As I mentioned, I made myself a massive amount of juice this morning, and it was so so good!
The hardest thing about live below the line is how uniform everything tastes. We actually finished with about 1/2 a chicken left over (we were both being so cautious at the beginning of the week) and three eggs. The things is, you can't buy 1/2 a box of eggs, and we got the chicken at a really low price, so less wouldn't have been cheaper.
There really was just no way we could budget in fruit. We barely had any vegetables as it was.
I think it's the lack of carbohydrates that was making me feel a little light headed because with in a few minutes of drinking my juice my mood was visibly brighter and I was convinced I was having a mild 'caffeine buzz' (despite no caffeine) and my head was clearing.
It's horrible to think that for some people this isn't just an unpleasant week, but a lifestyle.
How long can the body cope on that kind of diet, without long term damaging effects? Sure, I felt a little foggy and light headed, but if this was my long term diet, would I be causing serious damage?
Is there a link between poverty and learning disabilities?
Is that why children from poorer areas achieve less?
Live below the line has once again made me so thankful for things like breakfast cake, but more importantly for the privilege of being able to feed my children, good nourishing foods, make the best choices for their educations and give them opportunities that millions of people around the globe will never have.
It makes me thank God for where I was born, and when I was born.
Bored
Saturday, 12 May 2012
I literally can't be bothered to eat today.
I guess it's because the kids are ill, so we haven't been out much this week, and I've been a bit run down too. I'm not expending many calories, and because I know the food I can have isn't very interesting I'm not even hungry anymore. Just goes to show how much excess I eat normally under the pretense of hunger, when it's really just boredom - wanting a new flavour in my mouth.
Sometimes I think I'm hungry, when I'm cutting up an orange for the children or slicing pineapple for their juice, but when faced with eating more chicken I quickly decide I'm not. All I want is fresh fruit, and if I can't have it, then I'm not hungry. I'm behaving like a toddler.
Seriously, the first thing I'm having tomorrow morning is about a litre of fresh juice. I'm not kidding either. I have a pineapple, 6 oranges, a bunch of carrots and some beetroot all waiting on my kitchen side.
I guess it's because the kids are ill, so we haven't been out much this week, and I've been a bit run down too. I'm not expending many calories, and because I know the food I can have isn't very interesting I'm not even hungry anymore. Just goes to show how much excess I eat normally under the pretense of hunger, when it's really just boredom - wanting a new flavour in my mouth.
Sometimes I think I'm hungry, when I'm cutting up an orange for the children or slicing pineapple for their juice, but when faced with eating more chicken I quickly decide I'm not. All I want is fresh fruit, and if I can't have it, then I'm not hungry. I'm behaving like a toddler.
Seriously, the first thing I'm having tomorrow morning is about a litre of fresh juice. I'm not kidding either. I have a pineapple, 6 oranges, a bunch of carrots and some beetroot all waiting on my kitchen side.
Saving Seeds
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Waste has become much more important to me in the last 48 hours (much as it did last year during our live below the line experience).
It's so difficult to watch your children leave food on a plate and know that, although it would easily double me and Matts dinner tonight, realistically it's going in the bin. I guess that's one thing the poor don't have to deal with, because their children would be starving too.
Not that I'm saying I'd rather my children were starving, just that it's hard to let that food go to waste.
My mum used to say 'there's children starving in Africa' when I didn't eat my dinner as a kid. I knew full well the food wouldn't magically get to them whether or not I ate it, but being on the hungry end of that equation really does make me resent the waste a whole lot more.
In the interest of not wasting this weeks vegetable box (I forgot to cancel my standing order) I've been preserving it, when it suddenly hit me, that I could also save the seeds.
Matt and I had a conversation earlier about how much easier live below the line would be if our garden was a bit more established (is that cheating?) and whether we should include costs like seeds. That's when I realised I have a steady supply of healthy, organic, seeds - regularly going into my compost bin!
