Day 3: $2/day challenge

Day three, and we reached the halfway mark in our $2/day fundraising challenge.  We are now on the home stretch, fuelled by the knowledge that we can, in fact, pull this off.  And do it without starving.

“How are you managing,” friends at work wanted to know thinking that I must be starving.

“Quite well, actually,” I answered.  “Look, these are the three dishes we had for dinner last night.”  Which, since they looked kind of normal, did not provide any indication of potential hardship.

“Well, I guess you could live on $40 a day then no problems,” was the answer.

Ahhh, the whole welfare debate.  It’s not something I even considered when doing this diet.  I have no doubt that many resourceful people could, in fact, live on $40 a day.  Australians are resilient and resourceful.  Just listen to stories about how people got through the depression and you will hear how people make do.  But discussing whether people could live on $40 a day or whether they should do so is another issue.  And choosing to do a short challenge is very different from being forced to live a spartan existence for the long term.

Back to food.  I made extra porridge for breakfast thinking we might need it to power through the day.  Neil surprised me by making some amazing oat scone things mid-afternoon using up the leftover porridge.  They were super yum.  He made eight. I wish I had been home when they came out of the oven. Yum, yum, yum.

But there was more to come.  Dinner was chicken soup (made with our own chicken stock no less), with oats and mixed vegetables.  Neil made his signature ‘doughboys’. I had always called them knodel, but I think they are the same thing. Whatever they are called, they were yum and very filling.

What I discovered today was that I didn’t feel as hungry. I kind of got used to not having so much to eat.  I missed my mugs of milk tea, chocolate after dinner and snacky things mid-afternoon, but really I noticed I wasn’t hungry. I ate a banana, but I even left most of my rice.  When I don’t have much I find I kind of find that I tend to hoard – keeping some back in case I am hungry.

And both Neil and I are noticing that on this challenge we are producing hardly any waste.  If we don’t eat something, we find a way to use it in something else.

Before I sign off for another day, I am sharing with you Neil’s porridge scones (pictured above).  They are so very good, and I think I will ask him to make them again even after the challenge has ended.

Neil’s porridge scones

1 cup SR flour
1 tablespoon margarine
2/3 cup leftover porridge (made with a bit of milk)
1 tablespoon sugar
Milk (to mix)

Method:

1. Cut the margarine into the flour with a knife. Add in the leftover porridge and the sugar.
2. Add enough milk to mix to a dough.  Spoon into muffin pans and bake until golden brown. Serve hot with margarine.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting us during his challenge.  We really appreciate your generous donations, which we know will go towards Oaktree projects to alleviate poverty.