Category Archives: Live Below the Line

Live Below the Line – Lentil and Tuna Salad

19 Thursday Apr 2012

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Live Below the Line - Lentil and tuna salad

Total cost: £2.55
For 10 people = 25.5p each.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-christianaid

If you are taking part in Live Below the Line you should really consider making this salad. I organised a Live Below the Line lunch for Christian Aid and it went down a treat, people were amazed how little it cost and how yummy it was.

The costing is for 10 people as this could feed a family over 2 days who are living below the Line.

What you need:

500g green lentils: 95p
1 can of tuna: 49p
3 tomatoes: 42p
4 eggs:  40p
½ red onion: 9p
Salt & pepper: 5p
Olive oil and Vinegar: 15p

Cook the lentils for about 30 minutes or as directed on the packet. Once they are cooked wait for them to cool. Boil your eggs, cut the tomatoes into small pieces and the red onion into small slices.

In a bowl put the lentils and add to them the tuna, chopped tomatoes and sliced red onion and cut eggs. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar and 2 tbsp of olive oil and add salt and pepper (add more depending on taste). Mix everything together.

Enjoy!
Mel

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TOWIE cook off for Live Below the Line

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Mel with Lauren Pope

Mel with Lauren Pope

Last night was a little different to my usual Monday evenings. I attended the TOWIE cook off for Live Below the Line for Christian Aid and it was great!

I’d only seen a few episodes of The Only Way Is Essex but I was pleasantly surprised by the TOWIE cast who turned up. Lauren Goodger and Peri Sinclair along with Frankie Essex and Lauren Pope took part in a Live Below the Line cook off. They were in two teams and with the help of Lloyd Johnson, who started his career with Jamie Oliver’s apprenticeship scheme at Fifteen, they cooked us two really nice meals. Much nicer than what I cooked last year when taking part in the challenge for Christian Aid – http://wp.me/s1sdbX-125.

They appeared with immaculate hair and makeup ready for the 30 or so photographers that were there. The girls really got involved and played the game cooking meals for over 60 people whilst looking great for the paparazzi.

After the 15 minute cook off everyone sat down to a meal of spaghetti meatballs and vegetable stir fry. We were then asked to vote and the meatballs cooked by Lauren Goodger and Peri Sinclair won it for me, though the vegetable stir fry was pretty good.

Meatballs cooked by Lauren Goodger & Peri Sinclair

This morning I came into the office to the exciting news that the Mail Online had run a fantastic piece on the cook off. http://bit.ly/wpii3g

If any of you out there are interested in taking part in the challenge please check out http://bit.ly/wcyMG3 or you can always email me if you want to find out more.

The end of Live Below the Line

09 Monday May 2011

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 Thank you to everyone who sponsored me to Live Below the Line, I never thought it would be so difficult. With boredom of eating carbs carbs and more carbs I really came to realize what an absolute luxury it is that I’m able to afford good food. In the few days of changing my diet I felt weak, bloated and I was eating just to feed myself.

A few of my colleagues also took part in the fundraiser, leading up to it all we could talk about was what we were going to eat. Last week all we could talk about was what we couldn’t eat. I am definitely enjoying eating properly again, so far I have eaten steak, crab and lamb, yum!

Mel

Live Below the Line – oat bread

04 Wednesday May 2011

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Flat bread - Live Below the Line

Well I’ll let you guess what I had for breakfast this morning… and yes you would be right it was porridge!

For lunch I had a starter of grated carrot with a bit of ginger and a baked potato with a third of my can of baked beans.

For dinner I decided to be a bit creative and made flat bread. So I took some oats and grinded them so that they became a bit like thick flour, I added a clove of garlic, a teaspoon of tomato purée and mixed it all together to make dough.

I made two fillings; the first was with a third of a can of tuna mixed with a tablespoon of cream cheese. The second mix was a simple hummus; I minced some chickpeas with some of its liquid (for flavour…) and a clove of garlic.

Once I’d made these fillings I split the dough into two separate balls and rolled them out with a rolling pin. I then heated a pan and then one by one cooked the flat bread by putting it on the pan and flipping it over after a couple of minutes. Then I added a different filling to each and folded over. Not bad though I was definitely missing a big salad!

To find out more https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-christianaid

Mel

Live Below the Line day 1

03 Tuesday May 2011

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LBL - porridge

Well with my first day over I’ve already tried tea with custard powder and porridge with cream cheese and water. I must say that I will be having my porridge without the cream cheese tomorrow morning.

I still had £1.12 left so I bought 26 tea bags for 9p, an extra banana for 10p, a carrot for 7p, celeriac for 56p and a garlic bulb for 30p. So I’m now left with exactly 0p.

For lunch today I had a baked potato with two tablespoons of cream cheese and a third of a can of tuna, not bad but the potato was quite small so I had some left-over porridge from breakfast for a mid-afternoon snack.

Dinner was an interesting one of pasta with a celeriac, garlic and tomato purée sauce. I minced some celeriac and added a clove of garlic with a teaspoon of purée and added half a cup of boiling water. Once the pasta was cooked I added the sauce and simmered for about 5 minutes. Not bad for a first meal… though it was missing a bit of salt and pepper.

What’s been the hardest thing today has been the lack of caffeine as I’ve had a headache all day long. Ah bring on tomorrow!

To find out more visit https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-christianaid

Mel

My Live Below the Line shopping

18 Monday Apr 2011

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So I’ve done my shopping for Live Below the Line! After months of discussing what to buy I finally came up with my list but sadly wasn’t able to get my tuna in oil (I was going to use the oil to cook) and frozen vegetables for 65p but it all came to less than I’d calculated so I’ve still got some money to spend and will hopefully come across my all important veg!

So here it is and all for £3.88!

                               

I won’t Live Below the Line until the 3rd May but I’m on holiday and this was the only time I had to go shopping before then. So with £3.88 spent and hopefully 1kg of frozen vegetables at 65p I’ll have 47p to spend during the week. I’ll be blogging about my meals during the week and the experience of living on such a restricted amount of food and try to come up with soe interested recipes…

To find out more visit https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-christianaid

Mel

Live Below the Line

24 Thursday Mar 2011

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I will be taking part in a fundraiser called Live Below the Line for Christian Aid between 2-6 May. It’s going to be a challenge as I’ll have to live on £1 a day for five days. I will be blogging my recipe ideas in the run up to the 2 May and my experience during that week. I welcome any tips you might have on cheap  food! For example I’ve found  a kg of mixed frozen veg for 68p, fantastic!

Why not try and challenge yourself to by joining at https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-christianaid

Mel