It probably wouldn't have occurred to me if I hadn't seen Food Inc and been so shocked by the farmers loss of rights to save seeds for next years planting. It's such a normal part of traditional food production, to save your best seeds and replant.
It's horrifying to think that so many farmers are being kept in debt, and that poverty and food 'shortages' continue because large companies can find legal ways to wipe out traditional farming.
You can do something about it. Educate yourself and get involved in the campaign against Monsanto
It's so difficult to watch your children leave food on a plate and know that, although it would easily double me and Matts dinner tonight, realistically it's going in the bin. I guess that's one thing the poor don't have to deal with, because their children would be starving too.
Not that I'm saying I'd rather my children were starving, just that it's hard to let that food go to waste.
My mum used to say 'there's children starving in Africa' when I didn't eat my dinner as a kid. I knew full well the food wouldn't magically get to them whether or not I ate it, but being on the hungry end of that equation really does make me resent the waste a whole lot more.
In the interest of not wasting this weeks vegetable box (I forgot to cancel my standing order) I've been preserving it, when it suddenly hit me, that I could also save the seeds.
Matt and I had a conversation earlier about how much easier live below the line would be if our garden was a bit more established (is that cheating?) and whether we should include costs like seeds. That's when I realised I have a steady supply of healthy, organic, seeds - regularly going into my compost bin!
It probably wouldn't have occurred to me if I hadn't seen Food Inc and been so shocked by the farmers loss of rights to save seeds for next years planting. It's such a normal part of traditional food production, to save your best seeds and replant.
It's horrifying to think that so many farmers are being kept in debt, and that poverty and food 'shortages' continue because large companies can find legal ways to wipe out traditional farming.
You can do something about it. Educate yourself and get involved in the campaign against Monsanto
The Will to Cook
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Is it terrible that I've lost the will to cook and it's only day one?
The children aren't doing live below the line (it is something we'd like to do with them in the future, but when they are older and can understand why) and already I realised I've become lazy about cooking for them.
Breakfast went well, but then their lunch had turned out to be just cheese, dates, pears and cashew nuts; not that they are complaining. This kind of snack food is Will's favourite meal.
I don't want to start a trend though. Just because I'm not eating it myself doesn't mean I can't still create delicious and nutritious meals for my children.
The children aren't doing live below the line (it is something we'd like to do with them in the future, but when they are older and can understand why) and already I realised I've become lazy about cooking for them.
Breakfast went well, but then their lunch had turned out to be just cheese, dates, pears and cashew nuts; not that they are complaining. This kind of snack food is Will's favourite meal.
I don't want to start a trend though. Just because I'm not eating it myself doesn't mean I can't still create delicious and nutritious meals for my children.
The curse of live below the line
Monday, 7 May 2012
I'm sick again.
What is it about live below the line that does this to me? Fortunately it seems to be a nasty cold virus, rather than chicken pox this time so we are going to go ahead with the challenge.
I spent most of our budget on a chicken this year, so we'll be drinking plenty of chicken broth which should help aid recovery.
On the plus side, both kids appear to be coming down with said virus as well, so we should get a nice cuddly day on the sofa, which won't be too strenuous.
What is it about live below the line that does this to me? Fortunately it seems to be a nasty cold virus, rather than chicken pox this time so we are going to go ahead with the challenge.
I spent most of our budget on a chicken this year, so we'll be drinking plenty of chicken broth which should help aid recovery.
On the plus side, both kids appear to be coming down with said virus as well, so we should get a nice cuddly day on the sofa, which won't be too strenuous.
Second Attempt
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Thanks for all who sponsored us for our Live below the Line attempt back in March. Obviously we can't really count living below the line because of illness, so to honour your sponsorship we are going to have another attempt... starting monday!
We will once more be living below the line and will keep you up to date here. In the meantime here's the trailer:
We will once more be living below the line and will keep you up to date here. In the meantime here's the trailer:
Why Live Below the Line
Monday, 26 March 2012
Live below the line is close to my heart because we plan to adopt, not just any orphan, but one of the world's poorest.
