My husband and I occasionally have what my in-laws call 'daft ideas'. My mother calls these my 'hippie leanings', and my colleagues just roll their eyes and call me 'odd'. I prefer to think of it as going back to my roots. Last year I made several huge batches of jam, using fruit from friends and relatives gardens (just like my mother did when I was small) I also made quince brandy, preserved lemons and quince cheese. Basically if it was going for free, I accepted it and used it. Thus I became useful for people offloading unwanted fruit and veg, and my food costs plummeted!

Also last year, My husband (the hairy scotsman) and I decided to have a vegetarian week. We enjoyed it so much, we continue to eat mostly vegetarian food, I think I have cooked meat maybe 5 times over the past year. Our diet is varied, healthy, tasty and fresh. And our families all think we're nuts. We do eat meat, if we are invited out to friends or family, then I don't expect them to cook differently for us, I don't think it would be fair. We describe ourselves as 'vegecurious'

This vegetable diet has led us, this year, to growing much of our own veg in the back garden. Or more sepcifically in the old bathtub, and several pots in the back garden. My neighbours think I'm nuts. Mrs F is strongly of the opinion that it is too cold/windy/sunny for anything to grow well. We'll see.

All this has inevitably led to our latest 'adventure'. Having read the book 'Tescopoly' by Andrew Simms... http://www.tescopoly.org/ , we decided to see just how easy it would be for us to manage without supermarkets for a month .

So May 1st and it all begins. We did set ourselves up for an easy start by doing a big shop a couple of days ago, however we are running short of butter. The hairy scotsman was dispatched round the corner to the village shop to get some. Our first success, not our usual brand, but I guess that's what this is about, making compromises.

We live in central Scotland, in a medium sized village in the middle of nowhere. I work in Edinburgh, the hairy scotsman works in Glasgow. I'm trying to find farmers markets, box schemes, and tips and tricks on how to live without the supermarkets.


Trish