£5 for five days

Teg-Rem

Thinking about giving it a go this year and think I may have a plan I could live off for a few days, here goes-

Cornflakes 35p
Bread 49p
soya milk 59p

sardines 39p
2 tins soup 48p
5 bananas 50p

bag pasta 29p
tin tuna 49p
8 sausages 56p
1 onion 20p
few mushrooms 30p
passatta 29p
2carrotts 9p


Breakfast = large bowl of cornflakes

Lunches = a banana each day +
2 days sardine sandwiches
2 days soup and bread
1 day a saysage sandwich

Dinners = a large batch of tomato sauce made up with the carrotts, onion and passatta
to be had with pasta every night and -
2 days - tuna
2 days sausages
1 day mushrooms added.

would be glad to get to day 6 but hey, it's do-able for a short time.

tumptyteapot

I try to eat paleo (no grains, sort of Whole 30 ) so my week is looking like this:
sweet potatos 50p squash 50p sardines 34p eggs £1 butter 50p mince £1.48 soya milk 68p
that is for 3 sweet potatos, half a butternut squash and half a block of butter. The rest of the money I'm hoping to get vegi bargains from the 50p bin outside the indian supermarket, free greens are nettles, wild garlic and dandylions. On the whole 30 you are supposed to eat a palm sized bit of protein for each meal and the rest is veg (no white potatos) so that is going to be tough. I'm hoping the butcher has bones he throws away so I can make broth.

Shovel_Lad

Just spotted this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706

Boodle

I have just drawn the plan up for this year's challenge so thought I would share. Usually I add the families' allowances together and do it over 7 days. I feel, however, that only £5 for 5 days for 1 person is tougher due to the way items are sold so have drawn it up like this then will just multiply the quantites for all of us.

As I have done the past few years, I stick to the budget for everything. I feel using 1p of this or 4.8p of that goes against the point (although this allowed in Live Below the Line official challenge.) In my mind it is to remind ourselves of how tough it can be and if you have £5 in hand with nothing in the kitchen then 3.9p of flour or 0.4p of thyme is out.

Shopping at Asda - total £4.98
Smartprice cornflakes 46p
Smartprice peanut butter 62p
Asda Great Stuff dried fruit 40g 27p (on offer, usually 32p)
Asda vegetable oil 1 litre 1.39
Smartprice 1litre sweetened soya milk 59p
Smartprice tea bags 27p
Smartprice spaghetti 500g 19p
Smartprice baked beans 27p
Smartprice wholemeal bread 47p
Smartprice self raising flour 1.5kg (there will be 500g left at end of week) 45p

Also: pick plenty of dandelion leaves and a few flowers for massive vitamin and mineral boost in absence of bought fruit and vegetables (the leaves are better than spinach, and petals are great for vitamin C.) If any hawthorn leaves available, pick a few for variety.

Breakfasts
Cornflakes with milk + cup of tea (150ml milk per day)

Lunches
Peanut butter and green leaf salad wholemeal sandwich
Use dandelion greens or mix of dandelion and hawthorn

Dinners
Spaghetti with pesto x2
blend dandelion greens with a litte oil to make a sauce. They are full of pep so can stand up without seasoning if needed. Mix into 120g cooked spaghetti.
Sunburst Spaghetti
Mix a little oil into 120g cooked spaghetti and add dandelion petals.
Baked beans on toasted soda bread with steamed greens x2
Make bread: mix 500g self raising flour, 100ml oil and 200ml water well. Shape into a loaf and bake around 45-50 minutes at 180C. An inserted spaghetti strand should come out clean and the bottom of the loaf firm. (Make at same time as cake below to make most of oven usage.) Toast slices as needed. Serve with microwaved or stirfried dandelion greens.

Pud or snack
Cup of tea (milk from allowance) and springtime cake
500g self raising flour, 250ml oil, 250ml sweetened soya milk, the pack of dried fruit and plenty of dandelion petals mixed well. Pour into a shallow oven tray and bake for around [STRIKE]50[/STRIKE] 30 minutes at 180C. An inserted spaghetti strand should come out clean. Cut into squares.

debbym

Shovel_Lad wrote: »

Just spotted this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706

Thanks Shovel Lad, I spotted Jack Monroe on Breakfast but didn't catch her first name so couldn't track down her blog. Having had a look at her recipes they are far better inspiration than those on the official webiste. Those who have written a blog page for them are also pretty uninspiring, one of them lived for 5 days on tinned soup and tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce! Reminding me to be thankful for all those things I do have:o

Keen_Young_Learner

I really want to do the challenge, such a great idea! However since I'm living in China at the moment and eating off the equivalent of £1 a day here would be pretty comfortable (with plenty of veg), it would sort of defeat the purpose!

Just spent 15 minutes on Mr S.com and have worked out my plan, definitely want to try it next year for real (and put more time into planning)!

Shopping List
Porridge 0.65p/500g
0.09 per 65g
Banana 0.54/5
0.10p per banana
Milk 0.49p/1 pint
0.05p per 100ml
Pizza 0.5p/1 pizza
0.10p per slice
Salad 0.85p/200g
0.21 per portion
Beans 0.25p/tin
0.13p per serving
Rice 0.40p/1kg
0.03p per 75g
Mixed Veg 0.75p/1kg
0.07p per 100g
Tinned Toms 0.31p/1 tin
0.15p per serving
Curry Sauce 23p/1 jar
0.11p per serving
Total: £4.97

Breakfasts - Porridge, made with water and 100ml of milk and with a mashed banana for sweetness.
Lunches - 1/5 of the pizza (cut it up and freeze on day of purchase) with salad for 3 days and with half a tin of beans two days, mix it up!
Dinners - Either mixed veg simmered into sauce with tin of toms and a bit of water and salt and chilli - served with rice OR mixed veg simmered with jar of curry sauce and tiny splash of milk. Served with rice on any day.

Drinking tap water and not snacking... Reckon I'd lose some weight, and get pretty bored, but for 5 days it's doable.

Boodle

Boodle wrote: »

Pud or snack
Cup of tea (milk from allowance) and springtime cake
500g self raising flour, 250ml oil, 250ml sweetened soya milk, the pack of dried fruit and plenty of dandelion petals mixed well. Pour into a shallow oven tray and bake for around [STRIKE]50[/STRIKE] 30 minutes at 180C. An inserted spaghetti strand should come out clean. Cut into squares.

Just wanted to report how well this cake turned out - very nice indeed. Have made one this week! Only took around 30 minutes rather than 50 though.

Also the sunburst spaghetti went down well by blending the petals with a little oil and water to loosen for a different sort of pesto. Lovely! The children thoroughly enjoyed it and the bright yellow colour (and I like knowing they were getting some vitamins in them!)

Hope anyone else followng the week through did fine

Amara

Hello !
It's too late within a days, but I can still do the challenge . I'm starting tomorrow .

Boodle

Amara wrote: »

Hello !
It's too late within a days, but I can still do the challenge . I'm starting tomorrow .

Good luck Amara!

Upsidedown_Bear

Aldi have put some recipes together for the "Living below the line" challenge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2324920/Could-YOU-eat-1-day-Supermarket-creates-budget-recipes-help-families-live-cheap.html