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.