Holding Myself Accountable - Do I Cheat?

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

The Final Freezer Based Menu Plan

 

Week four of my menu planning and it's still going well.  I need to turn this into a regular habit and carry it forward as I begin on the predominately food cupboard based meals.  What is it they say, do something for 21 days and it becomes an easier habit.

If you look at this photo of last week's meals, you can see that I am getting quite good at sticking to the menu now.  I don't always eat the meals on the day that I say I will eat them, because sometimes when you have something written down for one day later in the week you suddenly find yourself really wanting it NOW.  So I do, and simply cross it off as I eat it.

Alan shared the Quorn and Vegetable curry meal with me and offered to buy a chippy tea the following night ... I was hardly going to turn that down now was I.  😄  

There are a couple of other things not eaten but obviously they are still available to eat, so the quesadillas have moved forward to this week, but the Miguel Barclay Potato and Leek pasty will have to wait until I make some pastry.

I am having a quiet day today as I really attacked the food cupboard yesterday, emptying it all out in sections, cleaning, reorganising and refilling.  I had to do it all in little bursts as it was tough on my back with the lifting and stretching and on my foot when I was kneeling on the floor.

But:

'Something then rest ... '

Is better than nothing at all, we should all be kinder to ourselves.

But oh boy is it nice looking into the cupboards now!  I'll show you the photos on here tomorrow ... I promise.  😀

Sue xx

Turning Two Salmon Fillets into Four Meals

 

On the menu plan for Wednesday night was Salmon and Spinach en Croute with Mash ... et voilà.

The ready rolled pastry came out of the freezer as did the salmon fillets and the three spinach pellets that I used, wow, for once I was completely on track.

The plan had been to use the rest of the pastry for a Leek and Potato pasty thing from one of Miguel Barclay's books, but I decided instead to make something using some of the things that I wanted to use up from the fridge.  I fished out two of my remaining eggs and the third of a block of feta style cheese.

I think you can pretty much work out from the photos what I did, but I do perhaps need to point out that this tin is not a 'jam tart' sized indentations tin.  The six holes are actually small pie sized, the sort you would use to make a Higgidy Homity pie.  

Once I had cut out the six circles of pastry I used the leftovers to re-roll and wrap the other salmon fillet for my Salmon en Croute that's pictured cooked on the top photo.

Straight from the oven and cooling down in the tray while I went off and ate my tea, and boy was that filling ... and delicious.

I now have five of these left in the fridge as I might have been tempted to eat one before I took the dogs out for a walk this morning.  After all I didn't want to repeat the temptation of the other day. 😄

Sue xx

So, I Broke ALL of the Rules ... and My Feeble Excuses

The Rules

1.  Use up what you have at home first.

2.  Don't go shopping on an empty stomach.

3.  Don't be swayed by things you watch on social media.

Alan's been away all week so I have been walking the dogs.  I drive to the little park that they both love and then they have a good play.  To sort of justify the drive I decided to call to Sainsbury's which is close by, well virtually everything is close by in our town if you go by car, so much difference to where we used to live and I am still getting used to the convenience of it all.

I was supposed to be picking up the chopped chicken pieces that Alan buys for them as he had run out.  Literally as soon as I stepped in the door my tummy was rumbling, and there in all their tummy filling glory were the takeaway sandwich, snacks and drinks shelves.  I was so nearly tempted to grab a sandwich, but all the vegan ones were £2.95 or £3.50 as part of a meal deal!!

So I did myself a little deal, instead of buying one I would buy a loaf of bread and something nice as a filler to have as soon as I got home.  Passing down the fresh fruit and veg aisle I decided if I was shopping for me I might as well get myself a new Iceberg lettuce and some more easy peelers.

I got the chicken for the dogs, chose my favourite loaf from the bread aisle and then as I passed down the frozen foods aisle the VFC Chick*n Fillets caught my eye.  They caught my eye because I had watched a YouTube clip the day before when someone was raving about how good they are.

Three rules broken in almost as many minutes!!

Iceberg Lettuce - 65p

Easy Peelers - £1

Bread - £1.20

VFC Chick*n Fillets - £3

Total spend - £5.85

It's a good job I did buy that small loaf as the chick*n fillets were tiny!

It made for a reasonably satisfying late breakfast/early lunch and was something totally different for me but I won't be buying these again.  The texture is far too much like real chicken for my liking, which I suppose is the name of the game really, but I don't like the texture of meat now, anymore than I like the flavour of most of it.  I did however used to love the KFC Chicken Fillet burger, so I suppose somewhere in the back of my mind I was hoping to enjoy a version of this again.

Sue xx

 

Menu Plan Monday, on a Wednesday ... and Stealing Food

 

I must be better organised ... Menu Plan Monday nearly didn't get done until Tuesday, and as you are here now and reading it I've no doubt you have noticed that now it's Wednesday!!

I also swap and change the meals around a bit, which is absolutely not a problem really but on Monday night no sooner had I written down pizza for tea than I made myself ... 

... a salad sandwich using the 'coleslaw' mix and a couple of Quorn ham slices.

Oh well, it's all food and all delicious and it needed using up.  I also stole the bread from Alan's breadbin.  He had just left for work and I was over in his kitchen feeding the dogs and Ginger, and I spied lovely fresh bread just crying out to be nicked ... so I did.

To be honest I could call it a swap for the piece of birthday cake that I gave him to eat before he set off on his travels.  So swapsies, not tea-leafing.

My actual menu from last week shows that I did do slightly better than the first week.  

