Lent Day 4, Hannah

I had a back to back meetings from 1pm so had my carrot sticks (didn’t fill any kind of hole so I completely understand the desire and actual need for biscuits / filling things when on a budget) and one slice of toast and cottage cheese at 12.30pm.

At the second meeting, a panettone was offered with a coffee and while my host said ‘no thank you’ I was delighted – I would have been any other day, but like yesterday with the fruit today it was even more welcome! Also made me think someone could be put off a little if others say ‘no thanks’ and might say the same even if they really want or need it…

A second slice of toast and cottage cheese at 4pm then cereal as a snack at 6pm as a slightly later than usual teatime awaited.

Tea was half the remaining pasta (a slightly bigger portion as I didn’t eat any pasta yesterday), the remaining meatballs and baked beans. Both have very thin sauces and not a huge amount of flavour…

One more day so I’m keen to use what I have but aware that if this was ‘normal life’, I would be pleased to be taking some leftovers into the next week’s budget.

Lent 2023, Day 3 Hannah

Another normal start to the day, but a lunch time meeting (without lunch!) so I had a slice of toast with cottage cheese about 11.30am knowing I might need another slice after… There were biscuits at the meeting so I did have one while there and it made me think refreshments – however small – are so welcome if we don’t know people’s circumstances.

Back to the office just after 3pm so the second slice of toast with cottage cheese was incredibly welcome, plus carrot sticks. I have an evening meeting that may have biscuits so I’ve not thought about tea today; it’s likely going to be a late one or perhaps cereal with milk as I have those portions still available to me.

Evening meeting and there’s fruit!! A banana and cherries and a satsuma – such a treat anyway, but especially so this week.

Very tempted to ask for any leftovers but acutely aware that there may be others here in the ‘living on a tight budget’ all the time so will leave for others and be so much more mindful of that in the future.

Lent 2023 day 2, Hannah

I knew I was at a meeting all morning but hadn’t remembered lunch was included so I felt two things immediately – one delight at having something different (I know it’s only been a day but I keep thinking about choice and variety) and two relief and delight at having ‘spare’ portions of bread and cottage cheese from my weighed out daily allowances.

Back at the office for the afternoon with tea and coffee and not much else to report. There was a discussion around dinner plans though that I managed to avoid by asking questions or commening on colleagues plans. I wouldn’t have minded, but I put myself in the shoes of someone living with this kind of strict budget and thought I wouldn’t have wanted to invite questions on my meal plans for the week.

I’m finishing a little late today due to a meeting, so I’m pleased my pasta based tea is a quick cook meal.

Tea today was pasta with a quarter tin of meatballs (3.5 meatballs and a spoon of gravy to be precise), plus a carrot and one plum tinned tomato. It looked a lot more than yesterday’s, but the gravy was very thin, as was the tomato juice so it was pretty bland. I ate slowly to draw it out – I was halfway through when hubby had finished his whole meal – but did still feel a little hungry. After washing up and some household chores, thinking a distraction would show if I’m ACTUALLY hungry or not, I had a slice of toast with honey and 2 custard creams. Very nice although I am really missing fruit as I’d often have an apple or pear (usually both) in the evening.

I weighed out the cottage cheese for tomorrows lunch and realised I didn’t eat the cereal portions so I’ve got that ‘spare’ for later in the week if I need it.

Lent 2023 Day 1, Hannah

It’s Monday and started pretty much like other work day. As I did the previous two times I did this, I will drink tea and coffee at work because that’s all provided / available and I don’t pay for it. So by 1pm, I’d had two cups of tea and two of coffee which is pretty standard, but was getting hungry…

I had one slice of toast and half my daily portion of cottage cheese that is weighed out last night. I thought I could easily have two slices of toast, but that I’d still be hungry later so had just one for now then I’ve got one ‘free’ for later.

I’m working this evening so came home early afternoon and, while reading through some papers for a meeting I’m at tomorrow, snacked on my daily cereal portions but stopped after I noticed I was doing it quite mindlessly and, while enjoying it, didn’t want to ‘waste’ the food. I had a cup of hot green tea with lemon – better than I expected as I’d never usually have this, but pleased I’ve got honey which I’ll have a spoonful of in the tea as the week goes on I think!

Tea was 100g of pasta (I usually weigh rice for meals but never weigh pasta, but this has to last me 5 meals) with half a tin of sardines, half a tin of baked beans, a carrot and a spoonful of tinned tomato juice.

