At the start of June we saw the dreaded cast come off S’s broken elbow and a couple more follow-ups for x-rays and so on. But thankfully she has healed incredibly quickly and incredibly well. S was FINALLY allowed to go back to doing sports and PE and football etc by the end of the month, which was a relief to both of us!
S decided she would like to join me doing the ration challenge and help support refugees so we agreed she could do it on the weekend with me for the last 2 days. It would be hard for her to manage at school and also she’s a bit young to do it for a whole week, but I am so proud of her for setting herself such a difficult challenge!
You’ll have seen my daily diaries of the ration challenge by now no doubt, and she didn’t quite manage the full 2 days but it was a really valiant effort! I enjoyed my challenge again this year though my stomach and digestive system were struggling by the end! There’s not a lot of fibre in rice! But between us we raised $2,822 AUD for charity and to support refugees so we are both very pleased!
Last day! Thank goodness! This last couple of days has been HARD.
I woke up this morning feeling bloated and uncomfortable and not at all hungry. Very glad it’s the last day!
I did a slightly more vigorous workout this morning to try and feel a bit better, and then S and I had rice and lentil soup for brekkie. Forgot to take a picture though.
Neither of us were very hungry at lunch so we just ate a bit of hummous and flatbreads.
The afternoon was busy – we went swimming and the girls had playdates.
S did incredibly well and held out almost to the end of her 2 days. She did all of Saturday and most of Sunday but ended up giving in at dinnertime as she had 2 friends over and they were having pizza for dinner so it was fair enough really. She felt bad but I think she tried really hard and has done really well overall.
I wasn’t very hungry in the evening either so I had a mini bowl of lentil soup and the last few empanada type things with the rest of the bean dip and leftover hummous.
In the evening I polished off the fruit tea and had my last mini glass of wine. I had a litlte more rice and soup later on as a snack.
There is LOADS of rice left in the fridge this time around (partly because I cooked S’s rations too) so will be eating a fair bit of rice next week too.
Overall it was a hard week but not as hard as I found it last year.
I think next year I would definitely make my little samosa/pasty/empanadas again, and I would also spread out some of my non-ricey meals a bit more evenly throughout the week. Chicken stock was a game-changer too.
Overall, S and I have jointly raised $2,822 AUD for refugees, and we are pretty proud of our achievement. That’s another ration challenge finished and over until next year….
Today I woke up HUNGRY. And grumpy. Not a great combo as a single parent…. I’m never my best in the morning and being hangry as well as not ideal.
S and I both had a bowl of rice with lentil soup (soupy rice really) and a cup of tea.
Then S had football so we headed off for that with some snacks for the little one to eat, and came home RAVENOUS so we made flatbreads with hummous and a couple more little samosa things, with a little beany sauce to dip them in.
I am so pleased I saved the best meals to the end – the hummous and flatbreads were AMAZING and such a nice change from rice both in terms of flavour AND texture. Much-needed at this stage in the week.
Dinner was more soupy rice, but the lentil soup is actually lovely and very filling and comforting to eat too. S has raised enough money for a vegetable so she had sweetcorn with hers and I had chorizo and spring onion with mine.
In the evening we made some more rice crackers as we were both still a bit hungry. And I had another glass of fruit tea and another 100ml of wine!
We are both already planning our meals next week and choosing things we really fancy to eat (FRUIT! Vegetables! Pizza! Pasta!) so I need to do a shop tomorrow. Only one more day to go.
As with last year, this challenge really makes me reflect on how hard it is for refugees.
Doing just a week is hard, imagine 5 years of this?
Also realising I am so lucky I can prep my meals in advance, store them in a fridge, reheat in the microwave later, use my blender to make the mixture for rice cakes, and bake them crunchy and crispy in my oven.
But imagine doing this challenge with no fridge, no oven, no blender, no microwave, just a tent and a single camping stove / hob burner to cook on. How much harder would it be to only cook what you need for each meal without being able to prep or store cooked food?
Tiny bit sluggish again this morning but I slept really well and had really vivid dreams!
Had a bit more of my sugar ration (half a teaspoon) in my tea this morning as well as some milk so I had a really nice cuppa to start off my day! I’ve got enough milk and sugar for a proper cup of tea on Saturday and Sunday too.
Managed a bit of a workout, nothing too energetic, and have lost 1kg so far on this challenge. Suspect it’ll be 2kgs by the end of the week but we’ll see.
Had a late brekkie of rice and water. I cooked my rice last night with both chicken stock and turmeric so it’s a lovely bright yellow and very cheerful. The colour (and flavour) helps with the monotony of rice! Tiny drizzle of beannaise sauce on it but trying to save the rest if I can.
Then I prepped our hummous for the weekend! Soaked mine and S’s chickpeas overnight, (as she is doing the challenge with me over the weekend so she has the same ration of chickpeas), then boiled them for an hour and whizzed in the blender with some oil and water and garlic powder etc.
