Parliament Protest

After setting up camp safely and seeing in midnight and the start of the protest last night, the morning saw us heading off to Asda for our food for the week.  We had our Red Cross food parcel shopping list, and had found out the nearest Asda was about 3 miles away.  We had to use Asda because we had bought vouchers for that supermarket from a friend in Manchester who is a refused asylum seeker but who gets section 4 support so is issued with these vouchers by the government.  We felt this was a small part of solidarity with those facing this system.  Though we have concerns about the voucher system itself the main thing we were aware of is that most refused asylum seekers (unlike our friend) would get no support at all so in reality we would have had no vouchers to use. 

It was a lovely sunny morning so made a nice walk but I was very concious of the time it took to get there when I am used to using our local shop across the road.  Vouchers for Asda mean you can only shop there and believe it or not there isn’t always a store that near.  Of course we didn’t have money for public transport to get there so you are immediately aware of how the ordinary tasks in life quickly become more of a challenge.

We started recording our shopping trip when we arrived but somewhat predicatably we discovered that this wasn’t allowed in the store.  When Ben gets the video up online you’ll see my foray into the fruit and veg section only though we hope for permission to video next week.  As we continued to shop I became aware of two things.  Firstly how basic our menu was going to be and secondly how it wasn’t going to be easy as a vegetarian.

There is enough food to keep going I think (though camping always makes me more hungry) and it is relatively balanced but we were of course keeping costs down with saver items.  In total it came to £19.11 for the two of us but the Red Cross parcel budget is only £6.50 a head.  I know that they get savings from bulk buying but it worries me that with food prices going up the most vulnerable will get even less.

In terms of veggy food there is very limited fresh fruit and veg (1 apple, orange, banana and pear plus 2 onions, potatoes, carrots and 1 pepper) and there are hot dogs in a can, sardines and tuna.  Plus the 1 stock cube for the week is chicken!  At least Ben will swap me some veg for the meat/fish.  The rate of trade at the close of the day was 1 tin for 1 onion!

The walk back with all the shopping was a bit of a pain and again makes you count your blessings with nearby shops, and money for the bus if you need it.  When we got ‘home’ I drafted a menu for the week which has lots of bread at the start (before it goes stale) and lots of rice and pasta at the end.  It will be good to appreciate the simple things in life as dry bread for breakfast and lunch has made me realise alreayd.  Anyway I need to get back to camp to cook tea - baked beans and bread tonight.  Sleep well everyone!