Broke

            The Channel 4 programme Skint has caught my attention recently. Much like BBC Three’s Growing Up Poor earlier in the year, this series is following the lives of residents of a council estate in Scunthorpe.

            The main reason I am enjoying the programme is due to the clever way that it engages with both sides of the story. The stereotypical notion is there for a reason. This week’s episode had a particular case that was frustrating. There was a girl the same age as me who already had five children, three different fathers. It is not for me to comment on the lifestyles other people have chosen, but it was the arrogance of this girl that riled me. She was complaining about not having enough money to buy formula due to her benefits being cut, but in the background of the shot was the most enormous TV. It was adorned with all of the latest gadgetry. How can people have such a warped perception of money that they purchase such expensive items when they can’t even afford to cater for the necessities?

            There seemed to be a dire lack of understanding concerning budget and “living within your means” for these people. They have no concept of cutting back in order to save money. It gets my goat that some people think it is their birth right to take handouts from a system that they didn’t contribute to. There was a lack of striving amongst the people featured, no sense of self-improvement. I wonder if this is a culture-led expectation within Scunthorpe.

            However, another girl on the programme should be commended. My heart strings twinged as this fifteen year old informed the cameraman that her daughter had been taken into care. It was horrible to see the sorrow that filled her eyes after being separated from her daughter, but she was brave enough to admit that her current situation wasn’t adequate to raise a child. There was a shining light at the end of the programme though, as she moved into her new flat. I do hope they do a follow up later on in the series.

            I will continue to watch the series as it shows just how much people can step up in the face of adversity and lead a comfortable life with next to nothing. But it also addresses stereotypes, not as fanciful imaginings, but based on real life people. There are people who would abuse the systems in place in this country that are designed to help people. Some people need assistance when they hit rock bottom, and they deserve it. Some people need to get off their leather sofas, stop being so dependant and use a bit of ingenuity to improve their lives and the lives of their children.

Frugal Fridays #2

This week’s Frugal Friday fun is foodie based. I will gladly change my food plan if I see something good on offer. And this was a very good offer.

Braising beef, £2.24 for 400g! Very impressed with this bargain. It got thrown into my slow cooker with root vegetables, improvised stock made from gluten-free gravy powder and a bay leaf found in my spice box.

The results were delicious. I love having meals ready and waiting for the rest of the week.

Costs:

Beef £2.24

Parsnip 25p

3x carrots 12p

Onion 23p

Pre-packed half swede 54p

olive oil/bay leaf/stock powder/seasoning – already in store cupboard.

Total cost = £3.38 Divided by 5 portions = 68p per portion! Can’t go wrong with a hearty stew

I was lucky with bargains on my last supermarket shop actually. I prefer to use butter when baking and cooking because you can understand the ingredients list, compared to some of the chemical-ridden margarines. Countrylife butter was on offer, 750g for £3. Sainsbury’s own brand butter, you would have to pay £4.50 for the same amount. This will last me the month, if not longer.

And because I’ve learnt to read use-by dates with a pinch of salt, I got a dozen eggs for £1.96. That’s even cheaper than the Farmer’s Market! They are free range eggs from some fancy farm and made a delicious omelette for lunch. I’ll use these up in no time; omelettes, scrambled eggs, pancakes, cakes, cookies, lots of possibilities for a frugal cook’s best friend.

I hope you’ve all managed to procure some bargains recently. Thanks to feedback from pipknits, I’ve made a proper “About” page. Do let me know what you think of it I’m still learning about the ins and outs of WordPress, and I know there is definite room for improvement. Have a lovely weekend.

Ying and Yang

Today has been a perfect amalgamation of the two areas of my life.

I was on campus at 10am this morning to take part in a group session to discuss the ECP. The Extended Creative Project is the biggest part of my University degree, the big one, the one students all over the country pull their hair out over. Yup, it’s a big deal.

But the meeting this morning was very helpful concerning guidelines and advice. It’s a student-led project, so the more hours I put in, the more marks I shall get. It’s comforting in a way to know that it’s all on my shoulders. My own hard work should reap rewards. I was lucky enough to be allocated my first choice tutor, Judy Waite. She is a talented author who has several published works for children of all ages. Judy is the type of teacher who explains things in a very understandable manner. I find some creative writing tutors expand on their point more than is necessary. Treasure comes out of Judy’s mouth whenever she talks about writing for children, and I feverishly scribbled everything I could in my notebook this morning.

