Friday, May 25, 2012

Live Below The Line (LBTL) Challenge - Part 3

June Emerson took up the challenge to live on £1 a day to highlight the plight of those who have no choice but to do so. She has been documenting her progress in the Gazette and here is her final piece.

DONE IT! We’ve completed the week of Living Below the Line!

This is what we ate for the final three days of the challenge.

Day Three

Breakfast:
Toast and cheese/jam
Lunch:
Baked beans on toast
Supper:
Banana Dhal and rice
 
Day Four

Breakfast:
Toast and cheese/jam
Lunch:
Baked beans and baked potato
Supper:
Diced broccoli and carrot, rice, spices

Day Five

Breakfast:
Toast and cheese/jam
Lunch:
Potato and onion soup
Supper:
Curried potatoes, onions and a few reserved beans

After lunches and suppers we shared half a slice of bread with jam and had many cups of tea. At the end we had 6p in hand, so we went back to Baines’s and bought five dates, which we had for the final dessert.

We stayed up until midnight on the last day and toasted each other with a glass of wine at one minute past.

Did we ‘starve’? No, not at all. We found that small meals satisfied us. Did we get bored? Not really. There was just enough variety to keep us interested. Would we do it again? Yes, certainly, and probably with roughly the same menus. The things I missed most were fresh fruit and good bread and cheese.

During the week I came across an article in The Oldie magazine which mentioned that in a book called The Science Delusion, Rupert Sheldrake says that it’s a well-established fact that eating much less than usual can have beneficial effects.

“Reduced intake of calories improves health, slows the ageing process and increases lifespan...”

Since the end of the challenge we’ve found that we’re satisfied with much less on our plates, and are far more tolerant of strange mixtures when we’ve run out of something. Our shopping bills are significantly down.

It was great to know that we were part of a group of more than 10,000 people worldwide doing this, and our total raised for Peace Direct is nearly £200. There is still time to donate.

The most humbling moment was when I met a friend that I hadn’t seen for some time. She has been unwell and is living on disability benefit.

“Guess what we’re doing this week,” I prattled, full of the fun of the thing. “We’re living on £1 a day.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “As much as that!” she replied.
Shopping list for two people for five days

Milk, one pint. Baines, 50p
Jam, one jar. Co-op, £1.05
Onions, Spar, £1
Cheese slices, Co-op, £1
Rice, 200g, Baines, 39p
Broccoli, one head, Co-op, 91p
Carrots, three, Baines, 25p
Potatoes, Co-op, £1
Baked beans, four tins, Spar, £1
Red lentils, 240g, Baines, 64p
Teabags, 40, Spar, 99p
Bread, large wholemeal, Co-op, 89p
Banana, one small, Baines, 21p
Spices, small amounts, home, 10p
TOTAL: £9.93


Source: Gazette & Herald

Monday, May 14, 2012

Live Below The Line (LBTL) Challenge - Part 2


JUNE EMERSON has taken up the challenge to live on just £1 a day for a week. In this, her second article (click here for the previous article), the reality kicks in.

PREPARING for living on £1 a day was an interesting puzzle. We decided to go for simplicity rather than cleverness. Simplicity, after all, is the key to living well, whatever your income.

What do millions exist on every day? Rice, lentils and beans. These give a good balance of carbohydrate and protein. We added seasonal vegetables: potatoes, onions, broccoli, carrots and the luxury of some cheese.

Something sweet is vital at the end of a meal to keep the spirits up, so we added jam. Cups of tea are essential.