Actually, that's not strictly true. We plan to adopt from the 75% of the worlds population who we consider to be the world's poorest, but who are statistically much more average than we have ever been.
Maybe this video will explain it better than I can, but live below the line reminds me that somewhere, out in the vast world that I have no comprehension of, one or more of our children is currently living on less than this.
The end of the week
Friday, 16 March 2012
There has been little to no posting from us, mainly because I got really sick and ended up in hospital.
Although I have easily lived on less than a £1 a day for about eight days (so no need to withdraw your sponsorship ;0) ) we do feel like it was kind of a cheat and not really the experience we'd hoped for.
With that in mind, we are going to be doing our live below the line week again later in the year.
Hope you'll keep up with us then.
Kj
Xxx
Although I have easily lived on less than a £1 a day for about eight days (so no need to withdraw your sponsorship ;0) ) we do feel like it was kind of a cheat and not really the experience we'd hoped for.
With that in mind, we are going to be doing our live below the line week again later in the year.
Hope you'll keep up with us then.
Kj
Xxx
Unbelievable
Saturday, 10 March 2012
I'd planned our meals down to a perfect budget for the week, still GAPS friendly, with a £1.02 contingency fund - then Matt announces that he is going to eat lunch and probably breakfasts at school.
This is a problem, because it reduces our joint grocery budget from £10 for the week to £6.66 for the week.
Goodbye salad leaves, goodbye eggs, and probably goodbye home made yoghurt.
I need to rebudget, but right now I have the chicken pox and I can't think clearly.
One thing is for sure though, I am not sending Matt to the shops without a list of exactly what to buy.
He'll come home with peanut butter.
This is a problem, because it reduces our joint grocery budget from £10 for the week to £6.66 for the week.
Goodbye salad leaves, goodbye eggs, and probably goodbye home made yoghurt.
I need to rebudget, but right now I have the chicken pox and I can't think clearly.
One thing is for sure though, I am not sending Matt to the shops without a list of exactly what to buy.
He'll come home with peanut butter.
One Week to go...
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
So there's only one week left until we start the 'Live Below The Line' challenge, and this year it's going to be harder than ever. This is on the most part because although I said I wasn't going to start the GAPS diet until after live below the line, we actually already started and seeing the improvement in our health, I don't want to go back.
I recently watched a documentary called 'Food Inc' too.
Now it's not just about health, but an ethical decision to want to stick to the diet. How can I justify getting sponsorship to raise awareness of extreme poverty, whilst buying products which exploit the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people?
That's right, people.
It's not just the animals that are abused in battery farming. Illegal immigrant workers are used for cheap labour in slaughter houses throughout the industry, whilst the subsidised corn prices in the US put third world farmers out of business and create famine, and genetic copyright laws are putting farmers under crippling debt or out of business.
If you haven't seen Food inc, you really should. You can watch it on netflix, who will give you a one month trial for free if you sign up with your facebook details, no obligation and you can cancel right after you watch it.
The most heart breaking section of the documentary is when they follow a family who have just $1 a day to buy food, so they buy fast food burgers from a 99c menu. The parents want to feed their children better, but they take a trip round a supermarket and show you that they can't afford broccoli ($1.29) or pears ($1 would only buy two, which wouldn't fill them up for the day). One of the reasons they can't afford any more is because the father is on medication for severe diabetes - caused by their diet. They can't afford the medication and a change of diet, and don't want to risk losing the father by coming off the meds.
These are the decisions faced by families in extreme poverty every day.
I'm going to be making some really difficult decisions about what I eat for the next week. I think that homemade yoghurt is going to be key once again as it only costs me 55p to make just over a pint, but I'm honestly not sure where else I can save. Some very careful budgetting is going to need to happen if we are going to eat real food in an ethical way and stay below budget.
Unfortunate events
An unfortunate twist to live below the line this year, not only will I be attempting to do it on GAPS, but I have been up since four am today vomiting.
Please pray that I get better quickly.
