Day four - just one more!

We are sooo nearly there!

 

First great piece of news is that we exceeded our target, up to £545 so far! Thank you sooo much to everyone who has donated so far. Whether it was £5 or £200 (yep we had a donation of £200!!!!!) what is important is that you took the time to give your hard earned money to a really great cause. Sophie wants to use some of the money to buy camping gear for the clients who are sleeping outdoors. I think that's a grand plan! The smallest things can make a massive difference to people who have nothing.

 

So I went shopping last night after I blogged to buy replacement biscuits. Excitingly there were more than we needed for packed lunches so we all tucked in. Matt keeps saying "we're meant to be living below the line and we're having better food than normal!" which is kinda worrying! I also had a chat with Sophie and asked whether she felt like we were eating worse/poorer food, she said she thought everything was so tasty it was like eating 'rich food'. God bless my beautiful children!

 

While we were shopping I noticed that Aldi had changed their fruit and veg offers and had pineapples for 49p. Bargain! I was pretty sure we could stretch to one and still have a little change so, ta-dah!

 

This morning I woke up hungry. For speed I took bread to work with me to make toast.

 

 

 

Can you spot the problem!? No toaster! Man I was grumpy. Luckily someone had the bright idea of making toast on the George Foreman. Work has been pretty challenging today actually. I think the lack of sugar, caffeine or whatever has taken its toll by now. I found it hard to focus and was definitely less productive than usual. I was trying to have conversations and just drifting off or losing my thread. I actually can't imagine holding down a job feeling like this long term. It would be even worse if I had a manual job, I mean I'm just sitting down all day! I was really hungry by the time I finished work, and I still had parents evening to go before home.

 

I saw my lovely friend Mina at parent's evening who is working up a chocolatey treat for us for Saturday to say well done. I'm so overwhelmed by how sweet people are being while we're doing this challenge. Can't wait to see what we get!

 

Matthew's teachers had only good things to say. A pleasure to teach, a natural scientist, historian, programmer, mathematician, great vocabulary, star pupil, gosh I could boast about him all night but that would get boring for you!

 

I had to go to Tesco on the way home for shower gel and toothpaste. I know I swore never to shop there but the need was great and the will was weak! I really wanted to treat Matt, I'm so proud of his attitude to learning and that he's always well behaved. But I felt stuck as I couldn't buy him any tasty treats. What is that all about? Or is it just me that rewards children with food?! There was nothing else really in Tesco so he'll have to put up with a big cuddle for now.

 

I did have to buy milk. Which means the pineapple needs to go in the post-challenge pile :'-(

 

What infuriated me was that I had to pay 49p for 1 pint when it was £1 for 4. Because I was limited in what I could spend it cost me twice as much per pint! I know generally that buying in bulk works out cheaper but I'd not looked at it in such black and white terms before. It makes it even harder to make the most of what little money you have.

 

 

I came home to a fabulous meal cooked by Les. The photo really doesn't do it justice, it was chicken curry with rice. The addition of boiled eggs was something we picked up from our fab friend Abdul, the whole thing was really tasty and just hit the spot. 





 

Tomorrow I'm at the drop-in. I think that's likely to be the most challenging, but also rewarding day so far. It will be nice to be reminded of who we're doing this for and I always look forward to spending time with our regulars and seeing how they're getting on.

 

I realised that I haven't given much info on the cost of meals so here's a quick costing of some of what we've eaten this week...

 

Spaghetti bolognaise was £1.70 in total and fed 5 of us.

Tonight's meal was about £2,20 including the eggs and rice.

The soup was about £1 for 15 portions, so less than 7p a meal! Given that the bread was only 9p a loaf I've eaten way under a quid most days.

 

I feel like I've waffled on enough tonight so here are the totals. I'll see you tomorrow for the home straight!

 

Yesterday's tea - 6p

Biscuits - 29p

Pineapple Milk - 49p

Today's tea - 4p

Spice mix - 5p

 

New total - £19.55.

 

 

Day Three - An extra for tea!

Hey! I have so much to tell you today!

