A question to you: are allotments worth it?

I spent a sunny day at my friend's allotment last weekend. It was hard graft, but it was rewarding and a cold drink in the afternoon sun felt heavenly! It got me pondering the post-recession allotment craze.

In 2012, the average waiting waiting time for an allotment was 3 years (or up to 40 years in Camden, London!). Tens of thousands of people are signing up to the waiting lists, hoping to cut their grocery bills, take up a new hobby or grow organic food.

My question to you is, are allotments worth the time and money involved?

Check out any frugal living blog and they'll rave about how wonderfully cheap it is to grow your own veg, but ask a seasoned allotmenteer and they usually smile and shake their head. An allotment costs up to £80 a year in rent, but newbies have to factor in the cost of seeds, compost, seed trays, tools, fertiliser, eventual shed/greenhouse replacement, etc. etc. There's a huge start up cost involved. Despite this, a survey by LV in 2009 found that allotmenteers save an average of £950 a year!

Of course, there are ways to cut the costs of owning an allotment. Find yourself some second hand tools, make your own compost and free fertiliser, and Allotment Underground even suggests making pots from newspaper!

I read recently that you should aim to spend 8 hours a week on your allotment, which is a massive time commitment for someone with a full time job. On the other hand, that's 8 hours that most people would spend sat on their bum otherwise! Digging burns around 340 calories per hour, twice as much as walking, and you build muscle too! My friend was having backache though so make sure you follow advice on how to dig safely.

An allotment is a social place where neighbours exchange tips and friendly competition. (I get the feeling that this might be why the costs start mounting up!). It is also great for teaching children where their food comes from and how plants grow. (Frugal Down Under has got this nailed!)

As for the harvest, everyone knows that food you've grown yourself tastes AMAZING! I think it's a combination of pride and the super freshness of the crop. People say that they waste a lot less food too, because of the effort they put into growing it! 

You might've guessed that I'm pretty tempted to get an allotment (students get half price plots in Bristol!). The thing holding me back is that I am not sure how much free time I'll have during my PhD. I could rope in a minion volunteer (the Boyfriend) to help out at weekends I guess! Anyway, let me know what you think, especially all you aspiring self-sufficient types out there!

Super cheap chilli!

Do you have some slightly ropey looking vegetables in the fridge? (Carrots, tomatoes or peppers especially!) Why not make a vegetable chilli? The recipe below is what we had for dinner yesterday, and very nice it was too! As with everything I make, it's nothing fancy, easy to make, but filling and tastes good! 

According to Calorie Count, the chilli part was under 200 calories with lots of protein, vitamins and fibre! :) The best part? Even with rice, it costs just 36p per person! 


Cheap 'n Cheerful Chilli (serves 4)
(Prices from Tesco)

Nutrition for my chilli recipe (not including rice)

One onion - 19p
Two carrots - 16p
One tin of chopped tomatoes - 31p
One (drained) tin of red kidney beans - 21p
One tin of baked beans - 25p
A tablespoon of mild chilli powder - 19p
Half a tablespoon of oil - 1p

Serve with:
240g (uncooked weight) rice - 10p

Total = £1.42 (35.5p per person!) 


To make, just peel and chop the onions and carrots and fry them in a saucepan for a few minutes until they start to soften. Then add in the chopped tomatoes, beans and chilli powder. Bring it to the boil then let it simmer while you cook the rice. When the rice is done, eat! :) Simples.

If you're feeling hungry, just add in more stuff! I bulked my last batch out with some slightly squishy tomatoes, and sweet peppers are really nice in chilli. Actually, bulk it out anyway, because this is the kind of meal that you can batch cook, freeze in portions and defrost in the fridge when you want it again.

What are you having for dinner tonight? :) 

How to grow vegetables WITHOUT a garden!

Ever wanted to grow vegetables but don't have a garden? Start a container garden!

If you have a sunny spot outside, or even a south-facing windowsill, you can grow your own vegetables! 

What to grow
It's a good idea to plan what you want to grow. If you are limited on space, grow small plants that produce expensive foods like lettuce and cherry tomatoes, NOT huge cheap crops like potatoes! Make sure you're growing things you actually like to eat or you won't be saving any money!