In our individual meeting later on, Judy was very positive about my proposed story. That was a huge confidence boost. I showed her the notebooks and art folders I had worked on ever since I was eleven years old. This is the story that has grown with me and the reason I chose to do this course at University. The story means a lot to me and I am determined to do it justice. I have a lot of hard grafting ahead, but I am looking forward to the adventure. I left the office beaming with the anticipation of the finished article.

After the writer inside of me was set upon an exciting new path, I came home to attend domestic matters. The laundry is complete; washed, tumbled and put away. I went grocery shopping and snared some bargains – more on Friday! And I spent the afternoon batch cooking an almost obscene amount of banana cakes/muffins. The chap had bananas that he said were destined for the bin. I rescued the brown blighters, mashed them up and popped them straight into cake batter. It’s a real heap of cakes – 27 to be exact. My part of the freezer drawer is well stocked and my cake tin is full to the brim. And that makes me smile too.

It’s always bound to be a good day when I immerse myself in things that I enjoy. This morning, my head was swimming with runaway queens and dashing pirate captains. This afternoon, daydreams of baking and an upcoming beef stew took hold. It’s lovely when life correlates so perfectly.

5 Activities That Make Me Smile

1) Breakfast in bed. Just the act of placing a meal on a tray is a delightful flourish in itself. But then silently carrying it up the stairs, balancing it carefully as you ease back into bed and enjoy the meal is such a cosy position is a real joy. I love making little moments stand out. After all, it was only breakfast.

2) Organising stuff. Today has been the perfect drizzly Sunday to get certain things in order. I filed away the last of the Uni work, added some items on eBay (zero insertion fees!) and organised my thread boxes. Call me crazy, but I find jobs like that really satisfying.

3) Taking a walk in the sunshine. I know the clouds have rolled over today, but the recent sunshine isn’t a distant memory just yet. In this country, we have to enjoy nice weather when we can and cross our fingers that it comes back. I look forward to wearing my dresses sans tights again soon.

4) Taking a walk in the rain. Time with my chap is so special. Even though my clothes were damp by the time I arrived at work, the walk into town with my beloved, both of us huddled under an umbrella was heart warming.

5) Reading a book. I am one meeting away from being officially “free from Uni” and a whole heap of free time is soon to be unlocked. I shall keep up with my writing, naturally, but there will still be free periods where I can curl up under a blanket and read. I’ve already started writing down my reading list, listing books I want to have read by September.

Best of all, my five chosen activities don’t cost a penny. It’s the smallest things that make me feel so content. Here’s hoping your Sunday was equally as pleasant.

Frugal Fridays #1

This is my new feature that will be up on the blog every Friday – clue is in the title really! It will be a round-up of bargains I’ve bought, thrifty craft, cheap recipes and my favourite blog of the week, frugal or otherwise :) Hope you like!

 

1) Buying the most perfect crock pot for £1.20! It’s the perfect size for two, or to batch cook something in and then store it in my fridge box. I’m thinking chilli.

2) Making 5 portions of soup and 4 portions of curry out of one bag of 24p parsnips.

3) Celebrating the end of second year in student style with Curry Night at Wetherspoons. Chicken tikka masala, basmati rice, poppadoms, mango chutney and a glass of Merlot – £5.99!

Blog of the week: Frugal Queen. I’m going through the archives and learning a lot about removing yourself away from consumerism is good for the soul, and the bank balance. Froogs has a charming writing style and the blog is very informative.

I’ll be having a change up on the old blog front soon. Time to get to grips with the editing section of WordPress – wish me luck!

Happy Dance Muffins

 

When you’ve finally handed in your last assignment and the world is your oyster, do you:

a)      Go out and get drunk.

b)      Keep writing on regardless.

c)      See how much batch cooking you can accomplish in one afternoon.

This storyteller took a well deserved break from writing and indulged in some time in the kitchen. It’s one of my favourite places to be.

 

Using some of my 24p bargain bag of parsnips, I made and sweet potato, parsnip and lentil curry that is bubbling away in the slow cooker as I type. It’s got enough vegetables in there to make 4 portions.

The rest of the parsnips simmered happily with some stock and curry paste before being blitzed. I added milk like the recipe said, but I think this thinned out the soup too much. No milk next time. Still, I’ve got 5 portions of Curried Parsnip soup tucked away in the freezer.

And to round off the day nicely, I finished up with some baking. These are Gluten Free banana muffins, or Happy Dance muffins as I have christened them. Because I have finished all of my Uni work, summer is on the horizon and long days spent in the kitchen await. That’s deserving of a dance in my book!

