LBL update from Jo & Jim

Read an update from Jo and Jim, two of our regular KIT supporters, who have shared their $2.25 per day meal challenge for LBL.

Jim and I pooled our money and opted to eat the same meals each day so we used most of the ingredients we purchased.

The meal: 300 mls of oats per breakfast, cooked with 100mls of milk for both of us.  Lunch is pumpkin soup 440gms each, watered down as it is really thick plus a bread roll each.  Dinner is a red lentil curry (I think they call the lentils something different but there are the pinky looking numbers) with cardamom, curry powder, cumin, mustard seeds and tomatoes, jasmine rice, carrots and cabbage, the later because that was all we could afford.

We cooked on Sunday and placed the meals in containers in the fridge.  The main was weighted up per meal, the soup is stored in larger containers. Jim made the bread rolls and we will have lots of flour left over.  We won't go hungry. 

What we have learnt so far is:

• Peoples generosity is fab
• It would be hard to do this if you were buying everything for yourself and not pooling your money
• We could have purchased some cheaper items e.g. rice and oats but made a decision not to do this
• Purchased veges from the market as this was the cheapest way to do this.  Lentils and rice came from Asiana as we could buy exactly the amount of lentils required and a better quality of rice.  The spices came from Asiana and we weighted these and then costed these out.  The other ingredients came from Pack and Save
• Eating the same food for 5 days will be boring
• We were not able to afford enough spices so everything is too bland and lacks the punch we would normally eat
• When we make curries we would usually add more onion, garlic and tomato paste as well as more spices
• Lentils were cheaper than chickpeas even is you cook dried chickpeas
• It is strange thinking you are not able to buy the treats you might have and in our case no chocolate
• No tea or coffee is hard, I love my cups of tea and miss that ritual
• We both have dull headaches and are both under the weather with sore throats

If the Illam was to do this again we would take part.  We would see if we could find others to take the challenge and raise money for the Illam.  If it was possible more people pooling their money and buying collectively would be a good idea, but it may limit your experience of how those on so little money feel.

We won't go hungry, eating the same food for 5 days and bland food reinforces how well off we are.