Even if you don't have any space outside, you could grow plants on your windowsill. Think small but expensive to buy, for example herbs or cherry tomatoes.

How much space will I need? 
The types of vegetables you want to grow will dictate how large a container you need. Use advice for Square Foot Gardening to determine how much space you need for each plant, or to calculate how many plants you can grow in a set area. For example, I have three tubs that measure 1.5' x 1.5' (46cm x 46cm), which is 2.25 square feet. I could grow 32 carrots in each tub, or mix and match and have half carrots with a few pea plants on the other side.

So what can you use for a container?
I have three large tubs, some large plant pots and... lots of milk bottles! If you cut the top off a milk bottle it makes a perfectly sized plant pot for a pea plant or a lettuce. Make sure you "black out" the sides to prevent sunlight getting to the roots. You can do this using non-toxic paint or, as I've done, wrapping them in aluminium foil!

If you're using an unconventional container, like an old welly or an ice cream container, make sure that you poke several holes in the bottom to allow water to drain out. This will prevent the roots rotting.

Caring for your container plants
Place your plants in a sunny location (a patio, balcony or windowsill works well!) and look after them in much the same way as a normal vegetable plot.

The main thing you need to keep an eye on is that plants in containers dry out a lot faster than if they are in the ground, so be prepared to water them once or even twice a day during hot summer days!

Luckily plants grown in containers are at less of a risk of soil-borne diseases like certain fungi and nematodes, but watch out for aphids munching on your plants!

Smaller containers holding top heavy plants are in danger of blowing over in the wind. Stand your pots against a wall and consider putting up a wind break if they are in a breezy location.

Buying compost for containers is expensive, so make the most of what you have by reusing last year's compost. Be sure to add a little fertiliser to the soil to replace the nutrients that were used last year. Where possible, try and rotate vegetables between containers from year to year.
 

Has anyone done this before? What's your favourite vegetable to grow in a container garden? :)

Money Saving March: Batch cooking

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

I sometimes get home from Uni pretty late and the last thing I want to do is cook something from scratch. It would be so much easier to just heat something from the cupboard or freezer, but wait! Cooking from fresh is cheaper and healthier! What a dilemma!

The solution? Get organised. Batch cooking!

Challenge 11 of Money Saving March is to do some batch cooking this bank holiday weekend!

The great thing about batch cooking is that you can just make extra of whatever you're having for dinner, then reheat it for lunch the next day or stick it in the fridge/freezer for a later date!

What sort of things are good for batch cooking? Anything that can be frozen and reheated easily is great because you can make a few day's worth of meals at once without having to eat the same soup every night for a week! Meals like chilli, soup, pasta bake, curry, cottage pie and stews freeze well and can be separated into portions for easy reheating later on.

Don't forget you can also make all sorts of desserts to freeze for a later date - no more excuses about eating the whole batch of cookies before it goes stale!

Food safety: Make sure you stick the food in the fridge or freezer as soon as it's cool enough to do so. DON'T leave it out on the side for hours - bacteria can breed on food left at room temperature. Defrost frozen food in the fridge overnight. Reheat food thoroughly so that it is piping hot all the way through. :)

My batch cooking:
I don't know about you, but I have five days off for Easter! It's a pain to be busy all day and then come home and cook, so I have pre-made some stuff for us to eat! 

Today I was making pasties, so I made extra pastry and turned the rest into a quiche that we can have for lunch for the next couple of days.

Whilst the oven was still hot, I decided to make some carrot cake using this recipe. The orange-flavoured icing really makes it taste delicious, although I definitely should have sifted the icing sugar first!! I made two cakes and stuck the un-iced one in the freezer for future snacking! :)

I also made some sweet potato soup using Anthony Worrall Thompson's recipe, but I forgot to take a photo!

We had vegetable chilli for dinner, so I made twice as much to store in the freezer for an easy evening meal.


All in all I spent about two and a half hours preparing and cooking enough food for six meals each for the two of us, plus 16 pieces of cake! :) By investing time in cooking this weekend, I can have hassle-free meals later on, with less cooking time and most importantly, less washing up!

