A Chip Shop Shock, a Lack of Menu Plan ... and What you Want When You Want It

I missed menu planning at all last week ... the first time I've not written out a menu plan since the start of January ... and I'm not really in the mood to do it today, so this week I have decided to mix things up a bit and instead of writing out a menu plan I will be filling in the menu sheet with the foods that I actually eat all week as and when I have them, then I should be able to have a look on paper at what is going on in my mind ... and going into my stomach.

I seem to be having a real, 'I'm not that bothered about anything' mood going on at the moment and it would be all too easy to eat crappy foods all week, but I don't want to do that.  So I think if I write it all down I will want it to appear slightly healthier to my own eyes ... not just if I share it on here.

Breakfast - tick!

After breakfast I took the dogs for a walk to the park, dropped some sorted out clothes into the charity clothes recycling bins in Booths car park, and then some unwanted dog food into the Animal Sanctuary collection point at Sainsbury's and whilst I was there was inspired to get some shopping.

Inspired by seeing the yellow-stickered reduced price fish fillets.

Last week when we got back from Manchester,  Alan went to get us a chippy tea after walking the dogs and the prices had shot up again ...  the fish were £8.50 each. I was so shocked.   So when I spotted this reduced price box of two very similar battered fish for just £3.99 I instantly thought that I would recreate last weeks meal for under the cost of just one chip shop fish portion, to show Alan that it can be done so much cheaper.

Alan has a bag of these Aldi oven chips in his freezer that cost £1.29, and I have bought the fish and the peas.

A meal for two -

1/2 bag of chips - 65p

1/4 bag of peas - 25p

Reduced price Battered Fish fillets - 3.99

Total £ 4.89

I think we might possibly have had our last chippy supper for a while, well a bought from the chippy one anyway!!  Even I didn't think that it would so far under the price of just one of the fish portions.

As you saw up above I didn't just get the fish, I also bought the peas, which were on offer at £1, two yellow-stickered chocolate bars at  79p each and because all this thinking about fish made me want to have some for lunch I bought two haddock fillets for £2.25 and some buns to have one of them on, for £1.40.  

The total spend including the fish was just £10.22.

Lunch - tick! 

There has been some talk of supermarket shelves being pretty empty in lots of places around the UK over the past few weeks.   I have to say that our store was pretty well stocked on most things, but I guess with it being such a small Sainsbury's it's easy to keep it looking well stocked.  What seems to be missing ... according to that and other articles ... is the really out of season things such as tomatoes.

  Wouldn't it be so much better if people ate more seasonally again, ate more British produced foods and stopped expecting to be able to buy exactly what they want, when they want it all the time!!

Sue xx

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

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

Menu Plan Monday ... and Photos from Our Journey Home from Scotland

 

This is my menu plan from last week and as you can see by the first three ticks it went perfectly to plan for the first three days, and then just like I expected with a trip to Scotland planned at the last minute, the end of the week tailed off.

Alan invited me over to his house for my evening meal on Thursday as he had something that really needed using up before we left.  As it was a Higgidy pie and a big bowl of mashed potatoes I wasn't going to say no.  The on Friday I had a minimal breakfast and then we packed and hit the road for Scotland and a weekend away staying at Alan's sister and her fiancé's house.  

The dogs love going there as they have a lovely elderly German Shepherd dog called Tia and our little dogs hero worship big dogs ... much to Tia's annoyance.  Imagine it, suddenly your house isn't your own anymore and you have an annoying little Pug following you everywhere you go ... no wonder she is always relieved when they settle down a bit after the first day.

This week's menu took shape very quickly as I first transferred the meals that hadn't been used over from last week with little change.  Hopefully this week will go more to plan as we have nowhere that takes us out of the house for longer than a few hours.

Did I hear someone say 'What are bonus peas?' ... maybe not, but I'll tell you anyway.  They are the peas that you have left over when you tip out all the peas from the bag on Wednesday night's fish and chip meal, thinking that there will be just enough for the one meal and actually there are way too many.  So, in the interests of being able to add them to another meal I spooned some of them back into the bag ready for this week.

