Man Food

Oh No! A hetro normative caveman!!

It is actually easier to cook for yourself than it is to order a takeaway and it is quite possible to save sixty or one hundred pounds a month by doing so.

In my own case it was a three stage process.

Rationalise.

Just what is all this stuff we keep in the kitchen anyway? Most of us have weird ingredients we hardly know how to use. Take these out from the back of your cupboard and place them in a basket in plain view. From now on me must make sure that every meal we have reduced these items just a little bit.

In my own case..

1. Indian black salt.
This is a volcanic brown salt that has a pleasing egg flavour and a low sodium content. It is used in curries but I am clearing my own through egg fried rice and fried eggs. There is actually no need to use salt in cooking at all. You will miss if for a week and then not notice.

2. Crushed garlic paste and chili paste.
Good man food staples.

3. Cloves.
Can be used while cooking meat. Very good for you.

Standardise.

Choose standard meals that are easy to cook and specialise in them. This does not mean you eat nothing else- it simply means that you have the ingredients on hand to produce your five favourite meals at all times.

Economise.

This does NOT mean buy cheap stuff. It means cut down on waste. This is largely done via better planning which occurs automatically once you follow steps 1 and 2.

Feng Shui

There is a reason I am single.

I call myself a sceptic an an atheist and try to follow the scientific method but I am a sinner. I am terribly drawn by the irrational just as some religious people are drawn to strip clubs.

One subject that haunts me is Feng Shui. I worked for Orange (a mobile phone company) that believed in it completely. I also had to look after the HQ of HSBC, the worlds most profitable bank and a strong believer in Feng Shui.

How much of Feng Shui do I believe? About ten percent. I suspect that there is a core of truth that is made very complicated by experts. There is no doubt that their are 'good' buildings and 'bad' buildings. This is obvious to security guards who have more time to 'feel' the nature of a building when they are in it. If I am working in a bad building I know I will feel sick after my third shift while I can work six or seven shifts in a good building and still feel quite fresh. This is not my imagination as other people feel the same.

I tend to disbelieve in magic number squares, three legged toads and magic dragons eating cabbages while believing in the common sense elements such as harmony, running water and movement. Can I get rich by moving a pot plant? I doubt it. Can I sleep better? Very possibly. Will a good nights sleep help me in my life? Undoubtedly! So does Feng Shui work? Well.. sort of.

There are strange parallels between the state of my flat and my life. I am currently simplifying my life and throwing out unwanted junk. I have more energy as a result but there is probably nothing spiritual about it.

NB If you have a really bad case of clutter as I do you have to treat it seriously. You cannot clear it in an afternoon any more than you can get fit in an afternoon or lose twenty pounds. You have to lay siege to the problem and reduce it bit by bit.

One way I am doing this is by introducing two rules that govern everything I do. If you only have a mild case of clutter you can ignore both of these safely.

1. Dispose of something every day. This only counts if it is something you will not replace- such as milk. It is very effective if you suffer from the 'two for the price of one' disease as I do. This means that I have a multitude of half finished bottles around the place. Throwing out good stuff is forbidden but it feels good to clear this backlog bit by bit. If you cannot dispose of a phisical item then at least dispose of a task. Answer a letter, do something every day.

2. Combine things. Link data whenever possible so that it may be easily retrieved. I have written about this in the past. Dispose of small debts as these are the ultimate clutter.

Highland hamper.

I am currently ordering two hampers a month. This provides almost everything I need to live and I need only buy bread vegetables and milk from the supermarket.

Looked at this way they do not seem so expensive. This one cost £35.26 but was ordered through Quidco so I can expect a rebate on this sum.

First thing I notice is the smoked salmon which I try to have three times a week. It is delicious, low calorie and good for the heart. In fact this is one of the bargains of the 21st century as Scottish fish farmers drive down prices. If I eat enough I am sure I will live to be a hundred. The cookies are good, a little sweet for my taste but maybe not yours. The cake is far better even though it is not as illustrated. It is now made of Belgium chocolate and orange liquor which is less Scottish but more delicious. I will review other items as I eat them.

The basket is far larger and better made than I thought it would be and has a fabric lining.

Luxury for less.

We live in a two speed economy with two speed inflation. Everything we need is rising in price (food energy and so on) so that some people can barely live. Meanwhile every kind of luxury gets cheaper or at least remains the same. This is largely due to the way that luxury goods are sold. Airline fairs are now sold directly by the airline so that it is possible to visit many European capitals for five or eight pounds- all tax included. Former luxury items such as upmarket TV's and so forth are subject to massive economies of scale and are also going direct to the public in much the same way as the airlines.

So let us have some luxury in our lives- even as we turn down our thermostats and learn to love whatever Aldi sells us. Let us have some luxury. It is such a bargain!

But.. let it be luxury that may be justified. Let it be luxury that pays for itself somehow- quality usually does in the longer term.

Please see exibit one that arrived this afternoon and was ordered via Quidco the cash back site that everyone should use. In this case it was a wine and cheese hamper from Clearwater Hampers and I am earning 12.5% cashback for ordering it through Quidco.

I have always wanted a wooden cheesebox without having an objective use for one. They are sometimes sold in upmarket cheese shops in the West End. I would love nothing more than to be able to have artisan cheese regularly but I knew that the cheeses supplied would not be of this quality. Really good cheese is never wrapped in plastic. Waxed paper is more common.

Nevertheless the food value of this hamper is quite high considering its cost (£41 before rebates). I guess that there are probably four meals for a single person here. The pate would go well on toast or warm bread or even stirred into pasta for a main course. The box may prove to be useful after all as it allows me to stack items in the kitchen.

Five free apps that save you money.

Many apps claim to save you money. Here are five that do.

