Live Below The Line: Day 3

Aside from nutrition, one of the biggest challenges with doing this challenge is limited choice.  Limited funds limits the choices available to you.  One of the hardest things was deciding not to buy free range eggs for this challenge.  We usually always do.  But free-range eggs are over double the price of the cheapest cage eggs - so in order to up our protein, which is still sorely lacking in this diet, we had to go with the cheapest option.  I put nutrition over ethics.

My Mum does this.  She's a vegetarian.  I don't think she's eaten meat in more than fifteen years.  She'd prefer to buy free-range, but she has limited funds.  She will not be alone in having to make these kinds of sacrifices.  Families NZ wide make these kinds of choices each week at the grocery store.  And other places too.  Families having to choose between turning a heater on or being able to have credit on their phone.  Selling their car to cut down on maintenance expenses so they can afford school trips.  Parents skipping meals to ensure their kids have enough in their lunch boxes.

While I don't agree with all that Labour does,   
this plan is a good'un                     

Speaking of which, our school is one of the lucky ones benefiting from the Free Lunches In Schools programme.  It happened very quickly - the budget was announced then exactly one week later - poof!  The lunch programme is on.  What is fantastic about it is that it doesn't single those in need out.  The food is available for everyone.  While we did have Kidscan lunches available at our school prior to this, the way these were dispersed was tricky.  The teachers had to make a sneaky informed guess at who was missing out that day, then send a message to reception who would ensure they had a lunch.  And while Kidscan is an amazing charity that I wholeheartedly support, it is limited.  It can't afford to feed everyone.  Those with the paperbag Kidscan lunches were more obvious.

As a kid who grew up with less I know how tough that is.  I went to a small, high decile school - you could count the poor kids on one hand - we stood out.  And as a kid that was different in other ways it was just another thing that made me feel left out.  The great thing about the free lunch plan is it removes the need for othering.  All the kids are allowed to say yes to some free lunch.  Our kids go to school with ample lunches they pack themselves and they've said yes to parts of the school lunch.  Etta tried peaches the other day.  She would never try them at home, but her friends were having them.  Not only does this plan fill empty tummies and helps everyone do better in the classroom, but it builds a sense of community.  Like the whakatauki in Abby's classroom says - 'He waka eke noa.' - we are all in this together.

Anyhow, on to what we ate yesterday.

The cheapest meat I could find.

Yesterday was the one day I bought meat for.  And the only reason I could buy meat was because I found this bargain at Pak 'n' Save a week ago and popped it into the freezer.  The only thing I could have got cheaper that was actual meat, was chicken bones.  Since the rise of MKR, even offal is dearer than this.

And I am so glad that I did.  After just two days eating on limited funds, we were both hungry.  Murray felt dizzy on the way home from work and I was grumpy and hungrier than usual and very excited about the prospect of dinner.  The thing that high protein foods do is keep you full for longer.  While carbs are a good stopgap, they are not a great long term fix.  If you want energy to last through the day you need to eat decent protein (which is why many nutritionists recommend having protein based breakfasts when you are trying to lose/or maintain a healthy weight).  So with this chicken, egg fried rice and some peanuts we actually managed to make our recommended protein quota for the day - but having it at the end of the day meant we lost out on all that it could have given us earlier on.

Consequently, this was our biggest spend day.  We both ate more than planned WAY over the daily of $5.70, but with that pittance of food on Monday, we're still on track with budget for the week.  This does mean there is no wriggle room in what we eat over the next two days though, and that makes me feel a bit nervous.  How did we do in the other areas of nutrition? 

We managed to make our vege quota.  This is because I bought seasonally and on special - I got a massive cauliflower from Countdown for $2 and used 1/2 of it in dinner.  Brocolli is reasonably priced at the moment so we had 1/4 of this too.  This plus the mixed veges in the egg fried rice, plus the carrot and corn with our lunch means we had 3 - 4 servings of veg - but still only one serving of fruit.  We also dipped out in the whole grains and our dairy intake was basically negligible - I maybe had 1/4 of my daily dietary requirements so am thankful broccoli is also a good source of calcium.

