I was hungry for most of the afternoon and drank quite a lot of water to try and compensate. A colleague offered me a tea rather than hot water and another colleague bumped into me with a huge bowl of chocolate bars and cakes in hand, which was rather challenging. If nothing else, this challenge is a wake-up call about how often we all snack throughout the day (usually when we don't really need to). I was really glad this afternoon that I had chosen wholesome and filling ingredients for my meals rather than quick-fixes and economy items with little nutritional value; I doubt I would be thinking so clearly and determinedly if I was buzzing on sugar hits and then struggling through crashes. After work I bumped into a friend who was on his way to eat at a new restaurant in town (usually how I spend at least one evening a week) and I was too polite not to let him talk about it, but I must admit it was very hard to hear about all the lovely food he would be eating. In need of a treat, I popped to an independent grocers to spend my remaining 58p on a lemon to flavour my lunches, dinners, homemade houmous and to add to my drinks of hot water, and possibly a vegetable to stop me obsessing about being unhealthy. The fruit and vegetables weren't priced so I had to queue up with my lemon and two carrots only to be charged 67p when I get to the till. I went for the lemon, at 40p, and put the carrots back. Everyone looked at me like I was a total freak. 

Dinner cheered me up immensely. I was determined to create something tasty from my ration of lentil, tomato and chickpea soup (doubling as a sauce in this case) and slice of bread. In a little water, I fried off half a red onion and two cloves of garlic from my stash, chopped about a quarter of the chilli and added to the pan with a couple of scraps of lemon zest. Once they had softened and the water almost all reduced, I added my lentil mixture to the pan and left to bubble away, gradually adding water to bulk up the sauce and two teaspoons of the chopped tomatoes I've saved for extra flavour. Meanwhile, I squeezed a tiny amount of lemon juice onto a slice of bread then rubbed the skins of the garlic cloves that I had crushed into the pan earlier all over one side. From the garden I added a few snips of fresh chives and popped the bread under the grill until just browned then served it alongside the spicy lentil mixture. It was better than going for a curry and cost just 41p.   

I wasn't sure how to attribute the cost of today's purchases as I'll be using them in tiny amounts to flavour various meals and drinks so instead I'm splitting the cost of the items across the four days I'll be using them and adding it to my total for the day. I'm already plotting what to spend my last 18p on tomorrow. A few people have asked me what I'm allowed to use from the store cupboard. My answer is: nothing. I know that others taking the challenge are allowing for salt, pepper, herbs and spices on a per serving basis but I don't feel right about including anything that I haven't been able to buy in my £5 budget. Hence the absence of oil or any seasonings in my meals. For this reason, I'm justifying the use of herbs which I have grown myself, such as the chives I used to flavour my bread this evening.

Day 2 total: 92p 

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