Going fridge-free was easy - now I'm cooking without gas and electricity

Snuggling in the sitting hammock.
Albie is hiding his face in my elbow;
he likes it dark when he's snoozing!

I've been living without a fridge for almost 8 months now. Even before I got my driving licence and car, it was easy. Surprisingly easy. I just switched off the fridge and stopped thinking about it.

Lately I have been trying to figure out a meal plan and a food budget that I can stick to. I'm not great with routines, but as I will be living on the road soon, I think it is important to come up with a routine that will help me keep the finances under control. Being a minimalist, food is one of the few things I find myself spending money on, so having a budget makes sense.

Using the brilliant cookbook 5 ingredients 10 minutes by Jules Clancy of Stonesoup fame, I came up with eight delicious, easy, quick yet inexpensive dinners for my meal plan. Why eight?, you ask. Well, it just made sense that way. It means I will be going shopping every four days, which shouldn't give any of my fruit and veg time to go off before I've had a chance to eat it! ;o) So I was all set for dinners. I'm not much of a breakfast person, so I decided to have an apple and some brazil nuts in the morning, followed by a yummy chia seed porridge/pudding for lunch. The chia porridge contains lots of seeds, bee pollen and a banana, and it is a bit expensive but as it is packed with protein it is well worth the investment. I found that if I buy the chia seeds in bulk (3 kg bags), the price of my lunch drops to a fairly frugal £1.31 per day.

Knowing myself fairly well by now, I also budgeted for a little nakd bar treat and some yummy tea as a snack every evening. I hoped that would help me stick to my plan and stop me from looting the chocolate shelves by the tills when I go shopping... ;o)

With a bit of work, I managed to get my monthly food budget under £150, even though I buy organic whenever possible. I duly patted myself on the back and looked forward to testing it out in practice.

However, after a few weeks of following this meal plan (which worked a treat, by the way!), I realised that I would be better off coming up with a plan that doesn't rely on gas and electricity - that way, it will be easier for me to wild camp, which will keep campsite fees down, and I don't have to deal with having gas in the vehicle, figuring out which adapters work in which countries, etc. I've never been comfortable cooking with gas, I guess it's because I grew up in Norway where we always cook with electricity (we export our natural gas to Britain!). So I decided to see if I could revise my meal plan and food budget, simplify my life further and make my kitchen gas and leckie-trissie-free (apart from the kettle and lighting in the evening, that is. I've been dishwasher-free since the machine broke down about a year ago.). It didn't actually require too much tweaking, and I managed to come up with a budget that was just over £145 per month! And after looking into Thermos cooking, I found that I can still have cooked quinoa if I should fancy it (I have a small 12-volt camping kettle that can be run off the car battery, so I will have access to hot water). Cue more patting of self on back... that is, until I suddenly had the idea of checking how much calcium I get from my diet.

The horizon just after sunset yesterday.

I can't even remember where the thought came from, but I am very glad that it decided to pop into my head! As it turned out, I wasn't even meeting half my calcium requirement per day - in fact, I was just getting a little over a third, despite taking a calcium supplement! This would explain a LOT, so I got to work revising my meal plan and food budget for the third time, this time to make sure that I get at least 8,000 mg of calcium over the 8-day period. Turns out calcium is difficult to come by when you're a vegetarian (borderline vegan) who isn't too fond of your greens - and calcium sources that don't need refrigerating are very expensive!

I spent most of the bank holiday Monday indoors, despite the glorious weather, trying to find calcium sources I could incorporate into my diet without totally blowing my budget. As much as I wanted to enjoy the sunshine (vitamin D from the sun is important for calcium uptake in the body, among other things), I knew this issue needed to be dealt with and the sooner the better, as I realised I already have some minor symptoms of calcium deficiency (such as random cramps and tingling, something I have never experienced before). I took a break to take the dogs for a sunset walk up on the common, and continued my research when I got home.

Albiepops snuffling away in the forest.

