I thought I would give you an update on how things are going with reducing my grocery shopping bill and the meals we have been eating. I have found that with some planning I can organise our meals for the week and that this reduces waste. I also realised that I needed to make use of the food I have in my pantry, fridge and freezer rather than going shopping every week for a large supermarket shop.
I went shopping at Sainsburys on Saturday morning because I have just over £88 on my nectar card. I was able to use £67.50 of it on my shop so as I had spent £68.22 my bill came to 72p. This was a fairly large shop and I confess that £33 of this was spent on wine as we had no wine left in the house at all. Not a good situation to find yourself in on any Friday or Saturday evening.
At the weekend I planned our meals for the week and cooked a number of meals to be put in the fridge and freezer. This way I know what is waiting for us that evening and am not tempted to call in at the shops on the way home for a ready meal - no matter how cheap it may be on the reduced counter. It is all about doing some shopping at home and using up what you already have. This clears some space in my cupboards, stops food going out of date and saves on my grocery bill for now.
I made two lasagnes and a fish pie at the weekend. One lasagne and the fish pie have gone into the freezer and one into the fridge. To make them I used two lots of minced beef from my freezer and ready-made Dolmio sauces from my pantry. I also used some packs of soffrritto which I bought reduced from £1 to 15p in Tescos. Soffrritto is a mix of finely chopped onions, carrots and celery and is a great addition to many dishes such as casseroles, soups etc. I also used a tin of tomatoes and dried herbs from the pantry.
The fish pie is a considerable size and will feed four so this will do for two midweek meals for us. I bought fresh fish which was half price at the fish counter in Waitrose. It is a ready prepared fresh fish pie selection in that it is a mixture of three fish cut into cubes. The fish is salmon, cod and smoked haddock. I used two parsley sauce mixes from my pantry, frozen peas already in my freezer, fresh parsley which I have growing on my kitchen window sill and potatoes from my pantry.
26th January
I have plenty of jam and spreads in my pantry which I have either bought, had given to me in Christmas gift sets or my mum has made from the fruit grown in her garden in France. Rather than have cereal for breakfast we have been having toast and jam. Bread has been fairly cheap the last couple of weeks. It has either been on offer or I have managed to find it reduced. I bought a large bloomer for 22p from Waitrose on Sunday so this has been used for toast. I had bought two lots of sandwiches for David which cost 89p each for his lunch. I worked from home so made myself an omelet for lunch with eggs from the fridge. We had fresh trout for our evening meal. I had bought these half price on Sunday and they were best before today. They cost £1 each. I used peas from the freezer and ready made mash that had cost £2. I usually make my own mashed potato but at half price for a large tub I could not resist.
27th January
It was toast and jam again for breakfast and lunch was home-made sandwiches. I used bread which had been bought reduced from Waitrose and ham from the freezer. The ham had also been reduced from Marks & Spencer and cost 90p instead of £3. It is what I call fancy ham rather than the large packs of square shaped slices that many shops sell. These tend to be pumped full of water whereas I would much rather have the fancy ham which is a real slice rather chopped and shaped pieces made into a square shape. We have plenty of sweet food bought for us or by us for Christmas. I have been taking a couple of foil covered biscuits from biscuit selection boxes or two foil covered chocolates with me to work or a mince pie to have after my sandwiches or mid morning with coffee. It was Burns night on 25th January and we usually have haggis, mashed potatoes and crushed carrot and swede. However I had a BOGOF voucher for Pizza Express which needed using so we went out for our evening meal to their restaurant in Hale. We love it there as the staff are so pleasant and the food is consistently good. We ended up having our Burns night meal on this evening instead.
28th January
Toast and jam again for breakfast and a reduced pot of soup from M&S for me for lunch. They are normally £2.50 but I paid 60p. I bought two packs of pink lady apples from Waitrose a week ago because they were half price at £1.50 for 5 instead of £3. I took one with me to work as well as the soup. Our evening meal was home made lasagne which I made at the weekend and some garlic bread which had been reduced in Marks & Spencer to 60p. This came from one of my freezers and was delicious as it was shaped into small garlic bread rolls instead of a large loaf. Very dainty.
29th January
I had porridge for breakfast as I had toothache when I woke up and needed something soft to eat and toast would not do. I worked from home today so lunch was cheese and biscuits. We were bought two cheese gift sets at Christmas and they both had different cheeses, chutney and wine in them. The cheeses now need eating as they are getting near their use by date and I find that once I open a box of crackers, no matter how hard I seal them to make them airtight they still quickly go soft so I try to eat them once opened in a short period of time. David took a microwave burger because they were on offer at £1 each in Tesco so I had bought two for him. Our evening meal was left-overs of lasagne and haggis.
