I thought I would give you an idea on the meals we ate and how I am doing on the grocery shopping budget for this month by giving you a run down of our first week. I won't do this every week as I think it will make boring reading.
I think I will have to not take meals out into consideration in the grocery budget as it would mean just blowing the whole budget. We don't eat out that often but a couple of meals out a month could mean that the whole budget will be gone. I will tot up the amount spent on dining out at the end of each month to see if this is cheating!!
January 1st - zero spend
We decided to go to Shopping at The Lowry to see if we could find a few bargains in the sales. I had already been with my sister the week before but David had not been to the sales so wanted to go. We got there early and as a treat had breakfast at The Harvester. It was a huge meal, very tasty, good value and very filling. I ate nothing for the rest of the day apart from a couple of Christmas present chocolates in the evening. Our spend on food today was £14.48 plus we left a tip on top of this.
January 2nd - zero spend
I made David sandwiches for work out of left-overs from the fridge and bread already in the bread bin. David does not eat breakfast and I had porridge from my pantry. I had hot chocolate with mini marshmallows from my Christmas leftovers in the fridge mid morning and mid afternoon I had parsnip & apple soup from the freezer followed by a cranberry and white chocolate cookie. The cookies had been bought at 75p for 5 reduced from £2.50 from Waitrose on New Year's Eve.
We had a left over Chinese take away for our evening meal. We ordered a set meal for two on New Year's Eve and found we were full after eating the mixed starters and soup. We put the main course in the fridge to eat the next day but were still full after eating the breakfast out so saved it to eat today.
We had a left over Chinese take away for our evening meal. We ordered a set meal for two on New Year's Eve and found we were full after eating the mixed starters and soup. We put the main course in the fridge to eat the next day but were still full after eating the breakfast out so saved it to eat today.
January 3rd - zero spend
I had croissants for breakfast from the freezer. They had been reduced from £2 to 45p for four. I had some strawberry jam with them. The jam had come from a set of two pots in a lovely candle holder for 50p from a car boot sale last year. The best before date is October 2015 so I had no problem with buying them, plus I love the cute little jars they came in.
I found two lovely duck breasts in the freezer and decided to have these with some sprouting broccoli, green beans and mashed potatoes for our evening meal. I made a mash from Maris piper potatoes which are my favourite versatile spud and instead of butter to bind it I used some sour cream and chive dip that was left over from Christmas. Dessert was an apricot and almond tart heated through with champagne cream from the fridge left over from Christmas.
January 4th - zero spend
Breakfast was porridge from the pantry followed by a brunch of sausages and bacon from the freezer, eggs from the fridge and bread from the bread bin.
I had started with a nasty cold on New Years Day so wasn't that hungry so I had just porridge from the pantry for my evening meal and David made himself fish fingers and chips from his rummage in the freezer and pantry.
January 5th - zero spend
Breakfast was porridge and I had some toast for lunch as I was still feeling rough. I had spent all of Sunday in bed so had not made David any lunch so he just did without food until our evening meal. I am not happy about him doing this but he takes two sugars in his tea and coffee so I suppose he is getting some energy from this but I would rather he ate a balanced meal instead.
I made shepherds pie from some steak mince from the freezer and vegetables and potatoes from the pantry. I made a mixture of Maris piper and sweet potato mash instead of plain mash and used some left over single cream to bind the mash together.
January 6th - £5.15
Breakfast was cereal from the pantry with milk already in the fridge. I attended a conference at work and there was a free buffet lunch thrown in so I did not have to make anything for myself. David took the remaining croissants from the freezer for a brunch at work.
I had not been grocery shopping since New Year's Eve so called in at Marks & Spencers as I had a coat to collect that I had ordered on line in the sales. I bought the £6 meal deal which was a main course (chicken and leek pie) side dish (two cheese filled jacket potatoes) and dessert (lemon tart). This gave a saving of £2.70 on full price. I bought some ready made fajitas which had been reduced, a loaf of bread and ready made hot steak sandwich which had also been reduced. After taking down the Christmas decorations the house looked rather bare so I treated myself to some flowers too. David had given me a gift card which he had been given as a gift himself so I used this to pay the bill but had to put £5.15 towards the total cost.
