Being Thrifty in the City

So this week is all about saving money . Something which is particularly hard in the big expensive world of London. The priciest thing in London is probably the rent and commute. We all have that  friend whose parents had bought their plush Fitzrovia pad in 1901 for £16 and consequently don’t pay rent, but for the rest of us we are torn between living in a room that would technically be classified as a cupboard in order to shorten our commute or spend 11/3 of our working life on a train.

Whilst I can’t help you with rent prices, there are plenty of other ways to save money in the big smoky urban jungle...

  1.  Vintage Markets and Boot Fairs  – One of my favourite things to do is spend the afternoon at a London market. I really recommend following @lemonandgingervintage, they are one of my favourite vintage stalls and their stuff is proper cheap. On Sunday I bought some second hand Birkenstocks £1 and a pure silk top for a fiver.You never know what you might find and hardly anyone is likely to have the same item.  Brilliant!

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          2.  Find out your reduced day- I have them down to a T. Especially the fancy shops as these do the best bargains. Waitrose food just for the rich? Never! I know exactly when my M&S and Waitrose reduces,  and though they try to mix it up a few times I am usually bang on the money and come away with some great bargains. Call me an Ian Beale but I have done a weeks food shop for £15.

.         3. Reusable cups- I have said it before and I will say it again reusable cups are the future. Or at least a way to secure the future. You spend more than you think on coffees and bottles of water. Make a coffee at home ( can really recommend an Aeropress) and be the smug cat in the street with your coffee that cost 1/10 of other coffees.

          4.  Working Lunch- If you spend £5 a day on lunch you are spending on average £100 a month! Make big batches of food on Sunday night and put it into Tupperware ready for the week. I normally make a big curry or chilli or even if you put a baked potato in the oven and heat it up at work.

              5. Get Cultured- Theatre and the arts shouldn’t just be for the privileged. Most theatres do some sort of cheap scheme if you are under 30. I go to the National Theatre a lot simply because of Entry Pass tickets which are £5! I know the Old Vic does something similar and there is always smaller productions dotted around the city for pretty cheap/ free.

              6.  Christmas is fast approaching and there are a few shops with some Sporadic sales. I bought two fun and bright cushions in Paperchase which were down from £60 to £9. I kid you not. It took all my will power not to buy them all but put that with a nice homemade candle and that’s a bloomin great present right there.  

8      7.  Do you really really want it? We all know that if it came to needs we really just need food, water and shelter. I am not asking you to cull your materialism back to quite that extent but think about it, do you really want that silver dress with dinosaurs on it? If in doubt sleep on it. If you can’t stop thinking about that dress and you can afford it without living off mung beans for the next week then I say go for it.

  8.  Buy local, buy in markets – I always scour my local markets for some good bargains and, particularly if you go at the end of trading you can usually haggle a bargain. 4 avocados for a pound? Yes please.

           9. Promotional freebies! Take advantage of restaurant openings and offers Time Out and @SkintLondon are always in the know of offers and sweet deals.

 10.  Another man’s treasure… A lot of people these days put furniture outside their house that they can’t shift. I often see this as a great opportunity to upcycle. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest if you get stuck. Reused, upcycled and not ending up on landfill. Make sure you pay it forward

by doing the same when you have something you don't want.

         11.   Follow me @floraesme I will update you on any fancy bargains I seem to find on my wanderings.

 That is all for now but I will keep posting about any great bargains as and when they pop up! 

Wake Up and Smell the Waste

If there is one thing I love it is coffee.

If there is one thing  I hate it is a shit tonne of plastics ending up on landfill when they can be avoided.

As the child of a single parent, I have always been brought up to make everything last. I was encouraged to  eat as much of the fruit or vegetable as possible , cut that bit of mould off the cheese and eat the tangy fruit. (I am not saying we need to go that far, my mother would sometimes be in full denial and would try to convince me that a yoghurt that  had a fluffy coating was just condensation).

Since entering the “real” world I can’t help but notice how prevalent food and packaging waste is, despite the most of us  being very aware of all of the statistics. I won’t get all Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on you, but according to Environmental Innovation (April 2000), each paper cup manufactured is responsible for 0.24 lbs of CO2 emissions. That’s a hell of a lot.

