Could You Live On £1 A Day?

29 April 2013, 11:04 | Updated: 29 April 2013, 11:18

Milton Keynes-based charity World Vision are challenging people to try living for a week on less than £1 a day.

World Vision UK have joined forces with celebrities and some of the UK’s biggest chefs to support the Global Poverty Project’s 2013 Live Below the Line campaign.

They believe that if extreme poverty is to be eradicated, it must first be understood, Live Below the Line challenges people to eat and drink for £1 a day, for five days – the extreme poverty threshold beneath which 1.4 billion people worldwide are forced to live.

Vikki Meakin from Milton Keynes is taking part in the challenge, and gave Heart an insight into what would be on her menu for the week.

"I've bought some reduced potatoes and some reduced parsnips and I've written down a list of what I'm going to be buying so it's a lot of bulky carbs. I've got pasta on there, potatoes and porridge for breakfast," she said.

"I'm most worried about getting hungry. I like big portions so I've tried to structure my meals so I can have big portions, which is why I've got lots of pasta and lentils, so I can really stodge it out."

Mathew Neville, Public Engagement Director at World Vision is also taking part, along with his wife and three children.

He said: “Live Below the Line gives people a unique glimpse in to the lives of those living on even less than £1 a day.

“For many of us it will be tough to feed ourselves on just £1 a day but in the developing world that money must pay for everything – food, water, healthcare, education, clothing – everything.”

This year's Live Below The Line challenge takes place between Monday 29 April and Friday 3 May 2013.

Fifty chefs from across the UK including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jean Christophe-Novelli, are providing recipes that fit within the daily budget of just £1 – or 33p a portion. The recipes are all featured on Live Below the Line’s online recipe book, hosted on their Facebook page.

Stephen Brown, UK Campaign Manager, Global Poverty Project, said: "There is no experience like Live Below the Line. It really helps you
understand the issues of extreme poverty. You appreciate the difficult challenges that those living in poverty have to face every day. For those living in extreme poverty, it’s not the choice between brown or white rice, but often the choice between food or lifesaving healthcare for your loved ones.”

World Vision and Live Below the Line are supporting the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, which is highlighting the changes they say are needed to begin to end hunger.