Malawi is the poorest country in the world. Many families there have very little to eat. One family in particular have had such a bad harvest that they have to mix their normal food with pig food.

I’m fundraising for Tearfund to help make sure families like these can learn sustainable and innovative farming methods. Every £10 I raise can help train farmers to produce a harvest even when the weather conditions are against them.


The official 'Mean Bean' week is between 27th-31st March - a full 5 days of only eating plain porridge for breakfast followed by rice and beans for the other two meals. I have decided to extend my challenge to nearly the whole month of March (1st-29th) in order to get a better understanding of what it's like to eat small quantities of the same food every day.

I will also be doing a couple of other things that are slightly different to the suggested Mean Bean challenge...

The first is that I will use milk instead of water for my porridge in the morning and add a banana to it, then add some broccoli OR spinach to accompany the rice and beans in the evening. I will also be taking some multivitamins.

Additionally, each Sunday between 1st-29th March will be a day I will allow myself to increase my portion sizes and substitute each food item for something else (e.g. instead of porridge with milk and a banana, I might have toast with butter and orange juice. Then instead of rice and beans, maybe a salmon fillet with boiled potatoes.).


As a good number of you are probably aware, I am getting married on 1st April (hence why I've left a couple of days at the end of March to ease myself back in to normal eating!). If you are planning on getting us a wedding gift but also wish to donate and don't have the money for both, feel free to split the money between a wedding gift and a donation however you like (even if it's all on one and none on the other). 

Though wedding gifts will be very useful and much appreciated, we can always use the gift list as our Christmas wish list for the next decade or so! Whereas families in poverty in countries like Malawi need food NOW! 

Join me in supporting those in poverty. Read more at tearfund.org/meanbean.

Thank you!