The £3 a Day Challenge - Day One

 

On a bright and sunny Monday morning I trotted off to Sainsburys armed with my re-usable bag and a single pound coin, my logic being that if I didn't have any more with me I wouldn't be tempted to go over for my first shop of the Challenge.

It worked.  I had planned to have tinned tomatoes and onion on toast and I managed to get all the ingredients I needed.  There was 22p left over, ooh I thought, is that enough for some garlic?  But on walking back to the fresh produce aisle I discovered that the bulbs of garlic were 25p each 😞

Oh well, it meant that I would have an extra 22p to spend somewhere along the line.

Breakfast Shopping

6 wholemeal Pitta breads - 35p

1 onion - 15p

1 tin tomatoes - 28p

Total 78p

22p change

My Breakfast

Leftovers

Five pitta breads, 2/3 tin of tomatoes and most of the onion.

The pittas were the only way I could afford to get any bread to make my breakfast a complete meal.  The cheapest loaf was 55p and it was that pappy cheap white supermarket bread that I just would not have enjoyed (they had no cheap brown loaves left).  Actually the pittas have worked out well, as when I cut them in half they fit neatly into my tiny toaster.

Time for Lunch ...

Lunch Shopping

4 baking potatoes - 45p

a head of celery - 43p

1 carrot - 5p

Total 93p

7p change

Everything peeled, washed and ready for chopping, I decided to add another potato after I had taken this photo as I do like a higher potato ratio in my stews 😀

The bowl on the right was my lunch and very tasty it was too, and the bowl on the left a more strained version and with all the bitty bits from the pan is going to be the filling for a pasty.

A colander full of the washed trimmings and peelings ready to go into the freezer to give me a pot of 'free' soup in a couple of days.

Leftovers

Two baking potatoes and most of the celery, now washed and wrapped so it stays nice and fresh for the whole week.

And then there was Tea ...

After a day of walking, cooking and cleaning up the mess at the house I'm afraid on the way back from the evening doggy walk I just went down the easy route, and as these Aldi No Cheez Bakes were on offer at 99p (instead of their usual £1.29 I think it is), I just bought these.

Teatime Shopping 99p

change 1p

Half an hour later and my tea was ready.  

Not magnificently nutritious but it hit the spot and with a cup of coffee and the latest Midsomer Murders it made for a pleasant evening before an early night.

So not a bad  first day and there was money over ... a whole 30p.

Which will roll forward to breakfast tomorrow and give me a little leeway with my spending, and perhaps encourage me to eat a little more healthily 😃

Food carried Forward

5 pitta breads

2 potatoes

most of a head of celery

2/3 tin tomatoes

Sue xx

At Last ... A New Challenge on the Way

I mentioned over on my other blog A Smaller Life that I was missing my Challenges, then I came up with an idea, threw it open to see if there was any interest, and boy oh boy yes there was.  So today I am having a wander around the local supermarkets, sussing out the viability of it here in this small town and will most likely be kicking off the Challenge tomorrow.

What is the Challenge I hear those of you asking that do not read my other blog.  Well after watching Toba Courage's latest 'Broke in Lockdown' Challenge from day one through to day seven I have decided to shamelessly steal part of his idea ... and you know me, it's the food part.

Below is the actual link for those of you that read my blog posts on your phones as I have found the photo with it's built-in link doesn't seem to show on Android phones.

Broke in Lockdown - 

(135) Filling surveys & Buying domains for money - Day 1 - YouTube

So the basic premise is that for the next seven days I will go out armed with one pound to buy food for my breakfast, then take out another pound for my lunch and then finally yet another for my tea ... or dinner if you're posh  😉  That's £3 for each days food.

As mentioned on the Smaller Life post (see HERE if you want to read it for yourself) this actually gives me £21 for a weeks food, much higher than some of my previous Challenges which have seen me with a total budget for a week of just £7.  So it should be very achievable, the difficulty with this is that I only have one pound up front each time ... and maybe a few extra pence if the previous meal has come in under budget.

