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    <h1>reasonable_diet-people.txt</h1>
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    <pre class="document-text">## People

	want food that is cheap, filling, and not embarrassing
	tyred of noisy diet rules and conflicting advice
	like simple ideas that can be shared with others

## Students
	living on rent and study money, often turning to instant noodles because “it’s what everyone does”
	see cheap food as survival but wish it didn’t feel like junk
	would like to be seen as capable, not broke
	students are often the first to try things and share them on campus

	school students
		peer culture can shift fast
			light teasing around plastic use
				plastic = oil, cardboard = trees
			aim is to make single-use plastic for food feel quietly embarrassing
				not moralised — just uncool
				more like “why are you still doing that?”
				the cultural equivalent of public-urination-yuck
			normalise bulk buying and simple cooking together
		sharing simple skills (e.g. sourdough baking)

### What They Need
		stretched between cost, time, and energy
		recipes that are cheaper and better than noodles, easy to cook in dorms
		visible examples of others making it work
		where they are: dorm kitchens, student clubs, TikTok cheap eats, Reddit frugal subs

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: swapping noodles for staples if it feels simple and proven
		barriers: cooking feels too hard, too costly, or too lonely
		first actions:
			- swap one noodle meal for a $2 potato dish
			- try a microwave recipe with a flatmate
			- share a dorm-kitchen photo in a group chat
			- lightly tease a mate for bringing plastic instead of a staple (“bro that’s oil, not food”)

## Frugal Households
	families or individuals making groceries stretch week to week
	cheap food doesn’t have to mean poor quality
	pride in feeding everyone well on little
	families bring scale and routine once students show it works

### What They Need
		constant pressure from high prices and limited energy
		clear, repeatable meals that others already trust
		where they are: food banks, online frugal groups, church groups

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: swapping packets for staples if the steps are simple
		barriers: worry that staples won’t satisfy, fear of wasting time, not sure kids will eat it
		first actions:
			- test one $10 family meal plan from the site
			- cook a bulk potato or lentil dish for leftovers
			- leave a quick note online about substitutions that worked

## Health-conscious Experimenters
	interested in nutrition but tyred of commercial diet culture
	want food that feels balanced and straightforward
	can provide credibility that cheap staples aren’t just cheap, they’re good

### What They Need
		clear nutrition basics without hype — potatoes, mussels, liver
		easy ways to try them out and see the results
		where they are: wellness blogs, YouTube explainers, co-ops

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: trying calm, low-cost alternatives to diet noise
		barriers: assume staples are bland, unsure how to cook them, doubt if it’s “healthy enough”
		first actions:
			- replace one “superfood” snack with a staple (e.g. liver pâté)
			- cook a potato + mussels meal and notice how it feels
			- share a simple nutrition fact in a wellness chat

## People Managing Chronic Illness
	often dealing with fatigue, pain, or unpredictable energy
		have been told to eat better but are overwhelmed by complex plans and expensive ingredients
	need stability more than perfection — routines they can maintain on bad days
	can become the most credible advocates because they notice quickly when food helps or harms

### What They Need
		meals that are extremely simple to prepare even with low energy
		clear signals about which foods tend to reduce inflammation or steady energy
		no guilt, no pressure, no “miracle cure” promises
		where they are: chronic illness forums, patient support groups, long COVID communities, disability advocates

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: seeing cheap staples as a low-risk experiment rather than another failed diet
		barriers: too tyred to cook, scared of making symptoms worse, already burned out on health advice
		first actions:
			- try one microwave potato on a rough day and notice how it feels
			- read a calm condition page without committing to anything
			- share a simple recipe in a support group if it worked



## Environmental Audience
	people who care about packaging, waste, climate
	want their food choices to fit with those values, but be healthy, too
	bring culture too — cheap food becomes respected if it’s also eco

### What They Need
		meals that are both affordable and low-waste
		where they are: environment clubs, co-ops, TikTok eco-tips

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: seeing staples as environmentally better
		barriers: think eco food costs more, fear it will take too much effort, feel peers won’t notice
		first actions:
			- swap one plastic-wrapped meal for a loose staple
			- share a photo of a “low-waste” dinner with friends
			- join a cooperative or group cooking effort



## School Canteen Staff and Teachers
	most school canteens run on thin budgets and very limited staff
		and in many cases the menu is not their choice
			it is constrained by departmental guidelines, procurement contracts, approval lists
		canteen workers often get blamed for choices they didn’t make
	potatoes, carrots, onions, and simple veg
		are some of the few foods they can freely shape
		they fit inside every health guideline, scale easily, and are already “green” under most systems
	this gives canteen staff a tiny pocket of freedom
		a place where they can create something good without waiting for approvals from above

	teachers
		already overstretched — we don’t add new duties
		can signal support by mentioning healthy eating when appropriate
			letting potato be normal in the classroom
			allowing kids to heat water if rules permit
		the reasonable.diet ideas map neatly into curriculum topics
			home economics, health classes, basic nutrition
		this is light-touch, not another programme

