What’s this!? Two posts in as many days? I know! Shocking.

Well this is just a mere scrap. A thought for the day if you like.

A quick trip to that well known search engine brought to my attention that today, 13th April 2011, celebrates 240 years since the birth of the pioneering British inventor and engineer, Richard Trevithick. Famous for many things, but probably most notable for his work on steam engines and boilers. He built the first full-scale working railway engne. On 21 February 1804, the world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place as Trevithick’s unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. God only knows what he must make of the state of the railways these days. He must be turning in his grave! If you are stuck on a train today…raise your paper cup of exceedingly overpriced and under quality coffee in his honour. ttfn.

In all honestly it’s been a world of change for us. No longer do we brave the murky grey skies of Manchester (although the city is strangely missed), as two of the team moved out into the Peak District countryside and the other two of us have moved down to Nottingham. New jobs, new homes and new places to visit.

Although, this little website has unfortunately been neglected, I have very much been keeping tabs on the plethora of British Made craft and produce to emerge over the last year or so. At times it has seemed to me that the whole country has felt the need to champion our manufacturing abilities again, which is great. I hate to use the word ‘trend’, but it’s become quite apparent that ‘British Made’ produce has became a major selling point for the high street retailers and supermarkets alike.

At the start of our little task, it was actually quite hard to find some British fruit, veg and produce in the major supermarkets even when it was in season. This seemed to change quite quickly last year, and I vividly remember walking into Sainsbury’s one day and noticing loads of little Union Jack styled ‘British Produce’ tags on the aisles helpfully pointing things out.

Unfortunately, where there’s a bandwagon, people inevitably jump on it, so there’s also been an influx of mass produced tat covered in union jacks that’s quite blatantly manufactured overseas with little regard for quality. I like to call this ‘Brit Washing’ and if I see another badly copied version of Emma Bridgewater’s iconic mugs then I may crack!

So once again, sorry for the tardiness in posting. Hopefully my next one will be sooner than 2012! There’s actually a little pub close by that prides itself on serving local produce and also has something on the menu called ‘The Great British Platter’, so it would be rude not to give it a whirl and report back. ttfn.

Two weeks ago I lost my job, well I took voluntary redundancy, to pursue my career as a freelance designer (shameless plug alert! lovelittle). Anyway, this forced us to re-evaluate our lifestyle on a grand scale. No more going out for dinner, no more trips to the coast and no more deli counters with their fancy cheeses and stuffed olives. It’s back to basics for Carry on Britain but our ethics and beliefs will not change. Throughout our journey I will be looking for healthy, cheap, British food and I will document our journey here. Just check the menu bar for Carry on Britain on a budget for regular updates.

Its been ages since I’ve posted.

I feel I have neglected my duties.

So…lots to write about.

1st lets talk skincare.

LIZ EARLE. If you’re like me and you’re basically allergic to everything (I’m atopic apparently), skincare can become a boring lifeless chore. Well, that was until Liz Earle came along. I can’t stress enough how wonderful the Cleanse and Polish is and when you wash it off with a muslin cloth you feel so clean.

OK skincare is over, lets talk food (that didn’t take long). I know, I’m becoming really sad. I’ve found heaven is when I get home and I can dive into my cookbooks and plan out dinners. I’ve been so happy with Abel and Cole – the parsnips have seriously rocked my world. I love how the man turns up in his van every Wednesday at 9.30am, I love rituals!

Unfortunately this week I’ve been away so I haven’t been able to make the Easy Carrot and Coriander Soup but Covent Garden Soups have been a nice change.

So far we have stuck to buying British really well. After watching the Great British food fight all of our meat is Organic free range and British. All of our fruit and veg is from Able and Cole, of which most is sourced from Britain. We are obsessed with potato and rosemary bread from Barbakan and I’ll never eat a yogurt that isn’t from Longley farm again.

I will point out that I’ve not become a mad Daily Mail reader just yet, even though they do have excellent celebrity gossip online.

All in all, a month and a half in, we have saved money because we aren’t lured by rubbish in supermarkets and I’ve lost weight because we aren’t eating out all the time and our food is more wholesome.

So I was in the local shop today, buying my bag of ‘BEST OF BRITISH’ Premium Potatoes. 2kg for 99p – not bad – but not quite as good as 2kg for 23p in Tesco the other week (gotta love them yellow and black discount stickers). OK, so they were very nearly out of date and I shouldn’t have bought so many bags coz we now have enough frozen mash in the freezer to last till the next millenium, but I just can’t resist a Great British Bargain!

Anyway, I digress…I spotted today’s Mirror while buying my spuds, and couldn’t help notice that Alan Sugar is joining the fight to get us out of this crunchy mess we seem to have gotten into. “Where possible – BUY BRITISH” says Sir Alan. Good Lad…

Easier said than done though ain’t it mate! We can but try though eh!

Want to know more? Look in the Mirror…