This year I have decided to undertake the Ration Challenge to try and raise money to support refugees.

I have felt frustrated and saddened by the plight of refugees – not just from Ukraine, but from so many countries around the world fleeing conflict and persecution. I wanted to take action and try to do something positive to help.

The Ration Challenge is a fantastic initiative by Concern Worldwide in which you ask people to sponsor you to eat the same rations as a refugee for a week. The more money I raise to support refugees the more “extras” I can earn to supplement my rations like teabags or milk or vegetables. You can find out more about the challenge and sponsor me here.

This week my ration box arrived so it seemed like a good time to go through it and share what I am doing in a bit more detail.

This is my ration box and items. The box itself includes a small bag of rice but you get a coupon for 1.5kg of rice, 400g flour and 330ml cooking oil (this is because the cost of posting such heavy items would be detrimental to the idea of raising funds so you get coupons or vouchers to add in those other rations yourself – similar to vouchers and coupons that many refugees get too).

In the pack for 1 week of meals we have:

Rice 420g (plus a coupon for 1.5kg of rice – so a total of 1.9kg of rice for the week)

Plain Flour 400g
Lentils 170g
Dried chickpeas 85g
Tinned sardines 120g
Tinned kidney beans 400g
Vegetable oil 330ml

The extras I have earned so far are unlimited salt, and use of up to 6 spices (turmeric, paprika, cumin, etc), one clove of garlic, 10 teabags and 210mls milk. If I raise enough money I can add a vegetable like an onion and also some protein like chicken or an egg. Not only is it a great incentive to encourage people to raise more money but it also aligns with what many refugees do in real life – families share or pool resources in order to stretch their rations further, some might pick up work or earn money to buy treats like vegetables or fruit or teabags to supplement the basic staples.

Here are my extras so far:

There are lots of recipes and tips from people who have done the challenge before – for example I have earned 1 garlic clove so someone suggest you can infuse the oil with the garlic clove for as long as possible before the challenge and then still use the clove in your cooking as well later on – it helps to stretch it further so I’ve done that just now.

This challenge is not just a way for me to try and do something positive for the refugees of the world but it also forces you to walk for a week in their shoes and really experience and understand how hard the life of a refugee is, and what food poverty looks like for many people. I hope it will be a positive way to stand with refugees all over the world and raise some money to support them along the way.

The challenge is in June so I still have a month to try and raise as much money as possible.

So if you feel like helping me get that onion, or even better, helping oner of the 84 million refugees all over the world with rations just like these ones, sponsor me now!

https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/stephanie-roberson