I was hoping to use my fat reserves to get through a rather lean weak, but if I'm already depleted its going to be really tough.
Please pray that I get better quickly.
I was hoping to use my fat reserves to get through a rather lean weak, but if I'm already depleted its going to be really tough.
2012
Friday, 10 February 2012
It's almost time for Live Below the Line 2012 - Well, I say it's almost time, actually there's still about 3 months to go, but we've already signed up and are ready to go. 
For those who didn't follow us last year the basic idea is that from the 7th-11th of may we are going to live on less than £1 a day. This is supposed to simulate the extreme poverty that 1.4 billion people around the world live in.
Our experience last year told us that it is achievable, but not at all pleasurable. There's absolutely no wiggle room, and you can't afford to get sick as there's not budget for any medicines.
So what can you buy with £1 a day?
Not a bus ticket, not formula milk for a baby and certainly not a magnum ice cream.
But the reality is, as hard as we found this, we still aren't even close to experiencing poverty like many others do. We are only budgeting £1 a day for food and drink. We haven't included living costs like heating, rent and travel (luckily we live where we work, but this isn't true for many).
We also aren't going to be including the children until they are much older and able to understand what's happening. This means that we get to spend the whole £1 on ourselves each day, where plenty of mothers around the world have to go hungry to be able to feed their starving children.
There are a few things we'd like you to consider doing this year.
- Taking part in Live Below the Line yourself. You can read the rules and sign up here.
- Consider sponsoring one or both of us (we're raising money for the same charity, but can't help getting competitive about it!)
- Just follow our blog. Raising awareness of extreme poverty is one of the reasons we are taking on this challenge, so we'd love for you to keep reading and share with us in this experience.
Blog posts might be sporadic over the next three months, but we promise to update at least daily during the challenge.
If you do decide to get involved and want to blog your experiences too, let us know so we can link up.
Midnight feast time!!
Friday, 6 May 2011
Oh Ribena! How I have missed you!!!
We feasted tonight
Stuffed peppers, chicken kievs, spinach & rocket salad with mango chilli and lime dressing.
We followed it up with chocolate mousse (for Matt) and passionfruit for me.
Soooo grateful for fruits and Salad right now.
Irfan said he was going to hit mcDonalds drive thru.
#amateur
- Kj
Xxx
We feasted tonight
Stuffed peppers, chicken kievs, spinach & rocket salad with mango chilli and lime dressing.
We followed it up with chocolate mousse (for Matt) and passionfruit for me.
Soooo grateful for fruits and Salad right now.
Irfan said he was going to hit mcDonalds drive thru.
#amateur
- Kj
Xxx
Today has been quite straight forward. Had only water. Even been to the gym and runaround with will this avo. Knowing there's not small meals in between doesn't tantalise you as much. Also I suppose knowing it all finishes at 12 makes it a bit easier too!!
I hadn't really felt hungry. Until now: sitting watching will eat a chips and cheese sandwich. Now midnight can't come soon enough...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I hadn't really felt hungry. Until now: sitting watching will eat a chips and cheese sandwich. Now midnight can't come soon enough...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Final day fast
Well,
The final day. I have gone a bit quiet, there are only so many pictures of peanut butter on scales you can post.
As I've said before, I have become aware of how indulgent and instantaneous our eating habits are. I have conflicting emotions about spending our final 39p on a pack of cookies. We're indulging ourselves because we can. But did i est and enjoy them? Yep!
Plus will we have a nice big meal at 12.00 tonight? Probably. There is probably a part of us that thinks we deserve it after this week. It would be difficult to look someone in the eye who lives in actual poverty and justify our lifestyle I think.
If it went wrong or we had to feed the whole family, this would have been more difficult. I am eating nothing for the final 24 hours just to see what it may be like.
But then, I don't have to worry about where my whole family's next meals are coming from and i know at midnight I can just drive to 24hr tesco or get a cheeky takeaway.