I have some carrot sticks and 2 custard creams ‘left’ which I did eat on my way home after my evenings work – did I need them or was it because they were there…? I had a cup of green tea and a small glass of lemonade when I got home; I’m feeling ok, but already a little bored of my choices, wondering what I could have switched out – maybe no honey (if I’d known the tea would be fine without) then I could have had bananas… Hindsight is a beast…

Lent 2023, Hannah preparation

I’ve done this twice (2019 and 2021) so am going to do it a little differently this time, spending £10 for us as a couple (although hubby isn’t keen to do it!) and then split the provisions 50/50.

Looking at my previous receipts, I will double some items (twice the pasta and soup and baked beans) but I think it will mean I can get some fruit or ‘pudding’ which I couldn’t afford on a single person’s £5. It’s definitely better value buying more, which isn’t always possible if you don’t have the cash up front of course. A small loaf of bread for example is practically the same price (circa 79p) as a larger loaf which a single person may not get through in a week. I have a freezer so could preserve that way, but not everyone does so that could create food waste for someone else.

Buying for 2, I do have to consider tastes and preferences – hubby has a food allergy which I don’t, so that needs to be catered for (and increases costs / reduces choice) and isn’t a big fan of fish which I can get cheaper than meat when looking at tinned items.

I did my shop – it took over an hour, just to spend £10! A lot of back and forth in the aisles, stopping to tot up again and again, scouring the shelf labels for price per gram and were there any other options.When I made a list of options of food for £10, I wrote a lot of suggestions, but quickly crossed off eggs and ham due to prices, sadly crossed off fruit although did manage one kiwi! I saved 1p by getting whole tinned tomatoes rather than chopped, 9p by getting lemonade instead of fizzy water and 20p by getting green tea instead of fruit because there wasn’t any and I definitely wanted an option for a hot drink.

After I’d got what I considered the essentials, I had 78p left. Cheap sliced ham and 5 bananas were 79p each and I considered going over budget by 1p, but if I had £10 cash, that wouldn’t be an option so I opted for biscuits and 1 kiwi which was 78p combined…

Very frustrated / sad that there were no own brand cuppa soups I’d previously priced at 46p for 5 so I had 92p to do both our lunches. No such luck. I walked to Tesco which was practically next door (I wouldn’t have driven) and the cheapest cuppa soups were 75p for 5 so that threw a big spanner in my budget and I really was flummoxed for a moment. I considered going back to Lidl another day to check, but thinking about my days, I wasn’t going to be passing so that would be extra time and petrol – another cost to consider. I therefore bought these soups…

Ironically, I then got petrol at £52 which seemed ridiculous as I had agonised over spending 1p more on bananas 30 minutes earlier.

I spent close to another hour (considering how much more time / effort / stress this would take if kids were involved!) doing the maths and portioning items for the week ahead. I have 9 slices of bread (half the loaf), 187g of cereal (half the box), half a tin of tomatoes, half a tin of meatballs, 8 carrots and 12 custard creams.

I’m discounting all the soup as hubby’s lunch (he’s not doing it, but I’ve spent £10 on 2 people’s food so trying to be realistic and fair) and I’ve got all the cottage cheese and the whole kiwi (!) and everything else is halved.

I’ve written out the dinners for the week, alternating meatballs with sardines, tomatoes and baked beans but all dinners will be pasta with carrots. I know I didn’t need to write it down as it’s pretty basic, but wanted to remind myself that the meat and fish need to do 2/3 servings each.

I already feel like I’m cheating as I had lots and LOTS of fruit and veg today, knowing I’d be without for the next 5 days and also not including a Saturday or Sunday purely because I did this last time and found it the hardest day. The routine was different and I still had ‘normal’ cupboard / fridge and freezer food in sight. At work, I only have what I have so that’s easier. I know I’m not doing it to make it easy, so I think I’m just confessing really!

A Day in the Life…

… Hannah, Project Manager for Norwich foodbank, Thursday 6th January 2022:

8.30am Catching up on emails and messages from the previous day, including a request for support with gas and electricity from a client via a text the previous evening, a request from another foodbank to be linked up with our warehouse manager as they have a new person starting in that role and would like to pick the brains of someone already in post and sending out a survey from a national charity to our referral agencies to get their feedback on local food /
welfare provision.

Preparation including volunteer confidentiality agreements / application forms / handbooks, local stats and most importantly (!) refreshments for a meeting tomorrow regarding opening up our 9th distribution centre which has been closed since March 2020.

