Living above the Line

Life back above the line is not the same.

All of us have continued to reflect on the price of food and we are still working out what each meal costs (although not down to the penny).

It has been an absolute delight and treat to eat a wide range of food. Fruit, salad, meat, eggs, butter, fruit juice etc.

How blessed are we?

We have changed how we shop, and are now eating smaller portions.

We are determined to grow more of our own when we settle in Huddersfield.

Our family and friends generously donated over £500 which will now be going towards Christian Aid to support those in poverty - living below the line all the time.

Well thanks for following if you have been, and maybe you might give it a go too. We will

definitely do this next year - and maybe for longer than 5 days.

Our hope is that the image of overflowing plenty that God offers through the wedding feast at Cana will become more of a reality. (and we did miss the occaisional glass of wine)

Day Five

We are just about to have a cup of tea (shared tea bag) as our last "spend" of the day.

Today's menu included -
Breakfast - Toast & Choc spread
Lunch - Soup & Sandwich
Dinner - braised liver & onion, swede & mashed potato - followed by yoghurt (and free rhubarb from our garden) & ice-cream

Mixed feelings today - I had to do the shopping this morning and that was difficult but have felt good throuhghout the day
Rachael had to resist being force-fed by her friends at college
Irene was tired and had a headache
We are all looking forward to tomorrow and a richer more varied diet.

We have already decided to make some changes to our diet - and thinking about other changes we could make.
we are going to eat less brands
we are going to have smaller portion size
we will use left-overs for lunches
we will have a vegetarian day at least twice a week

One reflection from me is that I have understood the importance of community meals - the more you share the more variety and choice you get - also it enables different appetites to be satisfied more effectively
The more you look after yourself with your own resources, the "poorer" you are.

We will have some more reflections later

If you've been following - thanks for your interest.

Day Four

Feeling good today as day four draws to a close.
We had a treat tonight with cheese making a change from tomato.

The menu today included:

Breakfast - toast with jam/chocolate spread
Dinner - left-over veg chilli, peanut butter/chocolate spread sandwiches
Tea - Macaroni cheese with ham & onion & toast - chocolate mousse
Supper - Scone & Tea
Today we spent £2.40 for the three of us - a low cost day

Busy days today at work & Rachael well enough to return to college.
Becoming more and more conscious of all the advertising of food.

tomorrow is the last day - and we are all looking forward to our last day.

Day Three

We are now through the middle of our £1 a day challenge.
Some re-working of menu's to accomodate changes were needed.
This was to support changing planned menu days - and the surprise benefit of leftovers from one meal being used for another.

The menu today included:
Breakfast - Toast with jam/chocolate spread
Lunch - Offer soup (Irene) - leftover pasta (John)
Tea - Vegetable broth with rice, peaches & custard (tinned peaches are very tasty)
Supper - Tea and offer scones (John)

Everyone feels tired - not really hungry - but bored with food. Rachael was really pleased to finally be able to eat something other than ice cream.

Having all the food we are not using in a separate cupboard/fridge helps to stop cravings.

We are all looking forward to the weekend when we are not restricted on what we can eat - we're already planning Sunday lunch with all the trimmings!

Day Two

Day two presented some interesting challenges.
The M&S shopping was difficult - There is so much colour and choice in the food I am not eating.
Preparing lunch for everyone was fine - but sitting to eat with my bland looking peanut butter sandwich and 1/2 tin of soup just felt awkward. I definitely felt different, and it was harder when I was offered the unfinished food. You can take it if you deduct the value from your daily allowance. Everything would have blown my daily allowance out of the water.
On the way home I went to Morrisons - found a couple of sell-off treats and got some ice-cream for Rachael who is suffering with tonsilitis.
The veg chilli and rice for tea was great
- and peaches and ice-cream for pudding went down well.
The other problem was driving without having any chewwy
really difficult for this ex-smoker who has come to depend
on chewing gum to be part of the journey.



Still - feeling full and contented - wish this was the same for all the 1.4 billion people who do this every day. I am truly blessed.

Big thanks to all the people who have donated to our team - we have now recorded £280 so far which will all go to helping people in poverty.

Day One - Living Below The Line (cue broad Geordie accent from Big Brother). Who thought that starting this on a UK bank holiday was a good idea? Probably someone in Australia (where it started last year).

So today's food is all eaten: peanut butter on toast for breakfast; a value pitta and 1/2 tin of soup for lunch. Tea was tuna pasta followed by rice pudding (didn't fancy the tinned peaches that was on the menu). I was surprised that it wasn't possible to make the soup cheaper myself, but for smaller portions it was cheaper to use tinned.

Well I don't feel hungry - which is a bonus - but the food was a bit bland.

Unfortunately Rachael is unwell - tonsillitus, but she's sticking with it. Mainly because she can't eat anything but ice!

Another bonus is that thanks to all our sponsors we've raised £275 for Christian Aid - which puts us 6th on their top 10 fundraisers! Thanks to everyone.

Day One

We have started the £1 a day challenge.
Managed to find a bonus already by sharing a teabag which now means up to 4 cups a day.
The menu today included -
Breakfast - Toast with peanut butter
Dinner - Peanut butter sanwich and a bowl of vegetable soup
Tea - Tuna, Pasta, Carrots & Onion - Peaches & Custard for afters

Have not really felt hungry today and have enjoyed my food - probably working off all my "reserves". The most difficult task has been to forgo the chewwy.

I have an interesting task tomorrow - it is our staff away-day where we will be visiting Calver.
I will be taking my own lunch (Peanut butter sandwich with soup), but on the way I will be picking up lunch for everyone else from M&S!