Any way, no answers just questions. Thanks very much to everyone who sponsored me. Be sure it is going to a worthwhile cause.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The final day. I have gone a bit quiet, there are only so many pictures of peanut butter on scales you can post.
As I've said before, I have become aware of how indulgent and instantaneous our eating habits are. I have conflicting emotions about spending our final 39p on a pack of cookies. We're indulging ourselves because we can. But did i est and enjoy them? Yep!
Plus will we have a nice big meal at 12.00 tonight? Probably. There is probably a part of us that thinks we deserve it after this week. It would be difficult to look someone in the eye who lives in actual poverty and justify our lifestyle I think.
If it went wrong or we had to feed the whole family, this would have been more difficult. I am eating nothing for the final 24 hours just to see what it may be like.
But then, I don't have to worry about where my whole family's next meals are coming from and i know at midnight I can just drive to 24hr tesco or get a cheeky takeaway.
Any way, no answers just questions. Thanks very much to everyone who sponsored me. Be sure it is going to a worthwhile cause.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Mother's instinct
My mothering skills have been put to the test during live below the line, but never more so than last night.
I was having my standard plain jacket potato with salt and pepper and Will wouldn't stop asking for some, despite having just eaten a red pepper, cheese, spaghetti in tomato sauce, two oranges and a kiwi. I gave him a few bites, but on the fourth forkful I started to complain. Matt told him he could have a bite from his (identical) potato, but no; he only wanted mine.
I put my foot down and said no. He crumpled on the floor in a whinging heap.
The thing is, in this situation I felt quite justified. I only had a measured amount of food and I knew he wasn't starving. He could eat anything else in the house. But there are plenty of families all over the world where parents choose not to eat so that their children can.
As I was pondering this Matt announced that he was going to fast today, and that I should eat the extra food (I did lie on the floor during breakfast - not being dramatic, I was just really dizzy; it's hormonal and not hunger related, though I doubt this is helping). He would gladly fore go a days food for his sickly looking wife.
Now I feel like a really bad mum.
I'm not going to take the extra food (although Matt is still going to fast) mostly because I feel like it would be cheating my sponsors.
Besides, I'm planning a midnight feast, and I won't enjoy it nearly as much if I've eaten more during the day...
Below the line lunch
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Today we had our 'below the the line lunch' with some of our team from school.
We made Thai spiced rice with tofu.
There seemed to be loads more food to go around than normal. Cooking for a large group makes the 33p budget go much further.
In fact there was even 16p leftover, but I figure that can be used to account for the foraged herbs i used that I'm not really sure if I'm allowed.
I resisted the urge to put anything weird in there (like strawberry yoghurt or peanut butter) but still served kefir to drink, which i think Matt was slightly grossed out by.
The best thing to come out of the lunch (besides the obvious camaraderie) was that someone mentioned a contingency fund, and that's when it hit me - WE ARE STILL 40p UNDER BUDGET FOR THE WEEK!!!!!!
So this afternoon I went shopping for a little treat, and I found in lidl chocolate chip cookies for 39p!
So tonight I will be mostly eating these :-D
Kj
Xxx
We made Thai spiced rice with tofu.
There seemed to be loads more food to go around than normal. Cooking for a large group makes the 33p budget go much further.
In fact there was even 16p leftover, but I figure that can be used to account for the foraged herbs i used that I'm not really sure if I'm allowed.
I resisted the urge to put anything weird in there (like strawberry yoghurt or peanut butter) but still served kefir to drink, which i think Matt was slightly grossed out by.
The best thing to come out of the lunch (besides the obvious camaraderie) was that someone mentioned a contingency fund, and that's when it hit me - WE ARE STILL 40p UNDER BUDGET FOR THE WEEK!!!!!!
So this afternoon I went shopping for a little treat, and I found in lidl chocolate chip cookies for 39p!
So tonight I will be mostly eating these :-D
Kj
Xxx
Impatience
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Being hungry makes me impatient.
Matt was five minutes late for lunch today, so I started without him. What's that about? Im pretty sure that makes me eligible for suckiest wife of the year. I knew it too, but I did it anyway. Why?