Most people I work with will only drink bottled water ( FYI PEOPLE TAP WATER IS ABSOLUTELY FINE, I HAVE BEEN DRINKING TAP WATER FOR OVER TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AND I AM ONE OF THE HEALTHIEST PEOPLE I KNOW.  STOP BEING A DIVA AND RUINING OUR PLANET!) and the  mindless disposal continues  despite numerous warnings, information and education. I can currently see four empty plastic water bottles lying on one desk in my office that I am hoping will make it into the recycling bin that  I had organised, but I’m doubtful. Each of these water bottles will  take up to 400 years to be broken down! 

Whilst recycling is great, if you really think about it, all of the energy has already been used to create this cup already so it is a lot better to actually have a reusable option.

Enter Keep Cup!

This leading brand of reusable cups is the world’s first barista standard reusable cup. There are lots of reusable cups out there but  I can’t recommend their product enough. They have waged a war on disposable cups and work hard to try to reduce the amount that end up on landfill. It all started with a solution for restaurant packaging and now they are taking over the world, and making it a better place one reusable cup at a time. Whilst the  difficult to measure they have calculated that they have removed 1,449,104 disposable cups from circulation. Which is pretty darned impressive. The cups are really reasonable and some coffee shops will even give you a discount if you bring your own mug. 

If you are feeling really benevolent you get yourself a reusable water bottle. I tend to use glass ones as I try to avoid plastics and I save so much money with this! I have a Full Circle DayTripper water bottle which I found in the Urban Outfitters sale but there are all sorts of different ones, some even have a compartment to put cucumber should you so wish for your water to have an essence of greenery. Just try, as hard as possible and be aware of where your water bottle/food/coffee cup is going to end up and the process that has happened to make that product. 

Go Green, Save Money and Save the Planet!

A Bad Day's Work

On average, we spend about 30 percent of our human life working.

Depressing right?

Probably not if you love your job. Which is probably why (most of ) our parents instill in us from a young age that they don’t care what we do as long as we are happy. Blaa blaa. We dismiss this on our way to our grueling internship telling them they don’t understand the world anymore and it has all changed since the free- loving sixties.

I remember when I  had just started a new job. The previous office manager had quit leaving me in charge of post. My boss was being particularly psychotic and called me into a meeting in front of my manager to illustrate how badly I had packaged up a box of product by stamping on the box repeatedly until it broke and then handing it back to me. I left his office and burst into tears. I didn’t want to cry but  I felt awkward. My manager felt awkward. We all felt awkward. It was a nasty and a quite frankly strange way to do something. I was fairly new to the business and immediately decided that work environment wasn’t for me. The rest of  that day was utterly crap with everything going wrong and I just couldn’t wait until 5.30pm when I could run away to the pub and drink a bottle of wine and moan to my poor sympathetic friends about how I was totally done with that place and that mad nutter running it. 

I wanted to write this post to let you know we all have these kinds of days. They are horrible and they can completely knock your confidence. Well, don’t let them. In all honesty, my director was probably having a shitty day and I was an easy target. Maybe this boxing was the final thing that tipped him over the age. My point is, don’t let affect you. Do whatever you need to do that evening to feel better. Meet up with friends, go out for dinner, drink two bottles of Prosecco  and watch the entire box set of Ab Fab. Whatever you need to do. My point is that our happiness is the most important thing.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Do not put up with ever letting someone make you feel worthless or insignificant in the workplace. 

Most of all believe in yourself. You are 3000 % worth it and deserve to be happy.

Good Clean Fun

Dr Bonner's Liquid Soap:

When it comes to organic beauty, that is my bag. My skills in beauty are pretty much nil.  Ombre lips? No idea. Contouring? Not a clue. But throw me into the beauty aisles at Planet Organic or Infinity Foods  and I am as happy as Larry. I love the smells,the  packaging and feel of the shampoos and creams  that adorn the shelves.

We don’t think enough about what goes onto our skin and what is in the products we use. The  more natural and organic the product usually the more expensive the product is which can usually put us off. However, there  are certain products which I think are definitely worth investing in and this is one of them.

I received  Dr Bronner's Almond Liquid Soap for my birthday after much deliberation about the price. It supposedly has 18 in 1 uses, everything from washing your hair to using as toothpaste to helping with congestion. I kid you not. I haven’t tried everything, but after using it as a face and body wash I am already converted.  You only need a few drops, as they leave the glycerine ( a great moisturiser) in meaning the formula is really concentrated. This means it is much better value than I initially thought.  The soaps leave you feeling cleansed, moisturised and smell incredible! As a greasy face sufferer I love it as a face wash. 

