Day 5

Yay. It's the last day. This week has been crazy.

Yet again I had porridge for breakfast and then sat around the house waiting for the rugby to come on. Very glad I didn't have a matinee today as the break in between the shows is quite long on the new show and so would end up being very bored.

After eating the rest of the fried rice for lunch we went to make dinner so I could take it into work later. We had various things left over so Guy had the genius idea to make potato and carrot cakes as couldn't face rice again. We were not too sure how they would turn out by hey what the heck. If they went wrong we would have turned it into a mash. Fortunately they turned out really well and so for dinner we had chicken thighs, mashed potato, frozen veg and the potato and carrot cakes.
It was a really decent portion of food but unfortunately I had to eat my dinner at had five as again wouldn't have time to eat while the show is on. Although I did finish at half nine so got home early which was great. Actually didn't feel that hungry either which was even better.

I was however very tired and ended up going to bed by eleven.

My energy levels this week have been really low I assume due to lack of food so I was very glad to have been off work for most of the week.

It's been a hard challenge and I only had to limit my food budget. Had I wanted to I could have gone to the cinema or swimming or any number of fun things. Also if the worst had come to the worst if things had gone wrong, e.g had I become sick I could have stopped the challenge at any point. For 1.4 billion people this is not a challenge it is life and it is very wrong we are allowing this to happen. It needs to end now.

Day 4

Whoo hoo so nearly there. Today was probably the toughest day so far as being in work was so difficult.

Had my usual porridge at about 11 and about 12 I began to make fried rice for our dinner and our lunch tomorrow. Needed to make it then as left for work before Guy got home. Realised half way through that because we only had one egg it probably wouldn't make much difference but was hopeful.

I had my pumpkin soup at about 2pm which was very nice but very hot. As I'm not that good with chilli I had a lot of water with it which helped fill me up. Also unlike the chicken soup this was thicker opposed to brothy. Very tasty and was nicely full.

I headed into town to do some errands before work and got them done a lot quicker than I thought which meant I was over an hour early for work as I couldn't face walking past any more restaurants and cake shops. The temptation was too much!!
Instead I sat in work with my water and my banana.

Realised about 5pm that I needed to eat my dinner then as wouldn't have any time during the show as first preview is always really crazy.
Dinner was nice and filling but I was right when I thought that egg would make no difference. Ah well it is food and food is good.

Work was crazy and although I was glad I had eaten my dinner earlier by 9pm I was starving and had to go and set out all the snacks for first night drinks. One of the hardest things EVER!!! Putting out crisps, cheese straws and dips but not being able to have any of them.

Finally finished work at half eleven. Very tired and so hungry it hurts. At least I got a taxi home so I wouldn't have to walk past any shops as think I may well have caved. One more day to go.

Day 3

Ok so we are onto day three and it's going ok. I haven't caved which is good as really want chocolate. After my usual porridge for breakfast I started to distract myself around the house as had to wait in for the virgin man to come and set up our internet. He was due to come between 1 and 6pm so was house bound. This turned out to be hell as there is a difference between having nowhere to go and not being allowed to go anywhere.

Had my chicken soup about 3pm and still no sign of the virgin man. Slightly irritated by this point but I suppose he still does have another 3hrs in which to turn up. On the up hand, due to Guy making loads of chicken soup I had a bowl and a half available to me so had a bowl with the intention of having the other half later.

6pm I had my banana and still no sign of the virgin man so called them up to be told they would be there within half an hour. Very bored in the house by this point but at least I wasn't that hungry which is good.
Virgin man finally turned up at 6:45 and Guy came home shortly after and we began cooking our lovely dinner of...wait for it...chicken, rice and veg shock horror we are having that again. At least it was warm and filling. Guy also made the pumpkin soup for lunch tomorrow using the last of chicken soup and some chilli (told him to go easy on the chilli) to give it that extra kick.

At least now I am not going to bed hungry as I think my body is finally accepting that it is not getting any snacks but am very grateful I only have two more days to go.

