
Victory! Only another 364 days to go but my first full day of rationing has been successfully completed. I’m not too hungry, and I’m on my 2nd flask of tea made out of 5 teaspoons of loose tea so I can’t complain at all. Ask me again in a few weeks….
I’ve kept it really simple today and I’ve decided going forward that during the week I will make quick recipes such as stew that I can throw into one pot and enjoy with bread and weekends will be for baking pies and puddings and trying out new recipes.
Today I had porridge made with water and oat milk for breakfast, I had two slices of bread with margarine, a tiny sprinkling of cheese, and some salad leaves made into a sandwich and had an apple and a carrot on the side for lunch. This evening I had a huge vegetable stew (two bowlfuls) with leek, onion, carrot, courgette, 1 large potato, celery, cauliflower, and some lentils and split peas. to this I added lots of seasoning and some dried herbs and thickened the stew with good old-fashioned Bisto powder. I also had a slice of bread with butter.
Breaking the ingredients down todays food cost me around about £1. Not bad…

Talking about cost, I started logging all my unbudgeted for expenses today. I carry around a simple expenses book with me now (which I put together myself and is available on Amazon – shameless plug there) and anything I spend above and beyond my monthly bills, direct debits and grocery allowance etc, I am now writing it down. Today for instance, because of the weight I have put on and the side effects of it right now, I had to drive to work and park which was £3.30. I’m hoping that in a week or two of rationing, my weight will begin to drop and my back pain will start to ease and I can start walking the mile to work and the mile back from work again. The pain is horrible, all my own doing of course. I’ve had enough.
This year “bare bones spending” and “making do and mending” are something I want to achieve so I may want to lose 100 lbs in a year but I also want to gain £100 a month and top up my emergency or “rainy day” fund again so I feel “safe”.

I’m not sure what I’m going to have tomorrow. The day will likely start off with porridge again and maybe even another salad sandwich with fruit and veg on the side for lunch but I’ve seen a WW2 recipe called “Lobscouse” that looks simple and fairly quick so I may try that out tomorrow night.
Much love and good luck to all, C xxxxx