Now just because I got snap happy on the way back from Scotland on Sunday afternoon here are some of the lovely snowy scenes.

And there's the snap happy snow photographer in the wing mirror. 😄

As soon as we dropped lower down the hills onto the roads leading into Moffat the snow vanished, there was literally a line across a hillside field, snow on one side and then grass on the other and then the town and the roads leading to it were completely clear.

We stopped on the way home for a very late lunch at Tebay Services on the M6, and while Alan was picking up our order from the counter I snapped a photo of the view from our table.  This is one of our favourite services and if we pass we usually stop either just for a coffee and a dog walk or, like in this instance, for a dog walk and a meal.  We usually have a look around the beautiful farm shop too, but this time we were both tired and there was nothing we needed ... and I especially did not need any temptation to spend any of my money!!

And with two tired and happy snoring dogs on the back seat we set off for the final forty minutes of our journey back home.  Of course the best bit of having had our meal on the way home was that neither of us needed to cook or wash up, so it was just a case of a cup of coffee and the latest episode of Vera on the television ... a very good end to a brilliant weekend.

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

Challenges

 

I was sorting through my notebooks the other day, pulling one out to use as 'spare paper book' that I can grab when I'm on the phone and need something to write on, and I came across this one.  When I opened it up it had lots of interesting stuff in.   I vaguely remember buying it from Asda as part of a stationery pack during a Challenge over on my other blog ... Challenging Myself

Anyway what should I find written in the back of it but the plans for a different Challenge ... a £1 a Day for a Month Challenge.  I thought it was THIS one.

But none of the foods matched up!!

So perhaps it was for a Challenge that I never quite got round to doing.

Which seems a shame as I obviously put quite a bit of work into the plans!!

I wonder how the prices would compare to those in the shops now?

Now that's food for thought ... and perhaps a Challenge in itself 😄

And while I was over on the other Blog I ended up going down a rabbit hole of immense proportions and reading about lots of my other Challenges, including one of my more unusual ones that saw me splashing out on things every day of the week.

Challenge Three in 2019  'The Shopping Hauls Challenge'.

Which was a really interesting one to read through again and I spotted lots of things that are still in daily use that I bought over the course of that week.  So those few people in the comments who said that I was buying useless things and wasting money should perhaps come round and have a look at all the things that I still actually have.

I have only used about half of the pens and pencils up to now though!!

Anyway I need to get off the computer now, I've been on here for far too long 😀

Sue xx

Everything was going so well ...

 

When I don't hear from my sons I know everything in their worlds is going well, and then the other day they both contacted me minutes apart.  I'm used to it and the lack of contact doesn't faze me at all, we all plod along in our own little worlds and connect when we need to ... it's just a boy thing.

The sudden double messaging and wanting to talk to Mum was a real 'sh*t hitting fan' moment for sure!!  

Are you allowed to put your boys up for adoption when they reach 35 and 41 ... no I thought not 😄😆😅

I'm only kidding ... I'm always here for them and they know it, they just need to learn to pace themselves and have crisis' that are more staggered and maybe give me slightly more than a ten minute break between having to offer an ear, advice and the voice of reason.

In a nutshell ... and not giving away too much of their personal information ... my younger son now has Covid for the second time (triple jabbed and careful when out and about so no fault of his own) and my eldest is right at the beginning of a split from his partner after it being verbally on and off for a few weeks.

It makes our home life seem very peaceful at the moment, I shouldn't say that should I something is bound to go wrong now!!  Enough of my waffle anyway but I thought I would make an appearance to tell you why there is a lack of appearances this week.

I'm going to write me a menu plan and do something 'normal'.

Sue xx

Menus ... and Memories

 

I've decided to simplify my menu planning a bit, instead of putting the meals onto a specific day I am simply listing the seven main meals I want to prepare during the week ahead using the ingredients that need using up first as a starting block.  I found myself spending far too much time rubbing out and moving meals around when they were listed daily ... purely for my own benefit of course but still annoying!

