Thankful Thursday

 All week the kids have been asking for pancakes for breakfast. So I finally relented. Last year we had some flour and water pancakes, this year I thought I'd splash out a bit and add an egg AND some milk! Almost real pancakes :)

Matt enjoyed 3 before heading off to school. Sophie took a bit of waking up before she had hers and she certainly wasn't ready for photographs!




At lunchtime today we had a company presentation followed by a buffet. With free prosecco! Aw man, that was painful! I had a glass of water and some of my pearl barley/lentil/veg soup with a single slice of dry bread.
It was suggested that because the buffet was free I should take advantage of it. And of course if we genuinely were struggling I would not turn my nose up at this lot.

 

However, it felt a bit disingenuous to munch on cakes and eclairs washed down with Prosecco while you lovely lot were sponsoring us to suffer! It might be quite easy for me to blag free meals all week. (that could be next year's challenge!) And if I found myself out of a job with no money, I'm certain my friends would help me out. But how long can you keep that up? After I while I would become a bit of a burden, there's a chance people would find it a bit awkward, maybe try to avoid bumping into me in case I asked for something. I would avoid seeing them if I thought they might suggest going out for lunch, or to bring a bottle; I imagine someone's support system could become pretty strained in that situation. Which is all a long winded way of saying, turning down the free stuff felt like the right thing to do. But it wasn't easy!

 

Tonight I've been ferrying kids about all night. So Les made our tea, egg, beans and sausage on toast. Although he couldn't face toast without butter so he opted for leftover chilli and rice instead.

 

 

Tomorrow we are going glamping!! I am so super excited. I was planning to go on Saturday so it wouldn't clash with the challenge but the 3rd night was free so, you know, it would be rude not to.
So tomorrow's tea will be instant noodles. And Saturday will be blissful!

I probably won't get to blog tomorrow as we're going straight from school, so here's the run down of what we've spent this week.

Our starting position was that we had £1.31 left after the initial shopping. Spices for the various meals I'd say 20p, cheeky midweek custard creams 26p, sophie's "Dr's orders" chocolate 29p, and a reduced warburtons loaf - 10p. I've had 2 cups of tea most days, around 1p a cup that's another 10p.

So all in, we have 36p left! I think that might be a well deserved packet of bourbons for when we get to our yurt tomorrow.

I can't thank you all enough for coming with us. Your support has been invaluable. And the donations have once again been amazing! We're at £634 right now!

I will do a final blog about tomorrow but it will probably be on Monday. By which time we'll be well and truly back to normal, enjoying the freedom to eat salad and cheese whenever we want! We'll eventually forget the stress of counting every penny and meticulously planning every mouthful. But the people we help at the drop-in will still be living hand to mouth, not always able to make a meal, not even knowing where they may spend the night. And so thank you from them. Because the money you give will directly impact and benefit their lives.

Catch you on the flip side!

Weepy Wednesday

This morning was utterly awful.

I woke up feeling like I'd been on the lash til 4am and had about 3 hours sleep (sorry Mum, I do know what that feels like!!) I was ravenously hungry but the thought of food made me a bit queasy, I was light-headed. And grumpy as hell!

Matt had cooking so we needed to gather a bunch of ingredients for that. Don't worry we won't eat it until next week! Sophie had swimming and gardening club, and it turns out her cozzie was still in a carrier bag from last week. And then Matt left his bag of ingredients at home so I had to drive it up to school for him. It was just all hard work.

I am fed up of cooking. We are going to run out of porridge, so the kids had sausage and beans this morning. I guess that's not really cooking, but I am fed up of food preparation. I feel like my entire life is revolving around preparing meals. There's nothing quick and easy. And rather importantly, I've taken control of the kitchen. I don't remember the last time I cooked every night of the week.

I am fed up of a lack of choice. It is so restrictive, so oppressive. My lunch choices were soup or soup. It's food at least, I shouldn't complain. But I want a flipping salad! Or falafel and avocado wrap, or maybe I would want soup but I want to CHOOSE it.


On my way to work I was going to opt for some angry singing along with Alanis Morrisette. Then I happened upon an old Philippa Hanna album Out of the Blue. Man that woman is incredible. The first three tracks of that album - Happy in my Skin, Down by the River and Raggedy Doll blow me away every time. Raggedy Doll is everything I want my children (and everyone else for that matter!) to know about themselves. And it's Sophie's favourite song in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLfqvcxy5Ws. I couldn't find a video of Down by the River but it is a song I've used when giving presentations about the drop-in.

Sometimes we get to a point where we can't carry on, and need someone else to lift us up. And I think that's what we do at the drop-in. Whoever you are, however you got here, we'll feed you and love you. That's it!

