Flumps! That was all it bought me. A 10g Flumps Twist. Not very exciting, not very filling and not
very nutritious. But it was much harder
than I had anticipated to purchase something for just 10p in the supermarket. It was the wrong time of day and perhaps the
wrong part of the country (Cheltenham) for serious bargains in the reduced
section so I tried my lie with loose fruit, priced by the weight. The cheapest apples were £1.19 per kilo but
the smallest apple still came to 21p.
Bananas were just 69p per kilo but the cheapest single fruit I could
find would have been 12p.
Next I tried the deli
counter where you can buy any quantity you desire. Identifying the lowest-priced cheese as Red
Leicester at £6.60 per kilo, I asked how much I could get for 10p and was told
that I could get the amount he would give me for free anyway if I asked to
taste the product. This was not exactly the
point but I deduced that 10p does not buy you very much cheese! Walking up and down the aisles, I scoured any
product that bore a sub-10p price tag and eventually spotted one in the confectionary
section. Flumps! Airy, bland marshmallows that claim to be
fat-free (they are pretty much everything-free) and naturally flavoured (with
sugar).
And so the challenge ended – on Friday night with my usual dinner of boiled rice, boiled veg and Quorn sausages but with a special treat to celebrate Shabbat; a Flumps Twist -very ceremonious! I am so glad I did it, despite the hard times on Wednesday and Thursday (which, incidentally seem to have passed as today I felt fine). It was the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign and the connections with our Passover narrative that prompted me to consider Live Below the Line. IF campaign is both practical and conceptual and it was this holistic approach that really got me thinking about models of Social Action and Social Justice in our society and in our religious organisations.
We often raise money
for a 'good cause', sometimes we even donate useful items or give of our time
to make a difference; and these are all wonderful and worthwhile things to
do. But most of our Social Action work
is influenced by the Victorian model of charity and creates a very strong
dichotomy of 'us' and 'them'; doing for rather than doing with. Living Below the Line gave me the opportunity
to respond to the Passover Haggadah's call to 'let all who are hungry come and
eat' in a way that integrated the more traditional models of raising money
through sponsorship and raising awareness about an issue with something more
experiential and more profound; potentially an experience that begins to break
down the barriers between 'us' and 'them'.
I am not sure what I
do next with these insights. I hope that
just by writing about them it has served at least to get others thinking
too. I will certainly think differently
about my weekly shop, perhaps being a little more careful about whether I spend
my money on unnecessaries and what else I could be doing with that change. I also want to learn more about the UK food
industry and why it is that heavily processed, packaged and transported foods
that contain little nutritional value are so much cheaper than fresh produce
that is grown locally and staple grains that can sustain and nourish. More than anything, I would like to commit
now to doing this again next year and to encouraging others to join me and gain
some of those first-hand experiences for themselves.
If you were inspired by this project, please consider sponsoring me by clicking on the link below. The money will go to Tzedek, a social justice charity that works with the world's poorest communities and supports projects and empower and create sustainability.
Day Five Tally:
Breakfast: 80g
cornflakes with 113ml whole milk, watered down.
Cost: 14p.
Calories: 381.
Snack: Toasted tea
cake.
Cost: 3p (reduced).
Calories: 188.
Dinner: 2 Quorn
sausages, rice, soup mix, carrots & cabbage.
Cost: 50p.
Calories: 561.
Lunch: Packet of
Tomato Pasta and an orange.
Cost:
31p.
Calories: 412.
Treat: Flumps
Twist.
Cost: 10p.
Calories: 30.
DAY FIVE TOTALS: Cost: £1.09 Calories: 1,572. Five-A-Day: 3.
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