Day 3

Island In The Sun

Breakfast

porridge and tea

2 ozs. porridge made with water

cup of tea
Porridge oats = 8p

Today I discovered a new strategy for eating my porridge. I found that taking a sip of tea between every few mouthfuls helped it to go down better. Whether it was hunger or strategy I don't know, but I shall continue with this method of eating my breakfast.

Lunch

jam sandwich banana and a cup of tea

Jam sandwich

banana

cup of tea

Bread = 4p

Jam = 1p

Banana = 11p.

Total = 16

Since I was on my last banana, today marked the last day of jam butties and bananas. The banana was over-ripe and half of it was mushy, however I like my bananas very ripe, though perhaps not as ripe as that. 

Dinner

Peas n' Rice

curry sauce

cup of tea

Since I still had half a tin of kidney beans to use up I decided to have them for dinner. I also had an opened jar of curry sauce that I had used to flavour my first nights meal I thought I might try a curry. After I had tasted it I would have to say that if it hadn't to have said curry on the jar I wouldn't have associated it with a curry. However, the sauce itself was quite tasty, with a fruity flavour that reminded me of Carribean cuisine, so (apologies to Levi Roots and the people of Jamaica) I decided to make a poor man's peas n' rice to go with the curry sauce, and added chlli powder to the curry sauce to give it hotness. I can reccomend this combination to anyone looking for a tasty cheap meal with a difference.

Nutritionally, I think it is similar to yesterday, but my vegetables are fast dwindling, so I saved them for another day and only had 2 of my 5 a day.

Since the tins of beans cost 21p. and I costed them at 11p. yesterday, I shall be costing them at 10p. today

Beans = 10p
Rice = 6p.
curry sauce = 7p.
onion and chilli = 3p. - estimate
1/2 stockcube = 2p
herbs = 3p - estimate

Total = 31p.

Tea and milk =5
Total = 5p.
total expenditure today = 60p.

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=7146 

There are more details on the subject, if anyone is interested at
http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects

Day 2

Just Another Day

I woke up to my usual cup of tea this morning, and was quite surprised to find that it tasted good, so I have either got used to the taste of UHT milk, or my taste buds have deteriorated overnight.

Breakfast

porridge and tea

50g. porridge, made with water

A cup of tea

I doubled the amount of oats in my porridge this morning and decided to dispense with the jam and just eat the porridge plain, and since I was hungry, it went down pretty quick and it wasn't too bad.

Porridge = 8p

total =8p.

                                            Lunch



jam sandwich, banana and tea



Jam sandwich

Banana

Cup of tea

Bread = 4p.

jam = 1p.

banana = 11p.

total = 16p.

It is not the most exciting meal I have eaten, but the banana's seem to be going brown, so they will have to be eaten soon. The bread is pretty dry, Eric suggested putting the bread in the freezer, but I don't think it would have made any difference. Anyway I am trying to keep away from the freezer. I did think of putting the banana into the sandwich and have a 'strawberry jam and banana butty', but Eric said that was disgusting, and he should know, he eats a lot of disgusting things.

Dinner

chilli beans and rice and a cup of tea

 Chilli beans

Rice

Cup of Tea

Kidney beans = 11p.

Onion = 4p.

Tomato puree = 9p.

Green pepper = 14p.

Tomato = 8p.

Chilli and cumin = about 5p.

1/2 stock cube = 2p.

50 g. rice = 4p

total=57

Tea and milk = 5p.

total = 5

total expenditure 86p.

I seem to be getting the hang of this now, and am on a more sensible course of eating. Yesterday again I felt very tired by afternoon, but since I had been to the gym (here's where I get a snigger from Joshua) I am still not sure whether it was exercise or diet that made me feel tired. I was ready for my dinner a full two hours earlier than normal. Since the only thing missing from the chilli was mince, and while I'm not a vegetarian I'm not a card carrying carnivore either, it tasted fine. Although the meal was two hours earlier than normal, I was perfectly full for the rest of the evening and didn't suffer any hunger pangs at all. I also had an extra cup of tea because I accidently threw the cup of tea from my dinner away, since it didn't seem to make any difference to the daily costing of the tea, from now on I shall be having a fifth cup of tea.

Nutritionally, I do not think my calorific count is particularly low for a female, and roughly speaking for my age I don't think I have done too badly on the protien front either. I have managed at least three of my 5 a day, and apart from the jam sandwich most of the food seems healthy and low fat.

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=7146 

There are more details on the subject, if anyone is interested at
http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects

A shock to the system

Day 1



My day started with a cup of tea in bed. Tea tasted a bit funny with UHT skimmed milk, but it was drinkable.

porridge with jam

Breakfast

25g. porridge cooked in water = 4p.

1 teasp. jam about = 1p.

total = 5p.

I decided to try sweetening the porridge with jam, but it was disgusting. It did have the advantage that I ate it very slowly, so it kept me full till lunchtime

sandwich, banana and cup of tea

Lunch

banana = 11p.

bread and jam = 5p.

total =16p.

Dinner

split pea casserole

rice

total =24p.

Snack

 jam sandwich

total = 5p.

tea bags and milk = 5p.

total =5p.

total expenditure today = 55p.

