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 - Clucking Chickens

Not all chicken is created equally, but that is hardly news.

The meat I'll be eating over the next month falls way below the standard of welfare that I'd like my dinner to have experienced before ending up in front of me.  So, why didn't I turn vegetarian for the month?

Firstly,  I am a meat eater and to turn veggie for 30 days seems like a fake change, especially in view of the fact that I am trying to get a feel for what it may be like for someone who is having to live like this on a permanent basis. Whilst some may chose to give up the meat, in favour of veggies, many probably won't.  This exercise is not one in animal welfare, but one in people living on the breadline.

Secondly, there's the question of my diet and the transplant drugs.  The last time I was up at Harefield I overheard a conversation between another patient and her family.  She'd decided to swap herself onto a diet which was substantially different from her normal routine.  Her blood test results took a nose dive and from the way she was talking, I think she'd had one heck of a telling off from the doctor!  Not only were several things like her iron levels out (no, I can't remember them all), but scarily her immuno suppressant levels had dropped to dangerous levels.  Basically, if you reduce the fat content in your diet, then you reduce the amount of immune-suppressant drugs that your body absorbs.  If you increase the fat content, then you absorb too much and are at risk of scary things like kidney failure.  The bottom line is, don't change your diet without supervision, eat regularly and eat similar types of food in similar quantities.  Discussion with a transplant doctor, about a lifestyle change is essential if you are making changes and be prepared for weekly blood tests and subsequent mucking about with doses until they are satisfied you are stable!  On top of this, I am already eating a restricted diet.  This all seemed far to complicated to factor into something that is really a social experiment.

Anyway, back to the chicken.   It's been a loooong time since I've had the misfortune to knowingly eat anything quite so revolting as Tosca's value frozen chook breasts.  The 1kg bag, for £3.99, has to be the worst thing on the market at only 82% chicken in their 'Chicken' - the rest is made up of added water, dextrose and salt - for 'added succulence'.  Apparently adding salt and sugar makes something juicy; the water (we all know) just leaks out upon cooking.  So, you've actually only bought 820g of chicken, not 1kg!

Aldee 1kg frozen chicken 'value' breasts come in at £3.99 as well.  I avoided this because this had added water and again, I actually wanted to pay for what I was getting, if you see what I mean.  That said, there was no added salt and sugar, so it is an improvement on Tosca's efforts.

Sodsbury's 1kg frozen chicken breasts were a whopping great £6.49!!!  I can't afford that!!! Moving swiftly on and back to my current scrimpery fave - Aldee: £3.79 for 6 breasts weighing in at 700g.  Given the water and junk content in the Tosca cheap version, I think this should be better value...  Only a taste test next week will prove me right, or wrong.

Clearly I have had to cast aside any guilt I feel about battery farming, as I am pretty sure that animal welfare is not particularly high on the agenda of the cheap end of supermarket shopping, or in the minds of people looking for pennies to be able to afford to feed the family.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I'll have to atone for this with a month of ethical eating, including total freedom food and see what that does for my wallet.  

April Austerity - Preparation Problems

Whose daft idea was this anyway?  £45 is a miserly amount of money for a month's worth of food, even though I am a scratch under 5ft and weigh 7st 4.   

After spending forever on price comparison sites, it has become abundantly clear that being broke means being canny, organised and it's a full time job sourcing food at a reasonable price.   I've become obsessed with the changing prices between Asbo and Tosca.  I am annoyed that Aldee doesn't put all it's prices online.  Why don't Moccasins run a nationwide delivery service?  But, be careful; their cheap range bread is a lot more expensive than Aldee and Tosca!  Well, it was when I checked last night...

I haven't even started the month and I am very much aware that to eat this cheap, you really should be growing your own vegetables.  I have neither the strength, nor the health to do this.  So, what can I do to make sure I am not starving by day 19?  I'm organising my cupboard, fridge and freezer.  I've decided that I'll allow myself salt and pepper as 'freebies'; I have enough to last a lifetime and if I lost all my money/income overnight, I'd still have that in the cupboard.  

I'm lucky, I have three other freebies at my disposal - ½ a pack of Manchego cheese and ¾ of a pack of pasta (I belong to Tosca's 'Orchard' Scheme and get sent vouchers to try and review products); I also won a pizza in a competition.  If you are having to be more than thrifty, you can still enter competitions and go to the library to take part in reviews online.  You can also take advantage of reward schemes and use their appropriate vouchers that come in the post - thank you Tosca Clubcard.  Is this cheating?  No, this is being a savvy shopper - collecting coupons and then using them against a deal.  Two packs of Mission Wraps (£2.00 each = £4.00, but they were on offer - 2 for £2.00) may have been out of my price range for April, but Tosca obliged and sent me two 50p coupons - 16 wraps for £1.00, is acceptable (better than the original start price of £4.00!!)

I've priced up some of the odds and ends in my cupboard and fridge freezer that can contribute.  If it's less than a packet, I have worked out the price based on the percentage.    Living with very careful account balancing, you don't throw everything away at the end of the month and start again with £45 - you use up everything.   If I run out of something and need to replace it, then the cost has to come out of the money that remains.  I hope this seems fair; it's more in line with normal living.  After all, we all have some daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly costs in a rolling fashion.

These are the items hanging about at home at the moment that can go towards April - the cost of the goods will be deducted from the monthly sum of £45.  TEV stands for Tosca Everyday Value.

£0.89 - Tosca Coffee (I weighed my morning coffee: 2g.  200g jar - £2.98: 2.98/200x60=89.4p

£0.99 - TEV Honey

£0.75 - TEV Oats 1kg

£0.18 - TEV Self Raising Flour (600g out of 1.5kg, 45p bag)

£0.60 - TEV Sultanas (355g from 500g, 84p)

£0.24 - TEV Baked Beans 

£0.30 - TEV Kidney Beans

£0.68 - 2x TEV Tinned Tomatoes    

£0.35 - TEV Peaches in juice 

£0.63 - 5 flatbreads out of pack 6 (reduced - 75p)

£1.00 - 2x8 pack Mission Herb Wraps (buy 2 for £2 + £1 coupon!) 

£0.49 - 620g Tate & Lyle Sugar from 5kg £3.99 bag

£0.31 - TEV 1kg Long Grain Rice 770g out of 1kg, 40p bag

£1.37 - New Potatoes

£0.88 - 125g Seriously Strong Cheddar Ctr (50p coupon - in freezer)

£0.75 - TE Salad Cheese (in Freezer)

£1.49 - Mince Turkey (in freezer)

£0.20 - TEV ½ jar Mayonnaise

£0.34 - 26g of Boullion Vegetable Stock, from 150g at £2.00

£0.33 - 56g Chicken Bisto from 500g tub at £2.99

£0.00 - Pizza won in comp (Free)

£0.00 - 80g Manchego Cheese (Free Coupon)

£0.00 - Tosca Finest Pasta (Free Coupon)

£12.97 - Total Spend

£32.03 - Remaining (eep)