Day 1 - Total spend = £1
Day one of 'living below the line'. In conclusion, it hasn't been as hard as I had expected, and the main problem seems to be a sugar low headache that has been pretty persistent all evening.
Firstly, I already had food in the fridge and cupboards before I began this challenge and I didn't want to waste that food as that would kind of defeat the aim of trying to live below the poverty line, food waste is not an option to people who can't afford to put meals on the table (or floor if you live in India...). So everything I have eaten today (except a butternut squash) has been using items I already had and what they cost me to buy.
Breakfast - Porridge made with water and a sprinkling of sweetener
Porridge oats - 3p for a 35g portion
Water - Free
Sweetner - 1p for a 'sprinkle'
Snack - a banana - 15p
Lunch - Home made spicy roasted butternut squash soup
I have made enough soup to last all week and it works out at 31p per portion.
Snack - an apple - 5p (from a friends orchard)
Dinner - Pasta and red pesto with a dash of cheddar
Pasta - 10p
Pesto - 20p
20g cheese - 15p (I had 15p left of my £1 budget so the cheese was a total luxury, I worked out what I could eat for 15p and it was 20g, it was totally worth it)
Total spend = £1
All in all, it's been a pretty good day. I've felt hungry at points but I think that's probably more down to the fact that I have known that my food intake has been limited by cost and therefore I couldn't just eat every time I felt a little bit hungry - or not hungry at all but just bored and wanting food! I've even tested my self control, holding back on 2 times today when I have been faced with a lot of cakes and sweet stuff offered to me. I know I probably could accept 'freebies' but I have decided not to as if I wanted I could probably get a lot of food for free from the kindness of my friends and the people around me, but people living below the poverty can not always rely on others' kindness to put food on their table.
You definitely have to be a lot more organised and plan ahead when living on a tight budget and find creative ways to use every ingredient you have to make your food go as far as you can.
I've had a lot of food in bowls today for some reason - just noticed that. Breakfast and lunch are going to look pretty similar for the week and I'll have to see how creative I can get with dinners.
By the way, the soup was really nice, I freestyled a bit but hopefully I can cope with having that every lunch this week.
Thanks to everyone who has already donated to Raleigh International!
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