All of the lyrics are wonderful, but this is the chorus.
"Down by the river of your broken dreams.
You gave it your best shot but everything seems like it's over;
that's when I will take over.
When all you can do is take one step ahead,
Your heart's in your hands and the voice in your head
Says it's over, that's when I will take over"

I did have a bit of a weepy sing along (I cry on Day 3 every single time we do this!) then pulled myself together because I was already late for a conference call due to the DT delivery! A lovely message from my friend Mina also helped to realign me "Keep going hun you are doing great! Today you might feel a bit blur. Thats your sugar levels dipping. You should feel a bit better tomorrow. " Thank you Mina! 

After school this little genius, who has been craving juice all week, decided to DIY some OJ! She blended an orange with water, strained, added a bit of sugar and voila!

Tea was going to be late so I suggested snacks. Matt, bless his soul, opted for plain bread (!) and raw carrot. And was genuinely quite happy with that.

Dinner was Iroog, a frugal Iraqi speciality courtesy of Abdul, which apparently got them through the war. That's my kind of meal!

Mince (for the meat-eaters) - 65p, breadcrumbs - free crusts on bread, oats - 10p, onion - 5p, chopped tomatoes - 25p, grated carrot - 5p, flour - 5p, and some spices from the cupboard/Abdul's last trip home ~ 5p.

Accompanied by rice (8p) cooked in the chopped tomato juice and one of the flavour packets from the chicken instant noodles we're having on Friday which makes the flavouring all accounted for already. Total cost of the meal £1.29. And it is lush!

We had tea on our knee (huge treat!) while watching a Netflix documentary called Living on a Dollar. It seemed rather apt for us this week. It follows 4 American college kids who go to Guatemala for 2 months and live on a dollar a day. It was really good! While we were watching it Sophie said "Rich people don't watch stuff like this. If they did they would probably be nicer. Well, apart from Donald Trump." Probably true!

I've ended the day better than I started it, but I am definitely getting a cold and I mostly want chocolate and wine!

As always, the reason we're doing this is to raise funds for BCDP, Thanks to all those who have sponsored us so far. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016

Tricky Tuesday (title by Matthew)

2 days down and we are counting the hours until Friday!!
The kids had porridge this morning, I didn't bother with breakfast. Which is a bit naughty but I was so hungry yesterday having eaten just a bit of porridge first thing. I figured I'd be better off letting my stomach have a lie in :)

It's been a pain getting up early to make the porridge (usually Matt makes his own breakfast but I have this week) but it's been nice not to drag ourselves out of bed last minute and rush around trying to find things for packed lunches and clean pants. In fact, this morning Matt and I even had time to do a crossword!

Sophie had blood tests this morning and was super brave. The nurse said that she would need something sweet, like chocolate or biscuits. Darn it! So we went to the shop to look for a VERY cheap chocolate bar. 29p for a mini Dairy Milk. Sophie was thrilled! She kept saying "but the doctor said I have to have chocolate!"

My lunch was a bit hotch potch. The left over veg from yesterday, the leftover chicken gravy (I'm veggie-ish this week!), a bit of broth mix and a blob of potato soup. It could have been awful but in fact was lovely! The only problem was there was too much! But I couldn't bear to waste any so managed to eat it all.

I made chilli for the others tonight, and I had the 10p bolognaise mix with rice. I'll include the actual recipe at the end of the blog in case anyone's interested but total cost for all of us was £1.87. And there's some leftover.

 

Unfortunately, being having the non-meat eater cooking meat isn't always a great idea. I wasn't tasting it and the chilli turned out really quite spicy! I thought the kids might refuse to eat it, especially Sophie who said it was like her lips were on fire, but they both ate everything, with a little extra rice. They have both been awesome. Although we have all had a little grumble, neither of them have really put up any sort of fight against doing this. I think they enjoy the challenge and seeing the sponsorship money go up is quite exciting. Let's see how the rest of the week pans out though...

 

I'm being told off for trying to blog and play Game of Life at the same time so I'd better dash.

 

Oh and I nearly forgot, I got published in the Sheffield Star today!! http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/kate-raynor-for-one-week-my-family-and-i-will-live-below-the-line-1-7861541 

 

Sponsorship has slowed down, so if you've been thinking about it but not got around to it, now it your chance!

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

Managing Monday

After I blogged yesterday about the trauma of discount shopping in Asda I had a mammoth cooking session.

 

First I cooked up the chicken legs I'd got from the butchers. There wasn't a whole lot of meat on them really but we have to make the most of what we have! So after roasting them I mixed some flour into the juices for a gravy, stripped the big bits of meat off first, then all the teeny bits separately, then boiled up the bones for a stock.