Do you batch cook? Care to share some recipes? :)

Money Saving March: £1 meal plans

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

In the UK the price of food has increased by 32% since 2007, and it doesn't look set to stop any time soon. I was shocked by the price of meat when I bought some for the pasty party last week! Even us vegetarians are feeling the pinch; cheese isn't cheap and fresh vegetables can be very expensive when they're not in season.

Challenge 5 of Money Saving March is to eat for £1.

Today's challenge is to come up with evening meals that cost £1 or less per person. (Yes, it is possible to live on £1 a day, but it wasn't particularly pleasant!) Dinner is usually the most expensive meal of my day, so if I can cut costs here I should be able to cut down our shopping bill this month! :)

Here's my cheap menu plan for the next week, with per-person costs:

• Stew - potato (7p), carrot (9p), swede (18p), flour (4p), butter (5p). Total cost: 43p.
• Fajitas - wraps (30p), sweet peppers (30p), onion (16p), red kidney beans (9p), cheese (17p), salsa (22p). Total per person cost: £1.24
• Stir fry - half a carrot (5p), sweet peppers (30p), beansprouts (15p), stir-fry sauce (50p), noodles (26p). Total cost: £1.26
• Vegetable and lentil pilaf - creamed coconut (10p), stock (1p), rice (2p), lentils (10p), half a carrot (5p), peas (8p), red kidney beans (9p). Total cost: 45p.
• Pizza and salad - pizza (67p), salad greens (30p), tomato (16p). Total cost: £1.13
• Lentil soup - 14p per portion of soup plus 12p for bread. Total cost: 26p.
• Cheese and onion quiche - flour (2p), margarine (4p), onion (16p), egg (24p), milk (4p), cheese (17p). Total cost = 67p.

Average over the week: 78p per person. 

Other cheap meals include delicious lentil burgers, vegetable ragout and lentil salad. 

Cooking for one can mean the per-person cost of food increases, but by batch cooking (more on this next week!) you can save money by making extra and freezing the rest. This won't work for things like stir fry, but soups, stew, pasta bake, shepherd's pie etc. can be frozen and saved for later, whilst many other things can be kept in the fridge for a few days (quiche, pizza, cooked meats etc.). 

Don't forget to cook extra if possible for an easy lunch the next day!

Any suggestions for cheap meals for the rest of the month?

Money Saving March: Packed Lunches

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

Hello and welcome to Money Saving March! I will be taking on various money saving ideas and challenges; some lasting a day, some all month!

One of the common frugal tips is to bring your own lunch to work. I do generally do this, however the numbers are in and last month I bought lunch five times! Granted, the £3 supermarket meal deal isn't likely to break the bank, but that would still be almost £200 a year wasted on me being too lazy to make lunch in the morning!

So, challenge 1 for Money Saving March is to bring lunch from home, every single day, NO EXCUSES!

What makes a good lunch?
I take simple lunches to Uni. I tend to make it late the night before, or in the morning while I'm waiting for coffeeeeeeee, so it has to be quick and easy. Examples include:

• Cheese and pickle sandwiches, a tomato and an apple.
• Couscous mixed with pesto and a roughly chopped tomato, and a banana.
• Leftovers, such as lentil soup.

Yep, you won't find me chopping up 100 ingredients for the world's greatest salad or something in the mornings, but I still manage to eat relatively healthily for a fraction of the cost of a supermarket meal deal!

Back-up plan!
I know me. I know there are days when I sleep through my alarm and wake up with seconds to get ready and go! These are the days when I'd say, "Screw it, I'll buy lunch later". I need a back-up plan.

My solution? Keep emergency food at Uni! I've got cheap-o super-noodles, instant soup, bananas and apples that I can store under my desk. If I forget to take lunch, I won't have to resort to going to the shop!

Savings
If a homemade lunch costs about £1 a day, I should save £10 compared to last month's supermarket meal deals, and eat more healthily to boot!

Anyone else want to take on this easy challenge? How much do you think you'd save?

