A taste for Live Below the Line

One of the first questions I am asked about Live Below the Line is “but what will you eat!?”

My answer is usually “not much, not much at all”.

There is enough food to survive on but it is really not enough.

Anyone around me during Live Below the Line week would see how utterly exhausted I was and hungry as I went to bed each night.

I still had to get up each morning and face uni but I was barely there mentally. My focus had decided to leave for a holiday last week and fatigue and hunger settled in.

I cannot stress enough how tough I found the challenge this year.

So to give you an insight into what food did make it into my rumbly tummy, here is my menu for the Live Below the Line week.

Day One: $1.82

For 24 cents, my day started with bland, gluggy and almost burnt porridge.

To get me through my long day of uni study, I snacked on a small ration of peanuts at 25c.

Yummy banana oat bread was my saviour for the week, filling and cheap at only 14c a slice. I bartered for local free range eggs and bought the cheapest overripe bananas I could find.

Day One ended with a small bowl of pasta and lentils at 91c. I wish I could have added some cheese but there was no room in my small budget.

Day Two: $1.23

Second day and I realise that I forgot to soak my oats the night before for breakfast...therefore no breakfast for me before heading off to uni.

Again, I snacked on a small ration of peanuts through my long day at uni. Was incredibly difficult to focus in lectures as I just had no energy at all.

Lunch was two slices of banana oat bread at 28c and dinner was a small portion of chicken flavoured rice. Desperately felt like comfort eating today but you can’t really budget in chocolate or ice cream when you only have two dollars to spend each day. My stomach was growling as I went to bed that night.

Day Three: 74c

There was one slice of banana oat bread left for breakfast unfortunately a tad stale. Heated up with a tiny bit of butter and made for a yummy meal. Not enough though.

Was unable to cook anything for my lunch so was incredibly hungry for most of the day.

Dinner was a “large” serving of chicken flavoured rice at 60c. The rice was a bit bland and I would have loved some vegies but I was not complaining. Every last grain in that bowl disappeared!

Day Four: $1.90

Again, was so tired the night before and forgot to soak my oats. No porridge for breakfast so I had a bowl of rice, not as filling as oats but it was a meal.

For lunch I had small bowl of pasta and was very hungry for more but at 40c for my serve I couldn’t afford anymore.

Dinner was again chicken flavoured rice but to “spice it up” I cooked up an egg to go with it. Extra protein and was quite yummy although definitely getting over eating rice!

I worked late that night on an assignment and so I made some homemade chips to try and get me through my work. There was not a lot but it was just enough.

Day Five: $1.95

Yet another meal of rice but cooked up with an egg for some extra protein. I needed as much energy as I could get at this stage. You know it is taking a toll on you, when you wake up and your stomach is already growling.

While working away on an assignment, I snacked on a small ration of peanuts and had a lunch of plain pasta at 65c.

My final meal for Live Below the Line was, surprise surprise, a bowl of rice.

It may not have been a very filling week or even a week of variety but it is a challenge that 1.4 billion people face every day.

If you would like to support the Live Below the Challenge, please head to https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/tarawatts to donate.