In first place we have Quidco. This free and excellent service offer discounts with one and a half thousand online retailers and quite a few real life ones too. Simply fire up the app and let it guide you to them!

Best of all there are retailers who will pay you without you having to buy anything at all. Simply turn up at the retailer, clock in with the app and the money is on the way! Amazing!!

You will need to join Quidco first. Please do so HERE.

Second place is Awardwallet. This neatly organises your award schemes so that you never lose track of your points. There are no special benefits to this apart from being more organised and knowing when points are due to expire.

Third place we have Starbucks. It is now possible to use a phone as a loyalty card and even pay for your drinks directly from the phone. There is a facility by which Starbucks may send individualised vouchers that may be redeemed in store.

In fourth place we have Subway. This replaces their card and displays points totals. There is no financial advantage over the card but it is a rather flash piece of technology.

Finally we have Cardstar. This is an app which stores the images of cards but not the points. This means that you may take advantage of certain schemes even if you do not have your card with you.

Most of these are multi platform.

N.B The greatest of all online freebies remains Alison who offer online education entirely free of charge. They do not have an app but you should join anyway.

Surviving reality.

We all live in the jungle and yet some of are preparing for the wrong one. This means that we buy water purifiers and insect repellent as if adventure and danger only occur on the other side of the world.

This, my friend is extremely dangerous as the real danger is far closer than this.

I will list three precautions that I am currently taking. Do not be surprised that all of them cost a little money. It is the urban jungle that I am worried about and most of the monsters that threaten me here have price tags tattooed on their foreheads.

1. Regular savings account from Skipton Building Society.

Building societies are a little like Credit Unions in the USA. They are owned by their members and are restricted to very conservative investments by law. No building society has gone bust since the 1960's although a few had shotgun marriages in the current crisis. The one example of a failed society that I can think of (London Goldhawk) was in fact trading illegally by investing in lower grade bonds than it should- a familiar story to my American readers.

Building societies are conservative in other ways too. They still issue passbooks which double as an instant credit reference and form of identity. I receive a very good rate of interest in return for making regular payments but I can also close the account quickly in the event of a bank collapse which is far more likely than being eaten by a tiger.

The really appealing thing about this account is that I can make my minimum contribution as little as £1 and can add lump sums to it when I please. This gives me the flexibility I need with a fairly decent rate of interest.

2. A rather nice jacket wallet.
I bought this when I realised that my present arrangement makes me rather vulnerable to being mugged. I hold a large number of loyalty cards that I used to keep stuffed into a slimline credit card wallet. Sometimes my train tickets or my credit cards would get lost in this jumble and I would stand by the ticket machine shuffling my cards like a Tarot reader. This put my cards on display and meant that I could only hold them with the tips of my fingers while I sorted through them. I could not even see who was approaching me as I did so.

To overcome this I bought a wallet like this for my jacket pocket. I place my LOW value cards (subway, and so on) in this wallet so that I can use my slimline wallet efficiently and safely.

You will notice that it also has a coin flap. This prevents coins from making holes in your pockets and getting lost.

3.Condom case.
This one could save your life- or the life of the girl. Condoms should be kept cool and should not be subject to rubbing and friction in the wallet. This seems ironic as they must surely be designed for heat and friction- but there you go. The product includes free engraving so if you have won anything lately now is the time for a DHV.

An Inventory of Self.

The Game gurus tell us that she should never qualify ourselves to women. This is good advice as far as it goes. Does Brad Pitt sell himself? He is Brad Pitt! Our problem is that we are not Brad and so cannot carry ourselves in quite the same way. It is true that we do not need movie star looks but we do need movie star confidence. Some of us can fake this to a degree. I personally cannot as I have a deep seated fear of being a fake which makes me a bad pickup artist but probably a better human being. I could beat myself up for my approach anxiety or I could simply resolve to develop confidence based upon reality. This takes longer to develop than 'state' but probably does the individual more good. The only way to do this is to look upon ourselves as a product to be sold. What is desirable about this product (us) and who is our market. This requires realistic expectations and a degree of self knowledge. Do we know what we offer?

Most of us have never really asked ourselves what our gift to the world is. Sure. We know what our qualifications are and we have some idea of our strengths but it is rare to find someone (in England at least) who can talk about them. It is vital we do so. How are we to sell ourselves to employers, lovers or friends if we cannot describe our product? It is all very well looking into the mirror and saying good things about oneself but it is better still to be able to quantify what we bring to the world.

Once we know our product- many wonderful things happen. We can relax and genuinely enjoy the company of women. We also develop confidence at work. There can be no better compliment you could make to an women than simply to enjoy her company. This is the one thing that cannot be faked and cannot be mistaken for manipulation. Something similar happens at work. The happy employee inspires confidence.

One way to develop this knowledge is to do some boasting on Facebook. Everybody does this so you will not seem full of yourself. In fact Facebook is a community of braggarts where everyone speaks and no one listens so it is quite unlikely anyone will read what you write at all!

Next time you are tempted to post the trivia of your life on Facebook simply say 'DHV' to yourself and think of the person you are portraying. There is no need to mislead anyone- simply show your best side rather than your worst. In fact this can become a form of positive affirmation that is more powerful than telling yourself good things in the mirror. By presenting yourself as focused individual who is going places (and you are this person part of the time at least) you become the person you wish to be. You will realise you have skills that are not reflected in your qualifications. Brag about this when it is topical and list these skills on your Facebook Notes. I have a section that I have called 'Non Qualifications' where I will list qualities that employers, friends and lovers find desirable but cannot be described in a C.V.

The real point is the thought that goes into what you write. You will be forced to ask fundamental questions about your identity and what you offer the world. By the end you will understand all that is best about yourself and will no longer be embarrassed to tell it.