Blog-democracy: your vote required

Verdict of sunday lunch: eating in community is definitely a plus. So, one benefit is that cooking in bulk can reduce the cost per person (and here, I'm drawing on a very sketchy/absent knowledge of a-level economics) owing to economies of scale. Basically, cost per person decreases as quantities of food increase. But there tends to be a drop off/ a point along the scale where costs start to increase again because of additional costs being factored in. (bored yet? Sorry, I'll stop.)

On the other hand, some might say that eating in community has its drawbacks. For most of us, this is nothing fancy or unusual, it simply means sitting down to dinner with family. But that can be hard - just finding time to do it. In our house everyone is out at different times, there's rarely a night when we're all in. Or it can be challenging in other ways, for example, today, I was invited to Sunday lunch. What a treat, I thought to myself. I should have known I'd get a grilling. I always do. It's just like being at home. I love Karin & Pete. They frequently feed the 5000 around their dinner table, I don't know how they do it, they are literally hospitality in living breathing form. And they're infinitely amusing as well. Which I love. But yeah, not only was quizzed and probed about my current 'thing'... I was also shamed into admitting that one week of living on 2 ethical dollars is by no means long enough.

So - - - what d'you think? Vote now.

Creative community eating

Today I'm exploring a new angle on my challenge, and also trying to find a home for my new friend.

Duvet day

I really look forward to saturdays, and I've just moved to a new part of London and have been enjoying the early morning jogs, exploring new places, hopeful that I'll somehow find a way to cut by 7 min journey to the tube to 20 seconds. But today, all I wanted to do was cushion my throbbing head under the blankets.

But I'm checking in today, for 2 reasons:
Number one, i'm trying to stay accountable, and it helps that I know a few people are reading this and making sure I'm ok and that I'm eating enough protein and so on (thanks Sonj & Liz).
And number two, I stumbled across a blog from someone who was doing the $2 challenge, and seemingly he found it quite difficult. And now I can understand why. For one thing, there's the fact that you're hungry, for parts of the day at least. And ok, I know I've got a few vegetables left but I'm not quite sure how long they'll last. But also there's the fact that I can't just buy a snack if I feel like it, or pick up a nice oven meal whenever I want. At the moment, I'm finding this a bit disempowering; something I have previously taken forgranted is now completely off limits. But this is what it is like for half the world's population. I read a mind-blowing stat the other day. Whilst 40% live on less than $2, nearly 80% live on less than $10.* For everything. Not just food, but heating, transport, water and everything else. I find this astonishing, because I'm in that other unmentioned number: the other 20% that are rich. Richer than the world's poorest.

So. I'm determined to finish this - although I've been hungry and turned into the grouchy flatmate from hell, I'm hopeful that this will have a bigger impact on me in the long run. And also, I'm really looking forward to having something other than porridge on Friday.

Here's a quick run down - I'm aware that the food part isn't that interesting so I'll put some photographical evidence up later.

Breakfast - porridge again
Lunch - baked potato, braised leek & cheese
Dinner - roast parsnip & carrot, sausage & egg

Oh and I realised that I have enought FT ingredients to make flapjacks, so I made some of them today too.

An early night I think. Sweet dreams.

* Poverty Stats and Facts: Global Issues

But baby bear's porridge was j-u-s-t right

Sadly I cannot say the same for mine. Funny, when you get used to eating food made a certain way, it doesn’t taste as nice when you do it differently. Slowly eating my water based sludge this morning, I reflected on that. I thought the energy boost ½ a banana and sugar would make it last longer, and taste more palatable. I was wrong. Not only that, but every sight of food made me crave it more. At 10am I became fully aware of my own pathetic will power.

So I started nibbling a carrot.

