£8.50 for 2 weeks food

skidia

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

skidia just press the link in blue and it will take you straight there

Thanks, yes I did see it, I meant I couldn't find the thread earlier when I was searching the forums.

So many great ideas there, thanks muchly for taking the time to help.

ash28

skidia wrote: »

Great tip thanks, don't know when these are every going to get around to ripening! I picked the flowers off the courgettes the other day and deep fried them stuffed with mozzarella.

Thanks so much!

Last year our tomatoes never ripened....I ended up making green tomato relish....very nice but a little sweet....I found it nice enough to use as a vegetable (depending on the meat). Good for cold chicken and burgers......

gayleygoo

You could make an "anything goes" rice dish - boil it up with chopped onion, a stock cube, sliced veggies (or peas and leeks maybe). I'd suggest making a one-egg omlette and shredding it to add to the rice for protein, but if you don't like tasting the egg then maybe the bacon if you planned to buy it. Bacon will keep fine in the fridge once it's opened for a few weeks (my butcher assured me) as long as it's wrapped up to stop air getting to it, if you go to Lidl they have a great 1.5kg mixed bacon misfits for £1.49 usually, and we get a lot of meals out of those!

Any vodka? You could funnel that into the melon, you'd hardly taste it after a few bites...;)

lizziebabe

Great ideas here. Just to add, I would buy a chicken. Lidl do very cheap ones. Roast it and I can get at least 5 meals out of it. You can add it to pasta dishes and use it for lunches too.
Don't forget to use the carcass for soup.

skidia

Right, first day down. Thanks for everyone's help. Here's what I ate and what I spent.

Breakfast:
End of home-made bread with smear of peanut butter

Lunch:
Small bag cashew nuts
Satsuma- offered by a colleague

S'burys
8 Basics sausages 80p
5 carrots 36p
1 loaf white bread 24p
Total spend: £1.60 Money remaining: £6.90 Days to go: 11

Dinner:
3 sausages with red cabbage
Yoghurt and frozen fruits

Verdict:

Rush at breakfast meant no time to make anything for lunch, so just grabbed the cashews and went. Tried to eke them out but was hungry by 5pm. A nice colleague offered me a tangerine which I tried not to eat too greedily. Stayed late at work partly to maximise chances of finding heavily reduced items in supermarket. Also got to claim some expenses back from last week. Only £7 but still.

Visited a new Sbury's (new to me at least) on the way back. Bit disappointed by lack of Basics products and reduced items. Toyed with discounted Richmond sausages (12 pack, but £1.50 more) but stuck with Basics and walked straight past the chocolate aisle!

Dinner was ok, cabbage was good (Waitrose ready meal, found reduced to 10p and frozen). Sausages slightly disappointing- watery- but there we are. Had 3 rather than 2 as hungry after little lunch and cycle home.

Most exciting news; 2 of the tomatoes turned red! Very delicious if not generous portions when split between 5 (housemates).

Greek yoghurt 200ml 1 pud
Mozzarella (2 chunks)
[STRIKE]Cooked red cabbage (needs eating)[/STRIKE]
1/4 manky white cabbage
Medium tomato
Milk
Lime juice
Mayonnaise medium jar
Eggs x 4

Small watermelon
2 gala melons
(both melons a bit overripe- free from a market)

Cupboard:[STRIKE]
End of some home-made bread[/STRIKE]
S'bury's long life white bread

Beef consomme -tin 400g
Chopped tomatoes 400g (2)
Tuna chunks tin 139g

Udon noodle packet (3)
Pasta shells 250g
Spaghetti 300g
Tagliatelle 250g
Rice 500g
Bulgar wheat 1/2 pack 250g
Popcorn maize 400g

Onions (3)
Garlic - 1 head
Shallots (5)
Carrots (5)

Corn meal 250g
Plain flour 500g

Soft brown sugar 400g
Desiccated coconut 75g
Flaked almonds 75g
Cashew nuts 45g

Quaker porridge oats sachets (10)
Peanut butter 125g
Thick cut marmalade 450g

Red wine vinegar 10ml
Soy sauce 10ml
Sriracha chilli sauce
Balsamic vinegar 200ml
Worcestershire sauce
Wholegrain mustard 225g
Vegetable bouillon
Beef stock -knorr gravy pot
Yeast - easy bake (4)

Olive oil 125ml
Olive oil spray 150ml
Ale and onion sauce packet 200g
Stir fry sauce packet- oyster and spring onion 120g (1)

Freezer:
Chicken stock, homemade, frozen 150g
Sliced leeks 750g
Pak choi x 2
Frozen peas 150g
Summer fruits 450g 1 x pud
Pollock fillet (3)
Raw prawns 125g
Ready meal sweet chilli chicken and rice
Basics sausages x5

Garden:
Lamb's lettuce - 8 handfuls
Rocket- 5 handfuls ready in a week
Mint
Rosemary
Courgettes -[STRIKE]6[/STRIKE] 8 x finger length

Green tomatoes- ready in NOW!!!

[Deleted User]

Do have a look at 'A Girl called Jacks' blog (google it) its amazing what that lady can make out of practically anything and very inexpensive as well She fed herself and her little boy on a tenner a week.Lots of great recipes for making all sorts of stuff though

skidia

JackieO wrote: »

Do have a look at 'A Girl called Jacks' blog (google it) its amazing what that lady can make out of practically anything and very inexpensive as well She fed herself and her little boy on a tenner a week.Lots of great recipes for making all sorts of stuff though

Yes no I did see that. It's actually what inspired me to try and cut what I spend on food. If she can do it, why not I?

skidia

Another day down. Many thanks Ash28 for the coleslaw idea, made some this morning for breakfast and tasted great. One carrot and 1/8 cabbage, manky bits trimmed off, filled one sandwich and will do another. Might make more too.

Dinner I made a general sauce with 1 onion, a garlic clove and a packet of chopped tomato. I added a splash of Worcester sauce and balsamic vinegar and a few leaves of a tiny Greek basil a friend gave me when she swung by.

I then mixed half the sauce with the can of tuna and put the rest in the fridge. There was also a bit of tuna sauce left too so that will do a sandwich filling or something

Breakfast-
Yoghurt and berries
Slice of bread

Lunch-
Coleslaw and tomato sandwich

Dinner-
Spaghetti with tuna and tomato sauce

[Deleted User]

Well done skidia you are rising to the challenge beautifully.Necessity is definitely the mother of invention for you and its working as you are maximising every scrap that you have.Only 11 more days to go and I think you will do it OK. :):)

abby1234519

FYI I bought some reduced carrots, a bag of lentils and made carrot and lentil soup. All it needed was some tumeric, salt and chicken stock.

Carrots cost about 60pence for 1kg and I already had the lentils. Soup is mega filling and has a good deal of protein. Kept me full for hours