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Live Below the Line - Day five

Farfalle with broccoli, £0.38

This is my fifth and last day of the Live Below the Line campaign challenge.

Tomorrow I can go back to my 'normal' diet, so I will be able to eat meat, fresh vegetables and fruit.

I will not have to plan my meals so carefully, meaning that I am a very lucky person.

Before taking on this challenge, I never realised how hard is living 'below the line'.

Now I understand why people living in extreme poverty have to eat rice most of the times (cheap and filling), while we (the lucky ones) can eat whatever we want. 

I also realised that if we all give up a little amount of food or drinks every day - donating the equivalent money - we could really make a difference in beating poverty.

How easy for us would be to give up a cappuccino every day, for example. £2 would make such a difference for someone else.

Something to think about...

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.

Live Below the Line challenge - Day 5

For breakfast (£0.09) I had my usual cup of black coffee (£0.09) with half a tsp of sugar (£0.003). 

LUNCH - Farfalle with broccoli, £0.38

I recommend this pasta dish to anyone taking this challenge. It's very healthy, tasty and incredibly cheap (£0.38!).

Ingredients

• Farfalle pasta, 100g (£0.10)
• Broccoli, 50g (£0.10)
• Extra virgin olive oil, 1tbsp (£0.05)
• Garlic, 1 clove (£0.03)
• Crashed chillies, 1tsp (£0.08)
• Salt and pepper (£0.02)

Instructions

Bring 2 pots of salted water to the boil. In the first one, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Add the broccoli to the other pot and boil for 7-8 minutes, or until tender.

Drain the broccoli, reserving a glass of their water. In a small frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the crashed garlic and the chillies and saute until the garlic is golden but not browned. Add the broccoli, and saute for 1-2 minutes. Transfer the broccoli sauce into a food processor, season and whiz for a minute or so. If the mixture is too thick, add some of the broccoli cooking water (you will need about 5-6 tablespoons).

Transfer the broccoli pesto into the same pan where you cook them. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and toss everything together for a minute. Transfer to warm serving plates and serve.

DINNER - Egg fried rice, £0.53

Egg fried rice, £0.53

Ingredients

• Sainsbury's long grain & wild rice, 100g (£0.19)
• 1 Egg (£0.20)
• Frozen peas, 40g (£0.06)
• Vegetable oil, 2tbsp (£0.08)

Instructions

Boil the rice in salted water. Drain and let cool.

Put the frozen peas in a glass of hot water and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wak. When the oil is almost smoking add the egg and break it up as if you are making scrambled eggs. When cooked, transfer the egg onto a bowl. Add another tbsp of vegetable oil into the wak. Heat until almost smoking. Add the rice and the drained peas, and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Finally add the egg, a stir-fry for another minute or so. Serve immediately.

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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.

----------

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 

Live Below the Line - Day four

Poached eggs on toasted bread £0.50

Day 4, carving for some fresh fruit.

This is my fourth day of the Live Below the Line campaign challenge, and everything goes well, except for the fact that  I am really craving for some fresh fruit at this point. I always eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, but with a £1 daily budget I cannot afford it.
Before taking on this challenge, I never realised how hard is living 'below the line'. I mean we take so many things for granted (I.e. eating an apple or drinking a cappuccino in the morning) that we forget how difficult is for millions of people in this world to survive. 

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!

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.


So, on day fourth of my challenge I had:

For breakfast (£0.09) I had my usual cup of black coffee (£0.09) with half a tsp of sugar (£0.003). 

LUNCH - Poached eggs on toasted bread, £0.50

Ingredients

• Free-range eggs, 2 (£0.40)
• Bread, 2 small slices (£.10)
• Salt and pepper (£0.002)

Instructions

Toast 2 bread slices.

Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil. Carefully break the eggs into the water and after 2 minutes remove the pot from the heat. Leave the eggs in the water for about 10 minutes.

Drain on kitchen paper, season to your taste and serve on toasted bread.

DINNER - Risotto with peas, £0.41

Risotto with peas, £0.41

Ingredients

• Arborio rice, 100g (£0.22)
• Frozen peas, 40g (£0.08)
• Extra virgin olive oil, 1tbsp (£0.05)
• Vegetable stock cube, a half (£0.06)
• Salt and pepper (£0.002)

Instructions

In a saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to the boil (well, the stock is quite light as I had to use only half stock cube, never mind!).
In another pan, heat 1tgsp of olive oil. Add the rice and stir until completely coated with the oil. When the rice starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a ladleful of stock and continue stirring. When the liquid is absorbed, add another ladleful of stock. Repeat until the rice is cooked. Add the frozen peas 8 minutes before e the rice is ready.


Under 'normal circumstances', I would have added 20g of butter and a couple of spoons of parmesan cheese before serving. As you can understand, this was impossible with such a low budget, but never mind, this meal was filling and comforting anyway.

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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.

----------

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