Halloween Cuisine: Three Easy Pumpkin Recipes

Halloween is upon us, which means there are a lot of pumpkins in kitchens this week! If you have pumpkin flesh or seeds left over, read on for my tried-and-tested tasty pumpkin recipes!

I got a small-ish pumpkin for £1 in Tesco. To give you some sense of the amount you'll need, my little pumpkin weighed 1750g when it was intact, and yielded around 1350g flesh and a lot of seeds! Don't buy a massive pumpkin unless you have a small army to feed!

This is the first time I've bought a pumpkin and NOT carved it, so I drew a little face on it to make up for it!

OK, on to the recipes:

Pumpkin Soup

OH NO!

The Boyfriend thinks I'm obsessed with soup, but that's ok because he's gone on a Uni trip to Holland (alright for some!). That also means I was free to play with the Big Boy Knife!


I've adapted this recipe from The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew.

To make four large portions of pumpkin soup you will need:

• One onion, chopped
• 675g pumpkin flesh, peeled, cut into chunks
• 450g potatoes, sliced
• 600ml vegatable stock (I actually used a litre then tipped out 400ml at the end)
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 250ml milk (you could leave this out for a vegan recipe)
• black pepper

Soup-splattered wall...

1. Fry the onion until soft in a little oil or butter.
2. Add the pumpkin and potatoes. Sweat them on a low heat for ten minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Stir in the stock, nutmeg and black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes until the vegetables are very soft.
4. (Pour out excess stock if you used 1 litre). Tip into a large bowl and blend the ingredients together. Try not to get it on the walls like I did.
5. Pour the soup back into the saucepan, mix in the milk then heat gently.

Very tasty and very good for you. :)



Pumpkin Pie

I had never tried pumpkin pie before, but I followed the recipe on the BBC's Good Food website. Although I halved the recipe quantities because I had a small cake tin rather than a tart tin.

I also made my sweet shortcrust pastry from scratch, unlike Antony Worrall Thompson's lazy recipe! (We've never trusted him since he crimped pasties with a fork!). The recipe I used was from Jamie Oliver, which I also halved the quantities of.

My small pie serves six, or four greedy people!

For the pastry you will need:

Cut to fit whatever tin you have!

• 250g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 125g butter/margarine
• one egg
• a splash of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (use in place of the lemon zest listed in the recipe)

For the pie filling (in a cake tin) you will need:

• 375g pumpkin, peeled
• A third to a half of the pastry you made above, depending on tin size
• 70g sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 15g butter, melted
• 85ml milk
• 1/2 tablespoon icing sugar

Please see the websites for instructions on how to make the pastry and the pumpkin pie itself.

One tip is to use a hand blender on the cooked pumpkin, rather than trying to push the stringy pumpkin flesh through a sieve. Also, wait for the pie to be fully chilled in the refridgerator before eating because it has to set.

Whilst you have the oven on, why not try the next recipe too...


Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Even if your Halloween carvings haven't yielded enough flesh to make soup or pumpkin pie, you'll always be left with a bunch of stringy pumpkin goop and some pumpkin seeds. Why not roast the pumpkin seeds to bring out their flavour as a snack?

I followed a recipe on the All Recipes website.

Just wash the gunk off your fresh pumpkin seeds, cover with a little oil and sprinkle with salt. You then roast the seeds for around 15 minutes at a low temperature (perhaps on the lowest shelf of the oven whilst you have something else cooking). When the seeds start making a popping noise they are done. You can store them in an air tight container in the fridge.
  

Give one of these a try for Halloween themed food! 

I made all of these things in one morning. I had pumpkin soup followed by pumpkin pie for lunch, pumpkin seeds for a snack and then roast pumpkin for dinner. I can't get enough of it!! :)

Cheap Meals: Lentil Soup

I recently tried a brilliant recipe I found on Not Delia. It's really simple, easy to cook, very cheap and pretty nutritious. (It is also vegan if you use either vegan margarine or oil to soften the veg.)