It should be an interesting one this time and of course it fits in well with me not having the space to store much in my tiny fridge or being able to make meals ahead and freeze portions.

I'll be back in the morning with a post about the basic rules of the Challenge there's not many really but it will be nice to get them down and it will give me the chance to get a day ahead with the food ready for posting about it.

Sue xx

Challenge Six - The Coupon Challenge - Day One

 

It all started with the self-service till at the Co-op asking me if I wanted to use my dividends.  Yes I clicked, I do.  I had gone to the local Co-op for some bread and some milk for Alan, and while I was there bought some treats for the weekend .  Wandering up and down the now one-way aisles means temptation reaches out at you,  so my shop ended up including two boxes of Magnums that were on special offer.

My total came to £13.90 and it turned out I had £12.65 in dividends.  So not too shabby ... the bread and the treats for just £1.25

It made me think what other vouchers, coupons or points have I got and not used while we have been busy paying contactless for virtually everything for the majority of this year and gotten out of the habit of handing over cash and vouchers.

My last saved Sainsbury's receipt, tucked in the pocket of my bag showed me that I had £8.49 in Nectar points.  As far as I know you can only redeem these in £2.50 increments, which means I have £7.50 available to spend.  This amount made me think even harder ... it just screams Challenge Week!!

The Marks and Spencer's vouchers had built up nicely as I have no M&S near the Van to shop at.  There was a grand total of £24 gathered over the course of this year.

And WOW the Tesco grand total for the year ... again I have no Tesco near the Van ... along with the ones that arrived the other week is a smile inducing £33.50.

So what to do?

I decided that I would do something different with each of the sets of coupons and points to make things more interesting, and I would photograph and save the resulting purchases until they had all been completed and show you what I had been up to in the form of a mini Coupon Challenge.

I have now completed all but one of my little spend-athons, and it's time to let you in on what I did.

So today you see the Co-op spend.  Basics and treats for a grand total of £1.25.

Tomorrow it's the turn of  the Marks and Spencer's vouchers, and what I bought in the week following the Ration Challenge.

Sue xx

The Ration Challenge - My Food for the Week

So here is the basic Ration Pack foods.

The things that arrived in the actual pack were:

420g white rice

170g red lentils

85g dried chickpeas

1 tin of kidney beans

330mls of vegetable oil

+

2 coupons

With the coupons I could add from my own supplies 400g white flour and an additional 1.5kg of white rice.  Because I asked for the vegetarian/vegan pack I could also choose to replace the sardines that would usually be in the pack with 120g of a protein of my choice.  I realised that in the refugee camps people would simply swap with each other I decided to choose an additional 120g of red lentils.

So in total I have 1.92kgs of rice and 290g red lentils.

I decanted my rice into a large jar and put my flour in two jars as it wouldn't all fit into one.   The top jar has exactly 100g in it and will be used first.

With the help of all my sponsors I have been able to earn some extras, just as the refugees do in the camps by doing jobs to help the camps run as smoothly as possible.

My Earned Rewards are:

For passing - £125 - Unlimited Salt

For passing £250 - 170g Vegetable - I chose Onion

For passing £400 - 120g Protein - I chose Peanut Butter

There was just enough in my jar, so I decanted it back after weighing it out.

For passing £600 - Any hot or cold drink (330ml)  - I have chosen to make myself a Smoothie.

For passing £850 - Any bonus food item to the value of £3.  To be eaten in one sitting.

After much deliberation ... never has £3 been so important to spend correctly ... I chose to buy a pack of Cherry Tomatoes.  These will be used to top and accompany a pizza for one of my evening meals.

The teeny tiny jam jar in the photo with the salt, onions and peanut butter contains two teaspoons of instant coffee, which I earned for gathering over £39 of sponsorship in a 24 hour window.  This will be used when an emergency coffee is called for ... and every sip will be savoured.

Although participants can earn up to 10 teabags for asking for sponsorship, as I don't drink tea I didn't do this.  Coffee is not allowed during the Challenge so this little incentive to be able to earn just two teaspoonfuls was brilliant.

