I ate the other VFC No Chicken Fillet last night for my tea.
I decided it might be more palatable if I cut it up and had it on a salad rather than eating it as a burger, it was. It was still not really to my taste, I guess I just no longer like the texture of some of the meat replacement food items. Things like sausage rolls, Quorn mince and Linda McCartney sausages I'm fine with, other things like pretend chicken or beef just seem so wrong. I would rather just have vegetables. Anyway it made a nice lighter style tea for an evening when I just wasn't that hungry after a really painful day.
Someone asked me why I wasn't sharing the receipts of my shopping trips while I'm doing this challenge ... and 'do I cheat?'
Nope I don't, if I did I would just be cheating myself!! This isn't an entertainment idea on a blog earning me money, it's a sort of challenge to myself to gradually bring down the contents of the food stored at home and see how long I can make my money last ... what would be the point of cheating?
The few shopping trips that I have made have all had good reasons for not having receipts.
Number one was a haircut and a Radio Times, my hairdresser does not give out receipts, and it seemed pointless to print out a Booths receipt showing that I had bought one item.
Number two was again a copy of the Radio Times and a pack of eggs both from Booths, these were on Alan's receipt. I don't know where that went ... but I definintely gave him the money.
Third spend was £7 at Asda for a birthday cake to take to my Mum's, I haven't got that receipt as the only other things I bought were for my Mum and I gave her the receipt.
Fourth spend, or maybe it should be called a no-spend was from Booths when I used my £10 voucher to pay for the entirety of the shopping and I actually remembered to say yes when they asked if I wanted a paper receipt, as I wanted to see how neatly it all added up to £10. (Usually it arrives on my phone five minutes after I leave the store)
My first spend of February was the Jack Monroe book and was another nice round £10.
The second shopping trip for February was this one, I got the receipt but it was really badly printed, so much so I have written out all the food items I bought for me as I know it will fade even in my diary.
All the crossed out items are the things that I bought for the foodbank on that trip. Looking at this I have just noticed that the fishfingers I bought on Saturday were £1.65 ... they are £1.85 today!! I noticed this morning while I was in Aldi again shopping for toiletries for the foodbank trolley and I had a bit of a mooch around the shelves and fridges while I warmed up after a chilly dog walk around the park.
Wow ... 20p up in just four days, late last year these used to be £1.15.
My final spend ... just to hold myself unnecessarily accountable ... was in Sainsbury's, once again while I was getting some shopping for Mum and I spied the Cathedral City plant based cheese.
So I don't always remember to ask for a receipt, if I do have one I stick it in my diary, but if someone else needs it they get it. I do go to the shops shopping every week, but this is now predominately for the foodbank not for me, it's surprisingly nice half filling a trolley and then not bringing anything home to put away. 😃
On this holding myself accountable post I will show you my final freezer inventory.
The things in the top drawer are now mostly chopped veggies from the fridge drawer that I have been putting into freezer bags ready for future use so that they don't go off, along with the pasta sauces that were in the middle drawer previously.
Everything else, including the things that are on my menu plan for this week, are in the bottom two drawers now and not even crammed in like they used to be. So in the past three weeks I have gone from three A4 sheets of inventory to what would now just fit on one ... a very successful freezer challenge if I do say so myself.
Chopped celery for use in stews and soups in the future, now in the freezer, and some little sticks of celery for dipping in the tub of hummus that I thawed out last week which I ate for my lunch yesterday.
This weeks menu plan.
I need to tick off yesterdays meals and today's lunch and then I should take that half baked potato out of the freezer to thaw out in time for tea!!
Sue xx
At the start of last year, Lidl tins of rice pudding were 23p. Just before Christmas they went up to 38p. This week 58p. Other than potential greed somewhere, it is the production costs of cans that covers the increase. Tinned potatoes have risen from 36p last year, to 69p:(
ReplyDeleteYes making tin cans costs a lot in fuel so it's understandable why they have gone up so much. It's a shame really as usually the contents of the cans are relatively cheap foods.
DeleteCan I ask about freezing hummus please? I end up eating a tub for 3/4 days to avoid waste but was interested to see that you had frozen it. Do you thaw in the fridge or at room temperature? Thanks. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time that I had tried freezing hummus as someone on Facebook had said you could and I wanted to try it for myself. The only difference in it once you have let it thaw out slowly in the fridge overnight is that it definintely tastes more watery. But the flavour is still there, so freezing is definintely preferable to wasting any.
DeleteMost foods that you have frozen yourself should be thawed slowly in the fridge as this retains the flavour and texture of foods.
Thank you-I will give it a try! Catriona
DeleteAs you say, I don't know why you would cheat, it wouldn't make any sense. I've found that I'm not keen on fake meat-shaped things either - like you, I'd rather just have veggies, with fish maybe.
ReplyDeleteI did have a temporary addiction to the fake fishless fillets from Aldi, but I've really gone off them now, so I do eat actual fish occasionally again.
DeleteI agree with Sooze. Cheating would not make sense at all. Good work in using up those freezer items.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Hopefully this has taught me that I actually prefer having less in my freezer, it's so much easier rummaging through the drawers now. :-)
DeleteOf course you wouldn't cheat, what a daft question! Is it weird that I love seeing people's handwriting, I always feel I know them a little better when I do.
ReplyDeleteI've never eaten meat so find the texture of almost every meat replacement product unpleasant. Like you, I'd rather eat vegetables. xxx
I know what you mean, my handwriting does vary depending on what pen I am using ... this was a good pen day. :-)
DeleteYes, vegetables all the way ... I especially love them roasted and with pasta.
No point cheating - it's your project and however you choose to do it is up to you, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be going fantastically well and I'm loving following it all. Thanks. xx
It's going well, up to now. I just need to remember to ask for receipts, if nothing else it will make my diary worth more of a read in future years to see what prices I paid for the things that I did buy.
DeleteI went to top up my Doves Farm bread flour in Sainsburys yesterday and found it had gone from £2.35 to £2.95 in under two weeks and it has risen from £2 in just a few months. I'm in the fortunate position of being able to buy it still as it is my favourite bread flour but it was quite a shock .
ReplyDeleteThose of us who can afford to absorb these price increases as we notice them are in a very fortunate position now. I really feel for the younger families that are struggling on a tight budget. I can remember all too well how it feels when something that you buy week after week suddenly gets unaffordable.
DeletePleased to see that someone else chops and freezes celery! It doesn't seem to be recommended, as the celery goes a bit soft. But if like me you only ever put it in soups and stews, then what does that matter? Since I've been freezing it, I no longer have to throw out any celery, so it helps prevent food waste. Pam
ReplyDeleteIt does go a bit soft if you were planning to eat it a 'raw' celery, but as you say brilliant for soups, stews and curries which is what I use these little chopped bits for. It makes it so convenient to have it ready to be able to grab a handful of doesn't it. :-)
DeleteWhy would it matter to anyone else if you don't post receipts?" It's your project, do as you want! I would often have old celery and carrots spoiling. Then I realized I could chop them up, with onion, and make sofrito (mirepoix) to freeze in small bags for stir fry and soups. It's great to just pull a bag out when needed!
ReplyDeleteSome people just like to see 'everything' I guess. :-)
DeleteYes, I've been chopping and freezing sofrito mixes for years, at first all mixed together and then more recently individually bagged up. I just call it my 'veg hash' when it's all mixed together.
https://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2015/11/veg-hash.html