A SAVVY saver who quit his job as a chef has revealed how people can follow his unusual hobby example and live off just £5 a week.
“Urban forager” Christian Amys has told of only spending a fiver each week in shops as he tucks into seafood and wild mushrooms he scrabbles from city parks and streets around Brighton.
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The 41-year-old took up foraging during the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, teaching himself on how best to explore.
He says half of his diet is now food he’s discovered in the wild – both rural and urban – in East Sussex, including mushrooms, onions and leeks.
Christian gets the rest of his food from supermarkets and farms.
He estimates he saves £50 each week on food by foraging and will spend £5 to £10 extra on coffee, milk and toilet roll.
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Christian said: “During lockdown, I completely focused on foraging – I had so much time to walk in the wild and I saw a lot of people doing the same.
“I would say 50 per cent of my food is foraged – if I am honest, if I had more time to forage it would probably be a lot more.
“I will spend around £5 to £10 on a food shop a week. If I am going home to eat I will pop round some forage spots.”
He quit his job as a chef in March 2020 and decided to concentrate entirely on foraging.
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Christian said: “I have replaced most of my diet with mushrooms – I would much rather have mushrooms than meat.
“We do all our forages in the city or outside the city – we forage in parks and around the city centre.
“It’s all about living a sustainable life.”
He recalled how a shortage of leeks on offer in supermarkets last year proved no problem to him and his friends.
Christian said: “I went to my mate’s garden and foraged 15 kilos of leeks and started giving them out to people.
“Why are we worrying about running out of things in supermarkets, when we can forage and get them for free?”
He also believes he has saved thousands over the years, adding: “I rarely ever go to the supermarket, it is just the staples I get from there like tea and coffee.
“Over the years I have saved thousands – I am saving £50 a week on a food shop.”
But while advising people to follow his example, he also offered tips on what to avoid – such as food plucked from the busiest roads.
He said: “If you’re not 100 per cent sure what something is, then don’t eat it – don’t trust a hunch.
“Some people might pick something and guess what it is, which can be dangerous.
“We follow the rules – if I am picking a mushroom I will pick a few handfuls of them to check before eating them.
“As long as you wash them properly, there should be no risk.
“For example, you want to avoid harvesting any foods from a busy road, especially mushrooms – if it is a busy road, they can absorb exhaust fumes.”
He now runs specialist workshops after setting up his firm Urban Forage, with lessons including on what seaweeds can be eaten.
Some of the meals he serves up include three-cornered leek and tomato soup, wild garlic and nettle bread.
And among his foraged food recommendations are wild mushrooms, seaweed, elderberries, strawberries, herbs, nuts and sea vegetables.
Foraging guidance was shared this summer around blackberry season – and also on other edible plants in the wild.
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A foraging couple with two young children, from Altrincham in Greater Manchester, told how they too spend just £5 per week in supermarkets.
And a TikToker recommended what she called “Glamour Diving”, going through bins to find high-end make-up beauty products.
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