Day 5: End of the Line

So yesterday was my last day living below the line. After a little bit of time thinking about the past 5 days I realised I have learned a few things...

1: Eating for £1 a day is possible, simple and interesting. Although I stuck to lentils there are plenty of other beans and veggie based meals that would keep me below the £1 mark.

2: I really missed meat and fish. It is surprising how expensive even cheap meat is compared to other protein sources. For example, 2kg of lentils cost me £3, 2kg of Tesco's cheapest beef mince (the one you don't want) costs about £8, almost 3 times as much and without the shelf life so unlikely to last how ever many weeks lentils last (pretty sure they last forever).

3: The markup on pizza is ridiculous. Today my lady and I made a pizza. It had mushroom and ham and cheese and onion and cost about 60p. The same in Pizza Express, you're looking at something nearer £10 or more!

4: Flour costs 45p for 1.5kg, yet you pay how much for doughballs?

5: Three meals a day without snacking is enough.

6: We have it pretty easy over here.

So there you have it, yes lentils got tiresome, but you can live on £1 a day relatively easily if you give up meat. But what made it really easy was having that food available, I had the means to cook them and I could drink water whenever I wanted without fear of dying from dysentery, one of the many diseases I haven't had thanks to the sanitation and hygiene in this country.

Don't drink the water in Oregon.

Those 1.2 billion people I mentioned before, many of them don't have a readily stocked supermarket two minutes away. They are struggling to survive and reminding myself of that fact as I thought about how boring lentils are made me realise how lucky I am to live where I do.


Donations this week were a little disappointing. I have raised £28 for Save the Children, which is quite a bit below my £100 target, but that wasn't the only reason I did it. This blog has had over 300 hits this past week, which suggests some people are at least aware of the campaign and the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty, so I am still a little proud of myself in that respect.

Friday's total cost looked like this:

Breakfast: 4.6p
Lunch: 30.75p
Dinner:
1/2 a pizza = 22.5p
1/8th of a lentil shepherd's pie = 12.3p
Totalling 70.15p

So my total after 5 days was...

£3.99

A whole week of food for £3.99. Think about that next time you pay £12 for a medium margaritas pizza.
To conclude:
It's been an eye opener, for a guy that is ok with spending £5 at McDonald's for one (unsatisfying) meal I never thought £1 a day was even possible. Looks like it's home made flat breads and lentil soup from here on out! Thanks to those that have supported me and I hope I have inspired you to take action to help those in need and maybe support one of the many charities working to eradicate poverty by 2030.

If you wish to donate, you can do so here...

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/ryanwhitwell

Thanks again guys and girls! Until next time, peace out and eat your lentils!