Day 14 - Valentine's Day hole

Woke up feeling better than we had for days. My back also seemed better today. Thought we'd go for our regular walk to Portobello beach with Bails and both of us commented that we didn't feel as hungry this morning.

Breakfast was 1/2 bagel, egg and beans. Mary had bought the bagel on offer last night from Lidl for 19p. I noticed when I cut it in half that the hole was slightly heart shaped and asked if it was a Valentine Day treat. Mary hadn't noticed the similarity. So that was the romance done for the day.

1/2 bagel, egg and 1/4 tin of beans + cuppa - 24p

Little mid morning yoghurt.

Yoghurt - 8p

After breakfast we went for a walk along The Water of Leith to Stockbridge and back. We picked up some milk (49p) from a Sainsbury's Local on the way back. Probably not the most cost effective. We were planning to make pancakes for lunch and thought by the time we get somewhere to get the best deal it would be too late and we would have been even hungrier than we were after a few hours walking.

Mary did a guest slot on the cooker.

and we even sneaked in a couple of we ones for Bails in the 2nd batch.

Pancakes (with a wee slither of honey) + cuppa - 16p

Tonight's dinner is the 2nd half of the curry we made last week. No photos as it will probably look pretty much the same as last week's. The one thing missing from this Saturday night curry is a few beers!!!

Veg Curry, rice + flatbread - 43p

The digestives have run out so night's cuppa will involve improvising with a slice of peach from last nights tin.

Cuppa + slice of peach - 4p

Total for the day 95p each. 

Please use this link if you'd like to donate to Fairshare Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £787.18. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 13 - Passed it's best before date

I woke early today 5:30am. My stomach was playing up and it felt a bit like an IBS episode which have been rarer over the last few weeks due to the lack of really spicy food and no booze. On the plus side Mary was working out at the Gyle today and the alarm was set for 6:30 so didn't have to lie there for 2 hours. Once I got out for the walk with Bails I realised my back was feeling a bit tender. Having had 2 slipped discs in the past and back surgery to 'fix it' I have recurring back problems. I suspect the carting heavy gear about all week and being bent over a table doing food photography has taken it's toll. Anyway that's the excuse out the way for the lack of photos during the day.

Two guesses what breakfast is?

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

A day of lying on the floor for periods and sitting on the sofa with a hot water bottle had me reflecting on last night's "Eat Well for Less". Don't get me wrong I've spent a lot on food in the past but I can't work out what the family on the show were spending their £300 a week on for 4 of them. It's not like they were feasting on fillet steak and lobsters. I did watch them throw out what looked like totally perfectly looking vegetables. She seemed obsessed by "the dates" on food. She talked about buying a broccoli at the beginning of the week and having to buy a 2nd through the week as the first one had gone past "the date". My experience of fresh broccoli is it will last a week. I'm just wondering how wide spread this problem is. How have the we survived for millions of years without someone putting dates on our food.

My advice is ignore "best before" dates and decide yourself it its fit for eating. "Use by" on the other hand is there for things when they do go off could make you pretty sick. Typically used with fresh meat and dairy.

Anyway here is a wee link probably explaining it better than me http://ni.lovefoodhatewaste.com/node/2285

So rant over lunch was tomato lentil soup and slice of bread.

Soup + bread - 13p

My back had eased a bit in the afternoon so I decided to use the rest of the "heart attack in a bag" mince from last week to make a chilli. You may remember it was 25% fat so I decided to check Baileys raw beef food to compare its nutritional breakdown. It only has 11.8% fat. Less than 1/2 that of HAIAB mince!!!! It also has more structure to it. The HAIAB mince is very finely minced. Not much chewing in it.

This time I decided to cook it then pop it in a sieve to drain off the fat.

.... and the fat once it cooled down. Luckily not in our arteries!!!

Well that's us sorted when the butter runs out next week!!!

This was going to be tight tonight between chilli, tortilla chips and cheese so we worked out the cost of the chilli and split it into 3 double portions and then worked out a gram of cheese and weighted out what we could use to get us to 99p for the day so we could still have a tea.

The finished item.

Nachos - 75p

Walk time for Mary and Bails. Hot water bottle and another wee lie on the floor for me. Just enough left for a wee cuppa later.

Cuppa - 1p

Total for the day £1 each.

Please use this link if you'd like to donate to Fairshare Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £787.18. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 12 - Skin jeans to baggy trousers ... checking out the peaches!!

Both woke up knackered this morning even though we went to bed early. Not sure if it's lack of energy or the fact that Bailey slept with us last night as we were worried he wasn't well and thought we'd keep an eye on him. He was fine. Probably putting it on so he can get on the big bed!!

We're both loosing a bit of weight. When we put our jeans on this morning we both noticed how loose they were. Mine were a recent buy that I would have said could have classified as skinny jeans a few weeks ago. They're now feeling a bit baggy around the waist and arse!!!

Porridge again for breakfast.

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

I had another food photography shoot this morning at 9am. More amazing food and aromas and couldn't try a drop. Also a secret new venture so can't even post any of the food I didn't get to eat.

