Yoghurt, Yoghurt everywhere (but no plastic yoghurt pots!)

My 'Easi Yo' yoghurt maker arrived in the post last week, and boy, is it worth it! There was an initial extreme disappointment when I thought I would have to buy their sachets which actually cost more than buying it from the shops, but this was soon usurped with some swift googling and I found that you can make yoghurt using more conventional (and cheap) methods with the Easi Yo. (Loving the name, by the way!).

So once a week I buy some UHT milk, put this, some natural yoghurt and some milk powder (they sell it in our little Sainsburys down the road, strike!), mix it up and leave it in the Easi Yo (tee hee) flask with boiling water over night and hey presto, I have 1 litre of yoghurt the next day. I reckon so far I have saved us at least 4 plastic tubs, and as the bean loves this type of yoghurt too, any number of petit filous have not been used either. Love it. The only bit of rubbish is the UHT carton which can be recycled - less landfill, more land :-)

I recommend it! Get buying it. It is seriously almost NO work at all.

I also got a little recipe book in my pack, so I tried out some muffins, made with yoghurt. As an old friend of mine would say Oh. My. Life. - they are literally the best I have ever tasted! I've also been having yoghurt with my breakfast, thus saving on milk. Just so brilliant. Have I gushed enough?!

If you eat more than a bit of yoghurt each week, it is sooooo worth the purchase. Enjoy!!

Living differently, living radically - part 2

... So how can I live differently but not back in the 16th century?

Here are some things I'm either doing , hoping to do or pondering on.

• Re-using plastic boxes instead of cellophane - but I do love cellophane! It's hard work to use a box... actually, is it hard work?! Nope. Caught me out there...
• Growing my own food. I have an allotment - and I know i'm lucky in that. This year I've been growing my own seedlings at home which to be honest is a bit of a faff, but I'm hoping for a better harvest this autumn to actually feed us - last year I had just a few sticks of rhubarb and some blackcurrants!
• Knitting more. This is something I really enjoy but I don't have a lot of time for it. And are second hand clothes just as good as making your own?
• Buying second hand. There is such a massive market out there, now we have Ebay. I don't think there's much that you need to buy new these days. And it seems that whenever I do splurge and buy something new, I inevitably see the same or similar model, somewhere, at about a quarter of the price the following week. I'm learning though...
• Buying less. Less food, less material things, and in particular, for us - buying less books!
• Use the library. Especially handy when I get bored with the kiddies books I read over and over to the bean...
• Eating less meat. Since my experience of living below the line, I'm convinced that we need to eat less meat. So we're having at least one lentil meal each week - last weeks was a delicious lentil curry. Mmm!
• Using less fuel. My hubby is really keen to try to get rid of our second car. These are his thoughts really - get a folding bike, cycle to the bus stop for work, then get the bus there and back. He already car shares twice a week, saving on fuel and cash. My challenge is to use the bus with my little bean to get into town....
• Buy a yoghurt maker (second hand, of course!). We eat loads of yoghurt, so this is a no brainer. Less plastic, less waste, more yum. 
• Not buy anything or spend much on the bean. (By the way, the bean is my little boy, if you were wondering.) He doesn't need stuff, he needs people, he needs me and his family. However. Blush. I did buy him a pair of smart soft shoes yesterday for his dedication.  [Question - does he really need them? Or is it just me?!]
• Recycle. In all sorts of ways - freecycle, using the recycling bin, taking stuff to the recycling centre at the tip... so many different ways of not chucking stuff into the bin. My good friend JD was telling me that our food rubbish is now shipped to INDONESIA (!!) to landfill, as we have filled up all our sites here.... 

Most of these things, I have noticed do take more time. But like I've said before, I do have  a bit more time on my hands. Time to stop blogging and start doing!