If that wasn’t enough, their packaging is from 100% recycled materials, they dedicate  company profits to local and global causes and they use traceable fair trade and organic ingredients. They are also a certified B-Corp.

I have listed the ingredients below:

Ingredients:

Water, Organic Coconut Oil*, Potassium Hydroxide**, Organic Palm Kernel Oil*, Organic Olive Oil*, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Natural Almond Fragrance, Citric Acid, Tocopherol
*CERTIFIED FAIR TRADE INGREDIENTS
** None remains after saponifying oils into soap & glycerin.

Dr Bronners Liquid Soap costs approximately £8- £10 for 472 ml bottle and is available in Planet Organic, Amazon and Cult Beauty. 

Asian Mackerel Salad

Firstly, I wanted to apologise if I have been a little quiet lately. For the past two weeks I have been on holiday in the beautiful country of Portugal, eating far more Pasteis de Nata and sardines than I care to admit. On a side note, if you are ever in the Lisbon area make sure you go to Pastéis de Belém. And if you have never had a Pasteis de Nata, make sure you try them. You will not be disappointed. 

Anyway I wanted to write a small section on salad. Before you roll your eyes and  throw your laptop across the room, hear me out. 

It was hot, and my best friend was hangry. You know, snapping at me whilst telling me quite melodramatically that he might faint if he did not get fed soon. Of course, at this point he did not appreciate it when I pointed out that it had only been a few hours since he had last eaten and actually, unfortunately many people have and do last a lot longer without food.  We wanted something healthy but filling, and in 34 degree heat a cold salad seemed right up our street. We found a cool health food cafe ( ever noticed how they seem to be popping up everywhere?) and ordered what sounded like a delicious wholesome salad. Unfortunately what we were served ended up being a bland and boring pile of dehydrated disinterested vegetables. It reminded me of everything that people imagine healthy food to taste like. Tasteless and dull.  Which we all know it is not.

So I thought I would put together my super-duper Asian mackerel salad recipe for a bit of inspiration to anyone who needs a crazy good, easy and relatively reasonably cheap salad to “beet” the summer heat.

This salad is super healthy, super easy and a big crowd-pleaser. It's all about the different textures and the dressing which is incredible! Use as a wholesome main or a delightful side. Serves 2 as a main with leftovers and costs roughly £8.

Ingredients:

For the salad:

2  x pre- cooked  mackerel fillets (marinated if desired)

Small bunch of chopped  coriander for garnish

1 red pepper, sliced

1 x 150g bag of leafy vegetable of your choice ( I use lambs or mixed lettuce)

1 x 250g bag of cherry tomatoes, halved

For the dressing:

1 tbs honey

3 tbsp soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime 

1 medium chilli

2 tsp fish sauce

2 spring onions chopped 

1/2 thumb of ginger
1 tbs sesame oil
1tsp fish sauce (optional)

Method:

Chop all the vegetables and mix into a salad. To create the dressing, Method:

Chop all the vegetables and mix into a salad. To create the dressing, put your heaviest items in first with your salt which in this case is soy sauce and add your honey, chilli and fish sauce. Then add your lime juice and your sesame oil and shake all ingredients together. Add all your other dressing ingredients and taste and add a little more lime juice, and anything else you think your dressing needs a bit more of.  Shake again and voila!   It’s all about balancing sweet and sour – bearing in mind most oils are naturally sweet. 

Morito, Exmouth Market

London is a haven for food from all corners of the Earth.

 In fact, I find that outside of Oxford Street it is pretty hard to find a terrible restaurant in London. I find that the best eateries in London are always the unpretentious little finds tucked away far from the madding crowd that you hope no one else finds out about. The ones you almost don't want to tell anyone about in the fear that it might turn into a chain. 

Like Morito.

Morito, the little sister of Moro, is one of my favourite restaurants in London. Moro and Morito are based in Exmouth Market, which if you are ever around that area (it is about a 20 minute walk from Kings Cross) is definitely worth a visit.

The food is a fusion of North African and Spanish, which makes for a real treat indeed. If, like me, you have quite an intense and almost unhealthy love for aubergines ( I have a jumper with aubergines on it), make sure you try  the crispy aubergine, whipped feta & date molasses (pictured above). The aubergine, cut like thick chips, goes all gooey yet crispy on the outside and the feta and the salty taste of the feta with the sweet molasses makes you  want to marry the dish and take it home to meet your parents.

