#lbtl

This is going to be my breakfast each day of the ‘Live Below the Line’ challenge. Oats cooked with just water are quite plain-I usually use half and half water and almond milk- but it really wasn’t an issue and the jam and peanut butter did improve them. The peanut butter and jam tasted fine; just like you might get in a standard cafe for example. I was perfectly sustained after this breakfast, it kept me going as long as anything I’d have had normally in the morning. So thumbs up!

On the negative side, without my usual unsweetened almond milk I’m missing out on some calcium, vitamins and protein and the jam is well, just fruity sugar so it’s not exactly optimum. The peanut butter has pretty rubbish ingredients too- aside from the peanuts the other 13% of the jar is rapeseed oil, palm oil, sugar and salt 😳 I don’t buy peanut butter usually but have bought nut butters in the past which are 100% or at least 97% nuts.

Things I’ve noticed on my first day:

This has been my dinner each night during my Live Below the Line challenge this week.

It’s simple but good! I could only afford four baking potatoes and one tin each of baked beans and peach slices, so the tin of beans was split into four portions and the tin of peaches, into five portions. On the fifth night I had a strange dinner of a tin of tomatoes and some rice which was… ok I suppose 😂. Not as sustaining as a potato and beans despite the fact I made sure it was about the same number of calories; no doubt because there was virtually no protein in the meal.

¼ tin of baked beans is actually a nice amount on a baked potato but I’d love to have had some crispy salad alongside as well. Salad, however, by very definition requires the purchase of a variety of salad vegetables and that is not something I would be able to afford on such a tight budget.

1/5 tin of peaches is a really small amount-about five slices, which is half the amount designated as a portion-although I have definitely been grateful for it each evening because it’s so nice to have something sweet and fresh-tasting. It would never be my preference to have tinned peaches in syrup over a fresh peach, but a whole tin is about the same cost as one fresh peach so it was an obvious choice and meant I was able to get at least a little fruit in each day. Otherwise it would be just the strawberries in my jam… 😂

So this week I’m doing something a little different; I’m doing the ‘Live Below the Line’ challenge. As the website says, Live Below the Line “challenges people to live below the poverty line so that others can begin to rise ABOVE IT” and I wanted to get involved and see what I could do to help. As a first step I wanted to try the challenge and ‘walk a mile in their shoes’-as far as that is ever going to be possible, of course- so I could feel the feels and engage more personally with the issue. I know very well how lucky I am, having a supportive family and having always had a roof over my head, having had access to education and healthcare in the UK and currently being employed and with access to transport. So this is just a tiny few days in a lifetime of privilege- but I want to take this opportunity to empathise and see the issues for myself. I do genuinely and frequently feel very grateful for what I have, but it never hurts to have an additional reminder. 

The challenge is to spend just £5 on all the food and drink you will consume for five full days. The above photograph shows what I bought for my £5, minus a loaf of wholemeal bread and one onion which were in the freezer. The bread, oats, beans and onion (previously chopped and frozen) I already had in the house so it seemed silly to buy another packet, although I calculated my costings based on the prices I saw in store on the day. The groceries cost as follows:

- 4 x baking potatoes 52p (these were in the reduced section, usually 69p) - 500g yellow split peas 55p - 1kg long grain rice 45p - 340g peanut butter 70p - 410g tin of peaches 35p - 420g tin of baked beans 25p - 2 x carrots 12p - 1 x onion 16p - 500g oats 65p - 454g strawberry jam 39p - 400g tin chopped tomatoes 31p - 1 x wholemeal loaf 40p

Which comes to a total of £4:85. I’m interested to know how this might compare with what the same shopping might cost in other countries…

I plan to use the money I saved on groceries this week, to buy food to donate to our local food bank. The Lovely Husband is not doing this challenge with me but he’s going to be mainly eating from the freezer so he was very ‘cheap to run’ this week too! ;)

As you’ll see in the photo, the food I bought was all in the supermarket’s ‘value’ range so was rock bottom prices; the supermarket own brand prices are quite a bit higher, let alone the Name Brands.