Live Below The Line

livebelowtheline.com

I’m pretty sure I was looking at Google News, and some news story had a link to another, to another, and I saw a video interview about “Live Below the Line.” That’s usually how these little hobbies of mine start. I get distracted by something shiny, jump down a long and twisted road of other shiny objects, and end up with a life decision to forever keep worms inside my apartment for composting (or something similar). It’s like my own version of “7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” Why is it I won’t eat corn anymore? Oh, right, I watched the movie 300 (shiny)...

So when I saw that interview about Live Below the Line, I went digging deeper to see what it’s all about. It’s an initiative to help eliminate extreme world poverty. What I like so much is that when someone is ready to donate, the money isn’t donated to “Live Below the Line.” They give several charities that already exist that deal with hunger. They don’t care who you give to, just please help. 

They also have a challenge, and I so heartily enjoy a good challenge. I am the one who got excited about trying a 20 minute ice bath twice a week for a month. Yes, that is me. This is 5 day challenge of eating on $1.50 a day. That is the U.S. equivalent of extreme poverty. I am living in rural Alaska where all prices are greatly inflated (can we say $7.04 for a gallon of gas?). The fact that this challenge was even beefier because of my location made it all that more savory. 

I started doing a little preliminary research the next visit to the AC store. I was sure that beans and rice was about all I was going to be able to get, maybe some 15 bean soup and a box of cornbread. One bag of rice with at least 15 servings (5 days x 3 meals): $5.55. Hmm. Without tax, that left me with $1.95. The bags of dry beans on the very next shelf were $3.49. I can’t even buy rice and beans. I decided that I was going to have to do this tax free to make it work. My roommate suggested I make it $3 a day to adjust for  prices, but I didn’t want to go that far yet. 

The next day, I took a trip further down the road to Corina’s store which usually has some cheaper prices. I was able to find a bag of northern beans for 2.48 and a small can of tomato paste of .99 (I like to think that tomato paste added to anything makes it taste better). I then went back to the AC and bought the smaller bag of rice (only 10 servings) for $3.38. With tax it all added up to $7.60. I felt this was acceptable, because I was including tax now. But I am still cheating a bit. I will still be drinking my coffee in the morning. I’m just going to pretend that it falls off of trees here and into my cup of hot water. Also, I’m adding a little olive oil to each serving (My fantasy world also has olive trees. It’s quite a lovely place). And I am using whatever spices are still in my cabinet. So there. 

I must say that shopping for these items was a little heartbreaking. I am doing this for fun. I am doing this by choice. It was like my own episode of Super Shopper. I was thinking, “Geez, this is all I get?” But I get to eat real food all the time (and way too much of it usually). I will probably order a pizza at midnight on Saturday. I ate a large amount of food Monday night to compensate. Again, I am doing this all by choice. I can’t imagine having to do this for real. Every. single. day. 

It might also have been a medieval themed party.

Another note. I am a Paleo girl. I eat meat like breathing water. I had a birthday party where no one was allowed to bring any bread items. I got swan legs, beef roasts, a rabbit still in the snare, moose stew. My friends know me. I buy grass-fed beef, compassionate raised pork, and free range chicken. I buy organic vegetables that are shipped in a box to me every week (I know not very permaculturist of me, but one step at a time). I freakin’ love me some food. So one, a very bland diet of rice and beans isn’t that appealing. Two, my intestines have become very sensitive to non-meat and non-vegetable matter. And by sensitive I mean gassy. More than a very small amount of dairy will make tomorrow unpleasant for everyone. So I am going into this knowing that there will be some level of GI distress. Fair warning to you all. 

I made the whole bag of rice and beans, threw them in a pot with the tomato paste, and mixed it all up. Angie said, “It’s like you have your own Erin Chow.” Every meal I scoop out 1 cup of the chow. Sometimes I add some water to make it more soup like, and sometimes I had some hot sauce (I grabbed a bunch of free bottles of tabasco at the luau in Hawaii, it counts). I am beginning to truely appreciate salt. I’ve always undervalued it before now. Adding a little (lie, it’s a lot) of salt makes it a little more than palatable, it’s almost good. And as much as I claimed above to love good food, I don’t vary too much in my menu. It’s usually the same few meals over and over again. So the repetitiveness isn’t bothering me yet. 

It is an unsatisfying-ly small amount of food though. When my little bowl is empty, I look at the clock to see how long before I can eat again. Then, when it is time to eat, I’m all like, “Yay! I get to ea.....it’s gone.” ANd the sad cycle starts again. But I’m doing this for fun. I need to start remembering to spend that sad, disappointing moment in prayer for those who to this everyday. For those who can’t even count on three meals a day.