Forget the student staples of mince and instant noodles. Rice and lentils, with a dash of spices, are key meals for one Dunedin flat this week.
Samuel Lang, Matt Desmond, Henry Cotton, and Ben Traill have taken up the Global Poverty Project's Live Below the Line challenge to raise awareness and money for those living in extreme poverty.
After starting on Monday, the flatmates will live on $2.25 each per day for food and drink, until 6am on Saturday.
Porridge for breakfast, naan bread and banana for lunch and rice "with a hint of carrot" have been some of their meals so far.
"The quality of the food is all right, it's just the quantity," Mr Lang said.
While admitting to bouts of hunger, the University of Otago students all expected it to get easier as the week went on.
One of the hardest parts was refusing food others were offering, walking past fast food outlets on the way to university and resisting the smell of hot chips at their doorway.
Mr Cotton said it was hard to focus and he was "thinking about food all the time", although Mr Desmond thought it was "all in your head".
"It's kind of enjoyable and it's a personal challenge as well," Mr Lang said.
It also gave the group an opportunity to "appreciate how tough it really is", Mr Traill said.
They normally spent $120 on food a week, so having $45 to last them all over five days meant fresh fruit and vegetables, and of course meat, had fallen off their shopping list.
The $2.25 figure came from the World Bank's poverty line.
The bank set an extreme poverty line and stated anyone who survived on less than that amount per day, for food, shelter, health, education, transport and other living costs, was considered to be in extreme poverty.
Since 2005, this figure has been set at $US1.25 and is calculated using purchasing power parity, eliminating the price differences between countries in the conversion process.
Globally, 1.4 billion people live below that line.
The flat had raised $200 so far, but hoped to raise $1000, which will go to Oxfam New Zealand for its work in the Horn of Africa.
Budget: $45
Shopping list: potatoes, carrots, onions, lentils, chickpeas, preserved fruit, flat spices and herbs, milk, rice, flour, canned tomatoes, oil, bananas, pumpkin, vege stock.
Yesterday's menu:
• Breakfast - porridge with milk
• Lunch - homemade naan bread
• Dinner - dahl. ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz
