challenge alice Days 22: Live below the poverty line – £1 a day
- Breakfast: cornflakes + office milk
- Lunch: warburton thins + pate
- Dinner: lasagne (40p) + cucumber (7p)
- ‘Treat’: few slabs of value choc (35p for bar) + live oyster (8p)
Cornflakes this morning, ‘no fancy packaging’ and fancy they ain’t but a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…
However they’re still no sub for the porridge and by 11am I’m utterly ravenous.
Lunchtime and I polish off the remainder of the Brussels pate – thank you Belgium.
After school and it’s time to pit my wits in a netball match against another local law firm. For a non contact sport it’s no space invaders… firm rivalry is rife and pride is at stake. Soon we’re diving about all over the shop to make those interceptions.
Fifteen minutes in, the end of the first quarter and I’m dying! The few slabs of value choc in the car are doing very little to fuel me and I wish I’d had time to pick up a banana. I realise this is the first real bit of exercise I’ve done since starting the challenge and I feel wholly out of shape and lacking in energy.
Luckily my height masks a multitude of sinful mistakes. Some fancy William Tell style shots from Claire ‘rim rattler’ H saved us from disgrace. The whole team put up a valiant battle and in spite of injury Laura ‘Owey’ Towie and Claire both played on like troopers.
From netball I scoot to Tesco in search of some bargains, I grab a lasagne for 40p (I need something quick and easy post-match) and combi it up with some greens in the form of a 7p cucumber.
Turns out the best is yet to come… when rooting through I find hidden treasure in the form of a live oyster for 8p!! I’ve never had one before so snaffle it quickly and return to the ranch to cook the thing.
Turns out you don’t boil oysters at all… Much to the guffawing of my housemate Lou. Humph.
We cut open the little crustacean, chop up an onion left over from burns night and add some vinegar from the cupboard. We give it a poke and watch it retreat a little (cowardice is not an appetising quality in food) Lou cuts what she refers to as the ‘umbilical cord’ and assures me it’s no longer alive…
The moment of truth and I knock the squelchy thing back, sat in my mouth I feel every tentacle and get irrational thoughts that it’s now pulsating… I decide to man up and swallow…
It’s not too bad in hindsight once you get over the initial weirdness of live food, certainly worth 8p for the experience!
challenge alice 
Hey,
I discovered your blog today and have just read the story so far. I love it and it’s kept me amused for most of the evening.
Its probably a bit late in the stages of your challenge, but Approved Foods is still worth a look, I got my first delivery from them today and paid about £30 for £90 worth of food, there is now lot in my cupboard to keep me going for a long time. 🙂
Good luck with the rest of the challenge, I look forward to the next installment.
Sam x
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Thanks for the tip about Approved Foods, I hadn’t heard of them before.
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Hey,
I discovered your blog today and have just read the story so far. I love it and it’s kept me amused for most of the evening.
Its probably a bit late in the stages of your challenge, but Approved Foods is still worth a look, I got my first delivery from them today and paid about £30 for £90 worth of food, there is now lot in my cupboard to keep me going for a long time. 🙂
Good luck with the rest of the challenge, I look forward to the next installment.
Sam x
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Oh, and do you have a slow cooker? Liver & Bacon Casserole in the slow cooker is so cheap and easy to make. I tend do use lambs liver as it breaks down nicely (coat it in flour, it makes the sauce thicker), bacon offcuts, tin of tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, couple of oxo cubes, boiling water and a bit of red wine (optional). That does me for 4 meals.
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