Eat & Drink for £1 a day - 28 Day Challenge - Day 1

Right. So the day is finally here. I’d been racking my brains for a challenge I could do to help raise money for the clean water project in Meru, and was very relieved when I finally thought of something. I’ve read a few accounts of people doing this sort of challenge lately, although most people seem to do it for a week only. But I thought I might as well do it for a while, to make it more of a challenge. We’ll see how it goes. 

I started preparing yesterday by going shopping. Armed with my £7 and a calculator, I headed for the local supermarket. I did have a shopping list, but soon realised that this had been written with just too much optimism. You really don’t get a lot for £7. It felt like I was there for absolute ages, adding an item, taking one away because I was over my quota, then adding another because I had money left, swapping around to make better use of the money…. Finally I had something that resembled a decent selection of food, and it was even within the limits of my budget! 
 

What I got for my money was:

1kg bag og frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower and broccoli)
907g bag of frozen sweet-corn
200g tube of tomato purée
150g (1 box) vegetable bouillon
2,5kg Potatoes
500g bag of dried yellow split peas

The total cost of my shopping basket was £6.80, which means that I have 20 pence extra to play with next week. YAY!! Sadly I couldn’t afford any teabags this week, so it will be a very boring week drinks-wise, but maybe I’ll manage to get some next week. The bouillon was quite expensive, so I’m hoping it will last me a couple of weeks, but I felt that I would need something that would serve both as a drink and to enhance the taste of my food. 

This morning, before setting off for work I measured out my frozen veg ration for breakfast and lunch, and also took with me the box of bouillon. As soon as I got to the office I made myself a cup of bouillon, which I enjoyed while reading through the emails that had accumulated over the weekend. And I have to admit that this was a nice start to the day. I didn’t feel the need for any more fodder right then, so saved my sweet-corn ration (100g frozen sweet-corn heated in the microwave) for later on in the day and had it as an afternoon snack instead. 

For lunch I had vegetable soup, which was tastier than I had dared hope for; 

200g mixed vegetables
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon bouillon
Water (enough to cover the vegetables)

I heated it on full power in the microwave oven for 5 minutes, stirred it, and then waited for it to cool down a bit before tasting it. For something so simple it was surprisingly nice – and it made me wonder why I haven’t done this as a quick alternative for lunch before. Although I do think that maybe I overcooked it a little. Will try again tomorrow. 

The afternoon was spent wistfully longing for a snack, until 3.30pm when I gave in and had the sweet-corn that should have been my breakfast. And it was a life-saver. I think I will have to arrange my food in such a way that there is something to eat in the afternoon, otherwise I’ll be just too hungry before it’s even near dinner time.

When I got home I boiled some peas ready for tomorrow, and baked 3 of my potatoes for my dinner. So far I'm doing ok, but we'll see how long it lasts.