The Week I Went on Rations

A few months back (and let’s face it, we’ve been away quite a number of months) a post came up on social media that sparked my interest. It was for the Ration Challenge (go here to read more about the aims https://www.rationchallenge.org.nz/about/refugee-week/) and the challenge was to live on the same rations a refugee has to for one week (unlike the people it’s trying to help who don’t get to ‘finish’). All money raised through sponsorship goes to provide the basics, plus a bit more, to Syrian refugees living in camps in Jordan (https://www.rationchallenge.org.nz/about/where-the-money-goes/).

So, I thought about it a while, then one afternoon clicked to join the challenge, and that was it.

For the week I’d have this to live on:

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Here’s a wee vid to show the difference between what we think of as normal (amount and variety) and what the above looks like:

Support Comes in Many Forms

In an email I sent to friends and colleagues, explaining what I was doing and drumming up sponsorship, I commented that I thought the big challenges for me (in regard to my usual eating habits) would be no peanut butter and no home-made bircher muesli. For other people it was the lack of red meat, coffee, and alcohol. From that email, and other means, I was happily surprised at the amount of sponsorship I received. Along with the donations I also got some lovely messages, for instance:

Ranui

“Go the leader! I solemnly swear to keep peanut butter out of your way for the week you’re rationing. Go GTMK”

Kanan

“Posted on behalf of Kanan: Kanan received a gift from a kind stranger yesterday, who paid her train fare when Kanan realized she had no ticket. He wouldn’t take change for the fare charge and she has ‘paid it forward’ by donating that, plus a wee bit more, to Ration Challenge.”

Neil

“Neil turned up on my doorstep after a cycle ride with $100 to donate. Thanks so much Neil. Glynis.”

Managing The Food

Apart from the staple amounts of food listed above, the Ration Challenge offers rewards if you pass certain milestones (which were either promotional activities or amounts raised). So, through the generosity of the people sponsoring me, and a little hustle on my part, I got salt (an absolute lifesaver), one piece of fruit (an apple which I stewed and froze in cubes to use as sweetness), 170g of vegetable (I chose spinach as it’s growing like mad in our garden and is very light so a big handful doesn’t weigh ‘anything’) and 120g of extra protein (I picked parmesan cheese – heaps of flavour and very versatile).

Before the challenge got underway, I made a menu to stick to so I didn’t run out of food halfway through the week. This did change during the challenge week as I got another reward or two (210ml of milk and 50g of sugar) but the gist of it looked like:

Original Menu Plan

Meal	Day 1 Thursday	Day 2 Friday	Day 3 Saturday	Day 4 Sunday	Day 5 Monday	Day 6 Tuesday	Day 7 Wednesday
Breakfast	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea	Congee Chamomile tea
Lunch	Steamed rice 100g Felafel 22g Spinach 20g	Steamed rice 100g Felafel 22g Spinach 20g	Fried rice 100g Sardine 1 Spinach 20g	Fried rice 100g Sardine 1 Spinach 20g	Steamed rice 100g Kidney beans 1/3 can Cheese 20g	Steamed rice 100g Kidney beans 1/3 can Cheese 20g	Steamed rice 100g Kidney beans 1/3 can Cheese 20g
Snack	Crepe (50g flour) apple, cheese 12g	Crepe (50g flour) apple, cheese 12g	Flat bread (50g flour) Sardine 1	Flat bread (50g flour) Sardine 1	Crepe (50g flour) apple, cheese 12g	Crepe (50g flour) apple, cheese 12g	Crepe (50g flour) apple, cheese 12g
Dinner	Fried rice 100g Sardine 1 Spinach 18g Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Fried rice 100g Sardine 1 Spinach 18g Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Rice balls 100g Sardine 1 Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Rice balls 100g Sardine 1 Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Steamed rice 100g Lentil curry Spinach 18g Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Steamed rice 100g Lentil curry Spinach 18g Chamomile tea 2nd dip	Steamed rice 100g Lentil curry Spinach 18g Chamomile tea 2nd dip

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By the end of the week my nice neat spreadsheet looked a little different as I learned things along the way and my body/head adapted to the food available:

The Menu Now

See all the congee crossed out and replaced? Well, the very first thing I found was that I really, really do not like congee (a very, very watery rice and water mix). And I’d made enough for three breakfasts the night before day one, so I was stuck with it. On day one and day two I managed to get through it (just), hoping, on day two, that by having it hot it would somehow make the dish more palatable – but, no. With the last portion, I strained off the water, added a bit of steamed dry rice, made balls, rolled them in flour,  and fried them – what a difference some bite and some crunch makes!

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I got used to preparing things the night before, cooking chapati in the mornings before I left for work, weighing dry ingredients, to the last gram allowed, and making each meal last as long as I could.

Challenges

The hardest day for me was day two. I had a massive head-ache, a sinus infection, and I just felt overwhelmingly tired and awful – but I bounced back after that 😊. For the rest of that week my energy levels stayed up, though I got dizzy most mornings from low blood sugars. This is a normal thing for me anyway when I’m training hard so, hey, it was no big drama. And, a big thing for me; I could still exercise (cycle, run, walk) throughout the week – and I did.

A typical main meal. I had a tin of sardines to last me the week, I’d been having a half one in some meals but, this last night, I got to have a whole one. Lucky I adore sardines.

So, What Did I Learn?

Go see what was achieved: (https://www.rationchallenge.org.nz)

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