Musings on the 5 day LBTL Challenge

SARAH

Hardest parts: Lack of choice, Blandness of some meals, Hunger pangs and fatigue, Cravings for everything and anything

Things that I didn't realise: Calculating, measuring and rationing every item of food bought

Things I learnt: How unbelievably important it is to raise awareness

about the reality of poverty and even if we're only 1% closer to understanding how 1.4 billion people (25% of the world's population) live in extreme poverty, it's still one step closer.

Has it changed the way I'm going to eat and shop? Yes. I will be more careful not to buy huge amounts of food which could end up going to waste. I will calculate more effectively. And I will be eternally grateful for the freedom of choice.

I urge you all to take part

Thanks for the support! Please keep giving: http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=350138

Tell your friends about it!

REBECCA

The elusive other participant makes her debut on the blog...

This week has been easier and harder in ways that I didn't expect. The rigidity of our eating pattern deeply challenged my love of snacking and grazing between meals, but it was interesting to truly feel hungry and anticipate every meal I ate. The same ingredients in almost every meal also became annoying (I have never eaten so many carrots or so much cabbage in my life!) although I am very impressed at the different dishes we (by that I mean Sarah) came up with given our limited options.

It really made me think about how calculated eating on a low budget is

but also showed me how much less I could spend in the supermarket if I was more careful about planning my meals. I've enjoyed challenging myself and my eating patterns this week... though I'm in no hurry to do it again!

THANK YOU ALL FOR SUPPORTING US!!

As always,

La Loca

Day 5

Even the MPs and Lords are taking part........ ! Check it out at 24 mins: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0111kjd/The_Daily_Politics_05_05_2011/

Hurrah!!!!!!!! Day 5 has arrived!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow I will be able to eat what I want .........!!!!!!

Rebecca's midnight feast will consists of: mini eggs, cherry tomatoes and a bowl of cereal.

Mine: nooodleeeees

BREAKFAST

Porridge with honey made by Rebecca. She really is skilled in porridge making! We haven't finished the bag of porridge oats so we'll finishing it up in the next couple of days so as not to waste food!

LUNCH

Couscous with fried onion and.. carrots! Very bland but at least it feels me up! Rebecca's got pretty sick of couscous and carrots so she's sticking to porridge for today.

DINNER

We used up what was left: 4 carrots, half an oni

on, 2 stock cubes, rice, kidney beans and my housemate was going to chuck away 2 old lemons so we used those too (bit of an error!). So I made a lemony kidney bean and carrot type stew with plain rice. It was SO lemony......not that enjoyable.

BUT ............. we're done! We have SUCCESSFULLY finished our Live Below the

Line challenge... £1 a day for 5 days.

Who would have thought it..... biggest foodies ever joining together to raise awareness about a serious cause and sacrificing their love for food for 5 days.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!

As always,

La Loca

Day 4

Please watch this video before reading on as this guy reiterates exactly what we feel and why we're doing this challenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLFopowDPs

BREAKFAST

Yay for Rebecca! She made delicious porridge this morning and I added a banana so that jazzed it up a little! Honestly can't wait to never eat

porridge again.

Definitely feeling more hunger pangs this morning than I was the last few days, maybe the bowl of porridge wasn't big enough? We are feeling pretty tired today and have very low concentration levels. Is it because we're not eating enough calories or our bodies are finally sick of eating so blandly and crave chocolate/noodles/salt/meat!? Our diet has changed a lot in the past 3 days so it's probably our bodies reacting to that. Feeed me moree they say! Wait 2 more days I tell them...!

LUNCH

We made kidney bean and carrot soup with rice. It was nice, Rebecca enjoyed it more than me. It made me sad for the lack of noodle soups in my

life right now.

I have serious lack of energy and feeling more tired than usual, this £1 a day 'diet' is really hitting me today! It's affecting Rebecca as well which it wasn't really before. Bring on Saturday...!

Thought some of you cynics might be interested in reading this blog: What's a £1 got to do with ending poverty?

http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blogs/view/364

DINNER

It was delicious! We roasted sweet potatoes again and made sure to roast them for a longer time so they were crisp

y on the outside and soft on the inside. Cabbage and kidney bean tomato sauce to accompany it. We've now run out of all our nice food. I'm going to have to be creative tomorrow with couscous, half an onion, rice and carrots!!

As always,

La Loca

Day 3

BREAKFAST

Such a disaster this morning as Rebecca had run away to the library to add the finishing touches to her essay and I was left alone to cook some porridge. I can cook, I love to cook but I messed up with porridge........! It was lumpy and stodgy and I had to force it down me; great start to the day!

LUNCH

I had prepared some couscous with carrots and a bit of tuna and it was nice - I added a fair bit of olive oil = a lot of taste!

I did better than I thought in terms of the amount I ate - I thought I'd be a lot hungrier after 5 hours straight of lectures. 2 biscuits did keep me going though! I think I get hungrier in the evening, I've definitely found it the hardest time and my cravings for pizza, noodles, stir fry come out at full speed!

DINNER

Rice and cabbage. Hmmmm... Bought another spoonful of soya sauce. We decided not to add carrots this time as, dare I say it, we're getting a little sick of watery carrots! The rice was pretty gloopy but the cabbage mixed with ginger and onion with soya sauce added some taste!

Most exciting bit of the meal: tinned peaches for dessert! We saved those for tonight as it's the mid-week hump to get over and they 100% helped..

Oh yes, special thanks goes to our other housemate who finished up the gloopy rice so it wouldn't go to waste!!!

