Could you Live Below the Line?

So in a few weeks we will be taking part in a global charity project called Live Below the Line, trying to see what it's like to live in extreme poverty. The challenge is to spend just £1 a day on food ($1.50 USA) for 5 days. For the full challenge rules look here.
The aim is to educate people to the severity of living on such a low income, but also to raise money for charities working to eliminate poverty around the world.

I have a friend who took part last year, and to be honest had written off taking part because of the kids, but when another friend who has 2 kids of her own said she would be taking part I knew that I should look into it a little more.

I decided that although it will be tough, it is doable, but I'm not including Elijah, as he's only 9 months and is only just weaning.

So between me, DH and Monkey we have a £15 budget for 5 days worth of food.

I, being the maths geek I am, have put together an Excel spreadsheet charting every person, for every meal, with formulas for calculating the costs!

So far the basic plan is this:
Breakfasts every day will be porridge, lunch will be vegetable and lentil soup with bread (although Monkey will be having eggy bread or spaghetti on toast) and then for dinner we will be having:
Butternut squash curry for 2 nights, Spaghetti bolognese for 2 nights and egg fried rice for one night.

What I'm already noticing when planning is that carbs are cheap, so we will be filling up on lots of bread, rice, pasta etc. Unfortunately it isn't a particularly nutritious menu. I'm cooking almost everything from scratch, and there are some veg and lentils, but there's not a great deal of protein, and we're not getting our 5 a day, but fruit and veg are expensive, and I just can't get them in the budget (although Monkey has bananas, raisins, eggs and cheese in his budget!).

So over the next few weeks I'll update you on how the planning goes, and then I'll blog every day during the Live Below the Line week to let you know how we're coping.

If you'd like to support us in our effort to highlight world poverty you can donate to our chosen charity, Tearfund, here.

Perhaps you might consider taking part?