2 hours til lunch… am I going to last? Saved by a calendar invite: Jay Bu’s birthday cakes. Now, for those who don’t know our Jay, he is a strong advocate for all things Fairtrade. I felt certain there’d be some non-contraband food on offer. Sigh of relief at the sight of Dairy Milk; brief aside: since Cadbury’s has recently been taken over by Kraft, we’re asking the CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, to keep Cadbury’s Fairtrade. Fair friends of Facebook, join me in badgering the CEO of Kraft to keep Cadbury's Fairtrade.

So, I’ve been planning my meals for the last few days, as you know, but one serious omission dawned on me late last night. I had forgotten to plan my first lunch. All subsequent lunches this week are going to be loosely based on a soup-like mush of the dinner from the previous night. But Thursday night was pizza at church. Error. So, it was pretty fortunate that on my last day of financial frivolity, friend Jack and I had moseyed into town for a lunch-time Fairtrade Americano. Blessed with the gift of the gab, Jack charmingly struck up a conversation with the owner. He explained my daily budget and ethical principles, and would you adam and eve it, the owner only had some organic sausages and offered me a snackeroo the following day. So, down to the nearest café I went at lunch time, and exchanged my 100 pennies for a sausage bap and, special offer for the lady in the woolly hat, an americano. Meat – sourced locally and bread bap from Wombledom. Result. Happy tummy.


Concentration tends to come and go when your energy is low, and I felt like this all afternoon. A serious slump came at 3.30pm. Found ½ a banana and ate that. Then I remembered I’d pillaged a huge chunk of Jay’s birthday chocolate. And so I diligently focussed on that task for a while. Possibly better to eat slowly anyway. I feel sure there is some science based on this, but I can’t imagine it would be interesting.

Hot water helped me get through the rest of the day. Then, social event of the week: Friday pubbing. Entertainment on a shoestring is possible, but if you’re doing a socially exclusive activity such as abstaining from all normal food and drink, be advised: this will not make you the most popular person in the bar. So if this happens to you, what I suggest is that you get your friends to order tap water for you, so that you don’t have to.

So all this week I’ve been having t’riffic conversations with a massive array of people. From the spiritual to the practical, edifying and challenging in different ways. Miss Lakeside offered a very commendable recipe which I tried out later this evening: roast onion, and pasta. Quite tasty,oven roasted onion and clove of garlic, some organic pasta in a cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was basically just, ... melted cheese, so... not exactly Michelin star quality. But you’ve gotta allow me some artistic interpretation here. Carole (today’s photographer) and I had an enlightening discussion about how challenges; how we get to experience something a little beyond our comfort zone. This brought to mind all the times, when I’ve been reliant on myself, it's rare that I experience anything that challenges me. But there have also been times when I’ve had nothing; no money, no ability to speak the language. And so there's nothing for it but to rely on but the kindness of strangers. And that’s when I’ve had the chance to see overwhelming blessings. To receive signs of friendship from people I barely know or might never see again is altogether amazing.

I can’t quite find a word for that. But I think there should be a special one.

Anyone for celeriac?

I am now proud co-owner of an Abel & Cole fruit and veg box. I did warn you I would get excited.

And yep, it’s blown the $2 a day budget, even before I’ve started. But with these things, you gotta be a bit creative. And so, the fact that I live in a commune is a big help.

Well, it’s not quite a commune, I'm prone to exaggeration. But I’m banana splitting with lovely Lizzie. And so, my half of the treasure trove is as follows:

3 onions, 2 spuds, 3 ‘nanas, 4 carrots, 1 ½ leeks, 3 neeps, 6 apples, 4 oranges … and that all comes to 8 squid.

Then I also got a few extra bits and pieces: baked beans, tin of tomatoes, cheese. And they’re all organic. So here we go. I’m all ready to start in’t morning. With a bowl of porridge. And half a banana.

Oh and yes. Celeriac. It just looks like a brain. Am I meant to do something with this?