And here is our finished tubs – two for me for Sat and Sunday and two for S.
For lunch I stir-fried some more of my cheerful bright yellow rice with some oil, chorizo, spring onions and spices. And a glass of cold fruit tea.
I also ate some of my fruit ration – a tiny bit of pomelo! 50g of fruit really isn’t much at all!
I ate the same for dinner (fried yellow rice) but forgot to take a picture!
I have also earned another treat – a hot or cold drink of my choice up to 330ml, so as it’s Friday night I’ve chosen wine and decided to have 110ml for the next 3 nights as a treat. I also made some more rice crackers – definitely need to perfect my recipe though!
This evening I did some more cooking and made up a double rice portion and a double portion of lentil soup for me and S over the weekend. She has football tomorrow morning so I wanted to make sure there was plenty cooked and ready for her to eat before her match and after we get home! She is doing really well and has raised over $500 AUD so she has also earned a vegetable as well as milk and spices etc. She’s chosen sweetcorn as her veg.
This year, just like last year, I am surprised that I haven’t cheated at all. Last year I felt sure at some point in the week I would crack and eat a tiny piece of chocolate or something, but I never did, and this year I had the same thought in my head. I obviously want to try and do the challenge properly, having raised all those funds, but part of me never really thinks I will succeed. And just like last year I am pleasantly surprised that I have not yet slipped up or caved in!
It’s sobering watching all my prepped rations in the fridge and little bags of rice and flour in the cupboard slowly dwindle and diminish. I know I will have enough to get through til Sunday night, and of course I can eat what I like on Monday too, but I imagine it must be so frightening to have to stretch your rations for a month and getting to the last week, wondering if you’ll have to go without for a couple of days if you run out before the next food distribution. Or what if the NGO is late with the distribution? I know first hand that these things happen, trucks break down or bridges are impassable, but to be a refugee waiting on food that doesn’t arrive must be unbearable.
Had a nice cup of tea with milk (no sugar today) and did my pilates workout. I’ve lost a kilo so far this week.
We harvested our first strawberries from the garden today, which of course I couldn’t eat but the girls informed me they were delicious! I also picked some tiny ripe chillis from my chilli plant.
Then I had a small bowl of rice with some beannaise sauce mixed in and a cup of black tea for my breakfast.
Lunch was another stir-fry with spring onion and chorizo but I used a bit more oil this time so it was a bit greasy but still good – lots more spices added to make it taste nice! I also tried a little experiment – I made a tiny pasty/samosa with a bit of my bean burger mixture and some spices, beannaise sauce and some leftover flatbread dough – it was DELICIOUS!!
I definitely want to make that again soon!!! Will make a smaller burger tonight so I have some leftover mixture to use. Mmmmm
Dinner was another lentil and bean burger with flatbreads and ketchup – very delicious!
In the evening I was bit hungry so I had some more fruit tea in a wine glass and a little rice.
One way I have found to help get through the day without snacking is to drink lots of water and tea. I feel VERY well hydrated! But then I think about refugees with rations who also have limited access to water and how much harder it is for them.
Act for Peace, the charity I am raising money for, have released a video of some Syrian refugees showing how long THEY have been eating rations for and it’s powerful to see. For me I only have 3 days left but for them it’s indefinite.
Well last night I felt really wired and wondered if it’s because I’m drinking so much more tea at the moment! Though it’s all from the same teabag so unlikely to be huge in the caffiene stakes!
This morning however I woke up feeling lethargic and sluggish and SLOW. My brain really struggled to wake up properly.
Had a cup of tea with milk and a half teaspoon of sugar to help me wake up and then cooked my rice for the day to portion up.
Today’s rice is for today AND tomorrow as I have something different on the menu! Already excited about dinner tonight as it’s not rice!
Lentil and Bean burgers for tonight’s dinner! Woohoo!
Had a small bowl of plain rice for breakfast (well plain rice cooked with chicken stock, so it was chickeny rice really!). Simple and ok.
I have managed to keep up my workouts so I don’t get out of the habit but have reduced them to short 10-15mins classes so I get a mini-workout without overdoing it. Today I managed to fit it in to wake me up a bit.
Lunch was the usual rice and bean sauce with the last bit of my sardines, and a nice glass of cold fruit tea – it’s surprisingly nice cold!
Although I felt really sluggish and tired this morning, and not very hungry, by the afternoon my appetite was back and I REALLY enjoyed making and eating my lentil and bean burgers! I have learnt my lesson from last year and avoided adding too much water – the recipe amount isn’t quite right and they were too wet last time! This time the lentil mixture was nice and firm and I fried up my kidney beans with some chorizo and spring onion and a few spices.
Mashed it all together… (and set a little aside for another treat – a kind of flatbread pasty that I want to make another day!)
This time it made a nice firm patty and it fried up really well, though my flatbreads were not great – the pan wasn’t hot enough so they didn’t puff up well and weren’t rolled thin enough.