The recipe can be found here and uses some seriously cheap ingredients:

• 250g split red lentils - £2 for 2kg, so can be as cheap as 25p. 60p buys a 250g pack.
• One onion - 19p
• One carrot - 9p
• 1.5 litres of vegetable stock – Can be free if you use water used to boil veg, or if you use stock cubes like I did then 10p for a pack of 10 stock cubes, of which you will need 3, so 3p.
• Margarine/oil – probably freely available in your kitchen.

Total cost = 56p (or up to 98p to buy the full packages of lentils and stock cubes), which is 14p per portion.

(Prices from Tesco's website, so could be even cheaper elsewhere!)

Nutrition

The recipe analyser on Calorie Count shows that this soup is pretty good for you (grade A). It's low in calories, high in vitamin A and super-dee-duper high in fibre. 

The biggest problem with it is the sodium content, which pretty much all comes from the stock cubes. If you have homemade stock yours should be even better!

Simplicity

I love the simplicity of the recipe. You basically just soften the chopped vegetables in the oil/margarine and then boil everything in stock for half an hour. I didn't even need to blend it; it was a nice thick soup but not too chunky!

One tip I will add is to slice the carrots as thinly as you can. This will let them break down in the soup more easily. I could nearly see the chopping board through mine!

There are only two of us, but I made the full four-person's worth. You can either freeze or refrigerate the leftovers for a homemade ready meal another day. The Not Delia website has a few different ways to jazz this soup up with other ingredients too. 

For 14p a portion I would definitely make this soup again. It was one of the nicest soups I've had!

Anyone got a suggestion for more ways to jazz this soup up? I think meat-eaters might want to try adding some bacon pieces to it; apparently lentils and bacon is a brilliant combination. Let me know if you try the soup!

Lovely Weather for Ducks and Vegetables!

Most of southern Britain has been hit hard by the rain during the past week or two. It's starting to feel more like Spring or Autumn than Summer! The good news here in Cornwall that the rain has been interspersed with periods of warm sunshine; perfect veggie growing conditions!

Tomatoes are taking over!

My tomato plants are getting almost big enough to flower. I have sixteen plants, which are currently taking up my entire windowsill. I am trying to harden them off, but it takes a good 10-15 minutes getting them all arranged for a day in the garden because I can only carry two at a time!

Top tips for tomatoes:

• Make sure you tie your tomatoes firmly to a stake at several places along the main stem, leaving just enough room so you don't damage the plant (about half a centimetre).
• Regular watering is essential, especially when fruiting. If you allow the soil/compost to completely dry out, the tomatoes will split when they next receive water.
• Apply fertiliser weekly once the fruits begin to develop.

Basil

I planted some basil at the same time as the tomatoes. Can you believe the difference in size of the two plants?? The basils are about 1.5 inches high, the tomatoes are about three feet tall!

I also sprinkled some out-of-date carrot seeds in a tub of compost in the hope that I might get some germination. Usually we have very little success with carrots but lots of them have come up (far too close together, so they will have to be thinned later on). They're starting to get their true leaves now too! :)

Tiny carrot seedlings

Top tips for carrots:

• Carrots require a sandy soil, so if you have a clay-type soil like mine, your best bet is to grow them in a deep container.
• Try not to damage/crush the leaves because the smell will attract carrot fly (top tip from my Dad!).
• Keep plants well watered to avoid woody carrots.
  
  

Pea

 

I have three tiny pea plants too. The seeds were again old ones from a couple of years ago and did not germinate very well. I need to stake the plants now because they have started putting out tendrils looking for support.

A month ago I had a few cooking potatoes left in the bottom of a bag that had started to sprout. This is “chitting” and means that if planted they should develop into new plants. We planted them and the resulting plants are coming up nicely.

Potato plants

 

Top tips for potatoes:

• Potatoes should be watered during the growing season if there isn't regular rain.
• Apparently you should cut the green, above-ground part of the plant off two weeks before you lift the crop. This enables the tubers to develop a thicker skin less prone to damage from digging up and storing.

Sharing the vegetable patch with the potatoes are some onions (growing nicely from sets), some lettuces, swiss chard, swedes and some cabbage plants. (The leeks did not fare well against marauding pigeons!) These little guys are coming along well, although none of them are without a few slug-chomp-marks.

