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.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Tonight I cooked an omelette with garlic sauted courgettes.
The only real cost was the cheese to go on top (and cooking oil), as the eggs, courgettes and garlic were our own. I used around 6 very thin slices of cheese, no idea of the cost of this as the 3kg truckle was only £18 so much less than 50p.
I have to confess that I did create some waste today, but didn't bring it home! I was on a course in Bristol with work, and by lunchtime I NEEDED chocolate! I bought a double decker, 52p, when did chocolate go up to that price?
I have felt a little unwell all day, I hope I am not coming down with something, just a little hot and cold, and tired. Maybe I am overtired, I could also be a little dehydrated, as I only had 1 glass of water at work yesterday, just didn't have time to get anything else. And today I had 3 cups of tea. I have drunk before and after work, but to go 10/11 hours with hardly any liquid!
If you read yesterdays post about cooking lenti curry tonight! Well, the cooked lentils are still in the fridge, and will be curried tomorrow night, I just fancied omelette, and we had 8 eggs too many to fit in the the china chicken and bucket that we store them in!
Anyone want to buy some eggs, £1 for 6, please bring a box!!
The only real cost was the cheese to go on top (and cooking oil), as the eggs, courgettes and garlic were our own. I used around 6 very thin slices of cheese, no idea of the cost of this as the 3kg truckle was only £18 so much less than 50p.
I have to confess that I did create some waste today, but didn't bring it home! I was on a course in Bristol with work, and by lunchtime I NEEDED chocolate! I bought a double decker, 52p, when did chocolate go up to that price?
I have felt a little unwell all day, I hope I am not coming down with something, just a little hot and cold, and tired. Maybe I am overtired, I could also be a little dehydrated, as I only had 1 glass of water at work yesterday, just didn't have time to get anything else. And today I had 3 cups of tea. I have drunk before and after work, but to go 10/11 hours with hardly any liquid!
If you read yesterdays post about cooking lenti curry tonight! Well, the cooked lentils are still in the fridge, and will be curried tomorrow night, I just fancied omelette, and we had 8 eggs too many to fit in the the china chicken and bucket that we store them in!
Anyone want to buy some eggs, £1 for 6, please bring a box!!
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Today we had lentil soup (onions, stock, lentils), it was lovely, I have made extra so it will become Lentil curry tomorrow!
Cost 80p for the lentils and this will last 2 days.
Waste - none.
I am on the verge of getting rid of the kitchen bin, it sits there for weeks with only a couple of items in it. So, we don't really need it.
Now, do I use it to put the recycling in? Or get rid of it completely?
It would be nice to have something to put the recycling in, especially when it rains and we can't get outside to the boxes, but then it might be too easy to to pile it into the bin and forget about it. Also it takes up a lot of room.
As we have too much recycling in a week to fit in our 3 recycling boxes, maybe I could drill some holes in the bottom to make a 4th recycling container.
So far my shopping for this month has cost £70.21, not bad going for half way through the month!!
Cost 80p for the lentils and this will last 2 days.
Waste - none.
I am on the verge of getting rid of the kitchen bin, it sits there for weeks with only a couple of items in it. So, we don't really need it.
Now, do I use it to put the recycling in? Or get rid of it completely?
It would be nice to have something to put the recycling in, especially when it rains and we can't get outside to the boxes, but then it might be too easy to to pile it into the bin and forget about it. Also it takes up a lot of room.
As we have too much recycling in a week to fit in our 3 recycling boxes, maybe I could drill some holes in the bottom to make a 4th recycling container.
So far my shopping for this month has cost £70.21, not bad going for half way through the month!!
Friday, 5 September 2008
Friday
Tonight was a rushed tea, I was late home from work, an Ashleigh had to get to Scouts.
We had Beans on toast!!
= 3 cans for recycling
I can't remember what the beans cost, but it works out to be quite an expensive meal comapred to normal!
Tomorrow night should be curry night, but I am off out to Blossoms for a meal.
We had Beans on toast!!
= 3 cans for recycling
I can't remember what the beans cost, but it works out to be quite an expensive meal comapred to normal!
Tomorrow night should be curry night, but I am off out to Blossoms for a meal.
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