Budget carried over from previous days: 11p
Content of pantry before shopping:
- Perishable:
No coffee
2 portions (approx. 260 grams) of liver
1 portion of pork fillet (frozen)
a leftover of cabbage
2.5 chillies
1/2 onion
1/3 small bottle school milk (last day)
garlic (about 5 cloves left? need to count!)
- Non-perishable:
Most of 750 grams of salt
Flour
Rice
mixed herbs
lemon thyme
full bag of oats minus 1 breakfast
Budget available for day 9: £ 1.11
Budget used: £ 0.68
(+additional £ 0.30 in daytime shopping
on the day itself) - £ 0.98
Budget left: £ 0.13
Budget available for day 10: £ 1.13
I tried today, but there wasn’t anything interesting to find at the discounts. Also asked at the fish monger at the back of the supermarket whether they happened to have any trimmings for soup; doesn’t harm to try, after all; there are people who want to make a fish broth without actually spending money on a whole fish. The lady that tended to me was very helpful and suggested I use a fish pie mix with cod, haddock and salmon; she even was so nice to show me where to find that mix. I put it in my basket, thanked her, walked around the isle and put it back – three pounds isn’t going to fit in my budget any time soon. Oh well, nice try.
Thankfully, tomorrow is friday again, which means a bit less pressure on the budget. Also, in the carbs and protein department I’m still pretty well supplied, so I decided to just stock some mixed vegetables. It’s a 900 gram bag, so I should be able to stretch it over 3 days, assuming I can manage 100 grams of fruit on each.
That should allow me to save up a bit and hopefully get a bit closer to normality. The food’s not bad or anything, but I find that the same flavours are repeating just a little bit more than I care for. I’m not quite done yet with my good friend wheat flour, though. There’s a lesson to be learned there:
If you can’t vary your ingredients, vary with texture, preparation method and combinations.
With the weekend coming up, I should have time for a bit more elaborate cooking than the past two days.
One Pound Per Day 
… about that caffeine fix.
I really think just cutting it out is the best you do.
This: (Tesco Value Sugar Free Cola)
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=258291282
probably has about as much caffeine in it as a single cup of instant, and at 17p would fit within your budget. Not sure it’d help at all. One fix, perhaps 2, at 8p each.
If you can somehow save up 10 times that, this would do your morning coffee for a month: (Tesco Value Roast and Ground Coffee)
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=260747496
7 gram of coffee for a cup * 31 days = 217grams of coffee = 1 pack for £1.69
That would set you back 5p a day, for one cup, of real coffee, a day.
For about half the price (94p), you can get a larger amount (250gr) of Tesco Premium Leaf Tea. Despite the name it is actually a lower price per gram than the other tea they carry, and cheaper than teabags.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254887252.
Brew proper tea in a teapot, at the (not to strong) strength I drink my tea this probably makes about 4 drinks per 8 gram — 4 times the hot beverage for half the price.
It would make 125 drinks for less than a penny each.
No sugar, no milk though.
Of course part of the month is already gone, and the coffee fix is only a problem outside office days. In other words, only 7 days left to bridge. Still, it’s a good thing to keep the whole month in mind. Tea isn’t much of a problem, as smart price tea bags can be had at 80 for 27p. If you ration it and/or brew a pot at a time like you suggest, or if you take office days in account, it will last you through the month and won’t cause too much suffering to save up for it. Not to mention the other great uses tea has 😉