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.