 

First off I had a call about the challenge from We Are Barnsley, they were interested to hear more about what we were doing and why. Then they called back and said the Chronicle want to run a feature and they're sending round a photographer! Cue mad tidying! What was really nice was having an opportunity talk about the drop-in and why it's so important to me. I hope they include that because really, that's what it's all about.

 

Second of all I have some wonderful friends. I had a message from the delightful Nina last night to say she wanted to gift me some dresses, including the first one she ever made, as a well done and mid-week pick me up! You know me so well. They certainly picked me up, thank you so much for such a thoughtful gift. Think this might be my favourite!

 

 

So, back to the food...

 

Confession time. If you read last night's blog you know I was not in a happy place. So Les and I kinda sneakily ate half a pack of custard creams! They should be for the kids packed lunch so I'm going to have to go buy some more but we do seem to have some spare cash so 20-odd p for biscuits is manageable. And you know, it really helped!

 

We've got into a bit of a routine now. Porridge for breakfast, then sausage sandwich, satsuma and 2 biscuits for pack ups for the kids. Soup and bread for me. I'm worried we might be making porridge with just water by the end of the week because the milk is going down fast! Up until now it's been half and half so I think I need to change the ratios a bit.

 

Tea tonight was the hint-of-burnt bolognaise. I thought we could take the taste off a bit with garlic overload so me and the Sophster went foraging!

 

 

I whacked a bunch of garlic flowers in and actually it was alright! Because of all the oats and grated carrot the texture was a bit odd but it was definitely edible.

 

Sophie's bezzie Elsie from next door came for tea too. In fact, Matt couldn't wait to eat...

 

 

And Sophie was after seconds!

 

Matt went off to drama but the girls were still peckish so had rice pudding with banana and jam. I couldn't take any pictures because they ate it too fast! All in all, success. I feel fairly manic this week, I'm emotionally a bit all over the place. But today is a good day and that's all we can ask for.

 

Some people question my choice to involve the kids in this. And I get that, kids have to concentrate all day, and grow, and cope with random emotions and to do all that they need a good diet. But I know that my children aren't really suffering this week. They're eating three meals every day, at least 3 portions of fruit and veg, and generally if they want a snack they get something. But what they are learning about walking in someone else's shoes is invaluable. I don't want to make them feel guilty, but I do want them to be aware. We've got it pretty good. But not everyone is as lucky as us. Some were born into circumstances that make it hard to succeed, and some of those people used to be where we are. It's easy to hold the world at arms length and blame people for the position they are in but the reality is, most of us are like 3 paydays away from massive crisis.

 

On that depressing note I'm off! I'm blogging early tonight so I can have a night off and read my book. If anything exciting happens I'll be sure to tell you tomorrow.

 

Don't forget that you can make a difference to people who aren't as lucky as us, https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline. Every little helps!!



 

Day Two Boo :(

Well, today was heading downhill from the start.

I checked on my bolognaise first thing and it had burnt onto the slow cooker. Who on earth burns things in a slow cooker! Gutted. I stuck my head in the fridge to work out what could replace the bolognaise if necessary and was stumped. I'd potentially ruined a full meal and all I can see we have left over is 2 potatoes, 3 eggs and probably some rice. I chucked it in the fridge for later and just hope that at least Matt will eat it (he will eat ANYTHING).

Then I remembered that I wasn't going to whine this year, so I manned up the best way I know how...
Favourite dress.
Prettiest shoes.
Reddest lipstick.

I had soup and bread for lunch followed by mid afternoon porridge. I went to a Hustings at the town hall straight from work so was fairly ravenous when I got in at 7.

Turns out the message about dinner hadn't quite got through. I'd suggested Les try out the bolognaise with the kids and save me some. But I didn't label the food so he ate what was to be tomorrow's chilli (basically just browned off mince and onion). And rather than the already-bought spaghetti, he used a bag of pasta out of the cupboard. That's another 29p on the budget. Sad times. At least we have bolognaise with a hint of burnt for tomorrow's tea now.