After a few more hours in front of the computer, I was starting to get somewhere. I e-mailed the producer of my calcium supplement and found that I could take almost four times the recommended dose on the bottle. That helped. I added 50g of almonds to my breakfast. That helped. I added 2 litres of orange juice to my budget - to be drunk on the day of purchase as I won't have a refrigerator in my van. That helped a little, too. But I was still coming up short. Then I decided to substitute the honey in my chia porridge with a tablespoon of organic blackstrap molasses. That helped a lot, although I don't know if it will actually work. I've never tried it before, and reports on the internet are confusing as to how it tastes. But I was still coming up short! So I added another tablespoon of blackstrap molasses to be mixed with hot water and drunk instead of my evening tea. Yet I was still coming up short. At this point I was feeling very grateful that I had decided to look into how much calcium I was getting, because clearly if this had continued for much longer, I would be in serious trouble!! I considered adding some yoghurt that I could eat right after purchase, but I love cows way too much for that. My chia porridge is already full of seeds, and I don't want to eat just nuts, seeds, beans and herbs all day long... So in the end, I added a bit more blackstrap molasses. This means I shall have to take two tablespoons and one teaspoon of blackstrap molasses every day. I have no idea how I'm going to get on with that, but I hope it will work out for me. At least blackstrap molasses is low GI and as an added bonus it is high in magnesium and iron, as well as in copper, manganese, potassium, folic acid, B vitamins and zinc.

If it doesn't work, my meal plan and food budget will just have to be tweaked again. But for now, after adding the blackstrap molasses and getting rid of all the random foods that are high-ish in calcium but cost a fortune and won't incorporate into the meals I'm actually eating, I have managed to get my food budget down to just under £155 per month. For a while there it was nearly £200, so I'm fairly happy about this. I've had to cut out the nakd bars and my favourite tea, but drinking blackstrap molasses as a tea should hopefully be enough to satisfy my sweet tooth! 

It was a bit of a shock to realise just how little calcium I have been getting lately. If you're not consuming lots of dairy, I would strongly recommend that you have an in-depth look at how much you're getting as well. It was time-consuming and involved a lot of maths, but considering the positive impact it will have on my long-term health it was more than worth it! One website that was really helpful to me is NutritionData, so that's a good place to start. Now I just need to order a jar of blackstrap molasses and find out if I can stomach the taste... ;o)

I went up to that there London

I had to go up to London earlier this week. I had to renew my passport, and the appointment had been booked months in advance. So I had to leave my injured little Chestiechops and my lovely little Albiepops to the care of my ex. Chester recently cut one of his toe pads and has taken to wearing various fashionable protective socks of late.

Here is Chester wearing a sock his 'daddy'
left behind when he moved out.
That blue area in the background is
a cloudless sky. Amazing but true.

So I took the train up to that there London. I like to explore on foot, so I decided to walk from Paddington to the Norwegian embassy, which meant crossing Hyde Park.

There were flowers in Hyde Park.
And about a thousand French teenagers,
but I didn't photograph them.

And there were cute birds on The Serpentine.
Anyone know what type of bird this is?

When I got to the embassy, I quickly realised I was the only Norwegian there. Then I realised I was in fact the only European there. Then I realised this was because they didn't just renew passports, they also issued visas. Yup. I'm not very quick on the uptake.

I had to wait for ages, because they kept calling some person named Lane, who wasn't there. When it was my turn, they took a horrific photo of me (I didn't ask them to retake it because I figured passport photos, like driving license photos, are supposed to look awful, aren't they? Aren't they??) and then they took my fingerprints. Darn those new-fangled biometric passports. I have managed to avoid being fingerprinted by Big Brother so far. Oh well.

After I was done at the embassy, I arranged to meet my friend Binky at Whole Foods in Kensington. According to the map on my phone, that just meant crossing Hyde Park again, lengthways this time. As I could see cars driving past in the distance, I knew it wasn't very far. I didn't realise that the line that cut Hyde Park in two on my map was a proper busy road, and not just some cute little path. Again with the slow uptake. So it took me a while to get to Whole Foods. It was totally worth it, though.

You'll pardon my exuberance, but I was a
Whole Foods virgin and I had never
seen purple taters before. Wow.
Shame about the peas, or I would
have bought some salad!

I was ecstatic. I may have made a social media update to the effect of "I think I'm in heaven!". Well, I'm just a girl from a small town in Norway, who has been living in an even smaller town in Devon for the past decade. I have no training in acting all blasé about big city wonders such as purple taters. Or the raw food aisle. I mean, this was like a regular shop. Like a supermarket. With lots of organic yumminess. AND a raw food aisle. I started contemplating whether Whole Foods was reason enough to move to London. Then I reminded myself that London has twice the population of Norway. And that I'm not overly fond of crowds.