Mary was working from home so after the shoot back home for some toast with a boiled egg. It's very simple but I do love a bit egg and toast. Regular readers will notice there is quite a bit of repetition with the options we have available to us for meals. This actually feels like a treat as it's a breakaway from the regular soup option we have had most lunch time.

Egg and toast - 8p

The afternoon involved me starring at food shots on my computer as I processed the last two days shoots. My stomach was grumbling through most of if so I drank a loads of water to shut it up so I could concentrate.

Back to the sausages for dinner tonight. This is a very quick meal to prepare. I'm beginning to like the fries with the chilli powder on them. So sausage, chips and veg .... oh and a squirt of brown sauce.

Sausages, chips & Veg + Broon Sauce - 35p (we had half a sausage less than last time in case you are checking costs)

Mary is out getting her haircut and I'm about to take Bails for his walk but our plan is to have a real treat tonight. Some tinned peaches!! I must confess I'm really missing the fruit. Since we started we've only had a few apples plus the apples in the 1/2 apple tart from the weekend.

The full tin between us may seem greedy but after all the food I've looked at over the last 2 days I think I can manage my half including the light syrup (I actually did a little lip smacking Hannibal Lecter style thing there as I was typing that last bit). So looking forward to these.

1/2 tin of peaches + cuppa tea - 21p (ended up we just had 1/4 each so 11p)

Total for the day 75p each. - Update at 20:12  .... 65p each

Please use this link if you'd like to donate to Fairshare Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £787.18. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 11 - Is this turkey or pork?

Both of us were really knackered this morning. Our energy levels were definitely pretty low.

Standard breakfast again.

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

Today I had another food photography shoot. This time at The Pompadour restaurant in The Waldorf Astoria. I normally eat before a shoot like this so had my soup at about 11am.

Mary managed to hold off until lunch time.

Soup + roll - 30p

I did struggle again with the shoot today as all the food looked and smelled amazing.

This piece of fillet steak featured in the shoot. Droooooooll!!!

We both had sore heads in the afternoon. I had held off on my digestive which Mary had popped in my rucksack before I left this morning. Definitely felt pretty hungry by the time I picked Mary up.

Digestive - 1p

Dinner tonight was a 1/4 of the turkey breasts we bought at the beginning with pasta and a tomato sauce. Although I was slightly concerned when Mary asked "Is this Turkey or Pork?".  I could kinda got what she meant. After the horse meat scandal you never know these days.

Turkey + pasta - 54p

Off out again for our nightly walk with Bails and then back in for a cuppa minus the digestive tonight.

Cuppa - 1p

Total for the day 96p each.

Please use this link if you'd like to donate to Fairshare Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £767.18. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 10 - Today's reading matter is tomorrow's fast food wrapper (or it used to be)

Porridge again for breakfast.

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

Back to the lentil soup we're not too keen on. I tried to spice mine up a bit and tipped in a tablespoon of chilli instead of a teaspoon. Certainly tasted different today!! We also had a couple of spare carrots that I can't quite mind what they were for so thought be better have them before they go off. So carrot for a snack today.

Lentil Soup (plus my extra chilli powder) + Carrot - 20p

Mary nipped out from work after lunch to pickup a copy of the Evening News to see the article about our challenge. When she went to pay for it the woman in the shop said "Is that you on the front page?". I don't think she was expecting to have her face on the front page.

The online version seemed to generate some interest although there seemed quite a bit of negativity towards us considering we're only trying to raise some money for charity. The best one was suggesting we were "Tory" voters. WTF!!!  Mary and I we're both brought up on council estates. We've both been unemployed and on benefits in the past. We take nothing for granted. We've also experienced harder times a few years back when we were living off £25 a week for food and had to stop paying our mortgage and Mary was on Job Seekers Allowance. During these times we still felt fortunate as we knew there were people worse off than us. I'm always amazed how quick people think they know who you are and how quick they are ready to judge. I did feel the need to respond to a couple of folk before I realised I was wasting my time. I only wished they'd concentrate their efforts towards the politicians that have allowed this country to become so divided in terms of wealth distribution. We also felt humbled by friends who sent us messages of support and took the time to reply to some of the negative comments. Nice to know people have got our back.

We'd still put the newspaper article as a positive experience overall. I've been asked to go on the radio. Lets hope there's not a phone in!!!

Back to dinner and things are beginning to repeat themselves with another pizza.

.... and the finished version.

Pizza - 48p

After dinner we had a walk with Bailey followed by a cuppa, digestive biscuit and Tony Singh on iPlayer.

Total for the day 79p each.

Please use this link if you'd like to donate to Fairshare Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £757.18. Amazing in just over a week. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 9 - Just say cheese

Started the day with the standard breakfast.

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

Had a trip through to my dad's today so took a flask of tea and a digestive biscuit so we could have a cup of tea together. Felt like I should have taken him a digestive too but he had a far better biscuit supply at his disposal plus ours are all counted for. While I was at my dad's I got a call from the picture desk of the Evening News asking if they could send a photographer over to get a few shots of Mary and I.

