Buy Nothing New. Fail.

Oh readers, I am ashamed. I pledged to Buy Nothing New. I have broken my pledge. I have Bought New Things.

This is like eating all of your butterscotch lollies in the first 30 minutes of the 40 Hour Famine and then going through McDonald's drive-through for a Big Mac meal and a box of McDonaldland cookies.

Let me walk you through how we got from the excitement of last Thursday to the shame of today.

Thursday
Things started so well. Miss E and I visited my mum and requested the loan of a cake tin. I explained that I could not buy my own cake tin as I was Buying Nothing New! Mum searched her cupboard. She had to get so far into her cupboard, I thought there was a good chance she could reach Narnia and have a conversation with Mr. Tumnas.

Mum returned from the depths of her cupboard to report that my sister had borrowed her best cake tin. She'd gotten there about six months before me. Apparently, she is buying nothing new either.

However, Mum didn't return from Narnia empty-handed.  She gave me a slightly dented square cake tin. I accepted it happily and returned home feeling very pleased with myself and my commitment to my pledge to Buy Nothing New.

Friday
I used the slightly dented square tin to bake a banana cake.

I thought it was fine but then I removed it from the tin...

It resembled a giant slice of banana toast rather than a banana cake. To give you a sense of scale, the cake is sitting on a dinner plate.

I checked my recipe and realised I had omitted two of the required tablespoons of self-raising flour AND had used a tin that was far bigger than required.

I was slightly troubled by my banana cake's appearance but, overall, I was delighted. I was filled with satisfaction that only comes from taking a black banana, butter, eggs and some flour and producing a cake. This feeling was new to me.

Fuelled by my satisfaction, I became determined to own my own cake tins so that I could continue this lovely baking experience.

Mr. B's mum popped over for a visit so she joined Miss E and I on our quest to own cake tins. We set out on a journey to the local op shops.

I was filled with high op shop hopes. The op shop volunteers were extremely helpful. One kind op shop man embarked on a lengthy "out the back" search but, sadly, returned empty handed.

Our op shop visits were fruitless.

Undeterred, I put a message out to my Freecycle community. I asked the community if anyone had any cake tins they could spare. I love the Freecycle community.

Saturday
Mr. B, Miss E and I left the house - with the banana cake - early on Saturday morning to attend a four-hour Child First Aid course. We discovered that someone had broken into our cars! No! Horrifying. Nothing had been taken but the locks were broken.

While we were aware that this was not the crime of the century, we thought the local police would like to be informed. We were very impressed by their response. The constable was very sympathetic and promised that the Crimes Unit would attend. However, he did laugh when I suggested that we "nail these bastards".

This incident really has nothing to do with my Buy Nothing New pledge but I thought you'd like to know about it.

I did receive word from two members of the Freecycle community. They had cake tins for me. Coincidentally, they were from the same suburb (as each other - not the same suburb as me). It must be a suburb where baking used to take place but no longer. Unfortunately, the suburb was very far away from our suburb. I wanted the cake tins but I didn't want to drive an hour to get them.

Sunday
I left the house on Sunday morning to do the supermarket shopping. This is where things went downhill. I decided to have a quick look in Harris Scarfe. Danger.

It was at Harris Scarfe that my commitment to my Buy Nothing New pledge crumbled.

50% off bakeware.

I couldn't resist it.

I considered hiding the bags in the car until November, but, given recent events, decided that they would be at risk of being stolen.

So, I took my New Things into the house. I could see that Mr. B, as my husband, was fairly concerned, that I could make a public commitment and break it after three days.

The cruel tragedy is that I haven't bought anything new for months. But, that is no excuse. You can't eat a Big Mac during the 40 Hour Famine and say that you skipped dinner last week.

I called my mum to alert her.