And finally I made my burger, complete with some of my spicy tomato “ketchup” that I prepped on Sunday.
It was actualy delicous and a delightful break from rice! Having just rice and tea for 3 days made me really appreciate this meal!
Although this evening I was still feeling hungry and so I made some more rice crackers and I had a brainwave and put some more fruit tea into a wine glass – psychologically it really felt like a treat! I pretended it was Rose´ in my head!
Started off with a cup of tea – I added a little milk this time. Forgot to take a photo until I’d drunk most of it!
Did a bit more meal prepping yesterday and today – yesterday I cooked an extra ration of rice, blended it in the blender with some oil, water and spices so I have a couple of tubs of it ready to make rice crackers!
I also cooked today’s portion of rice up with a stock cube again – here is my rice cracker mixture (That’s the orange goo!) and today’s rice.
I had a small bowl of rice and bean sauce for my breakfast. As predicted I feel less hungry today than I did yesterday so don’t think I will need as much to eat but we’ll see how I feel as the day goes on!
Last night after I had my fruit tea I left the teabag in the thermos with more hot water overnight (still very hot this morning!!) and have decanted it into a jar to cool in the fridge as a treat/cold drink to have later on. it was lovely as a nice cold drink!
For lunch: More rice with a small half of a sardine and some beany sauce and a bit of spring onion, along with some salt, paprika and chilli powder. Delicious and very filling. I also had some of my cold fruit tea which was lovely! Fresh and tasted lovely! Again I usually don’t get much flavour from a fruit teabag on 2nd usage but leaving it to soak overnight seems to have helped a lot.
For dinner: Another stir-fry with chorizo and spring onion and some more beany sauce. I wasn’t feeling very hungry so ate it quite late and forgot to take a photo of it!
Coping ok with the sugar withdrawals so far. Definitely felt less hungry today than I did yesterday.
I did make some rice crackers in the evening but to be honest I wasn’t hungry and probably shouldn’t have bothered, I was more making a snack out of habit as I usually want something snacky in the evenings!
I had a cup of black tea for breakfast while the girls had toast this morning, and then immediately put my used teabag in a thermos with more hot water and left it to steep (last year I set aside my teabags to re-use but once they have dried out a bit they are quite weak on second use – this way I got a second cup of tea just as strong as the first one!).
I’ve decided to save my milk rations for my tea later in the week when I might need it more! I also have 2 teaspoons of sugar I can use so will save that for later when I need a boost!
I did my usual morning workout but a much shorter one as I didn’t want to get too tired and hungry on my first day!
Then I cooked my daily portion of rice with a chicken stock cube for flavour, and had a late breakfast with a little chopped spring onion and a drizzle of my prepped beannaise sauce.
For lunch I ate a little more rice with bean sauce, spring onion and a bit of my sardines ration. It was actually delicious and I sprinkled a little salt, chilli powder and paprika on it.
For dinner I fried up the rest of the leftover rice from today’s rations with chorizo and spring onion as a stir-fry and once again added a litle bean sauce for extra flavour.
Last year when I did my first ration challenge, I was worried about running out of food and had very plain meals the first couple of days. This time I feel a bit more confident about how much I will have leftover so have opted to crack into things like my bean sauce and sardines earlier on.
I remember last year the first day was hard, and as I went along it got easier (and I got less hungry) so this year I decided to ease in a bit more gently with more flavour and rations straight from the get-go.
Also I must say using stock cubes as a spice is a game-changer! Makes my plain rice much more tasty and delicious!
In the evening I had a cup of fruit tea and some rice crackers for a snack. Then I put my fruit tea bag into the thermos to steep overnight!
Overall I felt full and not too hungry, as I think I ate more this time around than on my first day last year, and I didn’t have any sugar cravings so far…
The night before I started my challenge I took a picture of all my rations and did a bit of meal prepping.
As a reminder, I’m going to eat only refugee rations for 7 days. The base rations for 7 days for one person are:
1.92kg Rice
400g Flour
170g Red Lentils
85g Dried Chickpeas
1 x small tin Sardines
1 x 400g tin Kidney Beans
300ml Cooking oil
In addition to these rations, I have also raised enough money to “earn” some extra rations (similar to refugees who manage to earn a little extra money here and there), and I have a joined a team so I can share resources/spices much like real refugees and families would do. My additional rations are:
Salt (unlimited)
1 x clove garlic
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes
210ml Milk
10 teabags
170g of any vegetable (I have chosen spring onions, same as last year)
120g of protein (I have chosen chorizo to make the flavour go further – last year I tried bacon)
6 x shared team spices (my team have chosen Turmeric, Cumin, Paprika, Stock cubes, Garlic Powder, and Chilli) – these are unlimited and make a HUGE difference!
50g Fruit (Pomelo) – this year I have inspired 2 other people to sign up and do it with me so this is a new reward for me
Had we but world enough and time... 