I guess it's just what I used to teach to my kids in school - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And there's always more I can do . I'd be really interested for anymore ideas on the subject. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Living differently, living radically

The title of my blog is Learning to live Differently. Recently I've been reading a book by Shane Claiborne. He is an american Christian who is inspired to live differently, and lives with a community of other likeminded people in Philadelphia. His point is basically that we need to live differently and radically in order to mend the problem of the world. I have been challenged by much of what I have read, and found it tying in with living below the line.

Here's what I read this morning:

"Recognising the connection between war and oil, resources and global conflict, some folks have been exploring alternatives. We know folks who have organised their lives in such a way that their homes are located where the can walk to work or take public transportation. Others have made their bikes more comfortable for use for daily transportation and capable of carrying groceries. ... These people have chosen to reduce not only their personal costs and the amount of gas they burn but also their participation in the vast, international, wasteful system of processing and transporting (and fighting for) fuel before it even makes it to a car. (And hey, less energy is spent on finding the best new diet or exercise video.)"

I started off my very first blog wanting to tell you about tractors and sewing machines. This whole issue about warring for fuel, which leaves so many people hungry and homeless is is striking a chord in me. I allowed myself to try to work out what I would need to do in order to really reduce my dependence on fuel and the byproducts of it (such as plastics etc).

I think....

• I would have to live and work in the same place.
• I would have to produce my own food - hence the farm.
• I would make my own clothes and be careful where I got the material from (not from halfway across the globe). (hence the sewing machine).
• I'd have to live in community with others who have different skills so that we can help each other.
• I wouldn't run a car, just a bike or ride a horse. 

... can you see where this is going? 16th Century aloha.

So - I can't go back to living in the 16th century - well I could, but I'd have to find a fairly large number of people willing to do it with me, and a place in which to do it - none of which are making themselves know to me at the moment, so I'll take it that I stay where I am.

But how can I live differently, taking these thoughts into account? See you tomorrow.

porridge and giving....

Just a little post today ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22345958

This is what the BBC recently shared about people who live on the bread line in the UK - some great stories. My particular favourite is the girl who has porridge week once a month - 99p for 500g of porridge which she eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the end of the month when the money has run out! But, she goes on 'Come pay day, me and my friends are back out on the town'....

Food for thought. Or maybe that should be porridge for thought.

And by the way, thank you again to all those of you who have sponsored me for last week's eating. You have wowed me - I am now at nearly twice what I aimed to raise! And also, by the way, giving is a great way to bless, and then be blessed in return. Try it - give things away - money, cake, things you have too much of, things you really love... you'll be surprised at how great you feel, seeing someone else benefit from what you have. And, if you're a believer in God (as I am), he will demonstrate to you  that he can give you way more than you can ever give away. Try it.

The Foodbank...

As I said, I have looked into the idea of the Food bank. One of the biggest providers of food banks in the UK is the Trussell Trust - www.trusselltrust.org, do take a look, a great charity!

This is what they say...

We launched our first foodbank in a garden shed and garage in Salisbury in 2000. The demand for its services was so large that we carried out research into the UK-wide need for foodbanks and discovered that short term hunger was a nationwide problem. The foodbank network was founded in 2004 based on the successful Salisbury foodbank model.

Since 2004 we’ve launched over 300 foodbanks nationwide in a wide range of towns and cities. Our fast-growing network gave emergency food to over 128,000 people in 2011/12. Sadly, many more people are going hungry in towns with no foodbank, which is why we believe that every town should have one.

So I had a look - our closest Foodbank is in Farnham, conveniently run by a church my hubby used to go to (Farnham Vineyard). So now my quandary is this - do I take food to the Farnham foodbank, which will feed those in need in Farnham... but then what about my locality? They need feeding too...

And I guess that's part of the problem. There will always be people who are poor and people who are unable to provide for their needs. No matter how good our benefits system is, someone will always be slipping through a loop hole in the system. And, like a lovely lady who reads this blog commented last week, it's not just people on benefits who live below the line - working people with a big mortgage, or coping with redundancy, or with an unexpected utility bill, or caring for family members live below the line. And they need our help.

