Spending £10 per Week on Groceries

Longwalker

satchmo1 said:

I remember saying once, "if I win the lottery (which I don't do), I'll have a housekeeper to change the sheets daily, and I will only wear a pair of tights once"

... we can all dream. I am like the Princess and the Pea, if the sheets are rumpled I'll get out of bed and smooth them out. Otherwise I'm very low maintenance, lol. 

I too turn the shower off while I soap, and have the flow at minimum, and take 2 minutes if not hair washing, 3 if hair washing - but that's more because otherwise my skin feels like a rasp being drawn across it, due to a blood condition.

I always say if we win the lottery, it will be new bedding every day

Back in the 60's and 70's bath night was once a week, along with clean nightclothes and clean bedding - pure bliss. 

As a child you didnt care about running around with a tide mark around the neck or having ears you could grow potatoes in, you never noticed - until bath night. 

Back then it was sheets and blankets, hospital corners and sheets pulled so tight and tucked in, that that first night was hard work getting into the bed

Even now Im old, I still love the smell and feel of clean bedding 

Ainsty

Hello Everyone

Week 5 Review

@RobM99 - Wow £25 a week on coffee is really out there. Did you get withdrawal symptoms when you cut back?

I'm with those who like a bit of luxury when I travel, although there's not much chance of that at the moment. I don't think there is much point in saving up to go away if you can't let yourself enjoy the experience. The last time I stayed in a hotel I laid in the bath for about 1 hour, letting some water out every now and then as it became cold and topping the level up with hot. Bliss!

Another good week, the food is both filling and satisfying.  Last week I spent a penny over £5,

Tinned Toms - 38p

Tinned Beans - 26p

Carrots - 45p

Onions - 55p

Bread - 39p

Jam -39p

Bananas- 71p

2pts milk - £1.30

Self-raising flour - 58p

= £5.01

£10-£5.01 = £4.99

£17.23 + £4.99= £22.22

This week the running total will be used to stock up on meat, lentils and other pulses. The availability of lentils and pulses around here is very restricted. ASDA was the cheapest I could find but the prices are rocketing to eyewatering levels. Also on the shopping list are tinned tomatoes, eggs, custard powder, jelly crystals and fat for baking. 

Breakfast 

7 x Porridge

7 x 80g HG Frozen fruit

Lunch

3 x Squash Soup

2 x Carrot Soup

2 x Beans on toast using the last of the loaf and a can of beans split over two days

I like to take soup to work because it is easy to heat up in the microwave.

Dinner

2x Beef Bolognaise, 75g minced beef, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, grated carrot & oats with pasta shapes

2x Mushroom Stroganoff mushrooms, onions, garlic rice

1 x Vegetable Fried Rice plus everything else I can find to throw in including tinned sweetcorn

2x Pea and Potatoe Curry with Yoghurt Naan

Desserts

Yoghurt

Stewed Apples 

Custard

No weight loss this week, but that's not the point of the exercise.

Makingabobor2

You are doing so well.  

RobM99

@Ainsty No, no withdrawal. At £3 a cup, it's only one a day(ish!).

RobM99

My grocery bill is £35 a week (on average) but varies a lot, £70+ one week but that was stocking the freezer so the next couple of weeks were low. That includes food for =^..^=
Petrol bill has gone down drastically, two reasons - less miles (where did I used to go?!) despite gig travelling (Luton, Colchester, Chelmsford, Basildon etc) plus the current car is really frugal on fuel.

Ainsty

Hi
 @RobM99 that's about the same as my average over the last 2 years, including weeks when I was on holiday. It includes  =^..^= food, cleaning material for the house like polish and window cleaner and personal grooming like shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste. I've managed to eke out less than 1/2 a tank of petrol to last 5 weeks. I walk much more which I am sure is much better for me.

Longwalker

RobM99 said:

@Ainsty No, no withdrawal. At £3 a cup, it's only one a day(ish!).

I was reading the other day that its now around £7 a cup in Dublin !!!!!

Coffee is a treat indeed nowadays

Our son in Australia is a coffee buyer and travels the world buying coffee, and has become a coffee snob

So this year I bought a coffee machine, one that takes ground coffee and does hot milk - an expresso machine?  It wasnt cheap but it was a good price compared to other shops so I bit the bullet thinking he would be made up that we had made an effort for his visit 

He made just one cup !!!

Luckily I do love a cappuccino. Not often, but Sundays in particular I like a coffee whilst I read the news online. It makes the house smell so lovely, and of course popping in for a coffee when out shopping isnt an option very often now so its a treat indeed and I now dont begrudge what I paid for the machine - its paid for itself already

Our lidl has a coffee machine, that when it works, makes really lovely coffee - for £1.

Ainsty

@Makingabobor2 - thank you. It does take some time to research, prepare and cooks but overall I am enjoying it

@Longwalker - Wow £7 for a coffee, I suppose each to their own but not for me. I don't drink much coffee, I find tea more refreshing, so the luxury coffee craze has never tempted me. What a great job your son has, travelling the world buying coffee. Is it as fabulous as it sounds?

Review of the week

So another week over and I'm still going eating on £10/week. Last week went well, on Sunday I was invited by a friend to watch the England v Senegal match and eat pizza so did not have the vegetable rice.  It was a lovely break to eat indulgence food and there was garlic bread and a cheesecake as well. The mince has been portioned into 100g packets and the chicken thighs separated, both are frozen. 

Last week I purchased, 

6x Tinned Tomatoes - 2.28

2x Tinned Kidney Beans -£1.08

4x 500g Red Lentils - £4.60

1x 500g dried Chickpeas - £1.20

1 x 500g 10% Minced Beef -£2.65

6x Chicken Thighs - £3.69

Best for Cakes - 99p

12x Eggs - £1.89

1 x 360g Birds Custard Powder - £1.25

1x Packets of jelly - £1.00

Yoghurt - 90p

250g Mushrooms - £1.25

4pts Milk - £1.65

=£24.43

£22.22 (saving from previous weeks) + £10 - £24.43 = £7.79 to carry forward

This week

The 10th December is my work  Christmas do, so I don't need to prepare anything for that day. I noticed that 1 of the squash was starting to rot so this week squash features in the main meals. I saw a recipe on the BBC website for Squash and Sweet Potato Curry so I'm having a go at that slightly modified because I don't have any fresh chillies. The squash will make 3 good portions when a 59p Aldi sweet potato is added.  I will also make a microwave jam or treacle sponge pudding. I love sponge pudding and it is so easy in the microwave. To increase the amount of protein I have in what is a very heavily carbohydrate based diet I have added in some peanuts to have as a snack during the day.

This week's menu is -

Breakfast 

7 x Porridge

7 x 80g HG Frozen fruit

Lunch

3 x Leek and Potato

1 x Poached egg on toast

3 x Carrot and lentil soup

Dinner

3 x Squash and sweet potato curry, including chickpeas so no rice or naan needed

1 x Chicken Dinner -  2 x chicken thigh, potato, sprouts, cabbage 

2 x Cottage Pie - minced beef, lentils, sprouts, leeks, carrot and kale 

(1 meal to be eaten at the work Christmas do) 

Desserts/snacks

Sponge pudding and custard

Yoghurt
Toast & jam

Peanuts 

1lb lost, although weight loss is not the aim of the exercise.

joeyjimbles

Should you buy fresh chilies in the future - I realise that using a whole package of anything can be difficult when you are cooking for one - you can freeze them. I saw it on a Jamie Oliver thing and then you can either use them whole from frozen directly into the pan or grate them. 

You are doing so well on your quest by the way

RobM99

Grow chillis?