I am going to be moving all my blogging activity to a LiveJournal account.
At the moment I blog on Allotmenting, Healthy Eating and Reducing Waste, and reguarly post to other Yahoogroups, & Social network sites. In moving to LiveJournal I hope that I can write about everything in one place, I have only been doing this for a couple of days, and content has been a bit thin, but hopefully I will find it works and post more regularly.
The address is http://purplexoo.livejournal.com/
I look forward to seeing you there.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
How is the challenge going?
It is going very well!!
We are more than half way through the month, and so far we have spent £22.25 on food.
I do have to go shopping tomorrow, and have quite a list, but so far so good.
It is not going to be successful next month though! I already have a Suma food order for £220!!
As it is bulk buying and lasts for more than one month, I will need to work out my spend over months, rather than by the month.
I have started making Pasties, made from Stew!! Day 1 is vegetable and tomato Stew, Day 2 te stew is used as the filling!!
This is very cheap! It costs about 70p for the pastry. The Stew costs, around £2. So £2.70 for 2 days meals for 5 people!
Today I have planted tomato seed. 4 different types. Early potatoes are also in, so food will be even cheaper in the summer!!
We are more than half way through the month, and so far we have spent £22.25 on food.
I do have to go shopping tomorrow, and have quite a list, but so far so good.
It is not going to be successful next month though! I already have a Suma food order for £220!!
As it is bulk buying and lasts for more than one month, I will need to work out my spend over months, rather than by the month.
I have started making Pasties, made from Stew!! Day 1 is vegetable and tomato Stew, Day 2 te stew is used as the filling!!
This is very cheap! It costs about 70p for the pastry. The Stew costs, around £2. So £2.70 for 2 days meals for 5 people!
Today I have planted tomato seed. 4 different types. Early potatoes are also in, so food will be even cheaper in the summer!!
Friday, 27 February 2009
Food so far this week
At the moment Porridge is the favourite breakfast in our house. I buy a sack for £6.79, this lasts around 6 weeks. There is always dried fruit, nuts and yoghurt available as a pick and mix.
Lunch is sandwiches, marmite and philidelphia are the current favourite fillings. With a snack pot (fruit/nuts/seeds), a cake or biscuit.
Dinner times this week so far.
Monday we had butter beans in a tomato sauce (onions, garlic, butter beans, passata) the cost was £1.60 for 5 people.
Tuesday was a vegetable bakes form the freezer (on offer in Morrisons a few weeks back 80p) potatoes and beans. £1.80 for 5 people.
Wednesday was lentil soup this was £1.40 for 5 people and is still going now!
Thurday the lentil soup with added spice - lentil curry - 20p for the spices!
Friday the lentil soup again, this time with a couple of eggs to thicken, with breadcrumbs and cheese on top. cost 50p for 5.
So this week 5 evening meals for 5 people has worked out at .... £5.50, so 22p per person per day!!
Our waste is still kept to a minimum, we don't have a bin as such anymore, we just use a small draw. The main waste is cat food sachets (I do not buy these, I am given them as Jin, my sisters cat that lives at my Mums does not like all the flavours!! So they are an extra treat for Tatty, who normally eats dried food, bought in sacks (£7 for around 3-4 months).
The chickens are laying well, we are back to 4-6 eggs a day. But havent had a 7 egg day since a week before Christmas!!
Lunch is sandwiches, marmite and philidelphia are the current favourite fillings. With a snack pot (fruit/nuts/seeds), a cake or biscuit.
Dinner times this week so far.
Monday we had butter beans in a tomato sauce (onions, garlic, butter beans, passata) the cost was £1.60 for 5 people.
Tuesday was a vegetable bakes form the freezer (on offer in Morrisons a few weeks back 80p) potatoes and beans. £1.80 for 5 people.
Wednesday was lentil soup this was £1.40 for 5 people and is still going now!
Thurday the lentil soup with added spice - lentil curry - 20p for the spices!
Friday the lentil soup again, this time with a couple of eggs to thicken, with breadcrumbs and cheese on top. cost 50p for 5.
So this week 5 evening meals for 5 people has worked out at .... £5.50, so 22p per person per day!!
Our waste is still kept to a minimum, we don't have a bin as such anymore, we just use a small draw. The main waste is cat food sachets (I do not buy these, I am given them as Jin, my sisters cat that lives at my Mums does not like all the flavours!! So they are an extra treat for Tatty, who normally eats dried food, bought in sacks (£7 for around 3-4 months).
The chickens are laying well, we are back to 4-6 eggs a day. But havent had a 7 egg day since a week before Christmas!!
A bigger challenge
Gosh, has it really been that long since I posted??
In November I was signed off work, I am am suffering from Tennis Elbow, an RSI brought about by repetitive work and the impact of date stamping.
Since that time I have taken on a more supervisory roll in the kitchen, it was tough at first with my husband feeling I was invading his space by being home during the day. He also had to look after me and do the jobs that I couldn't. He had to make me cups of tea, make the bread and cook the meals. The children have also been brilliant and have made biscuits, meals and cakes.
It has been a challenging time.
On top of that as I am signed off from work as sick, I am suffering from the lose of earnings. I have had to take a hardlook at finances and try to manage the housekeeping with great detail.
Thanks to my frugal cooking, we have actually been okayish (Christmas was tough!). Month on month I have reduced the shopping bills, and this month we have spent £106 with 20p still in the pot! On top of this only £46 has been spent on non foods, petrol, a cinema trip, swimming, a clarinet lesson, cubs.
But next month I need to try harder!!
I have cupboards full of food, so next month I want to set myself a challenge to spend only £10 a week on food. Thinking about what I end up buying each week it should work, I buy milk, fruit and vegetables and Orange Juice. Hmm, next week I will need Stork for baking and margarine as well. But if I overspend next week I can always go into the week after, as long as it works out to be only £45 for all of March.
In November I was signed off work, I am am suffering from Tennis Elbow, an RSI brought about by repetitive work and the impact of date stamping.
Since that time I have taken on a more supervisory roll in the kitchen, it was tough at first with my husband feeling I was invading his space by being home during the day. He also had to look after me and do the jobs that I couldn't. He had to make me cups of tea, make the bread and cook the meals. The children have also been brilliant and have made biscuits, meals and cakes.
It has been a challenging time.
On top of that as I am signed off from work as sick, I am suffering from the lose of earnings. I have had to take a hardlook at finances and try to manage the housekeeping with great detail.
Thanks to my frugal cooking, we have actually been okayish (Christmas was tough!). Month on month I have reduced the shopping bills, and this month we have spent £106 with 20p still in the pot! On top of this only £46 has been spent on non foods, petrol, a cinema trip, swimming, a clarinet lesson, cubs.
But next month I need to try harder!!
I have cupboards full of food, so next month I want to set myself a challenge to spend only £10 a week on food. Thinking about what I end up buying each week it should work, I buy milk, fruit and vegetables and Orange Juice. Hmm, next week I will need Stork for baking and margarine as well. But if I overspend next week I can always go into the week after, as long as it works out to be only £45 for all of March.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)