                                                            Winner winner chicken dinner

So was the food delicious?  Yes!  I like egg fried rice and veges and ginger and chicken.  But did it meet our nutritional requirements?  No.  2/5 is not a passing mark.  And the type of meat you can afford on this budget isn't exactly the healthy kind.  We usually buy skinless chicken breast if I'm using chicken - a good, low fat, healthy protein.  A whole chicken leg with skin and fat and bone isn't exactly healthy, but if I'm hungry, there is no way I'm getting rid of any of it.

Tune in tomorrow to see how I coped with work and this challenge.  I have a funny story to tell you...

Live Below The Line: Day 2

Daily posting is going to be a challenge in itself!  So I will keep these posts brief.

Yesterday went more to plan than Monday.  So I can show you how we spent that days money.  We went a little over what was planned because Mum, bless her heart, decided to make naan bread and give us some.  Because we went so far under budget on Monday, I factored it in and we had a garlic naan entree which was very much welcomed by Murray who had his first day back in the actual physical office* yesterday since the start of lockdown.

This is what we ate yesterday:

Now before I go into the nutritional deficits I want to talk about costings.  I have costed this by the cost of the purchased ingredients, divided by the quantity used.  I googled every single item to check the weight by cup or equivalent measure to ensure this was accurate.  I purchased from where I usually do (Pak n Save and our local Asian grocer) and while I did swap for cheaper brands where possible, I did keep to our usual brands on a few things (mostly because our usual brands are cheap!)  The licorice tea is cheaper than it usually would be because I bought it a while ago at the Clearance shop for cheap.  The black tea is Homebrand - also very cheap.  We opted for the cheapest fruits and veg - which are, incidentally, what is currently in season.  I honestly tried to get as much bang for our buck as we could without changing much about where and how we usually shop.

So lets look at what adults are supposed to eat every day and see how today's eating stacks up:

Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables
At least six servings of grains
At least two servings of dairy or dairy equivalents
At least two servings of legumes OR one serving of seafood, eggs, poultry or meat.

 Abby's mandarin tree.  We have seven fruit
trees, all fruiting age (three first fruiting this year)
The ability to plant and own fruit trees is a privilege.

The obvious outlier is we are missing a fruit serving.  And while we could have had another kiwifruit instead of the naan, you must remember that this was extra.  We were being polite to my Mum, and this was not planned for.  I worked really hard on this budget, and while there was wriggle room for another piece of fruit on some days, there was not room every day.  If we could eat the fruit that we get for free from our neighbours, or our own trees, we could have made up that deficit.  But the fact we have fruit trees, and friends with fruit trees is a privilege.  So for this week, like those without these privileges, we make do with less.  We DID have enough servings of vegetables.  This is mostly because we had left over salad from a family BBQ on Sunday which we did not want to waste so costed it out and had it with dinner.  The salad, plus the corn in the fritters, plus the carrot snack and in the soup makes our vege tally about four.  So that's good news.

Last nights dinner - filling and tasty, although the salad was weird
(2 leftover salads mixed together)

In the grains department we make it to about five servings if we count the Anzac biscuit and popcorn together as a serving.  We had rice with our soup.  The problem is, ALL the grains in todays diet were not whole.  All were the cheap options - white rice, white flour etc.  So nutritionally, it doesn't quite hit the mark.  Dairy is very much lacking.  I'd stretch and say we each had about one serving with the feta in the salad, the yoghurt in the naan bread and the milk in our breakfast and coffee put together.  The protein is also a miss.  We did have one serving of legumes with the soup for lunch and had about 1/4 of an egg in the corn fritters (as they serve 4 meals), and a few walnuts in the salad but that's it.

And I was trying!  I was really trying to create filling, balanced, healthy meals.  And while it certainly wasn't the worst diet a person could have, it still missed the mark.  The amount of money is just not enough to buy those expensive things - the dairy, the simple proteins, the fruit.  So did I go hungry yesterday?  No I did not.  Was all my food awful?  No it wasn't.  But my nutritional needs were not met.  This is why the kids are not doing this challenge.  While they could easily subsist on a diet of tomato soup, plain pasta, white bread and noodles and come under budget, they shouldn't.  They are growing.  They are learning.  They are kids.  But many kids do.  And it isn't about parenting, it's about a simple lack of funds and trying to keep those tummies full.  Simple carbs achieve that.

