Living Below the line

 trying again to come back and  an attempt to actually keep blogging this time. I realized lately that I hadn't bothered because cos actually I wasn't in a very good place and didn't think anyone would want to read any of my drivel...thats even if I could have thought of anything to say or found the motivation to post it!  Im doing alot better these days so am resurrecting this blog and intend to breathe life into it again!
 Recently I became aware via facebook of this campaign to raise money and awareness of the millions of people who live in real poverty, on just £1 a day for food...
 Live Below The Line
 Sadly, a bit too late for me to actually raise money by doing it but decided we would have a go at it in some shape or form. Im not able to do it 100% properly because S has a school meal at lunchtime and the kids eat out with dad when they see him but thought it would be a good home ed project/ thrifty living exercise so decided we would try it for 5 days as suggested in the link.. through careful shopping and home growing I hope we can achieve it according to the rules on their site and it was suggested I blog it here... so here it is!!!

Day 1....
Well, we have 3 of us at home since C is away at school , so thats 5 days at £3 a day.... £15 a scary prospect!!!!
Fortunately we have a really good, cheap greengrocers shop a shortish drive away and an aldi store so so far Ive been out and bought :

2 Aubergines (2 for £1 )
A bag of mushrooms 50p
a bag of onions 50p
a bag of peppers 50p
a bag of sweet potatoes 50p
a large bottle of squash £1- kids just wont drink water no matter how much I plead
a large container of milk (£1)
a bag of  flour 59p
400G cheddar £2
a bag of long grain rice 0.49
a  5 kg bag of potatoes 60p
2 bags of value penne pasta 18p!
a total of 8.37so far..... eeek thats rather frightening out of such a small budget.
We used to keep hens which have gone to live at a friends in return for free eggs whenever we want to have some so that will help ( Ive commandeered 12) and I also grow veggies in the garden, the only things ready now are salad leaves and herbs but as the big supermarkets say "every little helps"

I intend to try my best not to buy more bits and pieces, use what we have in the cupboards and try and estimate/deduct anything I use from the budget......tricky I guess but you'll hopefully get a pretty good idea of the costs regardless

Lunch today was wraps made with flour, water and oil to make a dough rolled out very thinly and heated in a dry frypan to cook lightly both sides with grated cheese and salad leaves and a little onion

Tonights tea was

Potato and mushroom curry from the BBC website.... I didnt use the coconut milk because not only am I not fond of coconut, S is waiting for tests for anaphylactic shock  after a scary incident possibly involving nuts so I decided anything even remotely nut like or unfamiliar was out. but it was just lovely without that.

I had  1/3 of a jar of curry paste in the fridge so that works out at 25p and a veg stock cube which was 3p (30p for 10)
The curry made enough for about 8 people so Ill freeze the remainder, it was really tasty, a real hit!I ust varoed the recipe a little by adding more water and cooking it for longer than it recommended
 The total cost worked out at £1.80 for all of it and I estimate I used about 1/5 of the bag of rice

 Ive also allowed  50p for coffee and tea  through the week from the cupboard allowing me 2 a day
so the total spend now ( inc the ingredients from the cupboard)  is £9.15..

wonder what tomorrow will be?
Weve got through day 1 without much difficulty! but gonna have to be creative and the budget doesn't leave a lot left for more ingredients or treats thats for sure!!!


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