Cabbage

 

Tips for growing cabbages:

• Grow cabbages in a different spot every year, to reduce build up of the many diseases they are prone to contracting.
• Watch out for butterfly eggs (small oblong-shape) on the underside of leaves. Caterpillars can devastate your crop almost overnight!
  
  
  
  

Over to you, Mary, Mary, quite contrary. How does your garden grow?

Growing Your Own Tomatoes – The Pros and Cons of Seeds

Totally missed my 100th post. I'm a centenarian now! :)

Growing your own veg is a brilliant thing to do. You save money, reduce waste and food miles, and it is immensely rewarding too!

Tomatoes are a favourite of many gardeners because they are fairly simple to grow (light + warmth + water + fertiliser = yummy tomatoes), but in my family at least there is a big debate over whether to grow the plants from seeds or pick up young plants from the garden centre.

The PROS of growing from seed

Cost – The obvious benefit of growing tomatoes (and most plants) from seed is that they are MUCH cheaper. Most seed packets (around 50 seeds) retail for around £1 to £1.50, whereas small plants in my local garden centre were 85p each. Even if you buy top quality seeds (F1 hybrids that are pretty much guaranteed to germinate, survive and produce a lot of fruit) for £3 a packet, you will get 15-20 good plants that will produce a lot of fruit.

Greater selection – If you look in a garden centre, they will probably be selling one variety of regular tomato plant and maybe a cherry tomato variety. In contrast, there are 5+ varieties of tomato seeds in my local garden centre. If you look online you will be truly spoilt for choice, with a massive array of seeds available for £1 plus a few pence postage.

Sense of pride – I love the excitement of seeing the first little seedling poking up through the soil. If you raise a plant from germination to fruition you get far more of a sense of pride than planting a tomato from the shop and collecting the fruits later on.

The CONS of growing from seed

Need a propagator – I said that tomatoes were fairly easy to grow, but they are quite fussy blighters. The seeds will not germinate if they don't get the conditions they like. They need to be kept at ~20°C, which at this time of year means that you will probably need a propagator. They also like to be not too wet, not too dry, with lots of light once the seedlings are up.

More susceptible to disease – Tomatoes are susceptible to “damping off”, a generic term for fungal rot which can affect both seeds and young seedlings. You can prevent this by storing seeds in dry conditions until ready to plant and by not over-watering them once planted. You should also ensure seedlings get a lot of light and the air is not excessively humid.

Require fairly constant care – Seedlings generally require a lot more looking after because they are not yet established. This means you will need to check if they need watering every 1-2 days and make sure you move them to a warm location if it will be really cold overnight. You also have to keep an eye out for disease because they are growing at such close proximity to each other and it will spread quickly through the young plants.

Do you prefer growing your tomatoes from a stock plant or from seed? Anyone tried both methods and can compare their yields from the two? For now I'll just watch my tiny seedlings grow in the window. :)

Sowing the Seeds!

Phase one of growing your own (digging the plot) already having been achieved, I moved merrily into phase two; planting stuff! :D

Planting stuff is the fun bit of growing veggies. It's full of hope and distinctly lacking in caterpillars and mosaic viruses. It might be second to harvesting and eating your crops, but there are a lot of unknowns between then and now!

At our local garden centre, we topped up our seed collection with 89p packets of swedes (plant in May), cabbage, sweet peppers and spinach beet. We also got some onion sets for 90p for ~100! Looooads of potential veggies for £4.46!

Back at home, we whipped out the John Innes and started filling up seed trays. (Side note: I love the John Innes song by Can You Dig It?, a comic duo who write songs about growing your own!)

We sowed cabbages and leeks in one tray. You can plant them directly in your plot but Dad said he likes to keep an eye on them til they're a bit bigger.

In true frugal spirit, the plant labels are made of a cut up margarine tub. :)

In the other tray, Dad planted his beloved hot chilli plants. (Whilst complaining that the seeds were burning his hands!) These have to be germinated in a heated propagator. There are SEVEN varieties in here, plus one line of sweet peppers. He is so excited because he ordered four new "really cool" varieties online, including Fairy Lights and Stumpy! They have some fun names!