Tune in tomorrow where I will show off the only meal with meat for the week and sing the praises of the new Lunches In Schools programme.

* He slipped up and had a coffee at work which has a fancy pod machine, so I had to factor that in.  An expensive slip at 50c a coffee!  Hoping it doesn't happen again today as we don't have much more wriggle in our budget.

Living Below The Line - Day one

So this is awful timing for this challenge, but also, a really good time to do a challenge that illustrates what it is like for many Kiwis right now.  Coming out of lockdown with all the uncertainty of living in this post-Covid world I think it's important that everyone learns to live with less.  Because there but for the grace of God go I.  Right now, we are financially ok.  But had we worked in different industries, this would not have been the case.  For those of us who are ok, we should have a little empathy, and give our strength and support to those who are not.

I don't expect sponsorship.  I know times are tough for many which is exactly why I am doing this.  If you can afford to, and you want to just click on the link here and nominate any amount.  Otherwise, if reading this makes you feel bad, just check in on your neighbours and whanau.  Make sure they're doing ok.

My desire to write today specifically is spurred by the governments latest payment scheme.

Their plan to increase benefits for those who lose their jobs due to Covid may seem nice on the surface.  But the reality is that it shelters those who do from the reality of living on a benefit in New Zealand.  From the reality of tracking the amount you, or your partner earns to ensure it doesn't inversely affect your income.  From the reality of being hungry, of having to plan everything, of having no flexibility, little choice, in your daily life.  Creating this difference - between pre-Covid and post-Covid beneficiaries enforces the ideology somehow these job losses are different.

I know you are a good person Carmel.  Surely you can see how wrong this is.

And it allows the government to continue paying an unlivable benefit.  It allows those whose recent misfortune is now buffered to say things like 'Well, I lost my job and I'm still managing!'  It allows this division of thinking to continue.  My mother worked hard her whole life until her health no longer allowed her to.  Like thousands of other New Zealanders.  And our previous government got rid of the Sickness Benefit.  So, those who have been less fortunate in the health department, like my Mum receive 'Jobseekers support'.  The same as their able bodied peers.  This means that they all have to get signed off by Drs regularly.  Even if they have chronic conditions they must provide paperwork to WINZ otherwise their benefit will be cut off.  This is the case for those going through chemo, those with disabilities, those with chronic illness, those with mental illness.

What this payment says is that these people, who have also ended up in the system through no fault of their own, are worth less than those who recently lost their jobs.  That everyone else who may have lost their jobs, every other person who, through circumstance, was on a benefit before Covid-19, is worth less.  Even though they have managed to survive on a pittance for, in some cases, decades, they still do not deserve a livable income but somehow the recently impoverished do.  This truly sickens me.

Anyhow, I digress.  Now, to the challenge.

Today, and tomorrows, morning coffee.  Farewell Avalanche.

Murray is doing it with me to make cooking simpler (I am pleasantly surprised).  We have to subsist on $2.85 each per day for food for five days.  Now, I know many folk who live well below this.  I know people who've had to live with less than $10 to feed themselves.  But in the context of the rest of New Zealand, an average family of 2 adults and two children spend about $290 per week on food.  This amount is just over 1/4 of that amount.  What I'm hoping to illustrate over this week though is the extra work involved in managing living on so much less.  The amount of time I have to put into managing our budget.  The lack of choice.

Lentil and carrot is the soup of the next two days

I also need to say that I come to this challenge with a lot of privilege.  I did accounting right through school (a positive side effect of growing up poor), so I can budget well.  I have worked in the food industry and have an interest in nutrition, so cooking for health is not difficult for me.  I have more time than many.  Yes I have kids and work 26 hours per week, but that is less than many, especially our working poor.  I also live close to civilization and have access to reliable transport, childcare and internet.  And when this is over I know I can order from my favourite local Indian restaurant.  All of this privilege means that my window into this week is rose tinted.  This is not a picture of the reality for those living in poverty.

