January's No Food Shopping Challenge 2025

Thriftymissus

yay thank you! 

Really chuffed to have got through the weekend without spending on anything. Ate walnuts and granola that had been hanging around a while and an apple that may have seen better days but has kept well enough. My partner made lovely bread. I had some with jam and overcame temptation to buy other sweet stuff, where I would usually, not to mention usually I’d buy more jam even though I have enough to last…

abundant1972

Good afternoon! 

Bagged a couple more no food shopping days since I was last here. Had a bit of a flat day yesterday and ended up buying a naughty treat on the way to see family as was super early. Should get through the last of the frozen fish in next few days. I reckon I'll need to restock food supplies come the end of the week as I will have emptied the cupboards and fridge/freezer.  

Spend total = £25.50

No Food Shopping Days = 14
Spend Days = 6

EitherWalnut

Evening everyone!

Good start to the week here with some dhal I pulled out of the freezer. Tried to make a sort of baked fruit/rice pudding combo but it did not go well and ended up curdling so unfortunately that's for the food bin. Found a bit of smelly French cheese lurking at the back of the fridge behind some other random bits, so if it's still ok when I open it there will be cheese and crackers on the horizon.

Good job emptying the cupboards and freezer @abundant1972! I am nowhere near that stage unfortunately, but come February I'm going to try and only buy things that compliment what I already have to try and use up more of it.

Well done on resisting the temptation to buy more jam @Thriftymissus - that's how I ended up with the current rice pudding situation!

AnotherNewDay

Whoop! 3 weeks down - the end is in sight Down to my last 2 eggs, 1 litre of milk and 1/4 tub of marg. Will I make it without an emergency dash to the SM...watch this space.
Apart from these basic items still have plenty of things in stores, fridge and freezer, so it's really about if I can eke them out and if I do run out - find alternatives or manage without...

Thriftymissus

EitherWalnut said; 

Well done on resisting the temptation to buy more jam @Thriftymissus - that's how I ended up with the current rice pudding situation!

I love rice pudding and am gutted I hadn’t got any stashed away 🤪

AnotherNewDay said:

so it's really about if I can eke them out and if I do run out - find alternatives or manage without...

You are inspiring me. I can see an end in sight now but I had a wobble today where I was very tempted to go and spend at the supermarket. Instead, I came home from a work meeting and cooked a chicken portion with chips from the freezer and the last of posh gravy mix I’d bought for Christmas, even added some of the last cranberry sauce. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m missing fresh veg for sure but frozen berries are coming in handy. 

EitherWalnut

Only a week and half to go! However, I broke my perfect streak today with my first spend! I ended up buying a salad for lunch (£4.79) as I left my lunchbox on the kitchen counter this morning. (in my defence, I've been a bit all over the place with two trips to the vet in the past 24hrs.). I also know I'm going to have to have a spend at the weekend to get ingredients for a Burns supper I forgot I was doing.  Not in the form for eating much this evening, so just grazing on snacky bits in the house. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

AnotherNewDay

I nearly had a wobble today too - but then I rallied and made an alternative version of saag alloo. Mine was based on potatoes, shallots (instead of onions), kale (instead of spinach), garlic, two cans of chopped tomatoes and two cans of chickpeas. Spiced with 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon tumeric, 2 teaspoons garam masala, 1 tablespoon chilli flakes and 2 teaspoons masala curry powder.

EitherWalnut

So today did not particularly get better, as the worst case scenario happened at the vets this evening and I had to say goodbye. So although I took some stuff out of the freezer for dinner, I'm afraid I could not be less interested in eating it right now. I might dip under the radar for a few days, so apologies if I don't reply.  Stay safe in the storm tomorrow everyone!

Thriftymissus

Be kind to you @EitherWalnut, so sorry to hear you’re having to go through this.

AnotherNewDay

EitherWalnut said:

So today did not particularly get better, as the worst case scenario happened at the vets this evening and I had to say goodbye. So although I took some stuff out of the freezer for dinner, I'm afraid I could not be less interested in eating it right now. I might dip under the radar for a few days, so apologies if I don't reply.  Stay safe in the storm tomorrow everyone!

So sorry to hear the news about your beloved pet @EitherWalnut - hope you're ok