What with the credit crunch and the inflation which is doubling the price of a cup of tea there comes a time when the average punter has to bite the bullet and cut down on outgoings and look for alternatives. 

I am a great believer in the supermarket own-brand product - Sainsbury's tomato Ketchup is amazing. Another tip from the top is buying fruit and veg from the market, which makes you feel healthier - even though paradoxically it is less likely to be organic!

Londoners of course could get a lot more creative with their budget slashing. We could take a leaf out of Cambodia's book - whose omnipresent poor have been out-priced by inflation on normal meat products and have turned to the humble Rat as a dinner time favorite. Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular in PHNOM PENH at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel ($5) a kg. Could Borough market soon be flogging the inhabitants of the sewer system at knock-down prices or perhaps Nando's could diversify with a Piri Piri Skewered Ratita?

As economics would have it - the demand for the humble rat in Cambodia, Vietnam and the like has fuelled its price rise - could this be a sign that the rat is the new battery chicken, destined for a Tesco's near you?

To prepare for this, i have included below a Rat Soup recipe, with accompanying 'rat-catcher' advisory photo!

Rat Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
Must have giant river front rat. Very important. Little rat not do. Make sure you get a live one or crafty vendor will try to sell you small dog if you not careful. I always kill my own. Even have special hammer handed down from revered ancestors. Skin rat and cut off tail. Save tail. I know it seems wasteful but you must take out innards and throw away over left shoulder. Very lucky. You will need about 10 qian salt, 5 qian black pepper, a lock of hair of the sick person, cut fine, Lotus root, Bok Choy, Daikon, and 3 or 4 of the American made Smith Brothers' Cough Drops if you can get them (cherry flavor is best).

Preparation:
You will need at least 20 sheng of water to cook this so make sure it does not stink already. Put rat carcass in pot. Cut up rat tail into small pieces and add to pot. Bring to boil adding spices and let cook for 2 hours. Go and do laundry or till field. Next add vegetables and let cook for another 30 minutes. Serve to patient every time he throw up.