This week (Mon-Fri) I’m taking part in a £1 a day food challenge for Cash for Kids to highlight local poverty, as the reality is that some families only have this budget. It could be your neighbour, someone in your work, or even a friend.

I think it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of someone else and although I am already grateful for the food and drink that I have, I will have more gratitude for the everyday food items that many of us will take for granted.

So, it’s day two of the challenge and here is a breakdown so far…

I decided to do a £5 shop for the whole week, buying items that I could make a homemade pasta sauce with (more nutritious and cheaper than a shop bought one – not to mention much less sugar!) and vegetables to make soup with.

This was what I got with £5 in my local supermarket:

As you can see, it’s not much! This is the soup and sauce that I made:

Great idea at the time, smells and tastes amazing – but after 2 days of eating the same thing I am already getting really fed up of the taste! I also feel that I’m not getting the nutrition I need because with my £5 per week budget I couldn’t afford fruit, and protein-rich foods that I usually buy such as tuna, chicken and whey protein powder.

Day 1 I found out one of my eggs was cracked (boohoo!) so I was left with five. I used two for a snack after the gym which is normal for me, but what I soon realised was with this budget it’s not something you can do – buy protein-fuelled snacks and eat them as you need them. The people on this budget are literally buying food to survive and surviving at that on as little as possible. I had porridge, soup and then pasta that day.

The hardest part of yesterday was going to Nando’s with my friends and ordering a tap water. Yes. I never ate. No chicken. No piri-piri chips and no PERinaise!! I deserve an actual medal. I felt like the ‘taxi driver’ who goes on a night out and doesn’t drink, except I went on the night out and didn’t eat. Totally doesn’t make sense! The message behind this though is that if I spent £10 in Nando’s, that could be someone’s budget for s fortnight’s worth of food shopping.

Day 2 (today) I found not being able to snack in the office really hard – especially when my tummy was growling and the guy that sits behind me had a box of flapjacks and brownies delivered. Nice. Apparently on this challenge, free food doesn’t count! In terms of the gym, I went this morning for just over an hour and was lifting heavier than usual (as this is my strength week). I ended up not fuelling my body with enough protein, carbs and essential fats so I now feel completely drained. I am now realising that the families who live on this budget don’t only miss out in terms of feeling hungry: they miss out on energy for exercising – you can’t just go a run when you don’t have enough fuel, can you? And they may miss out on some social events – how can you afford a Nando’s when you live on £1 a day?

This challenge is hard for me as I eat around every 2 hours, snacking on things like dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit and greek yoghurt… But this week I’m realising that I can’t. Because I don’t have enough money. I feel weak, tired and hungry.

How must these families feel?

I’ll keep you up to date

Keep Smiling 🙂

Amber x