David had half the chicken and leek pie with left over mashed potato for his evening meal and I had the fajitas. We ate a couple of Christmas chocolates each later on in the evening. We also had a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle bought for Christmas lunch but not used.
January 7th - zero spend
Breakfast was again cereal from the pantry and milk already in the fridge. I buy Cravendale milk in four pint cartons and usually two at a time because they are normally on offer at two for £3. The milk has been filtered and lasts a long time but does not taste nasty like long life milk can. It has a fresh milk taste and I very rarely throw any away whereas when I bought normal fresh milk I was always throwing it away as I could not judge how much would be used in a week.
For lunch I took celery sticks filled with cream cheese and both of these came from leftovers in the fridge. I found one solitary mince pie and a breakfast muffin in the bread bin and took those with me for lunch too. David was having a lunchtime meeting at work and pizzas were provided so I did not have to bother with lunch for him. In the evening I finshed off the fajitas and David finished off the pie and mash. We finished off the bottle of wine that we had opened the day before.
Not exactly and exciting selection of meals and some not cooked from scratch but I do not want to be throwing away food or buying more when we have plenty in the pantry, fridge and freezers. I know that I will need to go shopping for fresh vegetables, bread and milk in the next day or so and I will keep ou updated on my grocery bills at the end of each week.
January 4th - zero spend
Breakfast was porridge from the pantry followed by a brunch of sausages and bacon from the freezer, eggs from the fridge and bread from the bread bin.
I had started with a nasty cold on New Years Day so wasn't that hungry so I had just porridge from the pantry for my evening meal and David made himself fish fingers and chips from his rummage in the freezer and pantry.
January 5th - zero spend
Breakfast was porridge and I had some toast for lunch as I was still feeling rough. I had spent all of Sunday in bed so had not made David any lunch so he just did without food until our evening meal. I am not happy about him doing this but he takes two sugars in his tea and coffee so I suppose he is getting some energy from this but I would rather he ate a balanced meal instead.
I made shepherds pie from some steak mince from the freezer and vegetables and potatoes from the pantry. I made a mixture of Maris piper and sweet potato mash instead of plain mash and used some left over single cream to bind the mash together.
January 6th - £5.15
Breakfast was cereal from the pantry with milk already in the fridge. I attended a conference at work and there was a free buffet lunch thrown in so I did not have to make anything for myself. David took the remaining croissants from the freezer for a brunch at work.
I had not been grocery shopping since New Year's Eve so called in at Marks & Spencers as I had a coat to collect that I had ordered on line in the sales. I bought the £6 meal deal which was a main course (chicken and leek pie) side dish (two cheese filled jacket potatoes) and dessert (lemon tart). This gave a saving of £2.70 on full price. I bought some ready made fajitas which had been reduced, a loaf of bread and ready made hot steak sandwich which had also been reduced. After taking down the Christmas decorations the house looked rather bare so I treated myself to some flowers too. David had given me a gift card which he had been given as a gift himself so I used this to pay the bill but had to put £5.15 towards the total cost.
David had half the chicken and leek pie with left over mashed potato for his evening meal and I had the fajitas. We ate a couple of Christmas chocolates each later on in the evening. We also had a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle bought for Christmas lunch but not used.
January 7th - zero spend
Breakfast was again cereal from the pantry and milk already in the fridge. I buy Cravendale milk in four pint cartons and usually two at a time because they are normally on offer at two for £3. The milk has been filtered and lasts a long time but does not taste nasty like long life milk can. It has a fresh milk taste and I very rarely throw any away whereas when I bought normal fresh milk I was always throwing it away as I could not judge how much would be used in a week.
For lunch I took celery sticks filled with cream cheese and both of these came from leftovers in the fridge. I found one solitary mince pie and a breakfast muffin in the bread bin and took those with me for lunch too. David was having a lunchtime meeting at work and pizzas were provided so I did not have to bother with lunch for him. In the evening I finshed off the fajitas and David finished off the pie and mash. We finished off the bottle of wine that we had opened the day before.
Not exactly and exciting selection of meals and some not cooked from scratch but I do not want to be throwing away food or buying more when we have plenty in the pantry, fridge and freezers. I know that I will need to go shopping for fresh vegetables, bread and milk in the next day or so and I will keep ou updated on my grocery bills at the end of each week.
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