£1 A Day - Plan Ahead!

The £1 a day challenge ended last night! I celebrated with a cup of tea and a Cadbury's creme egg at the stroke of midnight! :) It's the simple things.

I survived pretty well on the food I bought for £7 at the start of the challenge. I only have some porridge oats, two carrots and some of the baking fat left. I didn't even have to resort to foraging for stinging nettles in urban Bristol, luckily.

I have to admit to a fail though; I forgot my lunch on Friday and had to buy a sandwich! I hang my head in shame, but I really don't cope well not eating for 10+ hours.

My food for the week:

Sunday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil soup
Dinner: stew

Monday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil soup
Dinner: stew

Tuesday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil soup
Dinner: vegetable ragout


Wednesday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil soup
Dinner: vegetable ragout

Thursday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil soup
Dinner: lentil burgers

Friday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: DISASTER - I forgot my lunch, so bought a sandwich.
Dinner: stew

Saturday
Breakfast: porridge
Lunch: lentil burgers
Dinner: rice, lentils and vegetables


As you can see, my meals were seriously repetitive (although were somewhat saved by that awesome lentil burger recipe!). Still, I knew I had enough food to last the week. I think that's the biggest thing I've learned from this: if you can plan your meals in advance, you can buy exactly what you NEED and avoid impulse buys or wasting food.

My Mum was doing the challenge in a slightly different way. She worked out the cost per serving of everything she ate during the week. She managed to have a much better variety of food than me (including fruit, biscuits, tea and more veg) for £1 a day by spreading the cost over more than a week. This shows that it is possible to eat well on a very small budget!

It is VERY strange to be able to pick whatever I wanted to eat today. I had boiled egg and soldiers for breakfast and fajitas for dinner! I could also have a nice cup of coffee or tea whenever I fancied, which was ace!