Last year I tried "living below the line" I lived on £1 worth of food a day, the main aim was to raise awareness of extreme poverty because millions of people around the world are living on less than £1 a day and that money has to cover more than just their food. I also wanted to see if I could do it, I wasn't hungry over the 5 days but I was uninspired by the meals I created, food is a great pleasure of mine but some of these offerings were fairly lack lustre.
I kept a diary of the week and these are some of the recipes that I made, they may be helpful to you if you are planning to take the challenge next month or perhaps you are living on an extreme budget. I wouldn't want to eat like this every week but it turns out for five days the challenge wasn't too bad. My biggest issue was sugary cravings so I was really pleased to have the bananas.
Below The Line Bread
500g plain flour
A cup water
A sachet of yeast
Combine ingredients, knead for at least ten mins, prove, knock back, shape and place into loaf shaped tin, before giving the dough a final prove, then bake at 180c for 40 mins
Below The Line Pancakes (makes 3 large crepes)
1 egg
50g flour
150 ml milk
A good non stick pan
Serve with a sliced banana
Whisk ingredients, fry a third of mixture in a large non stick pan until bubbles, toss pancake and give it 30 seconds on other side. Fill with sliced banana and roll. Repeat the process to make another two pancakes.
Below The Line Pea Soup
1/3 200g tin of peas
Blitzed in blender served with a hunk of fresh bread
I also added parsley to this dish which I was growing on the window sill
Below The Line Banana Bites (makes 7 bites)
1 Banana
Tablespoon Milk
Roughly 7 tablespoon porridge oats
Mash the banana and milk together, stir in porridge oats. Shape into balls and bake on non stick tray for 7-10 minutes
I made all of the above recipes on my week below the line find out what I thought about them and see the pictures by reading my diary from the week. Could you live on £1 a day?
As it was such a frugal week I am also submitting this post to the credit crunch munch which is hosted by Fuss Free Flavours and Food For All