Because of this privilege I planned and budgeted this week in advance leaving room (money) aside for alterations.  I am so glad I did this because on the first day I was horribly ill.  This meant I had no interest in cooking, or eating, the food I had planned.  And while this did save some money, it did mean that the nutrition in my diet yesterday was non-existent.  This is what me and Murray ate yesterday.  It's pretty empty.

Were I sick under normal circumstances, I would have filled it differently.  I would have had lemonade, or gingerale.  But on this budget, this wasn't possible.  Murray's epilepsy means he can no longer drive, and I was not well enough to go far.  So this would have to come from a dairy, and would cost at least $1.50 - $4.00.  This was not  a cost I could justify given the amount we have for this week.  Equally, after my visit to A&E (only possible because we aren't in poverty, otherwise it'd have had to be Waitakere Hospital) I might have bought some fries from McDonalds.  At the exorbitant price that they are for something nutritionally negligent and small, this also was not justifiable.

Compare what we ate yesterday with what we are supposed to eat in a healthy diet.
In a healthy diet, this is what an adult should be eating daily:

Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables
At least six servings of grains
At least two servings of dairy or dairy equivalents
At least two servings of legumes OR one serving of seafood, eggs, poultry or meat.

While Monday's food is not fairly representative of what we had planned, I can tell you there is no way you can meet these nutritional needs on a poverty budget.

Just from planning our meals I can see how very easy it would be to just opt for high carb, high calorie, filling foods.  They are cheaper and easier to prepare.  Using the same budget I could just eat toast for breakfast, 2 minute noodles for lunch and a pie and oven chips for dinner.  And I'd have a little left over for crisps or biscuits or maybe some cheap fruit.

Anyhow.  I need to save some of this vitriol for later.  Tune in tomorrow to see a proper days eating and watch me break it down nutritionally to show you the deficits. 

Covid Pyjama Karaoke Somethings Got A Hold On Me

On the reality of coping with Covid-19

While my blog post out-put started out strong in lockdown, over the last month I've found it hard to write.  I have struggled to do any creative writing.  While I have written a couple of poems that I am happy with I have struggled to work on existing short stories.  They sit untouched and unfinished in a folder on the computer which I've hidden so I don't have to look at it and feel guilty.

Like many of us, I'm doing my best to be positive about our current reality.  The benefits of my long mental health history is that I have a lot of tools available that I know work for me.  So I'm utilising them.  Maintaining a positive outlook isn't that hard for me.  But that doesn't mean this doesn't affect me.  It might be less obvious but I am struggling.

On holiday in Athenree just before lockdown was announced (maintaining social distancing)

And that's unsurprising.  I think that most of us, whether we have diagnosed mental illnesses or not will struggle with what is happening.  Our lives have been turned upside down and we've all had to make massive adjustments in a very short space of time.  Our family went from preparing for our first international holiday, to leaving the substituted local holiday early to prepare for lockdown.  To prepare for not seeing our friends or family.  To prepare for not having access to some of the things we take for granted.  When I should have had four days alone in the Rarotonga sun, I was supporting my kids in learning from home.  We have less support, less space and little certainty as to what the future will bring.

And I'm privileged.  Missing a holiday is a total FWP.  Many are facing much harder realities.  Domestic violence rates are up.  14 women and 2 children have been murdered in the first three weeks of UK lockdown.  Women* are literally trapped in with their abusers.  Single parents are managing their children without support.  Single parents working from home are multitasking in extremely stressful circumstances.  Many elderly folk are struggling to access services in a world which is now largely lived online.  Job losses, pay cuts and industry instability threaten.  Unemployment rates are predicted to leap from 4% to 8.5% with some predictions as high as 13%. The reality is that most of us are having to cope with unexpected change.  We are all processing a loss of some kind.

