Progress?

I have been very naughty. I have not been updating my blog, and to be quite honest my excuses are fairly lame. Although this particular post should really have been completed at least a week ago, I thought rather than ignore it, I would just go ahead and publish it now.

My last post outlined a challenge I had set myself to only eat things I myself could realistically make. As well as being a food experiment, it doubled up as a financial one, as I didn't quite anticipate the positive effects it would have on my bank balance.

Initially, I was really excited by the challenge. Convenience went out the window, and I had to think much more carefully about what I was going to eat, and how long it was going to take to prepare. My purse certainly felt heavier in a week where grabbing a coffee and sandwich on the go suddenly became forbidden. If this experiment showed me anything, it is that I spend a worrying amount of money on coffee!

However, what I did find difficult was socialising. Sitting drinking an ice old cold glass of water, whilst everyone else is having tea was not my idea of fun. But since I can make tea, it was off the cards whilst I made progress towards drinking those recommended eight glasses a day of the clear stuff.

All in all, I enjoyed this challenge. On reflection I didn't save time, but I did save money. I had also engineered this to take place on a week where I wasn't working. I therefore intend to set myself this challenge again, on a week where I have to juggle work and sacrifice convenience. I wonder how I will feel about things then? Watch this space....

Things to make and do

Although it pains me to admit it, I have fallen foul of the January cliché. I have joined a gym, vowed to lose the festive bulge, and have become rather neurotic concerning my Wii fit stats. However, if the previous 26 years have taught me anything, this is a fad. A fad that plagues me throughout the year, namely in January after the Christmas and New Year splurge, in summer when  the thought of exposing any skin gives me the fear, and around November time, when I seem to think its acceptable to lose weight only so I can feel better about putting it back on again over Christmas. I am forever destined to fail.

In an attempt to actually succeed at something other than drinking copious amounts of coffee, I have set myself another challenge, where I am hoping to come through the other side victorious. My aptly titled 'Things to make and do' challenge is a minor foodie experiment, where I am not allowing myself to eat anything that I havent made myself for one whole week. To ensure there is absolutely no cheating, (I promise), here are the rules I will be following:

1) If I can make it I can't buy it. No more sandwiches from the Broughton Street Deli, no more soya lattes from Artisan Roast. I will have to make my own bread, and brew my own coffee.

2) My morning smoothie courtesy of Innocent will have to either be home made or replaced with an alternative breakfast, of course made by my own fair hands.

3) A trusty user of all forms of ready made stock, this will also be off the cards this week, and will be replaced with homemade alternatives.

In a bid not to fall at the first hurdle, I roasted a chicken for dinner on Sunday. This trusty bird has so far provided us with a lovely roast chicken dinner, a homemade chicken curry, a chicken salad and two litres of stock. Tomorrow the last of it will be put to good use in chicken fried rice, yummy! Taking this approach has so far made the challenge a little easier. The hard part is going to come tomorrow, when I'm out and about and can't just pick up a coffee to perk me up, or grab a cereal bar when I get a little peckish. Fingers crossed I don't fall off the wagon. To be honest, I'm worried I do it without even noticing. That would add yet another cliché fail to my list!