Scoop from the Coop

I love my housemates. Lizzie endured a 1 hour road trip around Brentford, the M4 and a certain roundabout and its 3 exits, in fruitless pursuit of the nearest Co-op supermarket. Clare persevered my chronic indecisiveness and helpfully provided impressive factual knowledge relating to the working practises of FTO.

Which, I might add, is not how I usually spend my wednesday evenings. However. It was all fine in the end.

I was able to get some good local produce from the Co-op to help supplement my diet for the next week. Tasty porridge oats… in the basket. They're UK sourced and the Co-op are good for ethical trade too.
Then I froze mid aisle, caught by the dazzle of Fairtrade brownies... but not matter how much they begged to come home with me, I wasn’t going to let them. I’d blow the budget in one sitting.

So all in all, a healthy selection of foods in me reusable bag.

And for anyone interested in knowing when I’m going to get on and actually start…

I’ve finally decided there is no time like Friday.

Good people of blogland. i might treat you to a flim here soon. Thank you.

Swap shop

I usually find lent a bit of a struggle. So much so, that usually by the end of week 1 my targets have slipped a few notches down the ladder of good intentions.

So in the last couple of years I’ve tended to set my expectations to zero. It’s fail-proof and guilt-free.

If you’ve visited a supermarket this week, you’ve probably noticed those funky black posters displaying evidence that it’s Fairtrade Fortnight. From 22^nd Feb – 7^th March, the Fairtrade Foundation is encouraging shoppers to pick up a packet of FT coffee and leave their regular brand on the shelf. FT products have literally multiplied since they first started out (in the UK) in the early 1990s. Oj, T-shirts, fruit, flowers, wine are now in pretty good supply. I have to agree that I think switching to FT whenever we can is something that positively conveys a change of consumer taste. So when you buy FT, make sure you use your loyalty card because it helps supermarkets know what you’re interested in. And I think our consumer choice plays an increasingly important part in shaping the decisions that supermarkets make.

And so, back to Lent... which I've not spent a lot of time thinking about, admittedly. But I do think that it's good to do something which makes room for others and gives the chance to see God’s mercy, and experience his grace and a maybe even a wee bit of life transformation. And actually, there’s a challenge in Isaiah 58 that fasting should not just be something that leaves us unchanged, but it should actually engage our hearts and change our attitude to those around us.

Here's where it says a bit more about this: Isaiah 58: 5-7

So... yeah... God loves justice and he pursues that. I totally believe that he cares massively about people who are at the fringes of society. Those who suffer injustice, those who are left homeless after an earthquake hits, or washed out of their homes after a flood. And he cares that people get a fair price for their bananas, their rice, or whatever they've sowed and planted and harvested. So, if you haven't already made your swap to Fairtrade, you've got until 7th March to sign up to the Big Swap. Just swap one thing... Go on...

Just do it... but first of all...

Some research...

I'm well excited about this challenge but I'm spending this week just checking out where I can get locally produced food from, and getting some recipes. I've ordered a few bits and pieces from Abel & Cole. That alone was a joyous online experience. I am not sure whether I will be able to contain my excitement on Thursday when the delivery comes.

One of my first blog readers agrees that a solitary diet of baked beans (and these are not just ordinary baked beans, these are organic baked beans) is not exactly going to do anyone any favours. I therefore feel justified in taking a brief (but essential) research period.

So hey, if you've got any suggestions for a varied, low cost diet, why not post your recipes here?

Thanks : )

Well. Here goes.

This has all happened a LOT quicker than I thought it would. Through some bizarre twist of fate, the people I lunched with on this fine Saturday afternoon, must surreptitiously have sensed my underlying mood of procrastination.

So, the plan is this: I am going to live on 2 dollars a day. Which isn't a lot, considering I just bought a latte yesterday for £2.1o, so I'm thinking this actually might be quite tricky.

But it's all got to be ethically sourced, Fair Trade or locally produced. And I'm going to try and do this for a week and see how I get on. Do you grow your own spuds? I want to hear from you. You can be my friend.