Another hiccup in the plan was that Les was accosted by 2 big eyed pleading 8 year olds who he is defenceless against so Sophie had gone to her bezzies for tea! The only way I can think to redress the balance here is to have her friend over to us another night this week so we're at least doing the same number of meals overall.

So after the discovery that basically all my planning had gone a bit backwards I ended up having jam on toast for tea after looking in the fridge for about 10 minutes and feeling totally knackered and uninspired.

And now I'm sulking because I'm hungry and I don't want anything we have! I promise to try harder not to whine tomorrow!

Don't forget we're doing this so that other people can get a decent meal. BCDP focuses on good nutrition to help people be healthier and focus on improved life choices. Every penny counts. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline

Day 2
Tea - 4p
Pasta - 29p
Herbs (because the 'bolognaise' that Les found was a bit tasteless!) - 5p

New total = £18.62

I was hoping for an end of challenge packet of biscuits but that's looking less likely!

Day One Done!

I awoke this morning to the sound of Matthew padding downstairs. By the time I'd dragged myself out of bed he was half way through breakfast, but not Live Below the Line breakfast! He was really upset when he realised but I said we'd add it to the total and it's no big deal. So 2 x Weetabix (or rather Aldi wheat bisks) = 6p. I couldn't face porridge first thing so took mine to work. Sophie declared her portion delicious, phew!

Lunch was a sausage sandwich for Matt, soup for me and a bit of a combo for Sophie who didn't fancy sandwich. So far so good!

I'm definitely coming down from either sugar or caffeine as I had headache all afternoon and felt pretty tired. Or maybe it's just coz it's Monday!

Both kids were ravenous when they got in from school. Sophie had a cup of soup, I knew that was a good idea :-) and Matt had the banana which they should have shared for breakfast but I forgot about.

Dinner was chosen by Matt who's coming down with a cold, poor love. Beans and egg on toast. Yum! And plenty of toast thanks to that 9p bread.

All in all day one has been ok. I have found it hard to resist all the biccies at work, and just drinking water was a bit tedious. I ended up having my porridge at about 3pm as I was pretty hungry; the watered down soup wasn't exactly filling but then this isn't meant to be easy!

Tonight I've continued on the theme of advanced preparation and started off a bolognaise for tomorrow.

 

Half a pack of pork mince - Sophie's Hindu so we can't eat beef anyway but this worked out cheaper - bulked up with oats and grated carrot. Most of the ingredients were already accounted for, apart from about 5p worth of herbs.

 

Day 1

 

Weetabix - 6p

Tea x 2 (reusing teabag) - 4p

Herbs - 5p

New total = £18.24

See you tomorrow! Don't forget to sponsor us... https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline

Twas the night before...

It's the night before Live Below the Line and we've been busy getting ready.

Let's start with the shopping...

I had a plan! I calculated so carefully exactly how much we were going to spend and on what. I'd left myself £2.50 emergency money and was feeling pretty organised.

I strode confidently into Aldi, planning on whizzing around the shop sticking to my list and heading to the tills in under 20 minutes. However that quickly changed when I discovered that the 69p clementines I wanted to buy were out of stock and the cheapest alternative was 95p. A quick recalculation and we were back on track but there were quite a few things which were priced differently than online.

 

I did the Maths a few times to make sure I hadn't gone over. I also had a fairly lengthy dilemma by the apples. The total had crept up to £18.09, mainly because I impulse bought potatoes which were on offer at 39p and a couple of tins of rice pudding. At £1.39 they would have pushed us right to the limit but I so want the kids to be able to have a piece of fruit after school. 

 

In the end I walked away, thinking I might pick some up cheaper elsewhere and also see how the week progresses. But I was annoyed that I had to make that choice, that anyone has to make that choice. It's so much cheaper to feed your children processed, sugary food than good fresh fruit and that's so sad. When things are this tight you're basically forced into deciding that you can't afford to give your kids a decent diet and therefore healthier start to life.

At the till I felt my pulse quicken as the total increased. Had I worked it out right? Especially with the last minute changes. What if it was more than I thought? What would I put back? As the last few items went through my mind was racing, calculating what else had to go through and thankfully I was right on the money.

