Living Below the Line - Day 3

Today has been interesting. It started with porridge for me (as usual) and the usual soup for lunch. James has decided not to continue with the porridge as he said it was horrible, and had 2 slices of toast with jam instead. Thankfully Joey is still loving the 'jammy porridge' though! When Joey got home from preschool he asked for an apple. I had to say no. We can't afford apples this week. The cheapest apples I could find worked out about 20p each, so we got bananas instead (roughly 10p each). I ended up giving him a packet of crisps instead, they're only 6p. In what sense is it acceptable that basic fruit like apples are approx 4 times as expensive as a pack of crisps? Custard creams are only 1p each, so he could have had 20 of those for the price of an apple.
It really annoys me that I had to tell my 3 year old he couldn't have an apple, but he could have a packet of crisps. Its normally the other way round. Living on a low income severely restricts your choice, but not only that, it also restricts your nutrition. I've done everything I can to give us a nutritious diet this week, but its not the kind of diet that you could maintain long term.
I look forward to Saturday when I can let Joey have an apple, an orange, and whatever else he asks for. Unfortunately for thousands of parents around the world they can't give their children what they want, or need, and that's why we're taking part this week, to raise the profile of poverty, for those 1.4 billion people who live on less than £1 a day, 365 days a year.
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Todays Menu

Breakfast
Porridge - 9p

Lunch
Soup 13p
2 slices bread 5p

Dinner
Fried Rice 33p
Pancakes 14p

Total 74p

Fried Rice Recipe - serves 4
500g Rice                       20p
Tin sweetcorn                 32p
200g Frozen mixed veg    15p
100g mince                     21p
2 eggs                             33p
Total                               132p
Portion                              33p

Instructions
1. Boil rice in advance or use leftovers. Fries best when cold.
2. Dry fry the mince until brown.
3. Heat the frozen vegetables in a pan or in the microwave and drain.
4. Add the cold rice and stir fry.
5. Drain sweetcorn and add to pan with the vegetables.
6. In a separate pan make an omelette and then chop into small pieces and add to the fried rice.