30th January
David attended a conference at work and lunch was provided for him. He said it was the usual buffet food of sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls and chicken legs etc. I had to take something quick as it had snowed yesterday during the day and then again at night. I needed to leave for work early to avoid the chaos on the roads when it snows so I grabbed a packet of 6 slices of deli ham from the fridge, two biscuits and a packet of low fat crisps for lunch. Slightly odd but I enjoyed it. We had hot dog sausages on buns for our evening meal and drank a lovely bottle of cava.
I have slipped a little on adding up the cost of everything we ate this week but know that the meal out blew any budget we had but I still think taking this out of the equation that I have stayed in budget.
As far as the jam is concerned I always keep my jam jars and use them for desserts so this is a further saving.
I have plenty of jam and spreads in my pantry which I have either bought, had given to me in Christmas gift sets or my mum has made from the fruit grown in her garden in France. Rather than have cereal for breakfast we have been having toast and jam. Bread has been fairly cheap the last couple of weeks. It has either been on offer or I have managed to find it reduced. I bought a large bloomer for 22p from Waitrose on Sunday so this has been used for toast. I had bought two lots of sandwiches for David which cost 89p each for his lunch. I worked from home so made myself an omelet for lunch with eggs from the fridge. We had fresh trout for our evening meal. I had bought these half price on Sunday and they were best before today. They cost £1 each. I used peas from the freezer and ready made mash that had cost £2. I usually make my own mashed potato but at half price for a large tub I could not resist.
27th January
It was toast and jam again for breakfast and lunch was home-made sandwiches. I used bread which had been bought reduced from Waitrose and ham from the freezer. The ham had also been reduced from Marks & Spencer and cost 90p instead of £3. It is what I call fancy ham rather than the large packs of square shaped slices that many shops sell. These tend to be pumped full of water whereas I would much rather have the fancy ham which is a real slice rather chopped and shaped pieces made into a square shape. We have plenty of sweet food bought for us or by us for Christmas. I have been taking a couple of foil covered biscuits from biscuit selection boxes or two foil covered chocolates with me to work or a mince pie to have after my sandwiches or mid morning with coffee. It was Burns night on 25th January and we usually have haggis, mashed potatoes and crushed carrot and swede. However I had a BOGOF voucher for Pizza Express which needed using so we went out for our evening meal to their restaurant in Hale. We love it there as the staff are so pleasant and the food is consistently good. We ended up having our Burns night meal on this evening instead.
28th January
Toast and jam again for breakfast and a reduced pot of soup from M&S for me for lunch. They are normally £2.50 but I paid 60p. I bought two packs of pink lady apples from Waitrose a week ago because they were half price at £1.50 for 5 instead of £3. I took one with me to work as well as the soup. Our evening meal was home made lasagne which I made at the weekend and some garlic bread which had been reduced in Marks & Spencer to 60p. This came from one of my freezers and was delicious as it was shaped into small garlic bread rolls instead of a large loaf. Very dainty.
29th January
I had porridge for breakfast as I had toothache when I woke up and needed something soft to eat and toast would not do. I worked from home today so lunch was cheese and biscuits. We were bought two cheese gift sets at Christmas and they both had different cheeses, chutney and wine in them. The cheeses now need eating as they are getting near their use by date and I find that once I open a box of crackers, no matter how hard I seal them to make them airtight they still quickly go soft so I try to eat them once opened in a short period of time. David took a microwave burger because they were on offer at £1 each in Tesco so I had bought two for him. Our evening meal was left-overs of lasagne and haggis.
30th January
David attended a conference at work and lunch was provided for him. He said it was the usual buffet food of sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls and chicken legs etc. I had to take something quick as it had snowed yesterday during the day and then again at night. I needed to leave for work early to avoid the chaos on the roads when it snows so I grabbed a packet of 6 slices of deli ham from the fridge, two biscuits and a packet of low fat crisps for lunch. Slightly odd but I enjoyed it. We had hot dog sausages on buns for our evening meal and drank a lovely bottle of cava.
I have slipped a little on adding up the cost of everything we ate this week but know that the meal out blew any budget we had but I still think taking this out of the equation that I have stayed in budget.
As far as the jam is concerned I always keep my jam jars and use them for desserts so this is a further saving.
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