And at the bottom of the page the things that need using up first, you wouldn't think I'd need to be reminded to use up chocolate spread would you.  I've literally just had a brainwave for that actually, well it is Valentines Day in seven days and I think some little cakes might be in order.

I used up one of the smaller new carrots yesterday and made a quick portion of coleslaw.

Little carrot = little grater ... just for a bit of fun.

It doesn't look the most appealing photo does it but coleslaw made with iceberg lettuce never looks as good as when you make it with white cabbage, and of course it has to be eaten straight away otherwise it goes soggy.  But it was really tasty and I have just enough lettuce for an action replay for my lunch today.

While I was getting one of my many notebooks out yesterday ready to start to work on a potential complete weeks shopping for a £10 budget, I came across old workings out for previous Challenges.  They make for fascinating reading.  I was going to put them into the recycling and start afresh but then I thought no, I will see how many more pages like this I have tucked in other notebooks and use them for reference and recipe ideas.   I obviously then spent a good hour or so reading through all my old scribblings.

*** *** ***

Stationery and starting new notebooks off is a weakness of mine, no doubt started by Mr Downey my form teacher for the last year of Junior School.  He had taken over the class after our very strict female teacher had left following an embarrassing incident in the playground, but he was most definintely not cut from the same cloth as her.  He was so laid back he was virtually horizontal.

Every Monday morning we would all be given a new school exercise book which we spent the first hour after assembly 'backing' with paper of our choosing from the art trays, then we had to use this to do a 'topic' for the week.  We could choose anything to write about and cut up any books in the classroom to glue the pictures in our books.  We would all start off the first couple of mornings of the week full of good intentions and then by Friday morning we would be doodling and making paper aeroplanes instead.  Every afternoon when the weather was relatively dry we would go through the gate from our school into the park, where the girls would play rounders and the boys would play cricket ... which Mr Downey loved more than life itself.  If it rained too hard we simply read, chatted very quietly or in some cases fell asleep.

It's a good job there were no SATS tests back in the day 😄

Sue xx

Out of Date by HOW Many Months ???

 

The last day of the month already, wow where has January gone.  

I know for a fact a good selection of my fresh foods have been eaten over this long month, but I'm not too worried as I still have lots left in the cupboards and freezer ... I'll do a financial and cupboard round up tomorrow on 1st February.

I have just finished working out a menu plan for this week, making good use of what I have left, taking care to include most of the fridge foods that now have short dates.

I found this in the fridge door as I was taking some photos ready for tomorrows post - it went out of date in November of last year ... why didn't I notice that at the start of the Challenge?

I thought it was worth cooking the croissants to see if they would be edible as the roll of perforated dough smelled okay.  But I had one of those 'Great British Bake Off' moments when the contestants just can't remember the shape of something and unfortunately as I opened the packets the little picture instructions were ripped through and illegible.

Close enough!!

I ate one straight away warm from the oven with a cup of coffee and yes it tasted fine, so I have the other two for later and I gave Alan the other half to have for his elevenses.

Going through my cupboards, fridge, freezer and other spaces each month is going to be a really good habit to get into for this year and for into the future and needs to be done a bit more carefully I think. Those of you who have read along for the last 14 years will know that I am not a stickler for dates, common-sense is much more useful and sensible in some instances ... and it cuts down on food waste and saves you money. 

Sue xx

I Shopped Again ...

 

Alan was going shopping and as I needed to pick up my tablets from the pharmacy I said I would go with him.  I only really needed some bleach but as you can see I got tempted ... doesn't that just always happen!!  It's one of the reasons I try not to go to the shops unless strictly necessary.

The tomatoes were one of this weeks Super Six so they greeted me as soon as I walked in the front doors of Aldi.  The bleach was what I went for, the paracetamols because I either me or Alan pick up a couple of packs whenever we are at the shops ... it's awkward that you can only buy two packs on each shop visit when two packs is only a four day supply for me, but we manage.