I decided to use the soup mix I'd bought as it was, to give a bit of soup variety rather than having the same one every day. Les said he'd quite like some chicken soup, and I'd already planned to make some veggie soup for me using the broth mix. So we ended up with 3 different soups! I promise they're tastier than they look :)

 

 



The left one is chicken stock, carrots (5p), onion (5p) and the teeny bits of chicken which weren't good for much else.

The middle one is the reduced potato and spring greens soup mix (20p) with a little milk (5p).

And the one of the right is carrot (5p), onion (5p), broth mix (15p).

I used a little seasoning, including some garlic granules but I reckon a maximum of 10p in total there.

So 70p plus the bits of chicken usually thrown away. A good start I think and pleased to have ended up with a little variety. In fact, Sophie asked for some soup as soon as she got in from school!

 

Our bunnies, Fifi and Lola are not living below the line this week. So they are helpfully clearing up all the things we're not allowed. Well jel!

 

The kids had porridge for breakfast, then for lunch discount chicken sandwiches, a piece of fruit and 2 choc chip cookies. I took an apple and some of the veg and lentil soup to work. And by about 2pm was sooo hungry. We've all been complaining about hunger a lot today and I think it's the psychology of knowing we're not allowed.

 

Dinner tonight was toad in the hole for the kids, chicken... in the hole (?) for Les and Yorkshire puds and veg for me. Which I was quite pleased with if I'm honest. It didn't really touch the sides with Matt so he followed it up with a slice of bread but it felt like a good solid meal for I reckon around £1.60 in total.

 

We're having an alright start. I do feel quite organised, and a bit like a 1940's housewife! Which is fine every now and then but I wouldn't want every Sunday to be spent like that. Not to mention the fact that Les wouldn't want that much washing up every week!

 

As I have been writing this, we have just hit our fundraising target! Which is really incredible! Thank you so much to all who have donated. Your money will be put to good use by BCDP helping those who are living on the streets and in poverty in our town.

 

If you haven't sponsored yet and would like to you can do so https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016 as a small charity every little does help. 

Sunday Success (a shopping update)

So, I went to Asda as planned at around 3.30pm. I bumbled around the veg section for a bit not really knowing where reduced stuff would be until I stumbled across it. What treasure! Everything reduced to 10p and no one around wanting to fight me for it! I picked up some potato and cabbage soup mix, thinking it will sass up my broth mix, some sliced leeks (I LOVE leeks!), and some bolognaise mix. Now, we're not having bolognaise so on reflection that may have been a waste but at 10p I thought, why not?!

Next I went looking for bread but it wasn't fully reduced yet. I figured I was going to have to wander awkwardly round and keep checking for new reductions til closing time.

I went to pick up my smart price digestives only to discover, there's NO SUCH THING AS SMART PRICE DIGESTIVES! When did that happen?! The only ones with smart price versions are the posher biscuits, like chocolate digestives. So I found myself in the middle of Asda on a Sunday afternoon counting biscuits through the packaging. Turns out choc chop cookies are the best per biscuit price (about 2p). So that's what the kids are having in their pack ups.

Heading back to the bread I discovered the other reduced bit. Now this is where the serious contenders hang out. There was a crowd around the staff member who was double discounting items. Many people had baskets of nothing but reductions. They had obviously been before! I spotted a packet of sandwich chicken slices reduced to 10p but as I reached for it someone else shot out and beat me to it. I was thinking how awesome it would be to use that for the kids sandwiches, we could use the sausages for toad in the hole then, which in turn meant there might be some spare chicken to have with noodles on Friday. As I scanned the shelves I saw another 2 packs of the same chicken. The lady doing the reductions pulled them down along with a bunch of other items. Most of the crowd had cleared by now, just a few staunch, dedicated discountees. My heart started beating faster, my palms were literally sweaty, she kept passing over the chicken to discount other things. A few more people joined the throng which made me panic that the competition had increased. I almost said "could you just do me the chicken" but that's obviously not how it works, and it could have counted against me. Eventually she did the 2 packs at once. Quick as lightening the guy who got the other one grabbed one. I went for the other at the same time as one of the new arrivals. Any other time in my life I would have conceded. But I didn't. She awkwardly let go and I said "I've been waiting for that". It felt horrible. I just wanted to get out. I see how fantastic some of the discounts can be, and I'm sure it means people can buy things they would otherwise not afford but I did not like it at all! I backed off quickly, found that the bread was now 20p so picked up a couple of loaves and got out as quickly as I could!

So it was a total success in terms of money. I spent 90p on £7.68 worth of food. But I won't be doing it again in a hurry!!