Since the agenda was to live on a pound a day I don't think I have done very well. Nutrition, and not starvation, is the object of the exercise, but I am also afraid of running out of food before the end of the week (a scary thought). I found I kept forgetting and reaching out for things and remembering just in time, habits die hard. I wonder if this will become a habit? I hope not. Although I can truthfully say I didn't feel hungry I did feel tired and kept falling asleep, though that could also have been due to having the pleasure, and pleasure it is, of my grand children's company.  We took them to the Playbarn and bought them a McDonald's on the way home, Eric too had one, and I had the pleasure of seeing how the other half lives.

Dinner was a split pea casserole I used half a stock cube to make up for the lack of seasoning, and added about a quarter tin of tomatoes and a couple of spoons of curry sauce, and served it with 50g. (dried rice). I am not sure whether hunger or my cooking skills were responsible, but it turned out to be a very tasty concoction: I must remember to put the recipe in my collection before I forget it.  Since a lot of the calculations turn out in fractions I have rounded them up to the nearest penny. After totaling my meals up I realised I looked as though I had an eating disorder, so since I was a bit peckish I decided to have a snack of a jam sandwich, which took it to a slightly more respectable 55p.

Since I do not know much about working out nutrition counts, I am not going to try and attempt it. I don't think I have managed too badly with balancing my meals with covering most of the important food groups, interestingly enough even though I don't have any salt or sugar to add to food, looking at the labeling on the food I think I still managed my RDA. The calorific count was not too bad for a female, but would have been very low for a male, but then again, that was my fault.

  
http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=7146 

There are more details on the subject, if anyone is interested at
http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects 

  

Preparations

Boldly Going

Been rushing around trying to finish my shopping to start the challenge tomorrow. The first big shock- so called cheap food stores and value brands a'int cheap when you are poor. I had to drive all around Blackpool looking for cheap brands and bargains which seemed to be few and far between. This is not about living on what is cheapest, but trying to get as many balanced meals in a day on that amount, so nutritional considerations have also been taken into account. I have decided to go for bulk foods, as I think that would be the most sensible, so I have gone for grains, legumes and beans.

My food shopping for the week

Assumptions

I have also made a few assumptions if I were living on the brink, as it were, I would also have to take into account things like fuel costs, and anything that needs long slow cooking is out, as is anything frozen. So I have stuck mainly to non perishable foods, and though I normally cook my kidney beans from scratch, and in the long run it works out cheaper, it also takes about 2 hours cooking; so I decided in this instance to use tinned. Tea was my little piece of luxury (24p. for 80 bags), besides I can't function without my cups of tea. I looked in my purse and found I only had 27p left, so decided to leave that for fruit and veg. That meant I have to live without salt or any form of seasoning , sugar, oil and no butter or any form of spread i.e dry toast or bread. I bought one onion and a carrot, which came to 29p. (I had obviously fallen at the first hurdle!) However they only had very large onions, so I decided I could redress the balance by swapping it for one of the smaller ones at home. When I got home and totaled my bills my shopping had come to 5.73, so I had another pound somewhere: I hunted in my purse and found it tucked in the corner, so I swapped the onions back and now have the glorious sum of 98p, and hopefully I shall use it wisely. I have since spent 67p. on more veg and have bought some cumin and chilli from the house supplies. I normally would argue that this was cheating, but, since I normally buy quite a lot of my herbs and spices loose I thought it could be justified as long as I took the money out of my budget. So I now have a grand total of 9p. between me and destitution.

Transport costs were another hidden cost in my quest for 'cheapness' which I hadn't thought about. I just jumped in the car and drove around Blackpool, but the cost of petrol or bus fares would make this uneconomical to someone on the breadline, so I shan't be repeating that again. This has been a novel experience for me, usually I just walk around the store putting things into the trolley trying to be economical, while Eric  fills it with 'goodies' for the grandkids, we then go to the checkouts pay and walk out without too much thought about the cost. The philosophy being "we need to eat, so what's the point of moaning about prices?" 

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=7146 

There are more details on the subject, if anyone is interested at
http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects 

Lives in crisis

 Food Banks

World Hunger Day is celebrated on the 28th May every year, the object is to to raise awareness of poverty and challenge people's perspectives of it. This year I have decided to take part in the Live Below the Line Challenge. In the challenge people are asked to live on a pound a day for five days, I shall be doing it for three weeks, to highlight the work done by Food Banks. I would like to stress that I am not taking this challenge for any political purpose, just a moral one. The object is not sympathy, but empathy.

We are used to seeing pictures of starving people, and happily, and I think, quite rightly put our hands in our pockets to help these people thousands of miles away. But the reality is it is happening more and more in our own back yard, and I believe charity begins at home.

 In Britain 13.5 million people live below the breadline, while rising food prices static wages, unemployment, high fuel costs and changes in benefits are making it hard, if not impossible for many of these families to feed themselves. A large proportion of these families are working families and about a third of them are children. According to research carried out by 'mumsnet' one in five of the mothers in this group miss meals in order to feed their children. Foodbanks provide a minimum of three days supply of food, and this simple, practical gift of food and support at the point of crisis changes lives. 

Blackpool is one of the most deprived areas in Britain and the need for this kind of support is growing daily so the food banks are struggling. Many of these people were made redundant and would gladly take any job going, but in Blackpool jobs are few and far between, so not only the present, but the future looks bleak for them. Many find it embarrassing, and humiliating to be getting these handouts, but they have no choice. I am not asking for sponsorship as I feel that would detract from the purpose, however anyone wanting to donate food or money, Food Banks aren't too proud to accept either, Google up your nearest Food Bank, or go to this link if you wish to donate.

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/donate/donate_b.asp?charityid=7146 

There are more details on the subject, if anyone is interested at
http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects