Living Below the Line (LBL)

Here's another update for you all!
A few weeks ago my mom approached me with a poster for "Live Below the Line" a challenge to individuals and communities to eat and drink using $1.75 a day, for 5 days, to raise awareness of the lack of choice and opportunity faced by the 1.2 billion people currently living in extremely impoverished countries and to raise vital funds to fight it. She suggested I try and come up with a gluten-free menu plan for this challenge.

Well,  I think most of you know that eating GF can be very costly (between 2x-1000x more expensive). So the challenge sky-rockets for those eating GF! Regardless, I am taking on the L.B.L. challenge. Sink or swim. Fly or fall with style.

I encourage you too in taking on this challenge (how many times have I said that word so far in this post?). "Live Below the Line" week runs from April 28th - May 2nd. However, if you can't do it that week the website will remain open until June 30th, 2015.

Caution: If you have blood sugar issues or suffer from fatigue I don't encourage you to take this challenge, at least not so strictly maybe go for $2.50 CAD a day instead.

   What am I doing for the challenge?
All during "Live Below the Line" week (April 28th - May 2nd) I will be posting my daily menu plan. The following week (May 6th - 10th) my family and I will be putting my completely GF menu plan into practice!

    What are the rules for this challenge?
For your food and drink one individual can spend no more than $1.75 CAD ($1.25 USD, £1, $2 AUD, 11.24 NOK) per day for 5 days, meaning you have a total of $8.75 CAD with which to buy all ingredients for your meals.

• The full cost of all the items you consume must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food items such as rice pasta, noodles, and eggs, etc.
• For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and spices simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping proportionally.
• You can share the cost of ingredients amongst a team, as long as no participant spends more than $1.75 a day or their total $8.75 budget. Working as a team (such as with your family) will allow you to pool together funds and have greater variety in your cooking.
• You can't grab a snack from the cupboard unless you include the cost of buying the item new (package and all) in your budget.
• You can use food sourced from your garden as long as you can account for the price of production!
• No combination of meals on any given day can exceed the $1.75 spending limit.
• You cannot accept 'donated' food from family or friends, but monetary donations towards your fundraising goals are acceptable and encouraged!
• You are allowed to drink tap water - remember you should try and drink at least 6-8 glasses of water each day.
  

READ MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGE AND HOW YOU CAN DO IT

Across the world, thousands of people will join the movement to tackle extreme poverty - will you join us?

- Tamara Green