So our pre-challenge total stands at £18.09. That includes all the food I bought at Aldi, plus some reduced loaves I stumbled across in Morrisons (9p each!!) which could be a godsend later in the week if the kids are hungry.

Most of Sunday night has been spent cooking. First I roasted the chicken legs and pulled all the meat off for later in the week. The bones went to make a stock, half of which is going in the soup and half in the curry. Usually I'd chuck a couple of carrots, onion, celery etc in the stock pot but didn't want to waste that much so instead I added the bits we'd usually bin.

Top and tailed all the carrots and onions, plus the chicken bones and a few herbs from the garden and I have a free pot of stock!

I've made soup from half the potatoes, almost half the carrots, one onion and a tin of tomatoes. I reckon the whole thing would be about £1 and it smells delish.

I also stuck the potato peelings in the oven with some oil and salt as a snack for the week ahead. It was a bit of an experiment but actually tastes alright! There has not been a single bit of waste in the food I've prepared tonight.

The final 'to do' is to tidy up the wine and crisps so they aren't a distraction next week. Gosh this is hard work ;-)

 

Thanks so much for reading. If you're able to sponsor us it will make the week ahead more bearable, the reason we're doing this is to raise funds for Barnsley Churches Drop-in Project. The charity is a lifeline for those in Barnsley living in poverty. We've been sponsored £65 already which is brilliant!  https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline

 

Wish us luck!



Preparation is the key...

So here we are at the beginning of this years challenge! In case you're new to this the premise is that my family and I will live on £1 a day each for 5 days. We have to count full packets of food in the budget with the exception of spices and herbs where we can calculate the price accordingly.

If you want to see how we got on last year, the blog is at http://lbtlchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Once again, I've convinced myself that we can eat healthily, we just need a bit of planning. Reading back over previous years' blogs I've decided I'm a bit of a whiner; this year I'm planning to 'man' up (Sophie will KILL me for using that expression! She's a feminist right now) and crack on.

So, preparation is the key! Some things we bought last year just weren't worth it. I found the potatoes way too expensive as a carb so this year it's mainly rice. Flour also seemed like a good idea but we just didn't use enough to make it worthwhile.

I've gone all technical this year and used a spreadsheet for the shopping list. Fingers crossed I got the Maths right...

What's really struck me when doing the shopping budget is that every single item is the same price or cheaper than last year. I had expected inflation and was a bit worried that our £1 wouldn't go as far but we're actually getting more for our money this year. So it should be a breeze, right?!

To avoid the inevitable scavenging for things to feed the bottomless children I have a cunning plan! SOUP! I had a bit of a dilemma though, I was planning to pick up some end of day veg from the market, but what if it's more money than I have?? I love shopping at the market and I know it's cheap but the pricing is difficult as with a £/kg it's hard to know the exact amount it will cost. I dread that feeling of ordering 1lb and being asked if 1.1lb is ok. With a budget this tight it's not going to work unless the food is priced per item. After much deliberation I decided to stick with Aldi so I know exactly how much everything will be before I even leave the house. On such a small budget it's important to think about every single £1 to get the most out of it. I fear that in the midst of the market I'll panic and end up messing up.

Sophie wasn't really into the challenge this year. I definitely wouldn't force either of them to join in if they didn't want to but some gentle bribery with a promise that she could help decide how the money raised was spent at the drop-in and she's in. She really took some talking around when it came to school dinners though! She didn't want sandwiches, which added an extra dimension to the challenge. So far it looks like sausages, boiled eggs, cucumber and biscuits. Totally random combo but she seems happy with it!

So here we are! I'm shopping tomorrow because Thursday we're out for Sophie's birthday then away with my mama for the weekend. The 'preparation is the key' is looking wobbly already because I wanted to cook the chicken, make the soup etc ahead of time but I'm sure it will come together!

As last year you can sponsor us at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline. All funds raised will go to Barnsley Churches Drop-in Project, a charity very close to my heart which provides meals for the homeless and impoverished in Barnsley.