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 85% 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 fresh graduate who works with about two real estate firms. He walks us through his eating habits, meal plans and how he ‘chops life’.

Income

This fresh graduate from a Nigerian University lives in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos state, and works as a realtor for two different firms in Lagos and is hoping to do more. He is a salesperson that plays a crucial role in generating revenue for the real estate sector. As a salesperson, he does not have a standard monthly because most times pay is based on commissions except otherwise. He believes that living in Lagos is not expensive, but then you just need to have the money, lots of money.

What’s your annual income, and what’s the payment structure like? 

There’s no specific amount I am paid, though it increases and decreases at times since most times pay in the real estate sector is based on commission. I get clients interested in properties, I close deals and I get paid a certain percentage as my commission. So let’s just say my income per annum should be around 1.3m naira.

What are your recurring monthly expenses apart from food?

Food? Funny how I like food so much. I can spend all my money on food if I have to. I don’t mind spending all my money on food, food is life. Apart from food, other things that take my money include data, and transport (sometimes for site inspection). 

The Budget.

Give an estimate of how much you spend on food per week.

I don’t have a specific figure but I eat so well.

Can you give us a quick breakdown of what you spend this estimated budget on?

Oh daily! I don’t eat breakfast and I just think I’m already so used to it that I barely remember that breakfast exists. It helps me save my breakfast money though. For lunch, I get food from a favourite restaurant close to my house since I work from home and I don’t get to go to the office every time. The average amount I spend on lunch is about 2300-2500 that’s if I get to buy food. Then at night, I try to eat lightly to keep fit so I probably prepare noodles and eggs for dinner most times. I’m a good chef so I make really tasty noodles.

What’s your most recurrent meal, and how much does it cost you to prepare?

I just mentioned that above. It has to be noodles, noodles every day, every time, every hour and every minute. You hardly come to my house and not find noodles and I spend up to 2500 on this depending on the extras that I want to add to the meal. Extras like protein, sardine, egg, vegetables etc.

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

Cooking at home is of course the cheapest but sometimes you can’t always trust the person cooking except if you’re doing it yourself. There’s this feeling about buying food outside. I mean good food. I prefer cooking though because I don’t like stepping out of the house. I love my house too much, I’m always indoors so if I can’t order I prefer to do my cooking myself most times and noodles take like half of the expenses cause that’s like the basic thing I cook from noodles.

Apart from Noodles what else do you cook?

Rice(Jollof, white rice and stew), Soup once in a blue moon, spaghetti, plantain and egg etc.

What’s your favourite meal to cook at home and how much does it cost you to prepare?

That will be fried plantains and fried eggs with chicken. That’s my favourite food to cook apart from noodles cause it’s easy to prepare. I spend let’s say roughly 5500, depending on the cost of plantains or how many eggs I want. I also love to be extra and veggies and to spice the whole meal up and because I’m a foodie I get to make my food in large quantities.

Where are your favourite places to eat out or order from when you buy food?

Wow! There’s this restaurant called Snail Cafe and Rubies on the mainland. They are good. And of course, 1812 at Ikeja city mall then talking about The Place Ikeja. Those are my favourites. 

 What’s your monthly food budget? 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? 

Of course, I spend more than my budget most times. I don’t do any mathematics before getting to feed myself. Did I mention that I am a foodie? I have a certificate as the best foodie in a competition. Let’s monthly should be around 70-80k.

Food Breakdown Menu

A breakdown menu on the type of Food you eat weekly and what the cost would be. What’s your typical food routine, and timetable for the week?

Oh! Wow! So I feel like I eat the same type of food every day in a week. For example, I don’t like missing Sunday rice for any reason. Apart from the fact that it hits differently, it’s also a tradition that we should not break. I am not a breakfast person, I don’t eat breakfast. Then,

Sunday – After church Rice and stew with assorted, chicken, turkey, beef, fish, or anything you can think of and I either get to buy on my way back from church most times or I just go home to eat Sunday rice.

Dinner – Swallow( Ewedu and stew soup with semolina)

Monday – Jollof rice at night and spaghetti for lunch. Spaghetti is also an easy meal to cook so after rice and swallow for me the next thing I think of cooking is spaghetti. And with my Spag I don’t like being extra with it so I spend roughly 3-4k to prepare it.

Tuesdays – Vegetable soup and Amala special from a restaurant for lunch and basmati rice for dinner. This Amala and vegetable soup now seems like a routine for me every Tuesday and because I don’t want to go through the stress of preparing vegetable soup I buy from a restaurant and depending on the kind of protein that comes with it I spend not more than 5k on my Tuesday Lunch.

Wednesday – Plantain and eggs with chicken for dinner and Rice and stew with extra proteins for lunch. 

Thursday – Swallow( Ewedu and stew soup with semolina)  for lunch and rice with stew for dinner. 

Friday – Plantain and eggs for lunch and maybe spaghetti at night.

Saturday – Rice with beef and other extras like beans, plantain, vegetables, moimoi and extra proteins. Then at dinner, I get to eat swallows like eba, amala or semolina.

My food life is repeated, nothing special, nothing different. If you don’t find me eating plantain and egg, then I’m eating rice like hundred times in a week or swallow like one million times.

Nice one, Thank You! So final question: Love or Food?

Ehn! Is this even a question? Food please…. I’ll need food to have the energy to find love. I pick food, please give me food and I’ll love you.

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