She has been an inspiration to so many, and has now lifted herself out of poverty, but it is a shock to read how many people here in the UK rely on foodbanks for support, reaching crisis point where they cannot feed their families. We spend a lot of time and effort advertising for food aid for developing countries, but we must also remember to address the poverty on our own doorsteps. Jack is an inspiration to us all, a campaigner, an “austerity” chef, and I will most definitely be supporting her work by buying her book coming out in February 2014.
Jack’s website led me to an article in the Guardian, on how to eat on £10 ($16) for a week. The recipes looked do-able, and edible too, so after a chat with my partner, we decided to get as close to £10 as we could for a week of food. We continued with our own breakfast and lunch, sometimes eating leftovers, but focussed on the main meals.
We priced up our shop, according to what we needed from the list, and any necessary extras. I have a low weight/high metabolism, and therefore need to take in more calories each day than the average (2000) for females.
We went to the supermarket, and bought (prices in brackets):
Items with an asterisk are extra
Peach punnet* £1
Apples £0.90
Bananas* £1.77
Lemon £0.30
Carrots (fresh): £0.24
Cucumber* £0.65
Cheese sub*: £0.75
Value Pitta bread: £0.22
Value Streaky bacon: £1.04
Fresh milk 1pint* £0.49
Value natural yoghurt (for cereal) x 3: £1.35
Value fruit yoghurt: £0.33
Value cooked ham*: £0.75
Value tuna chunks x2* £1.60
Value kidney beans x2 £0.42
Chick peas: £0.45
Value baked beans: £0.28
Canned spinach: £0.55
Value canned peaches: £0.32
Soya milk: £0.75
Rice cakes* £1
Value Fruit&Fibre cereal* £1.39
Peppermint tea* £0.99
Red wine vinegar: 0.80
Value toilet paper*: £0.67
Total price: £19.01
We then bought extra pitta breads for £1.40. Total price for a week’s food: £20.41
Given that we normally spend between £40 and £60 ($63 and $93) per week on food and household items, spending just £20 for a week instilled the fear of being without in us, that we wouldn’t have enough to eat. This fear was clearly irrational for us, but is a very real fear for too many families in the UK.
Determined to see it through, we soldiered on and started cooking the recipes. The fear of a new diet combined with a sense of excitement about completing the challenge made me enter the kitchen with renewed enthusiasm. In the interest of full disclosure, we decided to use any ingredients we already had in storage. This would technically make this more expensive, but we were focussed on the price of new food purchases.
Here are our meals for 11th-15th August
Breakfast all days: cereal and tea.
Mid-morning snack (me)- banana and flapjack, or digestive biscuit. I made flapjacks from ingredients I already had, tasty (pic below)!
Lunch was a mix of pitta sandwiches, or leftovers. I will note on the day if we ate leftovers for lunch.
Afternoon snack (me) - tea and a biscuit (or two).
Sunday:
dinner- chicken, chickpea, peach curry. Added roast chicken (from freezer), curry paste (found jar in fridge).
stuff already at home: curry paste, rice, chicken, onion, veg stock cube, chopped tomatoes
Monday:
lunch: leftovers from Sunday, plus 2 pitta breads.
dinner - cheating tomato and bean soup. Fresh carrots x2 instead of canned.
already had: chopped tomatoes, stock cube, onion, thyme, salt/pepper.
*froze half, and had the rest with pasta, roast chicken, mushrooms yesterday!
Tuesday:
dinner - Sausage bolognese, spaghetti (leftovers, + stored pasta)
dessert - yoghurt - peppermint tea.
*we need a thawed meal on Tuesdays, as I arrive home at 8pm. This was leftover from the previous week’s food.
Wednesday:
dinner - chicken, kidney bean chilli (roast chicken from freezer)
already had: chicken, cumin, rice, chopped tomatoes, dark chocolate.
Thursday:
dinner: bacon casserole
already had: chopped tomatoes, veg stock cube, rice, dried thyme, onion.
Since we didn’t complete a full week of the challenge, we still have canned spinach and kidney beans left over from the £20 shop. We have now tried the soup as a pasta sauce (yum), and are cooking the carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers tonight.
I also have a confession. We planned this week’s meals and I went food shopping for it on Monday, and spent £60 ($93). I was not impressed, and rather embarrassed about the jump from £20 to £60. A combination of “treat-withdrawal”, access to “luxury” or branded items, and something likened to a binge eating session after a strict diet. A pendulum effect from one extreme to another. Hopefully we will find an affordable middle ground, while still paying attention to the food we are eating, and reducing the amount we throw away. Yep, I admit it. The experiment helped us “reset” our habits, and we are much more conscious of food waste now (but that’s another post).
Over to you:
Do you have any tips for frugal eating? Any tips on reducing food waste? Ideas for cheap recipes? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.