I didn't make the Quorn and vegetable curry so that has been moved forward to this week when I will have some more time, and not all the meals were eaten on the day that they were supposed to be, but they were eaten and that has made a huge difference to actually being able to open the drawers of the freezer much more easily.

I was feeling really pleased with myself ... and then Alan reminded me just before he left that I have a pack of Aldi meat-free sausage rolls in his freezer left over from Christmas!!

The three pages of freezer inventory are getting a bit more difficult to scan through now, so because I saved them on the computer I may go and alter them and make it easier to see exactly what I do have left to use ... and I must remember to add to the list the four sausage rolls.  😄

Sue xx

Some of This Week's Freezer Emptying Meals

 

This was a pasta bake and it looked great when it came out of the oven ... it's a good job that I took this photo before it went into the oven as I completely forgot to photograph the finished meal.  We both enjoyed this one with a glass of wine and Happy Valley.

It used up that pesky single sausage, the small bag of broccoli and another handful of my 'bonus peas'.

Two and a bit things out of the freezer.

What I thought was a pasta sauce turned out to be a tomato based stew of sorts, anyway it was very tasty and eaten with a 'thin bagel' for dunking purposes.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

I must label food in the freezer.

But two less items in the freezer.

Dahl and brown rice, yummy what a lovely and warming evening meal this made.  There's one more pot of this left in the top drawer according to my inventory.  😃

Just one thing out of the freezer.

I had a nice simple lunch one day, just two of the Linda McCartney Lincolnshire style sausages on a bread roll with the last of the tomato ketchup from the fridge.  Time to raid the food cupboard and see if I have another.  In the meantime I have put a bit of water into the 'empty' bottle so that I can use the dregs in the next curry or soup I make.

Waste not want not.  😉

Two things out of the freezer.

A simple bowl of 'green' soup and the crust and one slice of my bread, toasted.

Two things out of the freezer.

One of the pack of two vegan Camembert Nut Roasts and some of my mashed potatoes.

These are not too bad, but I won't be buying them again.  There's one more left to eat but I don't think it will change my mind.

One thing out of the freezer.

So that's a total of six of this weeks meals and ten items taken from the freezer.  

And although I wasn't going to put anything into the freezer I have made an exception this morning and put in the potatoes that I have over after this post into the bottom drawer.  I had planned to eat them all up this week but I feel all potatao-ed out, and I would rather do this than waste any food just in case I don't eat them over the next couple of days.  So now I also have two part-baked potatoes and two tubs ... one small and one a bit bigger ... of mashed potatoes towards future meals.

Food out and food in, it's all food and it's all good. 

Sue xx

It's Nearly All About the Potatoes

 I decided last week not to add my breakfasts to the menu plan, or even all my lunches for that matter.  But some of them are still coming out of the freezer.  

Take this morning for instance, the bagel was supposed to be eaten with soup for my lunch but I just wasn't in the mood for soup and as you read further down I was messing about with my potatoes for a while and it got me in the mood to have a baked/jacket potato for lunch.  So I decided to switch around the soup and bagel and baked potato meals.

But I did have 'bagel' on my mind, so I decided that I would still have it but for breakfast and with some dairy-free cream cheese instead.  A small but very tasty breakfast, and of course according to my freezer inventory list I do still have two more bagels left to eat.

I bought these potatoes right at the start of December and they have been in the Stayfresh bags and inside a cool bag to try and keep them in a dark place, and then in the coolest place in the lodge ... which is actually my bedroom windowsill.

Yeah ... food is never where you expect it to be with me!!

Anyway they had spouted much more than I expected them to, although they were still lovely and firm.

I tipped them all out into a bowl of cold water, washed the bags ready to be used again for something else and then spent five minutes scraping off all the sprouts.  But you know me ... I couldn't resist leaving two of the smaller potatoes with their sprouts and pushing them into the soil in the middle section of the large raised bed in the garden ... it's always worth a try.  😁

I ended up with some very respectable looking potatoes.

One of the large ones was zapped in the microwave for my lunch and served with some butter and grated cheese and all the smaller ones were peeled, chopped and turned into mashed potatoes.

On my menu plan was mince and mash with the 'bonus peas', but I decided to keep it simple and just have these potatoes as they came out of the pan, so it was a very deconstructed Shepherdess Pie, and a very filling evening meal.

Once I had finished eating I mashed up the rest of the spuds and left them to cool in this container, which is now in the fridge and has enough mash for my three other planned potato meals for this week.

It's always nice to have a bit of meal prep done for the week ahead.

Sue xx

Menu Plan Monday ... Gosh I'm So Organised

 

I want to start the first couple of weeks of this year really using up what I have in my freezer.

When I sorted through it all the other day I found foods that I had forgotten I even had, including a nut roast from Christmas 2021!!  Well now is the time to work my way through all this older stuff and try not to put anything into the freezer until I have cleared it.

I was aiming to have at least two things from the freezer every day and it was with this idea in mind that I put together this first weeks menu plan ... although in the end when I look at it now I have actually managed to incorporate three things each day.  It will be interesting to see how this first week alone impacts on the state of the freezer drawers.

If things in life come up that mean a days meals don't get used, I will simply move that whole day forward to begin next weeks menu plan and fill in the rest of the week from that day forward.

And rather than working from my paper scribblings and eventually getting confused, I sat and typed all the contents of the drawers out so that I can see more clearly what have and be more easily able to tick off what I use.

Here's to week one of slow but steady freezer emptying.

Sue xx