Day 5 – Final day of Live Below the Line -97p

What a week!

It has been humbling to see how many people have offered to feed me.  Thank you all for your kind thoughts and willingness to be generous.  I’m sure if I had taken up their offers I would have eaten better this week than normal.  However, the rules of the ‘Live Below the Line’ challenge say you can’t accept donated food so I struggled on.  However, I’d like to encourage all those who offered me food to use the money that they would have spent on that to sponsor me, so that those who are really hungry benefit (see link below).

I’m starting to get better at knowing what I can cook at a small cost now and am making the most of my reduced vegetables.

Today I started off with a filling bowl of porridge (see Day 1’s recipe) costing 16p. This has been by far the best breakfast in terms of both cost and filling me up.

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday’s dinner of Vegetable Fried Rice.  However, I went round to a friends and we shared the portion (although I’m sure I had more than she did) so I guess I ate 20p worth.

That gave me 64p for dinner wow!! Just shows how when you share you are blessed! I felt almost rich….

I decided to make the most of the cheap veg I had bought yesterday, reduced in Coop, and make an adaptation of mashed swede (9p).

• Half a swede, chopped (4p)
• Half an onion, sliced (1p)
• 2/3 tbs of oil (2p)
• Pinch of cumin seeds,1/2 tsp of coriander powder, 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder and salt to taste. (2p)

Method

Boil the swede until soft, drain and mash.

Heat the oil, add the cumin seeds, when they crackle add the onion and fry for a minute.

Add the coriander powder and then stir in the mashed swede, mixing it with the onions.

Add a pinch of garam masala and salt to taste.

This was served with a portion of rice (11p) and some Channa Dal (14p).

• 70 grams of Channa Dal (7p)
• 1 1/2 cups of water of water with a pinch of turmeric (1p)
• 1/2 a small onion (1p)
• 1tsp of cumin seeds (1p)
• 1 clove of garlic, squashed and sliced (2p)
• 2/3 tbsp of oil (2p)
• Salt to taste

Method:

Put the channa dal, water, salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker and boil for for 20 mins or until soft. (If you don’t have a pressure cooker then soak the dal overnight and then boil in a saucepan until soft.)

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the cumin seeds; when they crackle add the onion and garlic, fry until crisp then add to the dal and mix well.

 

That gave me a huge plate of food for just 34p!  I’m getting the hang of this now 😉 and still had an amazing 30p left!!  At last, I could have the can of coke that I had been longing for all week out of the multipack I bought last Saturday, it worked out at 27p per can and tasted great.  You certainly appreciate things when you have not had them for a while.  And still 3p left!!

This week has made me think a lot about diet, how expensive it is to eat healthily and how essential it is to be able to cook with basic ingredients.  When I think of the obesity problem in the UK among the poor its often because the cheap food in our supermarkets is not the food that is good for us.  After all, I could have spent my pound on a large pack of doughnuts or a pack of 4 mars bars.  But eating healthily on a budget took lots of forethought and planning, as well as cooking skill.  Fruit and veg are expensive!

If the government want to really focus on the health of the poor then my recommendation would be that all children are taught in school not just how to cook, but how to cook healthy meals and a balanced diet on a budget.  ‘Living on a budget’ cookery lessons could be provided free of charge to all those who are on benefits or on a low income to help them maximise the use of their meager funds.

Next year I’m going to challenge all my colleagues at The Leprosy Mission to join me on this challenge (so gang, beware!).  In the meantime, I’d like to finish this series of blogs by saying a big thank you to all of you who have sponsored me.

If you have not got round to it yet then don’t forget to log on to http://www.justgiving.com/Sian-Arulanantham1 to support the lifesaving work of ChildHope or donate to another charity that works with the poorest of the poor, such as All We Can www.allwecan.org.uk or The Leprosy Mission www.leprosymission.org.uk

 

Day 4 – Live Below the Line 95p

Well I made it to Day 4 living on less than £1 a day, but I’m really tired and have been desperate all day for a sugar boost – but not allowed as it would risk my levels of nutritious food consumption!  I was going to start the day with porridge (that would have been cheap and sensible) but I gave in to a flight of fancy and went with beans on toast with a poached egg.

At what cost?

12p for half a tin of Tesco’s value beans

4p per slice of toast (8p)

And 1 egg (6p)

I skipped the butter so a Brekkie grand total of 26p!

Lunch followed the same pattern as yesterday with Egg Bhujia and 2 chapatti, although today I use just 1/4 of a tomato, since I had had such an extravagant breakfast, and just one egg.

1 eggs, beaten (6p)

1/4 a tomato, chopped (3p)

1/2 an onion, chopped (3p)

1 chilli, chopped (1p)

Mustard oil (3p)

Salt to taste

Method:

Head the oil, add the chopped chilli and onion, fry for two minutes then add the tomato and salt, then cook until soft.

Add the beaten egg and cook (as you would scrambled eggs) until egg is firm.

Serve with 2 warm chapatti (2p each) (See Day 1 blog for recipe)

Lunch total 20p.  A saving on yesterday but an unsubstantial lunch!!  I felt very hungry all afternoon and was longing to get home for dinner and also longing for some vegetables.  I went to the Coop on the way home to buy some rice and just happened to find some vegetables reduced – 7 carrots, 2 onions, a parsnip and a swede for just 37p.  That approximately 3p per carrot, 2p per onion, 4p for a parsnip and 8p for the swede!  So my plan for egg fried rice became Vegetable and Egg Fried Rice, costing just 36p!.

Large serving of rice (15p)

1 egg (6p)

1 carrot, diced in small pieces (3p)

1/2 an onion, chopped (1p)

2 green beans, sliced into small pieces (3p)

1 chilli (1p)

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (3p)

1 tbsp soy seasoning sauce and salt to taste (4p)

Method:

Boil the rice and leave to cool.

Heat the oil; fry the chilli, onion, beans and carrot until soft (cover with a lid if necessary), add salt to taste.

Add the egg and scramble with the vegetables.

Add the rice and stir.

Finally, add the soy seasoning sauce and stir until all the rice is coated.

Wow delicious and just 82p so far today! But I had a strong desire for something sweet…. what could I have for 18p???

I rummaged through the cupboards. There was a can of coke, but that worked out at 27p from the multipack – too much! Then I spotted it, well hidden at the back of the cupboard, the last of the four kitkat chunky’s that I bought last week (4 for £1). I settled on half a kitkat – 13p!  Stopping at half was a challenge… so I decided to step away from the kitchen and food supplies and take an early night.

Day 4 total – 95p!

So if you are feeling sympathy with the cause, what can you do to help?

• If you want to know more about my experiences and the recipes I am using then follow this blog.
• If you want to have a brief glimpse about what poverty is like then join me in the challenge and sign up to the ‘Live below the line’ challenge at https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk/challenge
• If you want to help children in poverty then sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Sian-Arulanantham1 to raise funds for the work of ChildHope or
• Donate to another charity that works with the poorest of the poor, such as All We Can www.allwecan.org.uk or The Leprosy Mission www.leprosymission.org.uk