After such ponderings as mentioned above, I met up with my friend and we had dinner on the third floor. At Saf. SAF!!! My friend Kari had told me to treat myself in London and go have a meal at Saf. And I really wanted to, but I remembered how difficult it was to get there. And now there is a Saf right at Whole Foods Kensington. At this point, I started contemplating whether Whole Foods was reason enough to move to London. Again, I had to remind myself that London has twice the population of Norway. And that I'm not overly fond of crowds.

My dinner at Saf. Lasagne Verde. Yummmmm...

After dinner, we went home to Binky's flat so I could drop off my bag. It was getting heavier by the minute, and not just because of the raw food yum-yums I had bought at Whole Foods. I had carried it around for hours at this point. Binky's flat is soooo lovely. I was surprised by how quiet it is, even though it's right in the middle of The Big Smoke. And the colour scheme is so relaxing, and she has even got a little back yard to herself, and it's right by the river and a posh little harbour and everything. At this point I was so exhausted that I nearly asked Binky which river she lived near. Yup. Slow on the uptake.

We relaxed in Binky's flat for a while, and then we went to see Oz: The Great And Powerful. And when the film was over it was well past this small town girl's bedtime, and I had walked so far, and had such a long day, that I'm afraid I wasn't very good company at all. So when we got home, I went to bed in Binky's guest bedroom (didn't I tell you she had a great flat?) straight away. I am used to a quiet cul-de-sac and was worried that I might not sleep very well with the window open, but all I heard was a cat miaowing somewhere before I fell asleep. In the middle of London!

The next day Binky and I went for a lovely stroll by the river and harbour, then I took the overground and then the underground into the city centre for some more exploring on my own, since Binky had to work. I had decided that it was time to visit Tate Modern for the first time, so I got off at St. Paul's and started walking down to the river. You know, the Thames. That river.

St. Paul's in the morning haze.

I also wanted to visit St. Paul's, which I never got round to doing in all the years I lived in Surrey, but the thousand French teenagers that were in Hyde Park the day before were sat on the front steps of St. Paul's today. I didn't know if they were coming or going, so I decided that I was going. I'm sure there'll be other opportunities of visiting St. Paul's.

After finally figuring out how to cross the river (why didn't the Millennium bridge show up on my mobile phone map?), I saw a signpost to The Globe. That was all it took for me to change my plans for the day.

Art is art, but bard is bard, and the bard is also art.

You may quote me on that if the occasion should ever arise.

I have always felt an affinity for Shakespeare, even though I have yet to read all his plays. Maybe it's because he was born in April, like me. Being born in April does something to a person, although I'm not quite sure what.

Timeline.

Or maybe it is because Shakespeare made up the word linguist. You know, because that's what I am. That's what I do. Forsooth, it is!

I make up words, too.
Forsooth, I do!
I doubt any of them
will end up on a poster,
but you never know.

Two young actresses honing their sword fighting skills.
As you do. I mean, as you like it.

The exhibition was good, but the best thing was the tour. Our tour guide, Glennis, was brilliant. If you ever visit The Globe and book a tour, ask for Glennis. I know what I'm talking about, you know. I used to work as a tourist guide every summer for years.

Shakespeare's "wooden O".
Well, not quite Shakespeare's.
But kind of. You know, in theory.

The atmosphere in the theatre was amazing. As soon as I stepped inside the heavy wooden doors, all I wanted to do was sit in the audience during a performance. Glennis really sold the 'groundling' experience to us. A groundling is a person who watches the play from the round on the ground, where there is standing-room only. At first it didn't appeal to me so much, because I'm not too keen on standing for ages (a lesson learnt the hard way during various looong choir performances), but I hadn't quite realised how steep the seats are up in the galleries. I am not good with steep, so I guess groundling it is.

A groundling's view of the stage.
Wouldn't it be great if still cost
a penny, as in Shakespeare's days?

After the tour, I went back inside the exhibition centre, which is actually underneath The Globe, and moseyed around some more, until I realised that I was running out of time. I had to get back to Binky's flat as we had arranged to have dinner together before my train left. So I may have missed out on some Elizabethan minutiae, but the tour of the theatre was the most important thing to me, anyway. The play's the thing, you know (ooh that makes me want to watch David Tennant as Hamlet again. And David Tennant as The Doctor with William Shakespeare in The Globe, quoting J.K. Rowling.)!

