When I first signed up to Live Below the Line, I planned on doing it as an individual, not as a team. I didn’t really feel comfortable asking my friends to put themselves out of their comfort zones. I was pleasantly surprised to find though, that just by chatting with a few people about what I was going to do, I had volunteers waving their hands to join! I’m actually heading overseas at the beginning of August, so I will be Living Below the Line next week. Thanks to my wonderful friends, I’ll be doing it in a team of three. This is a rough shopping list I’ve put together for us to work from:
5 day Shopping List for a Team of 3
900 grams Coles Smart buy Oats – $1.30
2 Litres Coles milk (full cream) – $2.10
1 kg Coles smart buy raw sugar – $0.97
Bread x2 – $2.20
Eggs (a dozen) – $1.99
Stock cubes (6) – $.0.75
1 kg Lentils (red) – $4.63
1 kg Coles long grain white rice – $2.45
Fresh fruit and veg from market (I’ll be looking for things like potatoes, onion, garlic, pumpkin, leek, broccoli, carrots, bananas and oranges, plus any oil/butter, spices etc) – $13.61
TOTAL: $30
Meal plan:
Day 1:
Breakfast: 1 serve of oats – 100grams (maybe a little bit more for my two male counterparts), cooked with water and 50mls of milk, tablespoon of raw sugar. Also plan on finding some nice ripe bananas at the Vic market this weekend for mushing into the porridge. Yum!
Lunch: Rice and Dahl
Dinner: Soup and toast
Day 2:
Breakfast: Egg on toast (if this isn’t filling enough, a small serve of porridge as well)
Lunch: Mashed potato (potatoes + small amount of butter and milk) and steamed veg + Snack of fruit
Dinner: Soup
Day 3:
Breakfast: Porridge
Lunch: Rice and Dahl
Dinner: Potato Omelette
Day 4:
Breakfast: Egg on toast (+ porridge)
Lunch: Mashed potatoes and steamed veg + fruit snack
Dinner: Soup
Day 5:
Breakfast: Porridge with banana
Lunch: Rice and Dahl
Dinner: Soup
I’ve also included a mock shopping list and meal plan for individuals just to illustrate the difference.
5 day shopping list for Individuals
Fruit and Vegies from market – $5.00
Loaf of bread (20 slices) – $1.00
Peanut butter – $1.50
Dozen cage eggs – $2.00
Meal Plan:
Day 1 – 5:
Breakfast: 2 eggs on toast
Lunch/snack: Fruit and Peanut butter sandwiches
Dinner: Vegetable Soup
Honestly, I was shocked at how hard it was to write a five day shopping list for just $10. The end result seems quite limited and monotonous. This really brought the ‘lack of choice’ aspect of poverty into perspective for me – imagine having to eat the same thing EVERY DAY. I find it hard to deal with left overs from the night before! With only $10 to spend though, there really is no other option.
This shopping list is a good example of the limitations of Living Below the Line as an individual. Working as a team allows you to pool your budgets and buy products in bulk, allowing for greater variation during your week. Overall, writing these lists has really shown me how spoilt we are when it comes to the decisions we make about food, and how much more appreciation we need to develop for what we have.
I’d love any feedback on my shopping lists and meal plans, especially before I dive in the deep end next week. Have you started thinking or planning for your week yet? Let everyone know how YOU plan to Live Below the Line. These really are rough outlines and it’ll be interesting to see how well we stick to this plan while Living Below the Line next week.
Sarah is a participant in the Live Below the Line campaign – click here to sponsor her
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When I first signed up to Live Below the Line, I planned on doing in as individual, not as a team. I didn’t want to push my friends to do it with me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that just by chatting with a few people about what I was going to do – I had volunteers waving their hands to join! Because I’m going overseas at the beginning of August, I will be Living Below the Line next week, and thanks to my wonderful friends, I’ll be doing it in a team of three. This is a rough shopping list I’ve put together for us to work from:
Coles Smart buy Oats – 2x 900grams – $2.60
Coles milk (full cream) 2L $2.10
Coles smart buy raw sugar 1 kg- $0.97
Bread x2 – $2.20
Eggs (a dozen)- $1.99
Stock cubes (6) $.0.75
Lentils (red) – 1kg $4.63
Rice – Coles long grain white 1kg $2.45
$12.31 Fresh fruit and veg from market (I’ll be looking for things like potatoes, onion, garlic, pumpkin, leek, broccoli, carrots, bananas and oranges, plus any oil/butter, spices etc)
TOTAL: $30
Meal plan:
Day 1:
Breakfast: 1 serve of oats – 100grams (maybe a little bit more for my two male counterparts), cooked with water and 50mls of milk, tablespoon of raw sugar. Also plan on finding some nice ripe bananas at the Vic market this weekend for mushing into the porridge. Yum!
Lunch:
Rice and Dahl (link to Rich’s dahl recipe)
Dinner:
Soup and bread (link to broccoli soup)
Day 2:
Breakfast: Egg on toast (if this isn’t filling enough, a small serve of porridge as well)
Lunch: Mashed potato (Potatoes + small amount of butter and milk) and steamed veg + Snack of fruit
Dinner: Soup (link to Leek and Pumpkin)
Day 3:
Breakfast: Porridge
Lunch: Rice and Dahl
Dinner: Potato Omelette
Day 4:
Breakfast: Egg on toast (+ porridge)
Lunch: Mashed potatoes and steamed veg + fruit snack
Dinner: Soup
Day 5:
Breakfast: Porridge with banana
Lunch: Rice and Dahl
Dinner: Soup
I’ve also included a mock shopping list for individuals that I made up before I joined a team.
Fruit and Vegies from market – $5.00
Loaf of bread (20 slices) – $1.00
Peanut butter – $1.50
Dozen cage eggs – $2.00
Mock meal plan:
Breakfast – 2 eggs on toast
Lunch/snack – Fruit and Peanut butter sandwiches
Dinner – Soup (E.g. Broccoli soup on website)
I was actually shocked at how hard it was to bring my expectations down to the $10 mark, and the end result seems quite limited and monotonous. This really brought the ‘lack of choice’ aspect of poverty into perspective for me – imagine having to eat the same thing EVERY DAY. I find it hard to deal with left overs from the night before! This shopping list a good example of the limitations of Living Below the Line as an individual. Working as a team allows you to pool your budgets and buy products in bulk, allowing for greater variation during your week. Overall, writing these lists has really shown me how spoilt we are when it comes to the decisions we make about food, and how much more appreciation we need to develop for what we have.
I’d love any feedback on my shopping lists and meal plans, especially before we dive in the deep end next week. Have you started thinking or planning for your week yet? Let us all know YOU plan to Live Below the Line.
Great idea! Im trying to start up a team myself, where do you live? Im in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney.
Nick
Great plan Sarah. Can I borrow your friends in August!
Sorry cant agree with your Cage eggs purchase. Live below the line but do it cruelty free.
Thanks ‘No to cage eggs’. Your point really highlights the challenge of extreme poverty. The campaign does not support getting caged eggs – if anything we would love to encourage all Aussies with a backyard to get some chickens and look after them and love them. They are the best tasting eggs.
I agree. Living below the line is no excuse to endorse animal cruelty
I second and Third this, Even chickens in third world countries aren’t battery hen. If you can’t get them cruelty free then are they really worth it?