Catch up in person with our warehouse manager about how things are post-Christmas and plans for the coming weeks in terms of extra shifts and catch up on the phone with our Pathfinder lead at the Trussell Trust in regards to what our priorities will be over the coming months.

(In between, answer the phone ‘how do I get a foodbank referral?’ ‘when are you next open for us to come with a donation’? ‘how do I refer my client for a foodbank parcel?’ ‘the nicest Christmas card I received this year was your charity card – do you have any more I can buy for this year?’ … and respond to emails ‘can someone come and speak at our Beavers group one Wednesday evening?’ ‘further to your funding application, the grants panel have asked these follow up questions?’ ‘how do I get a foodbank parcel?’ ‘how do I access the e-voucher system?’ ‘I’d like to volunteer, do you need me / how do I apply?’…)

12.30pm Off to one of our distribution centres with a car-boot full of food parcels, Christmas treats and toiletries as the leader is away and one other team member is off ill.

4pm Home as the centre was on the way home and I had remembered my laptop…! Catch up with a volunteer who we had hoped could use skills and knowledge from another role for us, but it’s proving a bit more complicated so we both need to work out what / where / how before moving forward. Catch up with another foodbank about this same issue as well as volunteer inductions and lots of ‘how do YOU do this’ which is always helpful! Catch up on emails and messages that have come in during the afternoon and continue to work on the latest newsletter which we want to finish and share by the end of next week and this will be one of the articles…!

In For a Penne…

The expression ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ is used to ‘express someone’s intention to see an undertaking through, however much time, effort, or money this entails’. This describes the Trussell Trust’s strategy to tackle and challenge not just hunger but poverty in the UK and is a vision we at Norwich foodbank share too.

As we enter 2022, this will be Norwich foodbank’s 12th year of operating. The years have seen many changes, developments and challenges but the core work has remained the same – ensuring local people in need receive food and support to try and ensure a repeat visit isn’t needed.

In 2010, Norwich foodbank was run entirely by volunteers out of a garage and 3 distribution centres. In 2022, the charity employs a full-time manager, 4 part-time staff (three in the office and a warehouse manager) and operate out a office, 2 warehouse units and 8 distribution centres. One thing that has remained the same is that the foodbank is heavily reliant on and thankful for almost 200 volunteers who help them distribute around 10,000 food parcels a year.

Everyone knows the the pandemic has caused so much to change – from both a personal and professional perspective – and some changes have been really positive and others have been pretty challenging.

One change Norwich foodbank has experienced is a surge in support, from existing donors who have given more and continue to do so and from new individuals, churches and businesses who we hope to encourage to continue. So to increase the footprint the charity currently has, alongside the website and social media channels, this blog will continue to be used to inform, update and encourage. Please do share and comment.

Facebook @Norwich.foodbank

Instagram @norwichfoodbank

Twitter @norwichfoodbank

Archie & Sophie Lent 2021: Day 3

The general, ever-present hunger is definitely starting to set in now. I started getting hungry for dinner at about half past 3 – normally I’d easily keep going until 6PM before I even thought about what was for tea! I’ve also been craving meat a lot – which is strange because I’ve been happily vegetarian for the last 1½ years and never before have wanted to go back. I will have to see if it persists or not but luckily the budget didn’t stretch to meat so there’s nothing to be tempted by! 

This week has also made me consider a lot more about waste. We’ve really made sure that we get everything out of every tin whereas normally if a few baked beans were left in the tin I’d probably give them to the dishwasher rather than scrape them out. After a busy day I was somewhat on autopilot when cooking dinner – and I started peeling our solitary potato and then put the peel into the bin… before realising that that’s a good tenth of a potato (and lots of fibre and nutrition) that we could have eaten! I was careful not to make this mistake again when preparing the rest of the meal – but I’d never usually think about eating absolutely 100% of everything I buy, even though I do try to be waste-conscious and not buy tons more than I need. 

I am also definitely discovering a few things I’d gladly have again even though I’d previously always gone for the branded versions. The cheap tin of soup we had today tasted no different to the branded version (I’m sure you can guess which…) which I normally buy. To be honest, there’s nothing this week that I would avoid eating again (although I might tweak some of the quantities up a little!)

Breakfast: Cornflakes, Sugar, Tea

Lunch: Half a tin of tomato soup, 3 small slices of toast with butter, tea and a biscuit

Afternoon snack: Half an apple and another biscuit

Dinner: Bean and tomato hotpot (recipe below) with rice. 

