Challenge update.

The 'eat what we have' challenge went well. Towards the end of the week, some staples run out, e.g. Onions, potatoes, bread, tinned tomatoes. It was an interesting experiment, and probably something we should be mindful of in general - using what's available before buying more.

The 'eat for £1 per day' challenge hasn't been a success. My daughter and I both did day one, and compared notes. We concluded that it was extremely difficult to get enough nutrients, although we know we could survive a week. We still had items to use up which would have perished had we had to count their value in the £1, as there wasn't a way to justify the expense. E.g., violife soft 'cheese' = 25p per 20g. So that's a quarter of a day's budget.
Porridge was a good option, at 4p - 5p, depending on serving size. That's made with water though, so add extra for milk substitutes or sweetener.
Fruit was barely affordable, although I managed to get half price apples at 15p each and bananas were 12p each.
All in all, a useful exercise, but difficult to achieve.

The 'shop local', planned for next week poses an interesting question: how much difference does time of year make? Does it just alter what's available? Is cost affected? What counts as 'local'?
Interestingly, I stumbled across a book a few days ago called 'A Life Stripped Bare' by Leo Hickman. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far, subjects such as food miles, fair trade versus organic, local versus supporting farmers abroad etc. have been looked at. I'm finding it incredibly interesting so far, and I think it's particularly topical whilst attempting these challenges.

One last thing for today ... here's a picture of today's lunch, featuring some of my alfalfa sprouts - the first crop!

Today is my 'eat what you have' challenge - day five. We've enjoyed some lovely vegan meals, although there have been comments from family members about lack of bread, onions, tomatoes etc., as each has run out :-)

Here's a sample:

Pictured are packed lunch, vegan quorn bolognaise with broccoli, beans on toast, roast dinner with vegan spicy quorn burger, lentil dhal, rice and onion bhajis, pasta with vegan sausages in homemade tomato sauce, crackers and violife cheese.

This is way more processed food than I would normally eat, however it is mainly things we bought in for Christmas still being used up and supplemented with vegetables, seeds etc.

Today, I also sowed some cress seeds to make a tiny start on my home grown food. I've also put some mung beans and alfalfa seeds to soak ready for sprouting.

Time now to do a little bit of colouring before bed.

Challenge - day two.

So, this has been day two of my 'eat what you have' challenge. So far, so good. Breakfast was toast with peanut butter and jam. For lunch, being a work day, I took a salad with olives, seeds and corn crackers. The salad was dressed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Oddly, I didn't feel inclined to put salt and pepper all over it.

When I got home from work, my husband had made a lovely red lentil bolognaise with wholewheat spaghetti.

Snacks were a couple of bananas, an apple and a packet of crisps. (The crisps, I confess, I bought and opened before remembering it was no spending on food week).

Plans for January

For the remainder of this month (beginning today), I've decided to undertake four challenges - one per week - regarding meal planning. My eldest daughter is joining me, and we will compare our experiences. The challenges are:

Week 1 (4th - 10th) - Eat what we have (no food shopping).
Week 2 (11th - 17th) - Eat for £1 per day.
Week 3 (18th - 24th) - Shop local.
Week 4 (25th - 31st) - Avoid processed food.

Week 1 is designed to use up any food from the festive season, whilst allowing time to plan week 2.
Week 2 I will take £7 and buy food for the week.
Week 3 I have attempted before, as a vegetarian, and it was difficult then. Having learnt over time, I'm sure it's possible to do this as a vegan and not go short on nutrients.
Week 4 raises the question of 'what is processed?' Do we count flour? Frozen food? Bread? Pasta? Rice even? I think the best we can do is define unprocessed as whole foods, fresh, dried or frozen.

Other things I intend to do this month:

• Start growing sprouts (bean sprouts, sprouting seeds, etc.) - I have a salad sprouter from the '80s and I've bought some mung beans and alfalfa seeds.
• Begin preparing to grow some vegetables - we have a fairly large garden, but most of it is shaded by trees. We may thin some branches, but meanwhile, I have bought a book on container gardening (pictured above). I'm hoping to begin on a small scale and progress from there.
• I received a colouring book for Christmas from my younger daughter - I enjoyed making a start and look forward to continuing this relaxing pastime.

Welcome.

Hello and welcome to my brand new blog.
This is the place where I hope to document and share ideas, experiences, recipes, projects and anything which may be of interest.
I hope you enjoy reading. :-)