Day 2

Felt slightly better today as in didn't wake up hungry. Had porridge again for breakfast with water to drink about 11am. Think today may get better than yesterday.

Lunch
Went to a friends house for a couple of hours which was a lot of fun until she asked if I minded if she had lunch but I was welcome to stay. Not wanting to eat mine until later I stayed and sipped on a tap water while she ate fried rice which smelled really good. She did feel guilty and kept apologising though.
Headed home about 3pm for lunch. The distraction if a friend worked well as didn't really start to feel really hungry until the bus journey back. Distractions are good!! Had chicken soup which was really tasty.

Dinner
Had my banana about 6pm while waiting for Guy to get home so we can make dinner.
He didn't get home to late thank goodness as getting hungry now. Much to my joy we discovered that we decided that the chicken soup had needed to give us 2 meals each but there was a lot more so we were able to have a stater of chicken soup followed by 1 and half stuffed peppers each filled with rice, veg and chopped up chicken wings.
For the first time in this challenge I was able to eat at my normal slow pace opposed to wolfing it down which meant I was full and was still full at bedtime. Although watching a film on tv in which the adverts were mainly for chocolate was not fun.

I cannot believe we allow 1.4 billion people live like this. These people are wondering on daily basis if they will get food at all because they have to make their money stretch for everything from food to medicine and here's me doing this challenge for five days and I'm moaning about not being able to have a chocolate bar or a glass of orange juice. It doesn't make you feel too good and I hope to raise as much awareness as possible doing this.
Roll on day 3.


-Emily

Shopping

So yesterday we headed out with our £10 to the shops to buy food to feed two people for five days.  Having been firmly told by Emily that she wasn't going to put up with me for a week without coffee we had to budget in for a cup a day.  There were a couple of things we had to buy in larger quantities and then multiply down for the amount we were going to eat, but that was simply because it's not possible to buy 1 egg for example.  So here is our food for the week:

• 10 Bananas - £1.29
• 1kg Potatoes - £0.60
• 1kg Rice - £0.72
• 400g Porridge Oats - £0.26
• 1 Frozen Chicken - £3.40
• 970g Frozen Mixed Veg - £0.91
• Coffee - £0.30
• 50ml Oil - £0.07
• 10g salt - £0.03
• 1 egg - £0.21

As you can see the big purchase was the chicken.  This may seem like an odd buy but, it's truly amazing how many meals you can get from that one chicken.  I jointed it into:

• 2 breasts
• 2 thighs
• 2 drumsticks
• 2 wings

And of course I kept the carcass and the giblets that Mr. Morrison was kind enough to leave in for me so that I can make stock which I will turn into several meals worth of chicken soup.

Those math's wizzes among you will have worked out that the above adds to a total of £7.77, leaving us with a total of £2.23. So Emily headed off to the local market to buy some fresh groceries.  Thanks to her fantastic haggling skills, for a total of £2.20, she managed to get us:

• 5 carrots
• 2 onions
• 4 peppers
• a segment of pumpkin
• a chilli

So this means our total for the week is £9.97

That's our oil for the week not a shot of vodka!

Day 1

Ok so day 1 of five days living off £1 for food and drink.

Breakfast.
I had a bowl of porridge and a glass of water. Porridge doesn't really taste of anything but at least it's filling. I have decided to have my banana as a snack later rather than in my porridge.
Feel ok.

Lunch
Tried to space out meals but only lasted until 1pm (I had breakfast at 11am). I had a chicken drumstick with some veg, potato and a glass of water.
Feel full but let's see how long it lasts.

Dinner
Managed to make myself last until 7:30pm but starving by that point (had my banana about 6pm). Had half a chicken breast mixed with some rice and veg and a glass of water.

8pm
Very hungry and very bored at work. Will get home about 11pm but have no food left so will go to bed hungry.

9pm
Tried to fill myself up with water. Not working and the band on the new show have just walked in with ice cream! It's far too cold outside for them to be eating ice cream, and I want one!

This is going to be tough. It's only day one and I'm craving something sweet.