Beverley is taking our Holiday Hunger Challenge in the first week of July. She will be living off a food and drink budget of just £2.50 a day to raise awareness of food poverty in the UK, especially during the school holidays which can push many families into food insecurity and poverty. Here she shares what day 2 of the challenge has been like.
‘Monday and the second day of the challenge, I woke up at 6 am hungry. I waited till 8 am to eat my breakfast as it would be a long time till lunch. I had toast and baked beans for breakfast which filled me up, but I am still missing coffee to wake me up.
I was out on a trip for the day and as I have spent all my money, I made a pasta salad to take for lunch and filled 2 old pop bottles with tap water. Lunchtime was difficult, most of the group were buying lunch at the cafe, the egg and cress sandwiches were £4.95, coffee £2.40- buying out is not an option if you are on £2.50 a day.
I am usually in a rush so I would have bought something to eat at the cafe. Instead, I had my egg pasta salad which took a bit of time to make, it was okay but boring. I would have had coleslaw, beetroot and mayo on it normally to make it more interesting. My friends offered to buy me a coffee and share their flapjack with me, but I declined. I know that if I needed help with food I have friends that I could go to, but this is probably not an option for everyone. We stopped off at the cafe for a drink in the afternoon, I had brought lots of water so I was okay.
I had a bad headache in the afternoon and when I drove home I was so tired it was hard to concentrate. I ate my tea at 6 pm, I was really hungry and ate it very quickly, I fell asleep in the chair for an hour, I then ate a bowl of cereal as I felt unwell. I may have a headache due to not having coffee this week, I am really missing coffee, but I couldn’t afford it.
This challenge is really making me reflect on how my lack of food choices this week is impacting on my life. I hope that it doesn’t sound too dramatic, I just want to share my thoughts and feelings.”
Do you want to challenge yourself to take part in the Holiday Hunger Challenge? Click here to sign up – or click here to donate!