Me: Mum, I have a problem. I broke my Buy Nothing New pledge. 50% off bakeware at Harris Scarfe.
Mum: Oh well, I think one cake tin is okay.
Me: I bought a cake tin, a cooling rack, a loaf pan, two mini muffin trays and some wooden spoons.
Mum: Oh.
Me: But it only cost me $30.35.
Mum: Oh! Great! Can you go back and get a cake tin for your sister?

Thanks Mum.

The Buy Nothing New campaign is offering a $5000 prize for the best documentation of the Buy Nothing New experience. I'd say I've disqualified myself. It is a shame. I could have bought some full-size muffin trays with that cash.










My three key points:

1. Be very careful about making a pledge and publicly announcing it.

2. Be very, very careful about entering Harris Scarfe when they have a 30% - 60% off sale.

3. Stay tuned for tales of my first forays into baking.

I am not Australia's next MasterChef

I like to think of myself as always being open to the many possibilities that life presents. However, I am aware, and have come to terms with the fact, that I will never be Australia's next MasterChef.

As you may know, I like to shop where a MasterChef shops, but I am under no illusion that this actually helps me cook like a MasterChef cooks.

If I could shave 10 years (or so) off my age, I might qualify for Junior MasterChef. But, even if I did, let's face it, those kids would totally own me.

Despite my limitations in the kitchen, I do like to eat. I like to eat very much. And, in order to have things to eat, I must cook. Mr. B also enjoys eating, and he is a joy to cook for as he enthusiastically embraces (almost) everything I produce from the kitchen.

A new feature of my life is the weekday, day-time visitor. It  seems that my lovely visitors are aware of my limited kitchen-related skills and rarely expect me to feed them. However, I have found that it is very satisfying to feed people who come to visit.

So, for others who may also like to eat or to feed others, I would like to share my adventures in the kitchen.

Earlier today, I prepared Nutty No-Oven Required Muesli Bar Slice and I would like to share that with you.

Things You Need:

• 4 cups of cereal/nuts/seeds/dried fruit/coconut (whatever you can find really)
• 125g butter
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons honey

Things You Don't Need:

• Sugar (Mr. B is very health conscious so I make this slice without adding any sugar).

What You Need to Do:

Step 1 - Find a mixing bowl and slice tray. Dig out whatever cereals/nuts/seeds you can find in your pantry. At this stage, the slice will look something like this: 

Step 2 - Measure out four cups of whatever you found in the pantry and put it in the mixing bowl. This morning, I used 1 cup of Rice Bubbles, 1/4 cup of Guardian crumbs, 3/4 cup of pepitas and sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup of crushed peanuts, 1/2 cup of Carmans muesli (I love Carmans with a passion but we're on a budget so I am restrained in my use of it), 3/4 cup of dessicated coconut and 1/4 cup of sesame seeds. That should add up to 4 cups. At this stage, the slice looks like this:

Step 3 - Melt the butter, peanut butter and honey. Trying to measure out 4 tablespoons of honey is annoying. Take deep breaths. Bring it to the boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes. It will look a bit like this:

Step 4 - Combine the melted stuff with the dry stuff in the bowl. Mix it together. It will look like this:


















Step 5 - Grease your slice tray with margarine or butter. Whack the mixture into the slice tray. It will look a bit like this:

Step 6 - Put it in the fridge. You have to store it in the fridge because the butter is holding it together. If the butter melts, it is all over for this slice. It will look a bit like this:

My three key points:

1. When you're tired, it's hard to concentrate to measure out four cups of anything. Try to maintain your concentration to count to four. From there, the recipe is pretty easy.

2. When the butter, peanut butter and honey are melting it is easy to get distracted by a) iPhone b) Facebook c) e-mail d) sleeping baby e) texting mum/husband/sister/mothers group buddies f) all of the above. Try not to get too distracted. You really should stir it a bit. It can burn. Trust me.

3. Use sugar. I know some people (e.g. Mr. B) are health conscious but it really is tastier with sugar. Just don't tell them about the sugar. Use this recipe. It uses sugar and it really is nicer. As I said, I am not Australia's next MasterChef.