Sugar Free For £1 a Day: Our Live Below the Line Challenge

One of the most common complaints I hear about trying to get families to eat healthily is the belief that it is going to be expensive. The next most common is that it is going to take too much time.

So as we start off the New Year and more people are thinking about tackling healthy eating post-Christmas once more, I thought it would be the perfect time to demonstrate to you how this is simply not true.

Trust me, healthy eating can actually be cheaper than eating unhealthily. Far cheaper, in fact.

And it doesn’t have to take much time. It’s simply about finding the right recipes.

So, for the week ahead, I will be keeping Instagram updated with how the challenge is going, and will wrap up here again at the end of the challenge. From meal planning and calculations, I expect that we will be able to meet the “Live Below the Line” challenge of eating for £1 per day per person.

Live Below the Line is an amazing challenge that started in Australia and has become a worldwide annual challenge. It usually takes place in spring, but we have decided to do it a little early as we start the new year. 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, having less than £1 per day to spend on their food. Live Below the Line challenges us to try living on the same amount for 5 days (or more, if you wish) to get an idea of what it is like for those living in this poverty. They then suggest that the rest of the money you usually budget for groceries could be donated to the project.

We are assuming that when money is this tight, there is no stretch for things like organic fruit & veg, meat & dairy (we buy at least the Mean 18 organic, which is the British equivalent of the Dirty Dozen in the US and often all our fresh produce organic, as well as free range grass-fed meat and organic dairy products and still manage to only spend the national average for a family of four each week).

It also cannot take into account things like Fairtrade and ethically sourced goods, which we usually spend a bit more on. We believe these things are worth buying when your money can stretch, but just feeding your family real, whole foods and not stuff out of packets or loaded with sugar is already a huge positive step in the right direction, so when money is particularly tight, I want you to know that it is still totally possible to eat more healthily. So for the next 7 days, that is what we will be doing. We will live on £28 for the 4 of us, and donate the rest of the money we usually spend on groceries to the charity.

But I am taking this one step further by making sure it is not all cheap carbs and biscuits as many do in this challenge, because it is about raising awareness of and money for those who live in poverty, but it is also about proving that you do not need to spend huge amounts of time or money to eat healthily and sugar free.

Below are the meals and costs for the week, as well as estimated prep times.

I hope some of you will consider joining me in taking part in a great challenge – perhaps you could take part in the official challenge in spring – and that all of you will be inspired to eat more healthily, knowing that it doesn’t have to cost the earth. Quite literally.

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Dessert Thursday Baked Eggs with Spinach & Tomatoes Homemade Pizza with Greens & Corn Chicken in Milk with Colcannon & Steamed Greens Banana with yogurt Friday Sugar Free Cereals & Toast with PB and Banana Broccoli Soup with Carrot Bread Fish Tacos with Coleslaw Berry “Ice Cream” Saturday Porridge Chicken Sandwiches with Cabbage & Carrot Coleslaw Carrot Tahini Burgers Berries with Yogurt Sunday Baked Eggs with Spinach & Tomatoes Leftover Soup & Bread Fish Tacos with Coleslaw 2-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse Monday Porridge Homemade Pizza with Greens & Corn Carrot Tahini Burgers Chocolate Covered Berries Tuesday Sugar Free Cereals & Toast with PB Chicken & Apple Salad Turkey Meatballs with Pasta & Broccoli Pesto Fruit Salad Wednesday Porridge Leftovers Leftover Meatballs with leftover veggies & bread Yogurt

Shopping List:

Item	Qty	Estimated Price
Fresh fruit & veg:
Carrots	8	56p
Lemons	2	50p
Lime	1	25p
Tomatoes	4	60p
Garlic	1 bulb	20p
Curly kale	200g	50p
Potatoes (mix of sweet and white)	4	1
Cabbage	1	60p
Loose bananas	5	70p
Loose Braeburn apples	3	1.20
Dairy:
Eggs	15-pack	2
Milk	4 pints	99p
Greek Yogurt	500g	25p (homemade)
Mozzarella	2	86p
Meat:
Whole chicken	1 large	3.15
Lean turkey mince	500g	2.45
Cupboard:
Porridge oats	1kg	65p
Wheat biscuits	1 pack	69p
White, black & red quinoa	300g	1.50
Passata	1kg	70p
Wholewheat pasta	1 bag	about 50p for what we will use
85% dark chocolate	100g	1.90
Sweetcorn	1 tin	35p
Sparkling water	2l	17p
Freezer foods:
Frozen broccoli	1 bag	90p
Frozen black forest fruits	1 bag	2
Frozen white fish fillets	1 bag	2.15
	TOTAL	27.32

I have also accounted for about 50p worth of baking ingredients I already have at home (flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, yeast, peanut butter, etc).

If you are looking for cheap, healthy recipes, keep an eye on the blog as I will be doing another post during this challenge with some great resources for these. For now, why not have a browse of our recipes? I try to make sure I keep as many of our recipes as cheap as possible to make them affordable for families (including our own!).

And why not follow me on Instagram to see how we get along this week?