Anyway, it’s a great little restaurant as it’s also pretty reasonable for London. Each dish is on average around £6 or £7 and you could probably get away with four dishes between two people as the sizes are quite generous for tapas. The vegetarian food is just as good as the meaty treats if not better. The whole place has a relaxed, raw cantina feel and the staff are great. I especially enjoyed the Spanish style glasses they serve with your wine that look a little like tumblers and make the delicious Spanish wine go down all too easily.

You can book at lunchtimes but not in the evenings, but if you do need a table the lovely people of Morito  will take your number and call you once your table is ready (so you can have a swift one in one of the neighbouring bars or pubs). To book,contact info@morito.co.uk. 

Kale and Pineapple Smoothie

I am actually pretty disciplined when it comes to making smoothies. I tend to make one at least every other morning before I go to work, and  I really notice the benefits.  Smoothies are one of those things that are SO much cheaper to make yourself. If you buy  a good smoothie anywhere in London, you’ll probably end up spending around a fiver a pop. One ingredient I really recommend investing in are Chia seeds. These are fantastic for acting as an antioxidant, they’re a great source of fibre and Omega 3 AND they don’t taste of anything! You can add them to smoothies and porridge and you only need a teaspoon or so to make a difference. A 250g bag will probably cost you around £4, you may be able to find them cheaper on the internet- but I always add these to my juices/smoothies and they help to really fill me up as well as being a great source of nutrients.

Here is my pineapple and kale smoothie:

You will need:

1 teaspoon of Chia seeds

½ small pineapple, cut into chunks

¼ pint of water or coconut water – more if desired

1 x handful of kale – more if desired.

Blend this all up together until you get a smooth green drink and enjoy straight away. You can save any leftovers in the fridge for around 24 hours in an airtight container.

Crazy Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic

A group of us recently visited went to the depths of Totnes for a friends birthday. We sang "Country House" the whole way there until we were told, quite rudely, to pipe down. I had a fantastic time, despite whacking my head on one of those stupid tiny door frames you see lurking around in old country  houses, reminding us that as humans we are growing at alarming rate, and makes you wonder how on earth we will fit into these little old houses in a couple of hundred years when are the size of small giraffes. 

The next day, we all went on a long country walk and discovered an abundance of wild garlic. If you are lucky enough to live close to any wild garlic I really recommend picking some. It smells incredible, and you can do a lot of great dishes with it. A friend had told me she had used this as the filling for some chicken Kievs which I can only imagine would be delicious.  Unfortunately, the person I was cooking for was a vegetarian so a cheeky Kiev was out of the question. 

Here is my Crazy Wild Garlic Pesto recipe:

Ingredients:

A good bunch of wild garlic- I had about 50-60 leaves, washed

80g of pine nuts

70g of Parmesan (or if you want a vegan version, try cashew cream 
or just leave the Parmesan out)

180ml olive oil

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

All you need to do is whizz these up in a blender. You can add more of each ingredient dependent on how you like you pesto, so taste as you go. I love this on pasta with grilled cherry tomatoes and broad beans.

Kale Pasta

Right! So this one is great for a mid-week meal. I LOVE this dish, especially when I have had a bit of a rubbish day. It is really quick and easy. You can add almost anything you want or you can  supplement the vegetables for any other vegetables in the fridge. I find kale works really well with the garlic and oil. 

Serves 2-3 people generously. 

You will need: 

Approx. 250g  of kale

a good glug of good quality olive oil

4-5 cloves of chopped garlic- more if desired

2-3 handfuls of frozen broad beans

2-3 handfuls of peas

a handful of cherry tomatoes ( amount is up to you) 

250g of fresh spaghetti or tagliatelle 

salt and pepper for seasoning 

Parmesan for grating on top 

1. Put a big glug of olive oil into a medium griddle pan or medium frying pan, heat you oil on low heat and add your garlic.

2. After a couple of minutes add in your tomatoes. In the meantime put a saucepan of water on the heat for your pasta, put in your broad beans or peas and wait for the water to boil. Add your kale (add more oil if needed) until the kale goes slightly crispy and the tomatoes are soft and even charred.

3. Put your pasta into the boiling water for a couple of minutes, drain and then put the pasta back into the empty pan. Put  the kale and tomato mixture into the pasta pan with the pasta, and mix. Season with salt and paper and grate large chunks of parmesan onto your pasta and kale. Enjoy.