### What They Need
		recipes that are compliant with existing rules and easy to prep within their workload
		dishes that students will actually buy and eat
		student demand strong enough to justify menu changes to principals and district staff
		for teachers: curriculum-ready angles that fit existing lessons without extra prep
		where they are: school kitchens, canteen lines, procurement meetings, staff rooms, classrooms

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: reintroducing older healthier items that were approved years ago but fell off the menu
		barriers: fear of backlash from administrators, worry that healthier options won’t sell, no time to develop new recipes
		first actions:
			- add a simple potato or veg side that’s already within guidelines
			- point to student demand when justifying a small menu shift
			- use the recipes as proof that cheap healthy food is what kids are asking for
			- for teachers: mention potato as a historical staple in a lesson, or simply let thermos lunches be normal


## Parents of School-age Children
	not choosing the campaign — their children are
		kids ask loudly and repeatedly, and parents usually follow through if it’s cheap and harmless
		the link back to the campaign disappears into peer culture
		it becomes: “everyone’s child seems to want potato now… fine, it’s cheap anyway”
	they are the ones who pack the thermos, buy the potatoes, and adjust the weekly shop

### What They Need
		cheap, packable, no-fuss options that kids will actually eat
		peer cover so their child isn’t “the potato kid”
		instructions simple enough to hand to a child or pack before work
		where they are: kitchen benches at 7am, grocery aisles, group chats with other parents

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: sending warm food instead of packaged snacks
		barriers: worry the food will go cold, fear of looking odd, not sure what to pack
		first actions:
			- try the thermos-mash pattern once: pre-heat, pack, done
			- notice that half the class is doing it too
			- realise it costs cents and keeps a child full all morning


## Small Recipe Bloggers and Independent Cooking Sites
	independent creators who own their kitchens and their voice
		many are exhausted by the SEO trap — long stories, heavy layouts, algorithmic filler
		but what they actually want is to cook, photograph, and share in their own style
		they already have audiences, rhythms, and ways of explaining things that work for them
		the goal is to give them more time for that, and less time fighting platforms

	what reasonable.diet offers them
		promotion and traffic back to their own site
			recipes mirrored here carry clear credit and a direct link home
			profile pages on reasonable.diet link straight to their donation page, Patreon, Ko-fi, or shop
			readers discover them through our filters and search, then leave to support them there
		control over their own ecosystem
			they keep their blog, their newsletter, their brand, their voice
			they choose which recipes get mirrored and which stay exclusive to their site
			they can export their archive into a clean standard format and publish their own mini recipe books
		personality-first imports
			their writing style, photos, asides, and substitutions come through intact
			nothing gets flattened into generic templates
		lightweight tools for their own site
			Clippy integration: a tiny JS snippet that adds command-line features to their pages
				/scale, /convert, /dietary-restriction — readers interact without leaving the blog
			open recipe standard: structured data that imports cleanly into reasonable.diet with zero migration
			volunteers available to help implement either, or clean and standardise an existing archive

### What They Need
		visibility without having to game search engines
		a way to turn readers into supporters — donations, subscriptions, book sales
		structured recipe data that travels with them if they move platforms
		where they are: personal blogs, Substack newsletters, small recipe sites, Patreon, Ko-fi

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: treating reasonable.diet as a promotional channel and tool layer, not a replacement
		barriers: fear of losing ownership, worry that a mirror steals traffic, not sure the technical work is worth it
		first actions:
			- create a profile page that links back to their site and donation page
			- import one recipe using the open standard and see how it renders
			- try the Clippy snippet on a single post
			- accept a volunteer offer to standardise a small batch of recipes without moving hosting


## University Welfare Officers, Residential Advisors, and Student Guilds
	gatekeepers of campus culture and wellbeing resources
		they decide what goes in orientation packs, which posters stay up, and what initiatives get supported
		often overstretched and wary of adding another programme students will ignore
	students already want this
		they just need the materials to be ready-made and low-risk

### What They Need
		ready-to-print packs that require no extra work from their side
		initiatives with proven student appeal, not another top-down wellness mandate
		cover if something goes wrong — “the students brought this to us”
		where they are: orientation planning meetings, welfare desks, residential hall offices, guild rooms

### How We Can Be Useful
		change open to: including the $20 shop list and poster packs in existing channels
		barriers: worry it looks unofficial, fear of liability, not enough time to vet content
		first actions:
			- drop the poster PDF into an existing student Discord or group chat
			- include the $20 weekly shop list in an orientation or welfare email
			- let student ambassadors handle the physical placement while staff simply don’t object




