April Austerity - Stockpiling Syndrome

This was dinner last night.  It was the first time I'd sat down actually hungry!  Because of my medication regime and my exhaustion levels, I tend to graze through the day - I'm not usually one for big meals - but the lack of nuts to nibble on is causing a bit of a problem. 

I had 80g of fresh broccoli; there's still another 4 portions left, so 50p was great!  I had 60g of Savoy cabbage; there's still ⅔ of the original item left and I had the last 50g of a carrot that had made its way grated into a wrap and 4 portions of coleslaw.  Potato wedges went nicely with the pie.

And well done Tosca!  Originally £3 and I paid £2 for this pie.  I didn't look too closely at the ingredients, but on taste alone this can't be faulted for 50p a portion!  That said, I think a normal sized adult may find the size a bit small...  If budgets are tight and you want a little bit of comfort food, then this is not bad.  Obviously, again, you have to cast aside any consideration for the chicken's quality of life before it wrapped itself in pastry, but flavour and texture were pretty good, and who doesn't like puff pastry?  It probably worked out at about 95p for the meal.

Last nights dinner actually happened after a quick trip to Tosca.  I spent £4.92 on this lot.  I didn't have the energy to go over to Aldee to pick up cheaper bits and bobs.  If I had to get by on £10 a week, I'd sturggle for the simple fact that I find supermarkets exhausting.  Normally, Tosca comes to me once a fortnight with a two week supply!

The swede, carrots, onion and parsnip was a deal for £1.  Adding up the items individually bought, it would have been nearly £1.50 - so keep an eye out for the packs with the largest produce as they are not sold by weight!!!  Eight apples? 94p instead of £1.60.  I wish I'd gone a bit later; the discounted produce may have been better!

 So... £10.54 for the month remains - heck!  I won't be going back to the shops until Sunday/Monday next week.

Which is why I spent most of today making stacks of soup.  I took two of the manky Aldee chicken breasts, the turkey bone, some of the soup mix (split peas, beans etc), ½ of the swede, the onion, some potato and the parsnip and made soup.  I also added a bit of the veg stock from the cupboard, a load of dried herbs and seasoning  I was going to put in one of my lovely new carrots, but I decided to keep them and instead spent 5 minutes removing frozen carrots from the veg mix!  It seemed sensible; I'd be getting some fresh veg, but bulk out the soup with stuff that's fairly lame, if eaten just cooked.  I had it for dinner; there's 8 portions in the freezer and about 6 in the fridge.  

Hopefully they'll make life a bit easier as I am becoming too tired to cook again.  I normally only cook 2-3 nights a week; I get too tired to prepare a hot meal every day, so this exercise is already making its mark, from that point of view.  If this was my reality, it would probably have quite serious consequences for my health, especially if I didn't have a car to go to buy goods.  On this budget the shopping is not delivered.

Tonights dinner: homemade, plenty of veg, all blitzed together and it was pretty good, if I may say so myself.  Nothing unpronounceable in this bowl and the chicken passes muster like this.

Au

April Austerity - Wimbledon Wombling

Ok, so I don't live in Wimbledon, but surely you remember the philosophy of those chaps?  They picked up rubbish other people left behind; this afternoon, I picked up a Tosca Price Promise.  There it was, all £1.42 of it.  It was left in the floor.  Someone's 'chucked away' very valuable money! It paid (almost) for 1.3kg of frozen veg and a huge courgette.  I contributed 12p.  I'm quite prepared to stoop to cheap tricks to come in under £45 - although Freeganism may be one step too far!

I've priced up the remaining odds and ends in the fridge - 3 apples, ½ a cucumber, ⅓ of a lettuce, 3 eggs, ⅓ jar pesto, and a large carrot.  I also grabbed milk (95p), 13g of mixed herbs (49p) and 4 garlic bulbs (59p).  So the total spend now stands at £29.54, leaving me with about £5 a week!  eep!!  That probably doesn't sound a lot, but if you scroll back over the last ten days, then you'll see a lot of stuff has already been squirrelled away.  

I said before I think I *could do this, but it has been nearly two weeks in planning - and it could still go wrong.  I can't imagine having to think like this ALL the time, just to survive.

April Austerity - Dastardly Decisions

I have to confess that I am looking forward to seeing how April pans out.  I know we all spend more than we need to, but then that is all part of having choices in what we do, how we behave and in this instance, how we eat.

I have three big vices as far as consumables are concerned: baked goods, chocolate and tea.  I can't afford this in April - well, not at the rate that I am used to purchasing.  I think I've factored in enough to be able to bake two 6-scone batches and ½ a batch of flapjack.  The latter will be devoid of the usual nutty chunks and I certainly won't be adding in 200g of almond flour, or dried apricots, or Amaretto...I am sure you get the idea, but at least I can still bake.  I also think that the milk allocation for the scones will be halved and water added in replacement.  I hope this doesn't ruin them and ultimately waste resources!

I've also gone for Aldee's own teabags - 160 for 1.99, rather than my favourite brand at £4.49 (although I bulk buy when it's half price) for the equivalent box.  That's probably enough tea for me and the odd person popping over for a cuppa.

The chocolate?  It can whistle.  I can't believe I have actually said that about chocolate, but the thought of giving up tea was horrifying and for the price of a snickers I can knock up flapjack that can be cut into slices, frozen and eaten over the month.

What am I saying?  Really, that before this has gotten underway, my way of shopping and the goods I buy have already been changed.  There is very little choice on £1.50 a day and you certainly can't buy things that are deemed to be healthy: seeds, nuts, blueberries, organic produce are definitely off the table, as are more exotic items like sweet potato and avocado.  

But more than this, my way of thinking is starting to change already.  What can I get for X amount?  What's the cheapest version?  Can I buy bread now, or shall I leave it until the wraps have been eaten?  If I buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, will it be enough to get me out of a hunger hole, if the other vegetables run out?  If they don't, what will I do then?

April Austerity - Idiotic Idea

I don't know about you, but I am never really ever hungry.  I am lucky that I can afford to buy what I want, when I want - for now.  The reason I say 'for now' is that I am on a small income, with little/no chance of increasing it; my mortgage is on the SMR and will go up at some point and my out goings are already more than my income.  Yes, I have cut my spend drastically; there are a few other adjustments I could make, but at the moment I do not need to do that.  So what's with the idea behind April Austerity?

Firstly, the budget has just been released and things are looking a bit better for savers.  I always used to be a saver; I had a good job, I bought a house, I learned to drive, but now I am spending my resources and at some point, things could get messy.  Then there is the recent spate of benefit programs on the TV - from Channel 4's 'Benefit Street' to BBC1's recent celebrity brush with the poverty line.  Basically, 3-4 celebrities were sent to live with people in food poverty.  They had to stay with them for a week.  It was interesting because clearly the celebs had no idea that people were existing on ridiculously small amounts of money and also because those on reduced incomes had a wide variety of circumstances.  It got me thinking.  How hard is it to survive on £1.50 a day (£10.38 a week / £45 a month)?  I am not sure that a 5 day/1 week challenge will give the full effect of the situation in which some have found themselves - this needs to be done for a month.

My normal weekly budget for food and household is about £24 - this is based on a slightly haphazard recording of spending from last year, but it is a fair amount.  That's £3.43 a day.  Can I shave £1.93 a day off of my shopping bill, without going hungry and without damaging my health?  Clearly, my health has to take priority and if you are wondering why, just read 'My Transplant Story'.  The difference between my normal monthly spend and the April Austerity spend will spent on a foodbank shop.

Planning will be the key to this venture.  I suspect I'll not be eating avocado, or pine nuts in April :(