As well as the trays, I got stuck into my vegetable patch by planting a couple of rows of onion sets. You plant them so that the tip is just poking out enough to grow a shoot. Apparently pigeons and blackbirds like to pull them up, so if they start getting mutilated we will string cotton above them to stop them being able to land.

Anyone else been making use of the sunny March weather? Let's get chitting some potatoes! :D

In Sickness or in Wealth

In the UK we are lucky to have the National Health Service (NHS). Despite its criticisms, I am extremely grateful to be able to rely on free access to medical care. We British may therefore not think it necessary to worry about the financial implications of getting sick. Unfortunately the bubble will burst if you become chronically ill.

Initial loss of earnings

I am paid hourly, yet every day at least one person rings in sick to my workplace. To be honest, their loss of hours is often my gain. I am amazed that people can afford to ring in sick however; losing one shift means losing £30-£50! Salaried workers are at an advantage here; a few sick days will not be taken out of their wages.

Statutory Sick Pay

After four consecutive days of sickness (including days you do not normally work) you are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay, as long as you earn more than £102 a week. Unfortunately, the standard rate of sick pay is £81.60 a week. This would equate to £353.60 a month. Could you pay your bills with that?

Long term illness

If you are unable to work for a longer period, for example you have been temporarily or permanently disabled, you can claim Employment and Support Allowance of up to £99 per week. You may also be entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Additional costs of illness

Unlike in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, people living in England have to pay for prescriptions (unless they are except from fees). Currently the cost of medication is a set £7.40 per item. If you require 3 different tablets for one condition, too bad. That'll be £22.20 please. 

Other costs may include getting yourself to a doctor (potentially not easy/cheap if you're too sick to drive or walk), childcare, and long-term changes to your life like installing a wheelchair ramp.

Prevention is better than a cure (especially at £7.40 a pop)

Whilst of course it is not always possible, there are a few things you can do to try and prevent sickness or long-term health problems:

• Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your eyes and mouth
• Ensure you have a high vitamin C intake (citrus fruits are rich in this)
• Get enough exercise – this is two-fold. Firstly exercise boosts your immune system, helping you to ward off infection. Secondly, you are less likely to suffer from circulatory problems or diabetes later in life.
• Get enough sleep – six to seven hours is enough to regenerate cells and keep your immune system healthy
• Follow Health and Safety guidelines – while these are very wishy-washy, it is important to ensure your safety at work. Keep an eye out for spills, lift with your knees and don't carry too heavy an object, you know the drill.

Protect yourself

Do you have an emergency fund in place? Even if you only miss a day's pay, on a tight budget this could mean a week's worth of groceries. Take steps to save a little for when the unexpected occurs. For longer term illness, make sure that you know what you are entitled to, both from the state and your employer.

Most of all, stay safe.

CHALLENGE: Best of British – What I Learned

Thank you for all your comments over the past few days! 

This challenge was an absolute eye-opener. I couldn't believe how heavily I rely on imported foods for every day living! Although I wasn't quite as naïve as some of my friends, who wondered why I couldn't have tea since it is an “English heritage”!

What I Will Take Away

Whilst this diet will be too restrictive to keep up, until I build up my own resources anyway, I would like to take away a few goals for the year. Firstly, I will grow much more of my own food in the future. When I get my own place I would love to keep chickens for eggs, but that is a long way off yet. In the meantime I'll get my hands dirty in the garden!

If I had known during 2011 that I would decide to undertake this challenge in January 2012, it would have been prudent to grow beans and can them in preparation for winter protein. This year I will definitely preserve home-grown food, as I would love to become more self-sufficient.

I will make an effort to eat “mainly” British. If most of the ingredients are British (for example Hovis uses 100% British wheat), that will be a good compromise for me. I will eat seasonal vegetables grown in the UK, which will save me money as well as reducing my carbon footprint!

Eating entirely British is very difficult and I don't really recommend trying it. My challenge to you is to pay attention to where you food comes from in the next couple of weeks. What surprised you? Maybe try to incorporate more 100% British meals (or wherever you live). It'll save you money (when eating seasonally) and be kinder to the planet!