Todays thought is, then, that I must help where I can. And helping will take time.... and that's where I come in. As a basically non working mum (I just work a few hours a week), I do have the time that working people don't have, so it's up to me to use it wisely and well.

Some more food for thought from the Trussell Trust....

13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK.

In 2012-13 foodbanks fed 346,992 people nationwide. Of those helped, 126,889 were children. Rising costs of food and fuel combined with static income, high unemployment and changes to benefits are causing more and more people to come to foodbanks for help.

The light and the end of the tunnel

.. well this arrived on Friday night with my hubby, in the shape of 3 orange Sainsburys bags full of nutrients and health - and bagels! I can't deny that Saturday was marvellous - we ate, we drank, we gardened, we felt full of energy and stayed up to watch Lewis (jolly good) and were tired at 11.30 instead of 9.45.

But my mind is still full of those in the UK and around the world for whom the light at the end of their tunnel is much further away - possibly a lifetime away. To always live with bare cupboards, or no cupboard; to always hunger, to always be thirsty, to always worry about how to feed your children today - I can't begin to imagine their pain. Because my cupboards have never been bare, being a good student of Jamie and Nigella, always checking I have my kitchen basics available.

So - what can I do? Can I help to make the light at the end of the tunnel come a bit nearer? Conveniently, in church this morning, part of the talk was on the bit in Matthew where Jesus says - 'I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was naked and you clothed me... whatever you do for one of these, you do it for me'. (Cue the old Sunday school song 'When I needed a neighbour were you there, were you there... ear worm ahoy!)

Feeding the hungry. How? Well, this week I'm looking into food banks, and utilising a friend of mine who works with families in need to see where I can help. I'm going to check my giving - am I feeding the hungry, or at least giving to those charities who will help 'the hungry' to learn how to provide for themselves?

I don't want to sound self righteous or boast-y. It's just that this has prompted me to think about the less fortunate people in the world than myself. I want to practice what I preach and not be a hypocrite.

And thanks so much to those who have sponsored me! Am very grateful... and so are those hungry people x

The End is Nigh....

... and it it with enormous joy that I eat my tea  - a large helping of rice and veg chilli - and know that in 16 hours I will be eating as normal again. Well, I say as normal - as normal as you can after experiencing a bit of food poverty. Here are some of my final day thoughts...

1) We've not lost any weight, but that is probably because a bread line diet has to be mostly carbs (as my good friend JD pointed out today).

2) But we've felt more tired, and by that I'm talking falling asleep in front of the telly at 10pm tired.

3) We've been more ratty with each other. Grump.

3) My body feels less healthy - funny skin, slightly odd insides etc. You just can't live as well when you can't afford 'healthy' stuff - cheese and veg and meat and yogs and orange juice....

4) Being on the bread line affects your health, your relationships, your mental health (worrying about what the next meal will be, where it will come from, is there enough for the kids as well as me...) and your energy levels.

5) It's been boring! I LOVE food and I LOVE cooking it. When you have only a little capital to spend on food, ALL the joy goes out of it, and it all becomes a stress and a worry. A friend with a toddler remarked to me that she is always thinking about food for her toddler, trying to make it interesting and exciting as well as healthy. I guess that's not really a worry, just a positive burden. Whereas in real food poverty, it's a very real and very bad burden.

6) BUT - on a personal (some may say selfish) level, I have discovered that we can manage on less. I've thought more this week about how my buying habits affect the global market, so I guess by living on less we therefore use less fuel, less air miles and less of the world's resources.

And so to my final thought - there have been NO leftovers this week!  We've eaten up every last scrap, as you do when you have no money. So, tomorrow I'll be treasuring my food just a little bit more, and being very thankful for it .

I think we'll start to say grace before our meals again. Somewhere in the past, I forgot to be grateful for my food.