Green Low Budget Challenge – between organic box, food sharing & coffee(addiction)
I went weak. Despite my current very low weekly budget of 30 Euros, I couldn’t help myself but heading to the city and buying some sexy coffee. It cost me 6.20 Euros for 250 g and thus I had been spending 20 % of my money for a luxury food.
What can I say… I just love drinking coffee and so far I couldn’t manage to give it up. Of course, I could have got it much cheaper. However, particularly in regards to coffee, quality is very important to me, since it isn’t the most eco-friendly product in the world anyway. Therefore, I established a personal rule: if coffee, then rightly!
And damn right I recently discovered in the heart of my city in a nice Fairtrade Shop (a small chain, called Contigo fairtrade) There, you not only get freshly grounded organic and Fairtrade coffee, but you also get it in a reusable bag, which you can bring again every time buying new coffee. Well, they definitely got me with that!
So in the end, my addiction has been satisfied as sustainable as possible. However, since coffee alone doesn’t make you full, I still needed to find something edible. Therefore, I went a second time this week to the food sharing locations in my city, with the deep hope to find something. Unfortunately my yield was quite moderate again, but it was still worth it: cauliflower, radish, parsley and some home-made jam (thanks to the unknown donor!)
The cauliflower needed to be prepared the same day and together with radish, parsley, oat flakes and my wizen potatoes I converted it into delicious vegetable pancakes. This works for various types of vegetables and is an excellent way to make use of leftovers. For this just (1) cook and mash everything (alternatively use it raw and grate it) (2) mix and season it and finally (3) form and fry it! Combined with salad and dip, it represents a wonderful meal!
I had five Euros left and I used it for buying some missing ingredients for making a carrot-buckwheat-bread (another ingenuity that does not come from me – recipe will follow soon), which I can combine very well with the jam. To further ensure my breakfast, I needed to come with some oat milk as well. This, I didn’t buy, but prepared it myself – which not only saves money but also packaging (again: recipe will follow soon).
Being honest, I needed to drive around a lot in order to get my quite few groceries this week; and additionally the whole thing requires a certain degree of flexibility and improvisation. However, in the end I was full and happy – and this is the main thing, I think.
Altogether, I spent 29.97 Euro this week. So unfortunately there is nothing left for the outdoor cinema event, I could have visited today with another 3 Euros extra. However, I think it looks like rain anyway, doesn’t it?
To be continued…