Binky and I had a yummy dinner together and then it was time for me to leave. That's when things started to go awry a little. Here's the facebook update I posted at the time:

Got lost in the London Underground system and feared I was going to miss the train back home to my doggies. Cue full panic, crying in the tube station, legging it to Paddington, getting there with 2 minutes to spare only for them to tell me the doors had closed (shouldn't happen till 40 seconds before departure), went to the ticket booth and managed to get tickets for a later train with only 40 minutes to wait, cue tears of relief in the train station and then a few more in the Ladies' Room. Oh and guess what? THIS train is delayed... ;-)

I got home around 11.30 pm, and the dogs were very happy to see me. There is no welcome quite like that of two over-excited springer spaniels, is there? ;o)

One of the first things I did when I got home was to chuck my shoes. After all my walking in London, they looked like this:

You haven't seen London properly
until the soles of your shoes have
cracked from wear and tear.

And that pretty much sums up my experiences up in that there London.

Love Neens xx

A little self-love can go a long way!

Yesterday morning I read a lovely status update on facebook - a friend of mine has recently travelled back to the UK to look after her sick parents, and they had arranged to see a herbalist. When her father started to worry about how much it would cost, my friend rhetorically asked him how much he considered his health to be worth. They saw the herbalist, and later that evening my friend told a friend of hers the story. The very next day, her friend called and offered to pay for the entire consultation and for the three of them to go out for a meal at a restaurant as well. Her parents couldn't believe it, they said "things like this never happen to us", and my friend explained to them that these things happen all the time when you're in the flow.

Inspired by this story, I decided to contact the gym my friend Binky took me to on Friday to find out how much membership costs. I can't remember the last time I was as relaxed as I was Friday evening, chilling in the jet streams of one of the club's jacuzzis. It was heaven. The club called me back right away, and although the fees were higher than I had hoped, I didn't have to commit to a year's membership (not very practical when you're planning to move abroad in a few months' time!), and I had also contacted them just in time to take advantage of an offer to get all of April for free! I mulled it over for a while, as I still thought the sum was a little high. I don't mind spending money on organic food, but apart from that, I never spend money on myself. While I was thinking about it, I remembered the status update I had read in the morning. Not only did I remember my friend's question to her dad - how much is your health worth - but I realised that if I decided against becoming a member, I would essentially be sending the universe a message saying I don't deserve to go to spas, I don't deserve a gym membership, I don't deserve having money spent on me. And although I believe in being frugal and environmentally friendly (after all, I've been living without a fridge for six and a half months now), I decided that I believe I deserve to have a driving licence, to have a car, and to use that car to drive to a spa/gym 2-3 times per week. None of this has ever been an option to me before, so it is a bit much to wrap my head around. But I drove over to Exeter to meet the guy I had been talking to on the phone (who turned out to be devastatingly handsome, by the way) and signed up. While filling in the paperwork, he told me that not only would I get April for free, I would get the last two days of March for free AND the club would waive the registration fee. So I actually saved £220 compared to the usual membership fees. I was given a guided tour of the facilities (which turned out to include an outdoor heated pool that I was unaware of - yay!), and my membership package, and lots of money-off vouchers for their restaurant, access to the free wi-fi and probably lots more besides. I haven't actually looked at it all yet.

But this isn't even the interesting part of my story. That bit comes now. Because when I came home and had done a bit of work, I suddenly thought I should check my Norwegian bank account. A client paid some money into it a while ago and I wasn't sure if I had withdrawn it all, so I hoped there might be a few quid in there that I could withdraw and pop into a savings account. Well, there were more than a few quid in there...

Around October or so last year, I was informed that I had been awarded a travel grant I had applied for, and now that travel grant had finally found its way into my bank account. The best moon birthday present ever - tax-free money earmarked for a trip or two back home to Norway. Obviously I can't spend the grant on gym memberships in the UK, but ultimately money is money and I was always going to go back home to Norway - this way, the expenses are covered for me! And the universe doesn't just work in mysterious ways, it works mysteriously fast as well!