For initially sponsoring myself as well as getting the Ration Pack I earnt the right to use an unlimited amount of one spice ... I chose Cumin.  Then when I joined a team The Vegan Squad, I earned the ability to also be able to use the spices chosen by my team-mates.  So I can also use Turmeric, Cinnamon, Paprika, Garlic Powder and Chilli Powder

As well as the spices which you can share a team also earns 210mls of milk each.  As I don't use milk in much of what I eat and none of my teammates wanted my share, I offered it up to anyone on the Ration Challenge Facebook Group and it was accepted by someone who needed milk for her tea.

My Next job is to put all my available food on the little shelf in the Van and remove from sight and away from temptation anything else that is usually there.  I'll be back tomorrow with the first days meals, as obviously I have to make and eat them before I can do a blog post about them.

So I'll see you tomorrow.

Sue xx

Gearing Up To a Challenge

One days food for ration Challenge Week,  the same rations that the refugees in the Syrian camps have for each day.

I don't usually spend so long 'gearing up' for a new Challenge.  This year because I signed up nice and early to the Ration Challenge there has been over a month up to now of thinking about this, fundraising for this brilliant cause and sort of planning.  I say sort of  because I have yet to work out a menu for the week, I have lots of ideas in my head for things to make with my limited ingredients, but no definite menu plan as such.  

Some of this years Challengers have divided their food up by the seven days and are using one seventh of the total rations each day.  A guy called Jonathan Smith divided all his food up into sevenths and took this photo to put on the Facebook group so everyone could see what this actually looks like.  But of course there are lots of us, me included who don't eat fish, so with his permission I did a vegetarian/vegan version of his photo with the little one seventh of a tin of sardines carefully edited out.

A little bit of vegan magic I called it  🤣🤣

Some ... me included ... are making larger portions of things to have in different meals all through week.  One thing is really for sure with 1.92kg of rice to pad out the meals one heck of a lot of rice will be consumed.

Between now and the start of the Challenge in just eleven days I am slowly and steadily eating my way through the cupboard, fridge and freezer at the Van and when I nip back to Wales at the weekend it will be the same there.  My mind is telling me to remove all the temptation ... well it's a good excuse to have chocolate for supper!!

Thank you so much to all of you who have donated recently.  My fundraising page is HERE and you can see for yourselves what the brilliant new total is.  

THANK YOU

Sue xx

Doing the Ration Challenge 2020

So I asked the question on my last post, you know the one, about whether I should once again take part in the Ration Challenge,  and if you would be interested in following me if I did, and quite a few of you were and were extremely supportive in your answers.  Then I had a think about it myself ... oh I remember the brain fog that hit half way through the week so well ... did I really want to do it again?

Well folks that answer came in a flash - YES.

It's a good cause, it's a brilliant Challenge and I need something to remind me that eating very simply is good, very good.  Alright ... eating with a little bit more variety is better but I am going to use the Challenge to simplify my eating habits again.

Lockdown has seen a plethora of vegan junk food entering the house, and once it's here it has to be eaten ... doesn't it, doesn't it 🤣🤣

So I've made myself a little Ration Challenge notebook, dug out the ration Challenge water bottle that I won last year, and I'm in the process of getting my head in gear while I answer questions on the Ration Challenge Facebook page from some of this years new participants who are having a little wobble.

Fundraising is going to be hard this year and yet if we want to get the pack, have a spice and earn the few extras we are allowed to help us through the Challenge we do need to climb the fundraising ladder.

Here's a page I've stuck into my little notebook -

This is to help me monitor where I am on the Earnings Rewards ladder.

As you can see by my one and only tick I currently have my unlimited spice.  This was earned, along with my ration pack, by self-sponsoring.  This year once again I have chosen Cumin.

It's no good me trying for teabags as I don't drink tea.  So my next aim is salt.

And oh boy do I need salt!!  

Last year I went through two thirds of a salt cellar worth just to get some flavour into my foods.