 

Happy Dance Muffins

(makes 12)

75g butter

150g caster sugar

1 medium egg

3 medium bananas, mashed

200g GF plain flour

½ tsp GF baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with cases. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

Combine sugar, mashed bananas, egg, milk and melted butter in a large bowl.

Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Fold everything together until smooth.

Spoon into cases using a tablespoon.

Bake for 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

 

 

These muffins fit in nicely with my using-what-I’ve-got challenge. No more nipping out to the shop to spend pennies on pudding. There may be no bananas left for muesli, but lots of muffins in the freezer. Success!

 

PS Just realised, if I have stocked my freezer section full of parsnip soup and muffins (which I have), where am I going to put the leftover curry? :S Oh the woes of being a student!

A New Mindset

I have been following articles concerning the Live Below the Line project with great interest. Jack Monroe provides stark realism that poverty is alive in our country today with her honest and eye opening blog posts. And posts from the Moving Foodie proves that necessity is the mother of invention when it comes to creating flavoursome meals out of practically nothing. If you would like to know more about the challenge, the website is here.

            I didn’t undertake the challenge myself, but reading about it made me consider my own position on food and waste. By society’s standards, I am not wealthy. I am a student sharing a house with four other girls and all my worldly possessions occupy one room. But as I looked closer, I realised just how lucky I am to even own those possessions. This sort of relates to my post, “Am I poor?” from January. When reading A Girl Called Jack, I noticed Jack had spent some of her precious pennies on a small jar of mixed herbs. I have eight of these jars, all various contents. This realisation prompted me to write a list of all the food I own in my limited storage space. This is what I owned on Thursday.

Cupboard:

2/3 bottle chilli sauce

2/3 bottle sesame oil

2/3 bottle balsamic vinegar

Box of gluten-free crispbreads

¾ jar smooth peanut butter

¾ box cornflour

Nearly empty jar of honey

10 eggs

1/3 tube tomato puree

Jars: sage/thyme/basil

Jars: mixed herbs/herbs de provence

Jars: cinnamon/ginger/chilli

Packet of Cajun spice

2 garlic cloves

Bay leaves

½ tube vanilla extract

¾ jar Marmite

Salt and pepper

1 plus ¼ tubs of Bouillion powder

¾ tub gluten-free gravy mix

40g pasta

4 bananas

5 mini apples

½ bag gluten-free museli

¼ bags of flaked almonds, almonds and seed mix

¾ bag caster sugar

¾ large Kilner jar plain flour

136 tea bags

Fridge:

6 roast turkey slices

½ bottle gluten-free soy sauce

2/3 block butter

7/8 block Parmesan

½ jar caramelised onion chutney

¼ jar mild salsa

½ bag spinach

8 sticks celery, plus heart

7/8 block cheddar

7/8 block smoked cheese

1/3 orange pepper

¼ tin sweetcorn

Half a cucumber

4 carrots

2 strawberry yoghurts

Freezer:

2x200g pork mince

4 bacon rashers

1 portion strip pork

1 portion diced chicken

1 salmon fillet

10 slices gluten-free bread

Knob of ginger

Filing larder: (I keep food in the top part of my filing cabinet)

2 FreeFrom rolls

1/5 bag popcorn kernels

½ box risotto rice

4 portions brown rice noodles

Jar mincemeat

¾ jar cocoa

Dried yeast

Purevia box

1/3 box Truvia

1/3 tub brown rice

19 Whittards tea bags

2 red onions

1 carton chopped tomatoes

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 small sweet potato

1 can peach slices

500g bag red lentils

1 packet Basics savoury rice

1 packet Brilliant Bread Mix

2 packs snacking Brazil nuts

2 broccoli and stilton cup soups

1 large can sweetcorn

500g polenta

            This is for one person on a limited budget and limited storage space. Look at the list, it’s a long old list. Why on earth do I go shopping every week? I clearly have enough food to last me a whole week, maybe even longer. This week, I’m only allowing myself to buy fresh food and I won’t allow myself to spend more than £5. I’m making more effort to by frugal with my own foodstuffs. I plan on using up my unopened bags of lentils and polenta before I buy anymore unnecessary items.

            I prompt this challenge to go forward. If you write down everything you own foodwise, then compare it to one of the weekly shops of a LBL participant, I guarantee you will feel very lucky.

            I’m hoping my frugal endeavour will make my appreciate the value of food, help make me a more experimental cook and save me money. I hope you will join me on my quest for a simple life.