World map showing the percent of national populations living on less than $2.00 per day. UN Estimates 2000-2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As many of you know, I’m a BzzAgent and signed on for a campaign…Live Below the Line…to bring awareness to extreme poverty. By taking part in this campaign, I agreed to spend $1.50 or less on food and drink every day for 5 days, which, as hard as it is to believe, is what a lot of people live on all of the time. You realize that means no eating out, no vending machines, no running into a convenience store and grabbing a Coke…I think we take all of those things for granted in our day-to-day lives.
So, how did I do on day 1?
Breakfast:
2 slices toast .10, 1 T peanut butter .06, oj 6 oz .14, milk 8 oz .15
So breakfast came in at 45 cents…pretty good.
Lunch:
1 frozen pot pie .35, 1/2 serving of crackers .07, diet Pepsi .46
Lunch came in at 88 cents…my guess is you can see where this is going to end up…
Dinner:
2 slices bread .10, 1 slice cheese .08, 1 cookie .09
Dinner came in at 27 cents.
Total for the day was $1.60…
As I look back over what I consumed today, the cost of what we drink really jumps from the page. That and the fact that I didn’t eat much in the way of fruit or veggies. So this was not a very healthy diet for day 1…and I still exceeded my monetary goal for the day…wow…had I not bought most of what I ate on sale, and often with coupons, the cost would have been even higher.
So tomorrow I’m going to see if I can skip the diet Pepsi (won’t be easy) and add some fruits and veggies. After only 1 day, 1 not even successful day, I’m getting a glimpse into how difficult it would be to live like this all of the time. Definitely makes you think…
Related articles
- A Dozen Below The Line: Day 8 – Perspective (agirlcalledlynsey.com)
- What is Live Below the Line ? from a Bzz Agent. (jboy2244.wordpress.com)
Filed under: BzzAgent, food, social issues | Tagged: Extreme poverty, Live Below The Line |
Run4joy59's Blog 
It helps explain why people eating like that all the time have health issues in regard to lack of nutrients.
you know what, Patti? I was thinking the same thing…when I stopped to figure out what an apple or orange would cost, it really hit me that right there is the reason that a lot of people in extreme poverty have weight issues…
lol, oh man, good for you. I can’t understand why you’d do it if you didn’t have to, but it’s pretty cool. It’ll be interesting to see what you learn. You can’t eat like this for 4 more days!
For the last few months, I’ve been feeding my household on $1.22 per person. But then I did get a freezer full of venison free and that helped A LOT.
I’m always up for a challenge…a learning experience…a way to understand what others deal with on a daily basis…but yeah, four more days will be tough…
…it would be easier if the garden was already producing a lot…
Throw some fresh stuff in there or you will feel like crap by the weekend. Wow…good for you!
I did a little better today…living like this all of the time would require some major planning…