As you all know, Alex and I like food. A LOT. It's all we ever really talk about. This is, after all, a man who cooks eight course feasts for his own birthday...

To raise money for a good cause we will be challenging ourselves to live below the poverty line for a week, subsisting on £1 each per day for all of our food and drink. Say goodbye to gourmet lunches, auf wiedersehen to michelin-style dinners and adios to Alex's beloved coffee.

From 18th - 24th September we will only be allowed to consume what our combined £14 buys us, forgoing the usual supplementary supplies from the cupboard / work fridge.

All the money we raise will go to the Euston Foodbank, where I have been volunteering since January. Run by The Trussell Trust, the foodbank is a vital lifeline for local people.

Thirteen million people live below the poverty line in the UK, with people going hungry every day for all kinds of reasons, ranging from delayed wages or benefits to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income (it is worth noting that a great deal of our clients are in-work).

Between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017, the 427 foodbanks within The Trussell Trust Network provided 1,182,954 three day emergency food supplies to people in crisis, 37% of which went to children. On average people only require two foodbank vouchers in a year to see them through difficult times.

Whilst Euston Foodbank is run by a team of wonderful volunteers, they still require money to buy crucial supplies and help extend the foodbank's services.

So dig deep, in the knowledge that I (and especially Alex) will be thoroughly miserable eating bland food for a week, and you will be helping a brilliant organisation fight the devastating effects of austerity.