### Sharing reasonable.diet

	people share reasonable.diet by doing it first, then talking about it
		the actions are small and ordinary
			swap one meal → tell a flatmate → share a photo → it grows

	university campuses
		the core seeding bed
			dorms are contained environments — one person cooking reaches dozens
			posters go where students actually look:
				bathroom mirrors, above kettles, beside ramen shelves, on fridge doors
			the "$20 weekly shop" becomes a campus in-joke and a quiet safety net
			volunteers who already put up posters for other campaigns know which noticeboards stay up
			from here it leaks outward:
				students go home for the weekend → cook for their families
				summer break → habits carry into share houses and first apartments
				graduation → the staple pattern moves into adult life

	close circles
		flatmates see you microwaving a potato and ask what you’re making
		friends notice you’re not buying noodles any more
		partners taste a $2 dinner that actually fills them up
		these are the highest-trust conversions
			nobody needs to be convinced by a stranger if someone they live with is already doing it

	social media
		TikTok → short clips of dorm kitchens, microwave potatoes, "$20 weekly shop" breakdowns
		Reddit → frugal and student subs, honest reviews, cost breakdowns
		Discord → shared in study group chats, calm.college servers, local community groups
		group chats → "look what I made for $2" → "send the link" → done
		Instagram stories → before-and-after grocery receipts, thermos lunches, "fed myself for $17 this week"
		the content is not polished
			messy kitchens, real receipts, honest mistakes
			that is what makes it trustworthy

	online sharing
		regular people post recipe links in their group chats with no explanation needed
			"this one" — that is the whole pitch
		someone screenshots a poster and drops it in a Discord server
			the PDF gets forwarded through ten group chats before dinner
		people share their own versions:
			"here is my $20 shop"
			"here is how I make it in my weird kettle"
			"here is the vegetarian fork I made"
			each personal edit is a new entry point
		QR codes on posters go straight to recipes
			no app, no signup, no friction
			just a clean page that loads fast on campus Wi-Fi
		the site is built to be shared:
			shareable filter URLs, shareable search results, shareable grocery lists
			if someone finds a perfect recipe for their broke friend, they send the exact link

	physical presence
		posters in bathrooms, kitchens, noticeboards, bus stops
		whiteboards and fridge doors → "potato is cheaper" → "bring potato tomorrow"
		the two-pronged poster pattern
			poster #1 catches someone hungry
			poster #2 helps them cook
		cooking circles → small groups cooking together, splitting costs, sharing meals
		bucket culture → a crate of potatoes in the common room that anyone can take from

	kid-to-kid
		the most powerful vector in schools is not parents or teachers — it is students
			"please send potato to school tomorrow"
			thermos mash becomes a trend
			memes and TikTok edits spread faster than any official message
		when enough kids ask, parents follow through
			it’s cheap and harmless, so they say yes
			the link back to the campaign disappears into peer culture

	creators and bloggers
		independent food writers and video makers with their own platforms
			reasonable.diet sends traffic to them, not just away from them
			recipes mirrored here carry clear credit and a link home
			profile pages collect their work and point readers to their donation or subscription page
		wellness bloggers try a potato + mussels meal and write about how it felt
		student pages post "$20 shop" reels
		food TikTokers show the "microwave cuisine supremacy" angle
		they link back to reasonable.diet or just mention the idea
			no central coordination needed
			the idea travels through their own audiences

	institutional routes
		food banks add reasonable.diet recipes to their handouts
		church groups share bulk-cooking guides
		community kitchens put the posters on their walls
		university welfare officers include the $20 shop list in orientation packs
		these are slower but reach people who are not online

	the pattern
		someone cooks one cheap meal → feels surprisingly good → tells one person
		that person tries it → tells two more
		within a week a dorm or a class or a household has shifted
		the spread is not viral in the marketing sense
			it is viral in the human sense:
				useful, honest, easy to copy



### Ambassadors and Volunteers

	Community
		connect with food banks, co-ops, and student unions to spread reasonable.diet as a free resource; invite people from your own online circles; keep recipe folders, tags, and lists tidy so anyone can find meals quickly.

	Programming
		build and refine the site so it stays light, fast, and human; help small recipe sites that reach out to us by simplifying their structure; integrate open standards cleanly; keep things calm and reliable.

		• developers can also support the “meta-recipe” culture
			— helping structure base recipes
			— adding simple forks
			— keeping regional variations tidy
			so everyone can build on each other’s work

	Organising
		bring contributors together to trial recipes and campaigns; place volunteers into roles that match their energy; welcome newcomers and guide them into groups where they can start straight away.

	Influencing
		shape the message that cheap food is doable, not shameful; adapt content to local staples; run casual, playful accounts that spread tips lightly and keep the project visible.

	Research
		link cheap staples to clear health outcomes; study frugal food traditions and highlight what works locally; share plain insights volunteers can use.

	Editing + Artistry
		set a creative tone of “cheap, tasty, cool”; package recipes into guides, reels, and posters that circulate easily; make memes, graphics, and short clips that keep frugal food fun to talk about.
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