So will you help me get to the magic £125 level over the next few days?  Thanks to some of my family I am now at the dizzying height of £96.80.  Thank you so much if any of you are reading this  😃

Here is my fundraising page.

You don't have to make it a huge amount, just scroll past the pictures until you get to Other Amount and type in whatever you would like to donate.  Every pound is gratefully accepted and very needed. 

 Last year between us we managed to raise £780.90 ... enough money to feed five refugees for an entire year.

I will put a link to my fundraising page onto the sidebar of this blog from now until the end of the Ration Challenge, so if you don't have any spare cash now you can easily find the link again.

Thanking you ... in anticipation of salt  😁

When I reach the next level I'll share what else I've stuck in my little Challenge notebook.

Sue xx

New Challenge - Two Weeks Living on a Box

So ... my new Challenge is Two Weeks Living on a Box.

Nooo ... I am not balancing on a box for a fortnight, I am eating from the contents of a box designed to feed two people for one week.  But as I am only one person and do not wish to share this Challenge, the food should last me two weeks, with careful storage.

Morrisons have been doing various food boxes since just after the start of the Coronavirus pandemic but they were for meat eaters or vegetarians, and then last week they launched the Vegan Food Box and I spotted it mentioned on one of the groups I am in on Facebook.  

The British Food Box - £45

They do a basic food box with a mix of meat and groceries for £35, and also this British Food box for ten pounds more.

The Gluten Free Box  £35

And then the one I have chosen - The Vegan Food Box - £35

It caught my imagination straight away and I had an 'Aha ... that's a good new Challenge'  moment.  After looking around on social media I found that someone had already priced up the contents of the box if you were to go and shop for the individual items at Morrisons for yourself, and seemingly the cost of all the items combined adds up to just over the £34 mark.  So with delivery to your home address included in the price of the box it seems that this is very good value.

We shall see won't we!!

So what does the box contain exactly, the blurb on the Morrisons page says this:

*** *** ***

What's in the box?

Designed to feed two for a week, this box contains vegan ingredients to help you enjoy a balanced vegan lifestyle at home. You'll find fresh produce including fruit and vegetables, grains, nuts and vegan protein products like meat-free sausages and meatless mince.

Your box will include the items listed below, or comparable products of similar value:

KTC Chickpeas 500g

Morrisons Shredded Jackfruit in Sweet and Smoky BBQ Sauce 150g

Morrisons Wholefoods Cous Cous 500g

Di Martino Gaetano Pasta 500g

Pure Sunflower Spread 500g

Alpro Fresh Almond Unsweetened Drink 1L

Heck Meat Free Sausages 400g

Alpro Plain Unsweetened No Sugars 500g

Morrisons Almonds 200g

Violife Dairy Free Cheese Alternative 200g

Morrisons Wonky Carrots 1kg

Morrisons Brown Onions 1kg

Morrisons The Best Sweet Baby Peppers 250g

Morrisons Baby Spinach 160g

Morrisons The Best Wholemeal Sunflower Seed & Spelt Farmhouse 800g

Morrisons Baby Potatoes 1kg

Morrisons Royal Gala Apples 6 per pack

Morrisons Passata 500g

Morrisons Vegan Savoury Stock Pots 4 x 28g

Morrisons Apple & Cinnamon Crisp Granola 500g

Morrisons V TASTE No chicken strips

The Meatless Farm Co Meat Free Mince 400g

Lotus Original Caramelised Biscuits 250g

Please accept our apologies. Our image, above, is incorrect and instead of Morrisons Pasta Sauce you will receive Morrisons Passata.  We are working on updating the image as soon as possible.

*** *** ***

So using the listed items as a starting point I am having a little go at menu planning over the weekend, when my box is delivered on Monday I will know for sure what my box contains and will be able to tweak the menu plan if necessary.

Sue xx

If you want to have a look on the Morrisons website for yourself this is the LINK to the Food Boxes page.

New Challenge Coming Up

There's a new Challenge coming next week.

