#2poundchallenge with Zamcog and Voucherbox.

Zamcog is a charity that helps Zambia's most at risk children. At the Shitima School in Zambia the charity use the money raised to educate the children and provide them with food and water to improve their lives. Voucherbox.co.uk have teamed with Julie-Anne Uggla, founder of Zamcog to bring awareness about this charity. They are doing this by presenting the £2.00 challenge. It costs £2.00 to educate and feed one child per day in Zambia, as part of this challenge I had to feed a family of 4 for one day using a budget of £2.00 per head.

When I first thought about the challenge, it made me think that it would be impossible to serve a healthy meal within this budget. However with careful planning, I have managed to come up with a balanced meal plan for my family making sure the meals were filling and nutritious so that they did not feel hungry.

With my meal plan all set, I went shopping with my £8.00 and no other money, it was rather challenging to be strict with the ingredients and not to do impulse buys. I had to search the supermarket for the ingredients that offered best value with out compromising on taste. The budget of two pounds per head meant that there was no option to purchase any treats or fruits for snacks in between meals.

It was really difficult to change the way I shop by limiting my purchases and buying single items as normally I buy in bulk all my fruits and vegetables in packs.Taking part in this challenge has certainly opened my eyes and reminded me of how much surplus foods we buy and incidentally waste. Next time I go to the supermarket I will most certainly put more thought into what goes in my shopping basket.

Our meal plan for the day was:

Breakfast 

Tea, toast with sunflower spread and a choice of either boiled /scrambled eggs or french toast (eggy bread).

Lunch 

Greek Feta Salad  made with cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onion, lettuce and feta cheese tossed with a dash of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano. To make the lunch more filling I served it with slices of bread and sunflower spread and a couple of boiled eggs left over from breakfast.

Dinner 

Arabbiatta  pasta  with a side salad. I made the Arabbiatta  sauce with the onion, peppers, passata, salt, chilli flakes, oregano and a dash of olive oil. I stirred the sauce into cooked penne pasta  and served it with a side salad of grated carrots, cucumber, lettuce and peppers which were left over from making the salad at lunch time. 

Our total shopping bill came to £7.97. I did make use staple store cupboard ingredients such as olive oil, chilli flakes,salt and black pepper as I only needed a tiny bit of each.The challenge was very difficult and it really opened our eyes, making us realise how difficult it can be to live on a budget and do away with indulgent treats and luxuries that we all take for granted.

10 Teabags	£       0.20
6 Free range eggs	£       0.89
1 Pint Milk	£       0.45
Sunflower Spread	£       1.00
1 loaf Wholemeal Bread	£       0.50
Feta cheese	£       1.20
1 Iceberg Lettuce	£       0.50
1 Cucumber	£       0.28
Cherry tomatoes	£       0.53
Mixed Peppers pack of 3	£       0.89
1 pack of Carrots	£       0.45
Penne pasta 500g	£       0.30
Passata 500g	£       0.35
2 Onions	£       0.28
1emon	£       0.15
Total	£       7.97

I am happy to say Voucherbox.co.uk will donate £50 to Zamcog to help the charity continue their goal for each person that takes on this challenge. If you too would like to take part in this challenge you can read more about it here

I am going to nominate my friend Mina Joshi who blogs at Give me some spice to rise to the challenge.

**This post is in collaboration with voucherbox.co.uk