Cuppa + digestive - 2p

The photoshoot went smoothly although I felt sorry for Andy (the photographer) as we basically only had 15 mins to get the shots. Fingers crossed and lets hope they're not too cheesy!!!!

So by the time the photoshoot was finished and I got lunch sorted it was late afternoon and both of us were really hungry since we hadn't eaten since 8am.

2 slice of toast + boiled egg - 11p

Mary was heading out tonight for a bit so dinner was also a quick affair. Not much I could do to sex up the fish, rice, tinned toms and peas tonight.

Quick tomato sauce with some garlic, chilli powder, sugar, salt, pepper, coriander, and a splash of vinegar. Pretty much the same recipe for all the tomato sauces we are having with everything!!

Frozen peas for some veg.

and some fish which started to leak under the grill. This must be the glaze that the fish is frozen in. The bag of fish fillets costs £1.65 for approx 7 fillets which means you are getting one for 23p each. Crazy!!!! These have come from Alaska (I can only thing at what the carbon foot print is to get them here). Interestingly we had bought some a number of Norwegian line caught cod fillets the other week from M&S as it was the nearest shop on the way home from work and that packet cost £10 and even that felt good value. I have no idea how fish can get here from Alaska without swimming for 23p!!!

The finished 'styled' dish.

Fish, tomato sauce and rice - 52p

We're away out for our nightly walk with Bails but we'll probably have a yoghurt when we come.

Cuppa + Yoghurt - 10p

Total for the day 86p each.

Please use this link if you'd like to donate Just Giving Page.

Total raised so far £637.18. Amazing in just over a week. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary

Day 8 - Peebles and Pie

I slept well again last night. Well rested and in a good mood.  Mary hadn't slept as well as me as we had tried non lactose free milk yesterday again and she had pains in her stomach during the night. She was till in a good mood though.

I decided to have a quick shot on the scales after first week so see if there was any difference. This isn't meant to be a diet to lose weight and I even thought we might have gained a bit if it's higher fat and sugar. I was shocked to have lost 8lbs since last Sunday. If this keeps up I might shift that weight I've been planning to lose for the last few years.  Mary didn't do a weight-in last Sunday but has lost a load as well and showed me how loose her trousers had become. I see a new wardrobe on the horizon. I suspect a lot is down to the lack of booze!!

Breakfast was the standard porridge.

Porridge + cuppa - 11p

Plan for the rest of the day was a walk with Bailey on some higher ground. In the past we might have just headed out and picked something up while we were out. That's certainly not possible on such a tight budget so we made up a couple of flasks of soup with half a roll each from the ones we picked up yesterday. We also treated ourselves to an apple each.

Our stomaches were grumbling by the time we got to our destination so to avoid a repeat of yesterday's energy drain incident we decided to have one of the flasks of soup before we headed to Peebles for our walk in the forest.

During the walk we discussed what would be our top ten dishes if we could have anything right at that moment. I know why torture yourself but we've finding we are increasing obsessed with food and what me might have once we've finished the challenge. Here's the list we came up with (not in order):

Steak and Chips

Roast chicken with gravy and roast veg

Fish n Chips

Indian Curry

Thai Curry

Stovies with betroot

Burger and Chips

Sharing plater board (Vintage style if you live in Leith)

A wood fired Pizza

Salmon teriyaki with broccoli and potatoes

Walk lasted 1.5 hours and again we felt hungry as we walked back to the car (probably our own fault) for the 2nd flask of soup with 1/2 roll with the apple as a treat.  The apple tasted delicious. I think the lack of fruit is heightening the senses and seems to make us enjoy something like an apple when we get it.

Soup, 1/2 roll + Apple - 32p

Back home and a cuppa and biscuit.

Cuppa + digestive - 2p

Later in the afternoon our friend Paula and Bailey's favourit-est person in the world (if would seem) picked him up for a few hours and we nipped out for a bit. On the way home again the conversation turned to food and a deal we had seen in Lidl for a bar of hazelnut chocolate at 49p. We nipped into Tesco first as I was keen to see if they had any cheap vinegar. Once we were in our shopping gene must have kicked in as we felt the need to buy something. We 'stoated' about for a while trying to find a couple of things to spice up tonight's dinner. As we walked past the bakery section we realised they were marking down loads of stuff as it was going past its best before date. A bramley apple pie caught our eye at 25p down from £1. This required us to rethink dinner so we also got the cheap baguettes and a packet of custard powder (15p). We spent a grand total of £1.04 and were over the money with our purchases until Mary walked past the prosecco in the wine isle.

The excitement kicked in again as we got home and fired the oven up for our impromptu feast. Dinner tonight was going to be spicy hot dogs and french fries or sausage with sliced chilli on a baguette and oven chips if you're being accurate!!! Anyway it was wolfed down in a matter of minutes.

Spicy hot dogs and fries - 35p

We're still feeling pretty stuffed at the moment but I'm going to put the apple pie in today's budget as I suspect we might have a slice later .... and we did!!

Apple pie + custard - 14p

Total for today 94p

Total raised so far £607.18. Amazing in just over a week. Thanks again for all the support.

Paul & Mary