I've been racking my brains thinking of what to do next, after all lockdown is or should be the perfect time to do a few Challenges.  This new one came quite organically with something I spotted on Facebook and the sudden thought that ... THAT IS IT!!

So the thing I need as the main component part of the Challenge is ordered and should be arriving next week, and then the Challenge will begin.  

Before that I am not going to let the cat out of the bag.

📚📚📚

In the meantime I thought I would share how The One Hundred Books Challenge is going, not very well if I'm honest.   I am only up to 23 books read which works out at an average of around 5 per month, and I should be aiming for 8 books a month if I want to get to the magic 100 by the end of the year.

But I'm not going to cheat and find skinny little books or say I've read them when I haven't.  To qualify as a book read my rules (the ones in my head) say that I have to read almost all of a book before I give up.  So a couple have been started and gone straight into the car boot sale box while I ask myself  'what on earth was I thinking getting that one?' ... and they don't get counted.

It is interesting to go slowly and surely through my bookcase of possibles and have a good read, and I do have to admit to a few new ones creeping in via Amazon Prime  😉

To have a look at the books I have read up to now over the last five months see here -

The One Hundred Books in a Year Challenge

So of the twenty three books I have read up to now, fifteen of them have gone into the car boot sale box to be sold and the remaining eight have gone onto the bookshelf of books that I will keep.  It's a brilliant  way of whittling down the stock  😃

Sue xx

The Crazy Days Challenge - Challenging Myself to Use What I Have in the Best Way Possible ... and Stay Sane Throughout These Crazy Days

I had no intention until just now to start a Challenge on this blog ... in some ways it's not even a proper Challenge as to how this blog usually runs … in many ways most of us are just embarking on perhaps one of the biggest and strangest challenges of our lives.

But as I looked at this photo which I have just shared on my other blog I thought why not document the food we eat during these crazy times and see how we make everything we have last for as long as possible.  Is it a cop out Challenge, perhaps yes, but it will hold me accountable and give me something to do as well as giving you something to read and perhaps a few ideas or tips to use for your food supplies … or lack of them.

Let's just get things straight to start with in case you don't read my other blog, and for the first time look at the contents of the fridge and gasp, in either admiration or indignation.  I haven't dashed out and bought up everything I possibly could from the shops I have just returned from my Van, the static caravan I usually spend the majority of my time at for nine months of the year, as the caravan park it is sited on has closed, like many others, on Government orders for the duration of the current crisis.  On leaving I had to bring back with all the food that might possibly go off or go out of date during the next three to four months.  I also, unusually for me, brought back here to Wales most of the dried and tinned foods that are always stored in the Van for times when I arrive with no fresh supplies after a few days away.

So because of this, here in Wales at the moment, my fridge and my cupboards are looking very healthy and we will survive this crazy time relatively easily.  But saying that  I will not be wasting anything, I will be using everything in date order, cooking excess portions of any foods that might go out of date before we can eat them and freezing the resulting meals.  Luckily our large chest freezer was only a third full ready for us selling it, so it has once again been called into service.

If you would like to follow along, for something to do, a way to pass ten minutes of your morning with a much deserved cup of coffee or as a way to pick up a few tips or to share some of your own in the comments below.  Please know that you are very welcome.

Let's survive these Crazy Times together.

Sue xx

Challenge Eight - The £19.25 One Shop Challenge - Shopping the Cupboards

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had most of the food that I needed for my menu plans in my cupboard and fridge here at the Van.  

I was a bit dismayed though to see that the only baked beans I had were Heinz.  At 85p per can as opposed to the 22p that a tin of Tesco beans would have cost me, it was going to be a chunk out of my £19.25 budget.  But I'm playing fair, that's what I had so that's what I had to 'buy'.

I weighed out 500g of penne pasta from my big jar and decanted it into another one.  This pasta was bought from Tesco and is the same as the one on the website now so that works well.

At first I was in a dilemma with the tomatoes, a pack of six tomatoes is 69p and I only had four of them left, but I did have some cherry tomatoes, so I decided to weigh out the smallest and largest of the remaining salad tomatoes, to get an average weight and use that to top up the pack with some of the cherry tomatoes.