Shopping list for two people for five days:

Milk, one pint. Baines, 50p
Jam, one jar. Co-op, £1.05
Onions, Spar, £1
Cheese slices, Co-op, £1
Rice, 200g, Baines, 39p
Broccoli, one head, Co-op, 91p
Carrots, three, Baines, 25p
Potatoes, Co-op, £1
Baked beans, four tins, Spar, £1
Red lentils, 240g, Baines, 64p
Teabags, 40, Spar, 99p
Bread, large wholemeal, Co-op, 89p
Banana, one small, Baines, 21p
Spices, small amounts, Home, 10p
TOTAL: £9.93

We’re lucky to have Baines Fruit & Veg in Kirkbymoorside because they have scoop and weigh bins at the back of the shop. This meant that we could buy whatever quantities we needed. As our total for the week is just 7p short of the £10 we will probably go in for a couple of glace cherries or half a dozen almonds towards the end of the week. The banana, by the way, is for a ‘Banana Dhal’ recipe. Gorgeous!

After the shopping list and menus were complete, the questioning set in.

Why am I doing this? Just a personal challenge? Would someone genuinely living below the line give a hollow laugh if they knew? Those things are probably true, but it has certainly made us think about why we eat certain things.

Breakfast cereal: was it post-war American influence? I asked David why we eat so many tropical fruits such as oranges and bananas. His reply was succinct: “Imperialism!” Hmmm.

The menu

Day one


Breakfast: Toast, cheese and jam.

Lunch: Baked potato and baked beans.

Supper: Banana dhal, rice and spices.

Day two


Breakfast: Toast, cheese and jam.

Lunch: Rice, broccoli florets, diced carrots, spices.

Supper: Baked potato, cheese, onions, baked beans.

The first thing that struck me was the lack of taste and texture in the cheap foods we had bought. Real wholemeal bread is a meal in itself, but factory sliced just isn’t. You need twice as much to feel satisfied. That’s interesting!

More next week.

If you would like to sponsor June or David by donating to Peace Direct, go to: www.livebelowtheline.com/me/june
www.livebelowtheline.com/me/davidmorris 

Source: Gazette & Herald 


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Live Below The Line (LBTL) Challenge

June Emerson, who will be shopping locally
to complete her Live Below The Line Challenge
JUNE EMERSON joins the challenge to live on £1 a day to highlight the plight of millions of people who have no choice in the matter

IT wasn’t my sort of holiday, although everybody kept saying “Oh how wonderful. Lucky you!”

Not that the Norwegian coast isn’t beautiful, the fjords and mountains are spectacular. The sea was pretty calm all the way as the route is mostly between the coastal islands and the mainland. It’s just that when travelling abroad I like to be active, not passive. I much prefer to get eyeball to eyeball with another culture and see life from a fresh point of view.

To be taken, with a group of (let’s face it, well-heeled and elderly) people and protected in a cocoon of comfort and abundant food isn’t my idea of authentic living.

I must have returned with some underlying guilt for having gone along with this pampered lifestyle, because when I saw a magazine article called Living Below the Line I was immediately struck by it.

Living Below the Line (LBTL) runs an annual challenge: could you survive on £1 a day for food? For 1.5 billion people living below the extreme poverty line, that is their daily reality, and for them the £1 has to cover not only their food but shelter, warmth and education.

Joining this project not only raises funds to help combat poverty but also helps to spread the word about global injustice.

The challenge runs for five days, from May 7-11, and each participant signs up to an established charity. We’ve chosen Peace Direct.

LBTL produces an online recipe book with suggested menus and shopping lists, but we didn’t find this very helpful. The supermarket prices quoted were ridiculously low (it must be about five years out of date) and the menus very nutritionally unbalanced. Coupled with this, nothing will induce me to shop in supermarkets. ‘Cheap’ supermarket prices are artificially low and rely on their total power over their suppliers. Not my scene.

In Kirkbymoorside, it’s possible to buy absolutely all you need. You may not be able to buy all you want, but that’s another matter. Needs are essential, wants are almost wholly influenced by the media.

Our challenge therefore has an added element: Can we achieve it while still shopping locally and eating well? Watch this space...

If you would like to sponsor us by donating to Peace Direct, please go to:

www.livebelowtheline.com/me/june
www.livebelowtheline.com/me/davidmorris

Source: Gazette & Herald