Could You Live On £1 A Day? My Week Below The Line

To raise money and awareness for Hunger UK and global poverty, last week I was trying to live on £1 a day with Below The Line. I stuck to it too with a total spend of £4.93, this is my diary from the week.

Tesco Shop: Eggs 95p, tomatoes 31p, porridge oats 65p, sausages 56p
peas 17p, flour 45p, milk 49p spaghetti 19p Total £3.77
Still to buy bananas and yeast

Prep Day
Pasta two nights in a row?

Today I sketched out my meal plan for the week and went shopping, before I left I used Mysupermarket.com to find out where all the ingredients were cheapest most of it was Tesco and tomorrow I will pick up bananas and yeast from Asda.I'm getting the yeast from Asda because they sell it in single sachets, I do have a sour dough starter in the airing cupboard but I thought that would be cheating.




I meal plan and budget for my groceries every month, admittedly not this kind of budget but I'm feeling quietly confident.I was surprised how quickly my conscious went out of the window, opting immediately for caged eggs and sausages that are only 50% meat.
I would have liked to have added potatoes but the budget won't stretch to it.
Spend today £3.77, budget left £1.23




Breakfast is like gruel
Nettles and water doesn't pass as soup
My second loaf is a triumph


Day 1
The nettle soup is a disaster blending nettles with no stock, seasoning or other veg is terrible, I'll have to rethink lunch tomorrow. My first loaf didn't turn out too well, I was planning on making another on weds but as the soup is so disappointing I bake another tonight and fill up on that for supper. Today I got bananas and yeast which cost 93p, budget left 30p




banana pancakes - yum!
Fry up for tea is really filling
Day 2
I made bland pancakes for breakfast but the bananas really livened them up. I nearly absent mindedly ate a cherry tomato today, I was about to pop it in my month before I realised what I was doing, I think I must unintentionally graze like this a lot. Lunch was fresh bread and basil which I enjoyed but I'm sure would have been nicer with those tomatoes. Tea is a substantial fry up. A good day today, I can totally do this.




milk makes the world of difference -top breakfast!
Banana and oats treats today too

Day 3
Breakfast is great today, I've rationed out my milk and can spare 100ml to go in the porridge which makes all the difference. It's lovely and creamy. I just don't feel like pea soup for lunch but I don't really have that many other options. I settle on  plain bread which is now starting to get a bit dry and could do with some butter. This afternoon I mashed some bananas and oats together and baked them. I'm working at home and wanted something to nibble at, they are pretty good. I'm so glad bought the bananas, they are so lovely and sweet, I'm definitely craving sugar. I haven't got wild garlic for tonights pasta due to poor planning on my part, I didn't pick it. So tea is pasta and peas, it would have been a lot better with cheese but it's alright I haven't had white pasta in forever and I forgot how good it is.




home grown herbs are raiding for some flavour

I added basil I was a growing at home is that allowed?

Day 4
I skipped breakfast today and had bread and a banana for lunch because I don't feel like preparing anything. Everything seems like too much effort but I'm brightened when I do make an effort with dinner because it's lovely. My bananas were cheaper than I expected so I still have 30p of my budget leftover which I used today to buy a small onion. I put the sausages in the pan first so I can use the grease from them to fry the onion. I make a big load of pasta and split the meal so I can have it for lunch tomorrow a handful of home grown basil cheers the whole dish up. After tea I'm craving something sweet but I have a big glass of iced water and try not to think about it. Spend 23p on an onion, budget left 7p




the pancakes stick to the pan today
 Day 5
As I didn't have pancakes yesterday I have them today and they stick to the pan a bit so don't roll as nicely as they did on Tuesday. This is my last banana so I relish every bite, my sugar cravings haven't subsided. Drinking water all week has been no problem at all but today is Friday and I really fancy a vodka and coke, knowing I can have one tomorrow will have to be good enough to keep me going tonight.
The bead is stale today so I soak it in my last 2 eggs and milk to have eggy bread for tea, I wish I saved something more special to eat to mark my last night as it's rather plain.

Leftovers
At the end of the week I had pasta, flour and porridge leftover, if I were carrying on for another week having these available would free up some money for some more food, it would have made things a lot easier if I had had butter and sugar this week.



How It Went
I could have just lived on bread for every meal and spent less than £1, I could have not eaten at all, I wouldn't have liked to have tried either but I would still be here to tell the tale, I could have taken advantage of countless freebies and coupons or called in favours to dine with friends every night and been just fine but that's because this was only a 5 day challenge and it in noway compares to actually living in extreme poverty long term.
I wasn't hungry this week but the food I ate didn't excite me, everything was rather bland and uninspiring, I usually look forward to a tasty evening meal but this week I was a lot less enthused at not having my usual array of spices or even oil available. It certainly was an interesting experiment and I'm glad I don't have to stick to this budget every week.

If you want to get involved my sponsorship is still open too.