I de Ginger

Would you want to own a restaurant in the future?

Well, More like a bakery for now

Wow! Because you like Bread?

Exactly, you get the gist 

A restaurant would be amazing because of my love for food, but I don’t know if I can manage one, maybe just own it and give someone to manage it. It would be nice, but a bakery that I would own one.

What if you saw a platform that would help your restaurant or any food business grow without too much stress, would you still consider owning a restaurant?

Yes! Sure why not? Who doesn’t like an easy life?

Then you should check out http://app.vendease.com 

Thank you for letting us in on your earnings and how you Chop Life.

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