Below the Line - Day 2 - Noticings

Tea last night was pretty yummy. I used 100g of my scone mix to make a pizza base, spread it with three spoonfuls of homemade pasta sauce and then topped it with a third of one of my onions, a quarter of a grated carrot, some herbs from the garden and a liberal sprinkle from my little tub of grated cheese.

~

It started out like this.....

..and rather quickly turned into this.

I'm noticing that I waste nothing, I was really careful topping and tailing my onion and then peeling only the very outer layer of papery skin off. The bit I had left was popped in a little tub and placed in the fridge (the rest of the carrot joined this later). To go with this I decided to assemble a salad using a little bit more onion and grated carrot with some leaves, radishes and herbs from the garden.

All this brings back many memories, I have lived 'Below the Line' for real and one of the reasons that I am taking part in this is to highlight that so many people all around the world, approximately 1.4 billion, including many in this country are still doing this. Then I had limited knowledge, now I have years of experience of trial and error with food and have learned to make a little go a long way.

If this challenge can help anyone then it will have been worth doing. There is a real sense of satisfaction from preparing food and filling your families hungry tummys with the basics you have around you. But when you have lived like this for a while and then find your way out, it is easy to stop the cost saving and 'splash the cash' a bit, something I know I have been guilty of these last few years....well no more. We have been living from our store cupboards for quite a while now and then with this challenge to focus my mind this will all stop in the future.

So now it is Day 2, officially I would have four pounds left. Yesterday I ate 68p worth of my food, so I am ahead of the game.

Breakfast - 10p

3 Coffees - 24p

Egg Bun - 9p

Jar of homemade Mayo - 8p

Meringues - 3p

Scone Base Pizza and salad - 11p

This morning I feel lighter (actually I am, I lost 3lbs yesterday), and clearer of mind. My porridge worked a dream, I soaked it over night and cooked on the Aga instead of in the microwave, so no lumps (Bunny would be dismayed). It tasted creamy and lovely. The bird books are there because while we were eating breakfast we were paid a visit by a Swallow. It sat on the washing line for a good 5 minutes, long enough for us to get the books out and identify it for sure.

For lunch today it will be pasta, but first I have some seedlings to transplant in the polytunnel. Lovely, the hen, is still with us, although she is sitting peacefully with her head under her wing to drown out the sound of the laying girls all around her, she is silken smooth of feather and warm and comfortable, a sign of a peaceful exit about to happen.

Sue xx