It sort of balances out, I ate the other cherry tomatoes as I was faffing about so I couldn't see if I had one that weighed the missing nine grams … oh well serves me right for nibbling 😉 

The Weetabix was easy to sort out as these are already the Stockwell Wheat Biscuits from Tesco in my jar, at just 75p I actually prefer them to proper Weetabix.   I always decant them into a jar when I get a new pack as I hate the daily mess of bits falling everywhere if you don't.  I think at the most there are only two or four biscuits missing from this pack and as I only need eight for my breakfasts and perhaps a couple for a snack or supper this will be fine.  I'll give myself a bit of leeway somewhere else if it is needed.

The only other thing that was annoying was that I only have two brown onions and the majority are red onions, which at 62p a kilo are 12p more expensive that the brown ones I would have bought, but again I'm playing fair.  

I'm a bit down on carrots, I really needed six and I only have four but the ones I have are a decent size so I think I'll be able to manage.  The mayonnaise is actually only half a jar but I think that will be enough for what I need it for.  I think I'll allow myself to dip into my little sachet stash if I run out.

I have three potatoes and actually need six so that's an easy buy to top up.  Everything else is pretty self explanatory I think from the photo.

It's strange isn't it how quickly you start to think in pennies rather than pounds, I mean I've lost out on 75p because of my beans and onions … and that is why I think a Challenge like this every now and then is a really good idea, especially at this time of year when the constant bombardment with adverts can get you loosening the purse strings without even realising it.

So the food I have 'bought' from my cupboards and fridge, along with these Linda McCartney Sausages from the freezer have cost me (according to mysupermarket.co.uk) a grand total of £12.56.

Leaving me with £6.69 to spend on the other items I need.  I'm off out to Aldi now to see what I can pick up.

Sue xx

Gearing Up for the New Challenge

It occurred to me today that I have never really shown you how I gear up to a Challenge.  If I'm lucky, as I have been this week with the cold, wet, short days we are having at the moment, I can cosy on down in the Van and immerse myself in plans.

Sometimes of course a Challenge creeps up on me and I wing it a bit, but I always get the most satisfaction from seeing a Challenge well thought through.  And of course it makes it SO much easier if I actually know what I'm supposed to be doing on any given day.

So after a dash into town to post a birthday card in the sorting office (so it gets there as quickly as possible), and a quick walk through the park for Suky, I came home and started doodling out lists and ideas for menus for next week.

I finally settled on an outline of how I would eat for the seven days of the Challenge.

I didn't really think about what I had in or what I would need, I concentrated instead on some favourite meals and linked most of the evening ones with a single pack of Linda McCartney sausages that I have in the freezer.  This gave me a base to start with and stopped me going off on wild and wacky tangents that would cost too much money.

Then I turned this into a seven day menu, covering breakfast, dinner and tea.

 I wrote myself the basic recipes I would use for each of the component parts of some of the meals.  The soups, salads and pasta sauce for instance.

Filling both sides of the paper.  Now I just need to keep this to hand, or perhaps transfer it to a notebook for safe keeping, I'm notorious for losing sheets of paper!!

Next I wrote out a list of the ingredients and how much of each I would need to make up the dishes from my menu.

And then finally I shopped the cupboards and the fridge for the things on the menu that I already had.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a large proportion of the items I needed.  Which goes to show that I am already starting to whittle down the foods I keep in my cupboards to things that I eat regularly, something I have been working on for a while.  It's hard to ignore some recipes that sound brilliant, but when you realise that they have lots of ingredients that you wouldn't perhaps use again for a while it makes it easier to do so … and that's exactly what I have been doing for the last few months.

So now I have the Challenge firmly sorted in my head, I know what foods I have in already, what foods I need to go out and buy.  Now it's time to go onto mysupermarket.co.uk and put in the foods I have and work out how much they would cost me to buy this week, and then use the remaining money to buy the things I don't have.

It's starting to look a lot like a Challenge!!

Sue xx