Ingredients:

1 tin baked beans, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, 2 small/medium carrots, 1 medium baking potato, ⅔ of an onion, Half a tsp salt, Half a tsp pepper, 1 Tsp mixed herbs, Generous tablespoon of margarine

Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Chop the onion finely and fry. Whilst this is cooking, dice the potatoes and carrots so that the pieces are no bigger than a 1cm cube. Add these, season with salt, pepper and herbs and put the lid on the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, add the beans and tomatoes. Rinse each tin out with half a tin’s worth of water and add that too. Then, simmer for approx. 30 mins. Serve with rice, potatoes, pasta or bread. 

END

Hannah Lent 2021 – Day 4

I’m sticking with eggy bread, fruit tea and lemonade for breakfast and have counted the slices of bread I have left – enough for 3 more slices today if I need them, plus the same (4 slices altogether) tomorrow if needed.

We’re in the middle of redecorating our bedroom and today’s task was continuing to strip the old wallpaper and fill the holes on the walls we’d already done. We started this about 9.30am and I had a fruit tea and lemonade about 11.30am. Starting to feel a little hungry but this took the edge off and didn’t stop for lunch til just after 1pm. Soup, toast and a boiled egg didn’t fill the hole entirely but there was plenty more to do during the afternoon so it would be good to be busy.

We stopped around 5pm and I decided it was too early to be cooking tea so had another fruit tea and watched a bit of TV til 6pm ish then had a bigger dinner than I’ve had all week, knowing what I had left only needed to last one more day: pasta, hotdogs, baked beans, carrots and chick peas.

I thought about parents and families who’s children would be eating ‘early’ and so they might be cooking and eating at 5pm and then easily would be hungry again later in the evening and there wouldn’t necessarily be any more food to share or spare. I have a friend with 4 children and when I go round for dinner (pre-covid of course), they would be pestering mum for a snack while dinner was cooking, pudding or something to eat after – and we always ate ‘well’ in terms of a balanced plate and plenty of it – and all of them would want something during the evening. Often they would have crisps or fruit or a biscuit and while none of these alone are necessarily ‘expensive’, they all add up and the cost could easily provide another meal and that is a choice so many families across the UK have to make – a snack now or a meal tomorrow.

If you read Emma’s story from 2019, you’ll see this kind of situation reflected. She took her toddler on the shop and he grabbed a treat near the till and the cashier put it through without asking Emma. She requested it be put back as it wasn’t affordable in the budget but how many of us grab a last minute treat for ourselves or our loved ones without needing to do the maths of whether or not we have enough money?

END

Norwich foodbank has run a project called FISH – ‘Food (and Fun) In School Holidays’ – since 2014. Local clubs were set up all over the foodbank’s geographical patch – coving Wymondham, Wroxham, Loddon and in between – and schools were asked to invite and register families who may struggle during the holidays when free school meals weren’t available.

In the summer of 2014, around 300 children attended at least 1 session and had a free hot meal, pudding and took part in free fun activities provided either by the volunteers from local churches and the community who helped to staff the club, or bought in with funding including Banham Zoo, Norwich Puppet Theatre and The Garage who provide music and dancing workshops.

Many clubs also ran sessions in the October half term, a Christmas dinner hamper in the Christmas holidays, February half term, Easter and May half term, with a few running in the long school summer holidays only.

During the pandemic, while vouchers for families were made available, thanks in part to the Marcus Rashford campaign, we heard of several schools and families where this wasn’t administered quickly or ‘well’ and so many were still struggling financially when schools remained closed. Several FISH clubs adapted quickly, as so many charities and other groups had to, and provided either takeaway meals for families to collect, or recipe kits including all the ingredients needed for a family meal. They also provided activity packs, some from their own resources and also given to the foodbank from Norfolk County Council and Norfolk and Norwich Festival Bridge.

Live on £1 a day 2021, Hannah’s shop

In 2019, Hannah (Project Manager for Norwich foodbank) and a few volunteers and supporters took up the idea of living on £1 a day for 5 days (in terms of food and drink) and wrote about their experiences. You can read their stories here: https://norwichfoodbank.blog/

2020 was a strange and challenging year for so many reasons and, rightly or wrongly, campaigns such as these weren’t run in quite the same way. But in 2021, routines have changed but are a little more ‘settled’ and Hannah and others have taken this idea up again to build a greater understanding and empathy with and for the individuals and families the foodbank serves every day, to highlight the difficulties tight budgets pose and, for some, as a personal Lent reflection at this important time for Christians all over the world.

