About 12.01am on Saturday morning, I ate two Mars Bars, various forms of cheese and a bagel with salmon and cream cheese. It was all incredible and delicious – although I was awake until 3am with huge amounts of energy! I am so glad that I’ve completed the £1/day challenge, and I’m relishing the variety of food available to me now. I lost almost 3lbs (1.5kg) in 5 days…and I’ve been trying to make it back up subsequently.
As a finale to the £1 week, on Saturday evening I hosted a Live Below the Line-inspired dinner, where I had a dinner budget of £1 per person attending. As a result, I cooked a 3 course meal for 10 on £10.01. I wanted to make it a fun event, but also prove that collective cooking is both socially and economically more sustainable!
However, just to make it a little more challenging (and exciting) my friends and I decided that it might be fun to theme it around the decade of the 1970s. Not wholly inappropriate, as it was famed for its austerity, it did mean that I had to cream classics like prawn cocktail on my very limited budget! I did relax the rules slightly (for the benefit of all those involved): I was allowed to use cupboard staples like oil and mustard, and alcohol was excluded.
MENU
Vodka martinis
Starters
Prawn cocktail with lettuce on homemade matzoh (that trusty favourite)
Sausages and pineapple on cocktail sticks
Deviled eggs
Main
Spaghetti Bolognese (soya protein instead of cheap meat mice)
Dessert
Black Forest Gateau cocktails
A few friends also brought a beautiful salad platter, some meatloaf and cornflake crumble to supplement, so there were 70s options a-plenty. The era was evoked through a beaded curtain doorway, mood lighting, 70s posters, disco on vinyl, lots of 70s outfits and party games!
Guests also donated to my fundraising efforts as part of attending, and I raised over £50 from the evening, bringing me very very close to achieving my fundraising target. I had such a good time (and thanks to everyone who came!).
Catriona in Cambodia 