Day Five - the final day

Knowing it was the last day filled me with great enthusiasm for the day, which is a good job because I hadn't saved a lot of food for the last day.

I decided to have chilli for dinner, and save the final two eggs to make an omelette at teatime.

As you can see, not much chilli left for the last day!

It worked out ok, and if I had been starving I had quite a bit of porridge left so I wouldn't have keeled over. Thankfully I didn't starve.

My husband and children on the other hand decided that as it was Friday, a chippy tea was in order! There's nothing like support from your family.

Now my five days are up, what have I learned?

Well, it is possible to exist for five days living on £1 day, but it's not enjoyable, there is no choice, and you are constantly hungry.
But in too many ways, that is just a simple eye opening exercise. I didn't need to use my £1 a day to pay for anything other than food. When I had a headache on day 2, I took two paracetamol - and I didn't budget for them! When I was tired and achy after a day of gardening today (day 5) I had a long hot bath.

During the shopping exercise, I noticed so much about our own habits. We quite often pay more money for less. For instance, skimmed milk is more expensive that full fat, I suppose there is a higher processing cost involved in removing the fat, but it seems that we have got our economics a bit skewed. In reality, fresh fruit and veg were definitely off my agenda, as was fresh milk.

I had planned to go shopping on day five for my breakfast, but I couldn't be bothered, there seemed to be something inherently wrong with buying food that I had deprived myself of. As I wake up on my first day off the challenge, I'm going to have a mug of tea, and a bowl of porridge, made with milk and topped with banana.

Thank you for reading this far, and for staying with me, and most of all - thank you for sponsoring me!

Day four - and feeling positive

Ok...not that positive. I don't think I've got enough chilli to see me through to the end, so I envisage my Friday night being an early to bed night.

But I'm not there yet, but I am counting my eggs and I've got two left, and that means just one day to go.

I am hugely relieved that the challenge is nearly over, because I want a cup of tea, because I want some milk, because I want to eat, and quite frankly now the sun is out, I'd quite like a beer too!

But I've not eaten all my eggs yet, so I know I've still got one day left.

On Tuesday, I declared quite confidently that I probably wouldn't do this challenge again next year. My memory of last year was coloured by my own euphoria in succeeding. But now I've made it to Thursday, and looking back on the week, I wouldn't rule out doing the challenge again next year.

The challenge teaches you a lot. The limited shopping budget makes you focus on what is really important to your daily life, and I'm not just talking about food. I feel I've been a better mum this week for doing it. I've been hungry and tired, but I've appreciated the joys my children bring me all the more. I've not been wrapped up in making 'meals' or housework (although, to be fair, I'm rarely overly concerned about that). We have all eaten together (some of us better than others), but I have had enjoyed the little things about those shared experiences more.

Tomorrow, I'll go shopping for the bank holiday weekend. We plan to have picnics, and we're entering birthday season in this house. I may even sneak a little breakfast in for me for Saturday morning - and some extra special teabags...

Day three - powered by lemon curd

I was a bit disorganised at breakfast today, I would like to say it is because I haven't had a lot to eat, but unfortunately I'm just not good in the morning.

Anyway, the upshot was that by the time I ate my porridge it had gone cold. It was a little bit like eating porridge flavoured jelly. And, surprisingly, it was more edible that way - either that or I'm no longer bothered by the lack of banana.

At dinnertime (or lunch, if you're that way inclined) I got a real boost. One of the reasons I like buying 6 eggs is that it's a bit like a mini advent calendar. It is counting down my progress to the last day. So, when I took out my egg to poach, I was left with just three eggs, and I know one is spare. That means I'm more than half way through the challenge, which after the problems the second day presented me with, I am very pleased about.

After dinner, I then got a motivational email from Stephen at Live Below the Line, cheering me on and underlining the fact that the challenge is more than half way through. Also, this week has raised more than £500,000 which is absolutely incredible. And my sponsors have helped get that money.

I don't do sentimentality, but I'm pretty impressed!

I have snacked constantly throughout the day on flatbread and lemon curd, and I'm beginning to worry if I'll have enough lemon curd to last me to Friday. But then, I've still got that egg...I cracked open the olives today, which were 'rellenados' (I love that word, it's Spanish for stuffed) and I have made a tapenade. Today's poached egg flatbread had a generous topping of tapenade. I don't like olives as a general rule, but when you're hungry and craving a taste, they are immense.

Tomorrow, I need to ration the lemon curd a bit, but I'm feeling much more positive today. The hunger pains have subsided, although I'm vaguely absent minded, and typing is more complicated all of a sudden.

My inspiration for today...

Day two

I'm a bit late (well, more than a bit) with day two's post!
I woke up yesterday thinking I was dying. I had a bit of a late night on Monday with going to the theatre, and woke up at 3am with a hollow feeling (hunger) and a banging headache.
Clearly, going cold turkey on caffeine is not a good move.

I didn't take any pictures today, getting through the day was trouble enough, and I was struggling to find many positives to share - except that it is for a good cause.

So, if you've not already seen this video from the IF campaign, can I ask you to spare two and a half minutes of your life.

Today's menu was exactly the same as yesterday's menu.

It was a very long day, with an early and not spectacularly great start, it finished with good night's sleep.