Here are Hannah’s thoughts and comments on starting this 5 day period in 2021:

‘I had a read back through mine and other’s writings from 2019 as I wanted to remind myself why I was doing it, how I felt and if there was anything I could learn and do ‘better’ or differently this time. £5 does not give much leeway so, looking at my proposed shopping list and the items I bought in 2019, there were going to be only a couple of differences. In 2019, I bought a big bag of porridge oats and a bottle of squash totalling £1.74. I had a lot of both left over and while that is fine if living on this budget for a longer period of time – I would have technically more to spend the following week – it did feel like a ‘waste’ and I wondered at the time, could I have spent more wisely?

I am a creature of habit and I have toast with butter and marmite (huge fan) and a glass of fruit juice for breakfast every day. At the weekend I might add an egg or two, but this sets me up for the day and I enjoy it. Reading back on my previous breakfasts, the porridge really did fill me up, but I just didn’t want that this time and DID want toast so bread was firmly on my list. I decided eggs would be a good source of protein and although expensive (compared to other items), worth it. I toyed with the idea of having peanut butter, but decided on eggs as I could buy 10 and have one as snack if needed, whereas a spoonful of peanut butter didn’t feel like it would cut it! Time will tell… I decided to stick with cuppa soup for lunch and a loaf of bread meant I could have a slice at lunch too which would be more than I had previously, then a bag of pasta which would need do all 5 dinners with a combination of my 2019 additions of chick peas, baked beans, tinned tomatoes, fresh carrots and tinned sardines, but with an added tin of hotdogs for ‘variety’. I had added in a bottle of Aldi cola at 39p and fruit tea bags (couln’t afford my go-to rooibos and these were the cheapest hot drink I might enjoy – I don’t like green or peppermint tea), but switched to a bottle of lemonade as this was 29p and the cola put me over budget. I enjoy something sweet now and then and thought a fizzy, sweet drink would do the trick and was much cheaper than a carton of fruit juice or bottle of squash. Although thinking now, a bottle of squash would be only just more than the fruit tea and lemonade and could have done hot AND cold drinks…

I spent £4.98 and then had a panic when I got home as there was only 4 cuppa soups in the box and I thought there were 5 – I hadn’t checked to be fair. I looked back on the 2019 list thinking about shrinkflation (!) and saw there were only 4 then too, so the pasta stretched to 5 dinners and 1 lunch. I clearly have a very bad memory.

My shop is inadvertently dairy free, but as with last time, I’m thinking how much more difficult it would be for someone who has a gluten intolerance – the bread and pasta alone would have been half the budget I expect and not available every week at Aldi where I did my shop (there are often ‘specialbuys’ available, but these aren’t guranteed to be at every shop or that they meet the ‘right’ dietary needs).

I shopped on Shrove Tuesday, ready to start on Ash Wednesday and, while cooking pancakes AFTER dinner (a luxury for so many to have a pudding), I received a text from a client I had spoken to earlier in the day about sorting an ‘Energy Bank’ voucher to help with gas and electric. I hadn’t said when I’d do it, but the text asked if it would be today (it was 7pm) as she’d just gone into her emergency credit and was worried. I immediately sorted it out (we buy online voucher codes that are then presented at a PayPoint or Post Office machine for pre-payment meters) and thought about how grateful I am for hot water, gas and electric for cooking and heating and how I’ve never had to worry if there’d be enough for the day / the meal / the shower and how so many worry EVERY day. My £5 obviously isn’t going to cover the cost of cooking and I hadn’t really thought about this, but again this reminds me to be thankful.

END

Norwich foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust UK-wide network, providing emergency food parcels for people referred to us by agencies or professionals who can help, advise and support the individual or family with underlying issues. The charity work with over 300 such ‘referral agencies’ including Citizen’s Advice, Shelter, Leeway, councils and Age UK.

Since the start of the pandemic, all 10 distribution centres closed and the foodbank moved to a 100% delivery model, taking referrals by phone and email and delivering direct to people’s houses on weekday afernoons and Saturday mornings. Lots of volunteers had to stop due to sheilding and ill health, lots of new people came forward to help out and, in February 2021, Norwich foodbank was approved as a frontline agency and around 80 actively involved, client-facing volunteers were able to get their first vaccination against Covid-19.

During the course of 2020, almost 15,000 food parcels were delivered – a 22% increase on 2019.

If you would like more information on the work of the foodbank, have a look at their wesite http://www.norwichfoodbank.co.uk or followon social media – Facebook = Norwich foodbank UK, Twitter and Instagram = @norwichfodobank