Because I had been thinking about lunch (salt and pepper baked potatoes) for the last two hours and only holding out because I knew Matt would be home soon. When he wasn't exactly when I expected him to be, I snapped in a hormonal hungry rage.
I'm not proud of that. But I feel like I got punished a plenty this afternoon.
Man training were having their last official meet up, and they invited me and the kids along to their BBQ, where they all ate crisps and burgers washed down with soda. Okay, it was cheap soda, but it was still soda!
To make matters worse, Will insisted on sitting on my lap and offering me a bite of his burger every few minutes.
Dinner tonight was pretty good. Started out as soupy rice with tofu, same as before, but this time I used 'wild mushroom' flavour cup a soup instead of 'Thai chicken'.
It basically tasted of nothing, so I put loads of salt and pepper in. It now tasted of nothing with pepper.
So, in the interest of making it taste like something I stirred in a teaspoon of peanut butter. Weirdly, because I hate peanut butter, it actually tasted pretty good.
- Kj
Xxx
Matt was five minutes late for lunch today, so I started without him. What's that about? Im pretty sure that makes me eligible for suckiest wife of the year. I knew it too, but I did it anyway. Why?
Because I had been thinking about lunch (salt and pepper baked potatoes) for the last two hours and only holding out because I knew Matt would be home soon. When he wasn't exactly when I expected him to be, I snapped in a hormonal hungry rage.
I'm not proud of that. But I feel like I got punished a plenty this afternoon.
Man training were having their last official meet up, and they invited me and the kids along to their BBQ, where they all ate crisps and burgers washed down with soda. Okay, it was cheap soda, but it was still soda!
To make matters worse, Will insisted on sitting on my lap and offering me a bite of his burger every few minutes.
Dinner tonight was pretty good. Started out as soupy rice with tofu, same as before, but this time I used 'wild mushroom' flavour cup a soup instead of 'Thai chicken'.
It basically tasted of nothing, so I put loads of salt and pepper in. It now tasted of nothing with pepper.
So, in the interest of making it taste like something I stirred in a teaspoon of peanut butter. Weirdly, because I hate peanut butter, it actually tasted pretty good.
- Kj
Xxx
The legend of S&P sandwiches...
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
When my dad was a kid, his parents told him that if you made a salt and pepper sandwich and got the combination just right, it tasted like an egg sandwich.
He never did manage to get the ratio correct, so he came to the conclusion that it was impossible. His mum must have made this story up to try and save money on sandwich fillings (they didn't really have a lot).
He was wrong.
Last night I discovered the art of the salt and pepper sandwich. I think the trick is to make it on toast. I'm pretty sure I'm not hungry enough to be imagining this. It definitely tasted like a poached egg.
Amazing.
Unfortunately not as filling as a poached egg. An hour later I couldn't stop thinking about a snack.
- Kj
Xxx
He never did manage to get the ratio correct, so he came to the conclusion that it was impossible. His mum must have made this story up to try and save money on sandwich fillings (they didn't really have a lot).
He was wrong.
Last night I discovered the art of the salt and pepper sandwich. I think the trick is to make it on toast. I'm pretty sure I'm not hungry enough to be imagining this. It definitely tasted like a poached egg.
Amazing.
Unfortunately not as filling as a poached egg. An hour later I couldn't stop thinking about a snack.
- Kj
Xxx
Now to tot up today's eating:
Breakfast: 2 slices of bread (7p) + 20g peanut butter (8p) + 60g yoghurt (3p) =18p
Lunch: Delicious meal made by KJ including stolen herbs = 40p (quite heavily rounded up for seasonings
Snack: 10g peanut butter sandwich = 11p
Dinner: 75g rice (8p) +seasoning and butter (6p) = 14p
Day's total = 83p (I want a sandwich now but I don't want too waste all our bread with another 3 days to go... think ill nick 60g yoghurt and a glass of water)
New day's total = 86p
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