Once my initial excitement had settled down somewhat, I realised that I have already spent quite a bit of money on train tickets to London - I have to go up there soon to renew my Norwegian passport and I always knew it was going to be a bit of a costly affair, but I wasn't quite prepared for the cost of those train tickets (sometimes I think the UK must be the only country in the world where it's cheaper to drive and pay for parking than it is to take public transport). Also, the renewal of the passport in itself will cost somewhere in the region of £50. Well, there is no going to Norway without a valid passport, so I can use the travel grant money to cover both these expenses! Or, if you want to think about it in different terms - the travel grant pays for the London trip, and the money that I thought was already gone equates to about a month and a half's spa/gym membership.

What was it my friend told her parents about the universe providing when you're in the flow? Yup, I'm very grateful I decided to follow her advice! Now the only question is - how will the universe reward her for being such an inspiration to others?

*smiling from ear to ear*

Love Neens xx

It's my moon birthday today!

In my family, we like to be born on eves if we can. My granddad was born on Christmas Eve (julaften). My uncle was born on Midsummer's Eve (sankthansaften). I was born on Easter Eve (påskeaften). As great as Christmas Eve and Midsummer's Eve are, I think I chose the best time of birth. Easter Eve isn't on a fixed date, it follows the moon. Surely every girl with respect for herself should have at least two birthdays a year?

Because I was born on Easter Eve, the hospital staff wrapped me in yellow. I don't have any photos from the day I was born as my mother was very ill. So I am 4 days old in this photo. Still wrapped in yellow like the Easter chick I am, though.

I should probably do something special today to celebrate, but apart from having yummy eggs for breakfast (not sure if Easter chicks should eat eggs, actually... hmmm...), wearing turquoise nail polish (festive!) and treating myself to a bouquet of flowers, I haven't made any plans. I did most of my celebrating yesterday, really. My lovely friend Binky gave me a guest pass to the poshest spa around these parts. Generous in itself, but even more so considering it's the second time she's given me one. Think saunas, salt steam rooms, aromatherapy rooms, jacuzzis, heated loungers... I can't actually remember the last time I saw Binky (she recently moved up to The Big Smoke), so it was extra specially wonderful to catch up with her again. Especially since she is like a one-woman cheerleading squad. She keeps saying "Neens rocks!" and if she doesn't stop soon, I'll start believing it. You have all been warned. :o)

In other news, Betty has now been dogproofed, so yesterday I was able to take the dogs up on the common and let them run free to their little hearts' desires. It felt amazing to watch them run, I've been worried about them being under-exercised for months, as all I've been able to do is walk them on the lead around the neighbourhood. Surprisingly, the ground was really nice and dry up on the common. It was even sunny, can you believe it? The feeling of freedom was so complete that I suddenly started singing Oh Freedom to myself.

I took lots of lovely photos, but I'm having some trouble with the internet allowance on my mobile phone subscription, so I'm unable to upload them now. Maybe later.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Love Neens xx

Introducing Betty

Betty - reverse parked in the driveway by yours truly.
OK, so I had a little guidance, but it still counts!

Meet Betty. Ain't she a beauty? She's my first car! :oD

She is named after her former owner, a lovely old lady who is an identical twin, just like my nieces. Betty the lovely old lady used to have a springer spaniel as well. I bought Betty the car from Betty the lovely old lady's husband Geoffrey today, got insured on her and drove her back home. Via the motorway. That was a bit exciting!

Betty is a bit of a marvel, she is a 97-model Vauxhall Corsa but more experienced drivers tell me she handles like a 6-year old car. She has got incredibly low mileage as well. I drove her down to the beach a little earlier, what an amazing sense of freedom that was!

Betty the beauty on the beach.

Well, I could go on gushing about Betty for a while, but I am fully booked with work for a whole week, so I shall have to curb my enthusiasm for a little while now. It's weird to think that I have a car parked out in the driveway that is all mine, though. And that I can take her out for a drive whenever I want to. And that it will all be allowed and legal and stuff. It will take a while getting used to that kind of freedom, it's only a week since I got my driving licence! :oD

By the way, in case you were wondering, Betty is just a temporary car, my next vehicle will be a campervan! But Betty will give me some much-needed driving experience before I attempt to drive a much bigger vehicle abroad. Which I am sure you all will agree can only be a good thing! :oD