We called to Mum's yesterday and on the way home we briefly stopped at her local Marks and Spencer food shop. It may not be the closest branch to us but it's the easiest one for us to get to, just a quick detour, a ten minute stop and then we can hit the motorway for home.
My £5 voucher was burning a hole in my bag and while I was close to a branch I knew I might as well stock up on the Garlic Kievs while I could ... I might have gone mad and bought some little cheesecakes too!!
But then I remembered that this particular voucher was counted as part of my yearly budget when I did the initial calculations, so I altered it to show £12 spent. I was also able to use a voucher to get £3 worth of points on any food spend towards the next quarters award, plus of course I have just paid for the holiday on my M&S card so I should be in line for bonus vouchers that will be over and above my Challenge budget next time. (My credit card bill is always paid off in full at the end of every month, so no interest is ever paid ... M&S Bank must hate me. 😂)
So this months total spend is £56.59, which although over the allowed £50 per month is in fact okay as I can take the £6.59 overage out of the money that I had over from last months really low spend of £24.32 ... phew!!
So I still have overage of £19.09 as an emergency back-up, and I can now put my £50 for March into my bag. 😀
I'll take some photos of the fridge, freezer and cupboards today ready for the new Months Food Stash photos that I will post about tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference ... I think there might be.
Sue xx
Are those garlic kievs nice? I'm always on the lookout for different things for Beth when she comes here for lunch and it sounds the sort of thing she would like.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing really well!
xx
In my opinion they are the most like the chicken Kievs in flavour and consistency. Alan is happy to eat them too so that speaks volumes as he really loves a chicken Kiev.
DeleteI like M&S food, good quality, and they do some good reductions if you're lucky enough to go in at the right time.
ReplyDeleteIt is really good quality and that is one of the things I miss living here, there's just no M&S for miles. I loved shopping at the M&S in Llandudno.
DeleteWell done. I like fry’s when I am home in the Uk. My mums get thems in a discount freezer shop for pennies when she sees them. My sister works for M&S in their QC for their lingerie department. She always says go around teatime. I think we had to have one in Tokyo. I might have to have a peek.
ReplyDeleteI know ... first thing on Monday morning or teatime was always a brilliant time to get yellow stickered items when we lived in North Wales, I used to do really well. Unfortunately I can't hang on until teatime to shop at Mum's little branch as we leave at around 3pm, there were some yellow stickered items yesterday but none in the vegan section unfortunately.
DeleteThat looks like a tasty super. I notice that some shoppers are asking M&S to rename this product. "Kiev" is the Russian spelling, but Ukrainians call/spell their capital Kyiv. Certainly the BBC has been consistent on this one. Also BBC accurately refers to "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine" (the Russians put in "the") However the names and spellings are less important than our prayers for peace right now.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I thought of that as I typed it, but as the old spelling is on the box I thought I would go with that for now ... I do hope they change it quickly.
DeleteAs you say there are more important things to worry about now though. xx
M&S bank must hate me too as I pay it off every month!! I've got a £5 voucher but I'll use it for 'treats' and don't count it as part of my budget xxx
ReplyDeleteWhen I get a voucher next time it won't be part of my budget so I can perhaps have a treat with it ... more cheesecake springs to mind, they are LOVELY!!
DeleteI have a Tesco credit card also paid off monthly so you are not alone. The cheese cakes look lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt's the best way to do it isn't it. Use a credit card to our advantage and not to line the pockets of the company with interest repayments. The cheesecake was gorgeous, with a large squirt of cream :-)
DeleteUnfortunately M & S is too far away for us now to visit on a regular basis. They do sell some delicious things though. Our daughter loves the vegetarian/ vegan Kievs (roll on the name change)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your next post!
I am lucky that this little branch is on the way home from Mum's :-)
DeleteI have to be careful not to buy a vegetarian Kiev as they have garlic butter in the middle, so I just stick to the vegan ones.
Oh yes, of course...dairy.
DeleteThose cheese cakes look lovely. Well done on the budget.
ReplyDelete