Because even though there are positives to the world slowing down, this is no less true.  I am processing a loss of space and a loss of support.  Many are processing a loss of choice and flexibility and many are processing a loss in income or their livelihood.  And living in New Zealand we are privileged.  Only 19 people have lost their lives here to Covid-19.  And while this is a great loss, and it is awful for all their loved ones, in many places it is worse.  In the US, over 63,000 have died from covid-19.  Many people worldwide are not only processing the same losses we are here, but also the loss of friends and whanau.  They may have lost their sense of safety, or sense that those they care for are safe.  Or suffered a loss of faith in their health system or their government. The losses from this pandemic are too many to name.  The losses are hard to fathom.

Etta is making her bed every day          

And we all cope with that loss differently.  In our bubble Murray copes by putting extra effort into work, and playing more games with his online communities.  I cope by preparing for the worst; working in the garden, being frugal with food and finance and budgeting for multiple scenarios.  Etta is focused on school work and (a new development) cleaning.  Abby copes by eating, watching too much TV and having extra cuddles.  While there are aspects to our coping mechanisms that are useful, for the most part, they are just distractions.  We are not processing the issues at hand.  But at a time of such uncertainty what more can we do?

We are doing our best to support our kids emotionally, but it's tough.  We are trying to support them in feeling their feelings and those feelings are very big right now.  This is to be expected.  Whilst Etta is smart and has a basic understanding of what is happening she is not emotionally equipped to deal with it.  Because she's only six years old.  While she understands why she can't see or hug her BFF, she can't process the reality of living like this.  She has tried to 'trick' us into seeing her BFF or other friends.  It has been awful watching her face as she sees her ruses fail.  And while she can chat to her friends on video phone this is still difficult.  While it gives her that contact she craves, it simultaneously reminds her of her loss.  The nights after those video calls are full of tears and a child struggling to manage her current reality.

Our bubble kitted crazy for Wacky Wednesday

While Etta's lack of coping is obvious, none of us are coping.  Our 'not coping' just looks differently.  For me, it comes in the form of feeling exhausted** and irritable and doing weird things.  For Murray, it's struggling with past addictions.  And while Abby seems ok most of the time, if triggered by what she misses most (my Mum) she becomes a sobbing mess.  In an unprecedented situation, how do you know how to deal with this?  How do your manage your wellness when everyone is falling apart?

I honestly don't know.  If you have to live just minute to minute that's a way.  If you have to smile to stop yourself from crying, that's a way.  If you have to put your energy into helping others, that's a way (as long as you're not pissing them off in the process).  If you have to dress up in fancy costumes that's a way.  I've been writing ten things I'm grateful for each day, and spending time alone in nature - those things help me.  I have friends who have taken up running.  I have no simple solution.  The purpose of this is that I see so much focus on the positives (and I contribute to that) that I feel the need to remind folk that it's ok not to be ok right now.

The not-so-humble arsehole bird (spur winged plover) at almost dusk

Even if we can see the gains made*** it's still ok to feel that loss.  These two feelings can co-exist.  You can simultaneously feel gratitude while processing loss.

I do think that recognising and acknowledging that loss is a good starting point to finding a way to cope.  What have you lost?  How do you feel about this?  How are you acknowledging and managing those feelings?  Do you need support around this?  What support can you access at this time?  Do you need practical support with anything?  Obviously if you don't feel a sense of loss you don't need to ask these things, but it is just as important that you understand many, many people might.  It's totally ok to be ok too as long as you have compassion for others.

In uncertain times like now the best thing we can do is be kind.  Be kind to others.  Be kind to those in your bubble and those you love.  Be kind to those you don't understand.  Recognise that we all have different strengths and weaknesses, different experiences and different tools in our belts.  And most importantly be kind to yourself.  It's ok to be ok.  And it's ok to not be ok.  And right now it's enough just to be.

* You can say 'it's men too' as much as you want - and it is, but seldom as much as it is women.  In the UK 100% more women then men have been murdered due to domestic violence.

** There are physical reasons for this on top of the mental ones.  Both of the kids are waking more frequently overnight with nightmares.  And as Murray does not wake up (no fault of his, he just doesn't) I am the one getting up overnight.

*** And there are many - for the improvement of our environment, for the revitalisation of our wildlife, to remind us of what really matters, to teach us how simple it is for most of us to live differently.

Covid Pyjama Karaoke: Don't Dream It's Over

Covid Pyjama Karaoke: Let It Be