Halfway through day 5!

I had to go and visit my parents on Wednesday and only just got back home today. This was a bit of a challenge for continuing with LBtL as I was travelling by coach then tube then train, and I thought I was going to be away until next week, so I had to carry a couple of changes of clothes, but I knew I didn’t want to give up on or postpone the challenge, especially since a few people have donated to the JustGiving page I set up (thank you!), so I packed up as much food as I thought would keep me going until the end of the challenge: I baked all of the potatoes,  took the rest of the snack crackers, made some more tomato bread and made that into a couple of sandwiches with some of the coleslaw (and took the rest of the coleslaw in a tupperware container), the rest of the jar of peanut butter, and made a sort of spread by blending up the split peas with some pickle juice, a bit of mustard and about half of the remaining tomato puree.

I thought the latter item would make a passable soup if I mixed some water and whatever greenery I could forage into it (which ended up being a couple of handfuls of hedge garlic). I also chopped up one of my potatoes to add. This might have worked if I hadn’t added the pickle juice to the pea goo, but I’d put too much in and I regret to say that the overall effect was revolting, and actually ended up making me feel sick. I ate as much as I could by trying not to taste it but the last 2-3 spoonfuls went into my parents’ compost bin, I’m sorry to confess.

Yesterday evening was better, I had the second coleslaw sandwich (I’d had the first on Wednesday), some more hedge garlic, some dandelion leaves and another cold potato. Today I’ve eaten dry cornflakes and finished off the snack crackers. I’ve still got quite a bit of coleslaw, which I bought back with me, 2 halves of potato, there’s about 1/4 red cabbage left in the fridge, and I’ve got lots of cornflakes and flour left too, and about half of the peanut butter still.

I’ve also got about half of the teabags left, and I’ve been extremely grateful to them, but coffee has been the hardest thing to go without, followed by salad (I made a salad for my parents, and it was quite difficult not to pop a stray leaf of lettuce or bit of cucumber into my mouth). The time of year has helped though, with the abundance of fresh greenery which is available on common land at the moment. As well as the dandelion greens, cleavers and hedge garlic I’ve also pinched a few leaves from the lime trees in the park, they’re very pleasant-tasting when they’re young.

Roll on tomorrow, and the French Press!