And in fact, I don't even need the bloody chicken! Because in my head it was 4 days worth of sandwiches. But of course it all needs eating tomorrow!

I felt a bit traumatised by the time I got to the car. But it is finished. The shopping that is! At a grand total of £18.69 we have £1.31 left of emergency/herbs and spices money.

Wish us luck!

Stuffed Sunday!

We had Sophie's birthday yesterday, which was a whirlwind of parties, fun days and family dinners. We had a wonderful time, but we are left with copious amounts of uneaten tasty treats! Les said he has every faith in me to finish off the wine my brother brought :D but the rest of it, I'm not sure! I HATE food waste. It's like throwing money in the bin. So we'll be having hotch potch meals today mainly consisting of cake and crisps. I'm sure the kids won't mind!

I've done the majority of our shopping. I went to the market on Saturday to see what I could pick up. I saw my lovely butcher who I haven't been to for ages. They asked after the kids and chastised me for "gooin all veggie". They were lovely, and it did make me think I really should make more time to shop there rather than dashing around Aldi. And after my worrying about not being able to stick to my budget, I said I needed £2 in money of chicken legs, and that's exactly what I got! I had decided that I wanted some fruit but it had to come in at around 10p a piece. The first 4 fruit and veg stalls didn't have anything anywhere near that price and I was on the verge of giving up when I saw 10 satumas for £1. I'm just hoping they taste ok!

I've been convinced by my friend Jo (and others) to go to Asda last thing to pick up some bargains. She does some amazing things with the food she picks up for pennies in the reduced section. I'm already feeling anxious though about working out what I have to spend and whether the stir fry veg, or pre cut carrots are going to be worth it. Things are too tight to pick items up on a whim without knowing how they'll fit into our menu. I'm also far too British to argue over packets so will more than likely loiter at the back and see if there's anything left!

The main things I still need are bread and milk. And probably something for the kids lunches, although I'm not sure what. I'd hoped to pick up some popcorn kernels from the market thinking that they would go far. But they only had big packs for 90p. Now it would have made absolute buckets of popcorn, but I don't really have 90p spare in the first place. So it might be smart price digestives. I have plenty of flour, sugar, oats and eggs. So if anyone has any baking recipes which don't need butter please let me know.

We're heading out for a neb around an antiques fair this morning, then this afternoon will be spent preparing for the week ahead making soup, stock and cooking up sausages for packed lunches, and hopefully elbowing my way to some discounted bread!

Main meals for the week look something like
Egg and beans on toast
Iraqi Iroog (a bit like a burger bulked out with cheap stuff)
Chilli and rice
Chicken stew and Yorkshire puddings
Instant noodles


The sponsorship this year has gone through the roof, we're at £400 already! In part due to a very generous donation of £200 by the company I work for. But every penny helps so please consider sponsoring us if you can. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016

Thrifty Thursday!

So. It begins!!
 

I've written lists, planned meals, Googled recipes, consulted friends and I THINK we're gonna be alright!

I had to go shopping this evening to get stuff for Sophie's birthday; we have 6 girls for lunch then 12 family for tea on Saturday. While browsing in quality save my interest was piqued by some tomatoes on offer. By now I've pretty much memorised the price of everything we might buy, so I knew at 4 for £1 there was a per tin saving of 6p. That could be a packet of biscuits! I also picked up some broth mix. I'm not really sure how I'm using that but it's likely to feature heavily in my veggie options!

Next door in Lidl I figured I'd pick up some other non perishables while buying birthday food. I was positively thrilled to find a small bag of porridge oats meant 36p saving. Which I used to "splash out" on some sugar! The eggs were disgracefully low, 15 for £1, and I did feel a bit uncomfortable buying the caged ones. But I really haven't the luxury of caring about where my food comes from next week.

I got home and started sorting the food and it became quickly apparent how flipping middle class our tastes are! I mean it's Lidl, so I'm not breaking the bank, the whole birthday food shopping (to feed 18 don't forget!) was about £28. But avocado, olives and salami? Jeez!

It made me feel a bit disingenuous if I'm honest. We're going to spend this weekend, and probably next, eating what we want without really having to think about it too much, and all my energy is going into just 5 days. During which time people tell me I'm amazing, which isn't really deserved. Because plenty of people live and prosper through plenty worse situations than this! But it's a bit late to do it any differently now, and we've already got THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY quid's worth of sponsors! So we better just crack on, eh?

We would love you to sponsor us if you can. All money will go to Barnsley Churches Dropin Project. Which feeds people who don't have the luxury of buying birthday olives! :)

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/livebelowtheline2016