The Bukoto Market Diet

I'm not quite ready for a diet of rice and beans!

Times are hard this month, what with paying lots of deposits for my Christmas holiday in South Africa and a 'bank error NOT in my favour', so it's time to tighten those purse-strings a little. Kampala is nowhere near as cheap as you would imagine. Financial experts may measure the rate of inflation in terms of the price of a barrel of oil or a kilo of grain,  but I have slightly different criteria. Since I arrived in Uganda in August 2008, an average bottle of wine has risen from about 12 000 Shillings to around 24 000. A 50% increase over two years is a big hike up in anybody's book. A litre of petrol is just under a pound - which is just about what many Ugandans earn for a hard day's labour. Translate that into Sterling and if you earn 25 000 a year, it's like paying 68.50 a litre! You could fuel your car with Dom Perignon for less!

Mmmmmmm - matooke!

Luckily for me, I was born a stingy Northerner, and I have a whole host of penny pinching ways. It's time to collect all the empty soda and beer bottles and get the deposits back from the shop. Next stop, the book exchange to sell any old books I don't think I'll read again. As for shopping, I'm going to try to avoid the expensive supermarkets for a week or two. Weetabix is a bargain breakfast at 4500 Sh a box, as opposed to 10 000 Sh (about $5 US) for a small bag of muesli.
Try as I might, I still can't develop a taste for matooke or posho. I do, however, have a cracking selection of recipes that can be made with a few stock cupboard items and fresh ingredients from the market. We have a great selection of fresh herbs available here and the the fruit and vegetable stalls burst with sun-ripened juicy fruits.
What do you think of my sample menu?
To drink
Freshly squeezed passion juice
Nile Gold
Uganda Waragi (not for the faint hearted)
Pre-dinner snack
Fresh guacamole with lightly toasted herby pitta bread on the side
Starters
Carrot and coriander soup
Main course
Aubergine and tomato bake accompanied by French beans
Dessert
A selection of tropical fresh fruits including pineapple, mango, passion fruit and watermelon

Yummy!