Heroic Quid-A-Day Nosh Posse tighten their belts

Chris Wilkinson did have enough strength to send over a couple of snaps of what appears to be beetroot soup...

Beetroot gruel - possibly

...and his daily staple of pease pudding, with added beetroot leaves for extra culinary delight:

Pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold...

At the midweek point yesterday, Chris reported: "Well, I've made it half way with no caffeine and managed not to slaughter anyone, a task made rather more difficult by the fact that I am supervising the Desktop Support queue this week! Actually, the lack of caffeine isn't as bad as the lack of beer! I even turned down an offer to buy me the beer someone owed me tonight. Add this to the fact that I turned down free cake last night and I'm wondering if my brain isn't addled already! It's been tough (and lunch has been boring) but worth while. I reckon I've got it cracked, and there's no danger of me 'Doing a Paltrow' :-)"

Well, we do hope so, but this lunchtime someone in Chris's office loaded a groaning table with "sausage rolls, pork pies, biccies and cakes". We haven't heard anything since, and assume he's locked himself in the server room with a bowl of pease pudding, the better to resist temptation.

Those of who who've been following the Nosh Posse will know that Neil Barnes regularly suffers similar torment at work, as colleagues wave cake in his face. Of course, he hasn't cracked yet, and why indeed should he when he and other half Anita Wegner have dishes such as last night's "delicious deep-fried Camembert in breadcrumbs, with a small salad and an omelette made from the left-over egg":

Camembert frit à la Barnes

Neil says this offers 700 calories at a cost of £1.35 for both of them. That's his most expensive meal of the week, apparently.

And finally, we have the Jacob family over The Pond, where things are "pretty desperate on the accounts side" with Richard and his kids Zinta and Talis "down to the last few dollars".

He explained: "We lost out to the manager at the local store, no cheap meat today. It was a toss up between chicken legs for 1.39 a pound, baked ham (shank end) at .99 and pork butt at 1.49 a pound. I went for the pork butt in the end because it was available in a smaller portion and there were no bones in it."

He added: "Mistakes made: Cooked too many lentils and beans which costs money but we may or may not eat by Friday. Made oat bars with butter and raisins when I should have made a sponge cake with the far cheaper oil and jam."

Richard said last night, though, that they did have "snacks for after school, bread, beans, lentils, hummus and today's pulled pork and rice dishes in hand", although Friday night's hearty repast would consist entirely of "eggs and left overs".

It's a tip of the hat to the Jacobs for their sterling effort, and lest you imagine the kids are wasting away, they have so far been eating pretty well. Yesterday, they enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch:

Surplus lentils photobomb pancake and sarnie snap

All of this madness is in aid of the aforementioned Malaria No More UK, and an anonymous benefactor promised to match all of yesterday's donations to the Nosh Posse up to £750.

That total was actually £767, and our generous reader has agreed to chip in that amount. He asked us to thank those of you who opened your wallets, and encourages anyone who hasn't yet shown their support to do so right here. ®

Bootnote

*Ros and Toby didn't provide a breakdown of their nosh stockpile earlier this week, so for the record, here it is:

Pasta (500g) - 30p
Rice (500g) - 23p
Fruit and veg (including cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, apples) - £4
1 tin of tomatoes - 34p
Loaf of bread - 40p
Porridge (350g) - 26p
Eggs (4) - 60p
Sugar (50g) - 8p
Tea bags (10) - 23p
Raisins (100g) - 30p
Chickpeas (500g) - 75p
Milk (2 pints) - 89p
1 tin of beans - 45p
Oil, seasoning, etc. - 25p
Total = £9.08