Living Below the Line: Day 5

Day 5 -- last day of the Live Below the Line Challenge!

Breakfast:

• 1 Linda McCartney veggie sausage [16p]
• 1 slice of toast [4p]
• 1 cup of tea [2p]

22p down, 78 to go.  Later in the morning, I poured some water on an old tea bag to save money.

For lunch,

• 1/2 PBJ [11p]
• Popcorn [2p]
• 1/8th of an under-ripe peach [1p]
• Banana [9p]
• 1 cracker with peanut butter and horseradish [5p]

Another 28p down, 50p to go.  I had some veggie odds and ends in the kitchen that I wanted to get through before they went bad, so I made a kind of mish-mash to go along with some pasta.

Dinner,

• Value pasta [20p]
• Broccoli [22p]
• Mushrooms [38p]
• Carrots [4p]
• Home-sprouted sprouts [5p]
• Wild garlic [foraged for free]
• Oil [5p]

I'd say I had about 38p's worth of that.

Later in the day,

• Herbal tea [3p]
• 1 digestive biscuit [2p]

7p left, and then I fell asleep getting the kids to sleep.  ;p

I thought this challenge was going to be a doddle, but after going over by 3p the first day and wanting to snack and have tea all Monday and Tuesday, I started to worry that it would be kind of tricky.  It wasn't easy, but I'm really glad I did it.  I didn't realise how often I snacked during the day and I'm going to make an effort to keep track of what I eat from now on.  And, of course, it put my lifestyle, frugal, though it may be, into perspective.  The £1/day food-budget for the Live Below the Line challenge  -- the £1/day that had me pacing the kitchen, frustrated at having to stop snacking and curb my veggie intake, the budget that had me silently cursing my husband for throwing out a used teabag -- represents the what people below the severe poverty line have to spend per day on everything.