Preparing for the Challenge

Please support this year's challenge by donating here.

This year I'm taking a different approach than last year. I went to the shops with my entire week's budget to get the only foods I will consume over the next 5 days. I've decided that $1.75/day will go quite a bit further on a South African budget, so to keep myself on par with last year's challenge, I've decided to keep my budget to R10 (~C$1) per day. That's R50 for a week's worth of groceries. It's all there in the picture, save for one can of beans, which I will buy when I go to the shop that sells them for cheaper (otherwise, my only protein for the week would be in that 250ml of milk).

Putting down the sachet of Ricoffy coffee was definitely the most painful. A mere R6,75 for a week's worth of instant coffee meant that I would have to put back much needed vegetables or the whole packet of maize meal. I'm hoping one of my Imbali friends will be willing to trade a few sachets of tea for 1/4 bag of maize meal. The things we do for caffeine!