Musnad Ahmad

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Amir bin Rabi’ah, who was a Badri companion, that sometimes the Prophet (peace be upon him) would send us with a detachment, and we would have nothing with us except a few dates as provisions. The Prophet (peace be upon him) would distribute them among us, one handful at a time, until it would come to the point where each person would get only one date. Abdullah says: I said, “Father, what use is one date to you?” He replied, “Son, do not say that. When we did not even get one date, then we realized its value.”