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…