The Tenderstem Broccoli wasn't really needed but I enjoyed the last lot so much, and as I'm making soup again tomorrow I thought it would be good to use the stems in this for added fresh goodness, and finally I got the Heinz vegan mayo because I don't think I've tried this one before and it was cheaper than the Hellman's that I'm currently on my last jar of.

Rather neatly my total came to exactly £5 ... I like it when that happens.

Alan wanted to have a cup of tea and get his lunch in the Booth's café, he did offer me some but I had had a good breakfast so I just had a toasted teacake and a glass of iced water.  They gave me three of these with my teacake and even being generous with my spreading I only needed two, so I also brought this home with me, a nice little freebie.

I really wanted this to be a No Spend Week but in the grand scheme of things a £5 spend is not bad is it, and it brings my total up to now in January to £20.82 spent over three shopping trips.  😃

I've also got to re-adjust my menu plan again as Alan's reason for going to Aldi was to get some neeps and tatties for a late Burns Supper tonight, he was away for meetings on Burns Night and he wants to use up the vegetarian haggis that we were gifted in a hamper at Christmas ... so I'm out for tea tonight.

While I was making the other day's Hot Dog lunch I decided to make up some mashed potato for the little Potato Pizzas so I could steal a little bit of onion to add to the mash for the pizza bases, and like in yesterdays mentioned food prep I put aside a portion of the mash for the Shepherds Pie which has now moved to be a Sundays meal.

I decided to try cooking the Potato Pizzas in the Remoska, but it didn't work out too well.  They were very tasty, but also very sloppy and doing it this way the mash didn't 'set' properly ... hence me taking a photo of them while they were still on the foil and not after I moved them to my plate.

If I make them again I will add a good heaped tablespoon of flour rather than just a sprinkle and try frying them as the YouTube video said you should.  Perhaps this will give them a firmer texture.  Anyway it was worth a try as they were delicious, they were just more like pizza-flavoured mashed potatoes than a potato pizza. 🍕🍕🍕

Sue xx

Menu Monday on Tuesday ... Again!!

 

I almost got my menu written down in time ... but at least it was done in time for the meals to be eaten.  It's not written in stone, so I can and do adapt it to how I feel or what I'm fancying the most.  But I am being good at using up the bits that need using up first and that is the main thing.  The main idea behind writing out the menu plan is to keep me on track and stop me from using things up in the wrong date order.

I would like to try to make this a totally No Spend Week if I can and this way I will be able to have a big restocking of the almost empty fruit and vegetables drawers in the fridge with my January leftover cash, which should stop me having to dip into February's money too early in the month.

Although I wanted to try the Mini Potato Pizzas that I showed on Saturday's post I knew I had to use up the last of the Mediterranean style veggies that I had cooked up last week first.  I had been dipping into them all through last week and they were starting to look a little sad, and no one wants sad veggies  😄

The first meal with them was simply the veggies and some cous cous, which I had soaked in vegetable stock for added flavour.  A nice simple but very tasty meal.

I also had two lunches of quesadillas.

Again keeping things simple with just some of the vegetables with cheese and hummus.  These two lunches also made use of the last four wraps which were starting to get really brittle in the freezer, I'm determined to waste nothing.

The second one had a slice of Quorn Smokey Bacon torn into pieces added to it for even more flavour, it was very tasty.  I think a quesadilla is one of my favourite lunches at the moment, so quick to make, they make good use of leftovers from the bottom of the fridge and they are relatively healthy.

And then finally last week I had a pasta bake, using up one of the tubs of homemade pasta sauce from the freezer, a good handful of cheese and a few spoonfuls of the veggies.  All simply added to the pan of dry pasta with some additional water and cooked in the oven for around half an hour.

Pasta is always extra tasty cooked this way rather than cooking it separately first, as doing it this way it absorbs the tomato sauce instead of absorbing cooking water and you get a much richer tasting dish.

So as you can see on the menu in the first photo I had an action replay of this last night after taking another pot of sauce out of the freezer and thawing it slowly ready to go with the last of the vegetables.  

Sue xx