Only 2 more days.......... Please keep supporting as it's really keeping us going :) http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=350138

As always,

La Loca

Day 2

BREAKFAST

Porridge with honey. It was actually nicer than yesterday so we gobbled it up without a problem!

I really do think doing a challenge like this when you're in the final weeks of your university life is helpful as you do have an insane amount of work to distract you...! Although pulling an all nighter is out of the question without chocolate snacks by your side.

LUNCH

Quick lunch needed as heading into university and it also needs to be very filling as in uni till 6pm. Couscous with fried onions and tuna and obviously........a few carrots on top! So glad we bought olive oil, I was worried it would run out quickly but it's doing well and it adds a nice taste to whatever we cook :)

I wonder how high my concentration levels will be when we have a bowl of couscous and half a banana to keep us going!

Just a thought as I'm spending a lot of time thinking about food, poverty and how others live etc (aim of the week..!). Even though we're living on £1 a day and it is very hard and I am very hungry, I have it so easy, right? We have a clean fridge to store the food in so it wont go off quickly, we have access to great kitchen appliances which simplify our cooking and come Saturday morning at 00:01 we can snap back to eating for more than £1 a day whereas most people who live in extreme poverty do not have that option. What am I saying? That I'm going to live like this forever now to really empathise with the world's extreme poor? No. I just think it's important to remind myself and others about why I am doing this challenge.

After having spent the afternoon at uni I felt very hungry so as a little snack.... a bowl of rice. It did the trick and filled me up till dinner time!

DINNER

We were excited about this meal as we were going to use the sweet potatoes and they are delicious! I made a kidney bean and cabbage and tomato sauce to go with it and it tasted really good! Added the curry powder and a stock cube so that's where the taste comes from. So far the best meal and definitely looking forward to repeating it on Thursday!

So Day 2 over. Wednesday will be the toughest day in terms of feeling hungry and having to concentrate for a prolonged amount but I'm sure my 4 biscuits will keep me going!

As always,

La Loca

Day 1

BREAKFAST

Why oh why did we agree to do this ?!?!

Monday morning, the sun is shining, it's a bank holiday .... Sounds lovely doesn't it?!

Monday morning, the sun is shining and war

ming up my room a little too much, finals are looming and living below the line starts with a bowl of porridge. Sounds lovely........... does it?!

Bowl of porridge: "it tastes like cardboard all cut up and mashed together with a bit of water and 50p uht skimmed milk with a tiny glaze of sugar to try and take away the dull taste" Rebecca

"We have to finish it all.... many don't have the option to waste f

ood and this week we really don't" And so we did.... every last cardboard-like spoonful!

Monday, 12pm. Sarah bangs her head several times on her desk trying to distract herself from slight hunger pangs whilst thinking of how 2 carrots, half an onion, kidney beans will fill her up.

Rebecca, on the other hand, is happily slaving away at her 8000 word essays and not thinking of mini eggs. .................... NOT.

LUNCH

Please remember that we are cooking for 2 people..... 2 very hungry people...!

We decided to go wild with the carrots and use 4 (we have a huge bag!) to make a delicious (questionable) carrot and kidney bean soup. We also added a bit of rice to add a little substance. For some flavour we used the 35p mild curry powder, wild garlic (definitely went foraging in the local park!) and 1p chicken stock cube which has left my fingers yellow........

How do we feel about the first lunch? Let's just say that I had to hide the pringles but we made enough for seconds! ...

.......

My dad has asked what we're doing to distract ourselves. Easy answer: FINALS!! Essays and exams to revise for! Oh and

calculating when we can have one more biscuit.

SNACKS: We our allowed 2 biscuits a day and 1 banana so I've had 1 biscuit today and half a banana with some honey and Rebecca's had 2 biscuits and half a banana.

DINNER

I was looking forward to this meal... we had decided to buy a spoonful of soya sauce (we have 10p remaining) and as most of you know... soya sauce brightens my day!

We decided to convert our rice and cabbage meal into "Stir-fried rice with carrots and cabbage with a hint of soya sauce". Sounds nice, doesn't it? It was :) Hurrah!

Dessert? I'm saving my biscuit and half a banana for another day when I desperately need it.

Did we feel like we wanted to give up midway through? Yes. Are we looking forward to the next 4 days? Not particularly. However, with your support and knowing we're raising money for a good charity... we're gona keep on going! After all, only 4 days left..........

THE CUP IS HALF FULL!!!!!!!

Thanks.

As always,

La Loca

The Shopping List

2 May - 6 May, International Development Society are Living Below the Poverty Line. This means £1 a day........

My housemate and I, biggest foodies EVER, decided to take part. Can't quite remember why now....Oh yes, to raise awareness about the fact 1.4 billion people live below the line and to challenge ourselves in a very different way....

Sunday 1 May: Tescos, Kingston Park, 11.30am

We spend 2 HOURS in there picking items, calculating, putting items back, picking new ones, changing the semi-planned recipes, thinking of the logistics (lunch at home/uni/work) and when we think we've got it down to £10 we calculate again and we're £4 over!!!

ARGHHHHHHHHHH.

So we take away more items (huge bag of potatoes and the eggs and the greens) and finally..... we're down to £10:

Porridge oats

Carrots

Milk

Honey

Olive Oil (98p - most expensive)

Onions

Garlic

Sweet Potatoes

Bananas

Rice

Stock Cubes

Ginger (4p - cheapest!)

Choc Digestive

Cous Cous

Curry Powder

Cabbage

Value tomatoes

Kidney beans

Peaches

Tuna

Tomorrow will start the hard work.... let's see what we can create with these ingredients!

Please sponsor us: http://my.artezglobal.com/

personalPage.aspx?registrationID=350138

As always,

La Loca