Can you live below the line?

Live Below the Line

A few days ago, I received an email from Stephanie from Global Poverty Project, asking if I was interested in joining the Live Below the Line campaign.

The campaign is asking the public to cut their spending on food at drink to just £1 per day from 7 to 11 May 2012.

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on the equivalent of £1 here in the UK.

Live Below the Line is a challenge for people to eat and drink on the same amount as those living in extreme poverty.

While taking on this challenge, they will raise money for charities working to end poverty.

Think about a 'normal' day, in our 'normal' life.

Medium skinny latte to kick start the morning: £2.65, BLT for lunch; £3.50, muffin for an afternoon snack; £1.50, quick take-away after work; £8.  Many of us won’t even bat an eyelid at spending over £15 each day on food.  Can you imagine reducing your food and drink spend to only £1 per day?

Like many food bloggers, I have a kind of obsession with food, with the way it's presented, or with anything else that rotates around this fantastic world. The fact is that we (or at least I) very seldom think about the 1.4 billion people around the world living in extreme poverty, with less that £1 a day.

Well, I felt a profound sense of guiltiness, and I decided to take on this challenge.

This means that for five days, I will cut my spending on food and drink to just £1 per day, to raise awareness and to raise money for Giving Africa, a truly unique charity focused on improving access to, and the quality of, education opportunities in Africa.

During the challenge, I will be documenting my progress on a daily basis, so please stay tuned.

To prepare for the campaign, yesterday I did a little trial and managed to spend only £1 for food and drink.

Poached eggs and Linguine aglio, olio and peperoncino spending less than £1

I know this is just a drop in the ocean, but it felt good.

Here are the ingredients that I have used for lunch, spending £0.48:


Linguine aglio, olio and peperoncino

1. Linguine, 100 g (15 pence)
2. Olive oil, 2 tbsp (10 pence)
3. Garlic, 2 cloves (15 pence)
4. Crushed chillies, 2 tsp (6 pence)
5. Salt, 1 tbsp (2 pence)

And here are ones I used for dinner, spending £0.50:


Poached eggs on toasted bread

1. Eggs, 2 (40 pence)
2. Bread, 2 small slices (8 pence)
3. Salt & pepper (2 pence)

Let's try helping beating poverty, either:

• Joining the Live Below the Line campaign,
• or, donate for me! or for anyone else. To donate for me, please follow this link.

You can join the challenge by registering at www.livebelowtheline.com/uk.

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From 7th to 11th May, join Live Below the Line living on £1 a day for 5 days to change the way people in the UK think about extreme poverty - and make a huge difference.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk

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