So it Begins - The Accountability

Lolina

I haven't tried Juicy Marbles yet - waiting til I see it on offer as it's so expensive! But I've heard it's really good. Definitely keeping an eye out to try it. Interested to hear any other good meat alternatives you discover - they can be hit and miss can't they?

itsthelittlethings

Ooh OP, we can be friends! I take exactly the same approach as you to vegetarianism. I really like mock chicken. I think it has a Chinese name as well, can't remember it. Keep on keeping on!

sams247

@Lolina I generally buy it from Waitrose - they do an offer for £6. Its not exciting but its often at that price and is more like £8 or £9 elsewhere. If I am putting it in casseroles etc I can make each one (you get 2) last for three meals …….. and its weird, but hey - for a roast I use 2/3rds of one and keep a third for a wrap next day.

@itsthelittlethings welcome to the veggie friendship groove 😎. Is that Wu Chung Mock Chicken? I have only had it once and liked it in sauces but not in a wrap.

I think the This products are mostly good, the Richmond veggie sausages taste great but the ingredients are awful! I like Quorn Best Of sausages but not the ordinary ones. Beyond Meat, Redefine Meat and Moving Mountains are all good for the 'red meat' vibe and sausages and burgers. I have yet to find a chicken replacement that I love. I use This, or The Vegetarian Butcher mostly. I also make a chicken dishes with pressed tofu if I have time to batch cook. For chillies and shepherds pie etc I'll use mixed beans and mushrooms. Make a decent 'bacon' carbonara with portobello and chestnut mushrooms. Part of the reason I eat prawns is I use them where people may use chicken. I am weird (in oh, so many ways) but I only buy red MSC labelled prawns, and I buy them raw whenever possible.

I am about to embark on a taste test of Faux lamb. I have never found anything that comes close, and I used to enjoy lamb stew so…. Mind you, at the moment I marinade This is not Chicken in a gravy that has mint sauce in, and soak cooked potatoes in same marinade. Leave overnight, then cook in a stew. Tastes great.

I need to start a food blog! haha

Moneywise….. today is a home day so is easily a no spend day 😊

Breakfast today was Muesli with banana, greek yoghurt, honey and chopped fresh peaches. Lunch is the last of the Deli bits n pieces with a veggie pizza slice and tea will be a form of toad in the hole but using plant meatballs (Ikea) instead of sausages, and adding baby onions and carrot pieces in the batter. Served with a little mash n broccoli, onion gravy.

Lolina

Aaah… we don't have Waitrose here so I'll have to wait until Tesco/Sainsbury's get their act together and reduce the Juicy Marbles!

YES start a food blog, I'd be interested! Love hearing about food and people's experiences, especially when I can discover new things!

I made this recipe: https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-shawarma/ as a chicken alternative, using soy chunks from Sainsbury's (Fudco brand) rather than soy curls, which I've never seen here. It was absolutely delicious and tasted so realistic, you might be interested to give it a try!

sams247

Today my financial decision is based around premium bonds. These premium bonds were bought many many years ago and I have to say I have never won anything with them. Probably because there are so a few of them. So my consideration is, should I cash them in and put that money into my rainy day fund, or should I leave them there in with the thought that one day I may add to the quantity. 

I feel, at the moment, the scales are tipping towards cashing them in and adding them to the emergency fund. The logic in my mind is that if I get to a stage where I have money to invest in premium bonds, I can do so then.

I'm aiming for a buy no more (than I need) food day. The reason I say this is because I have to go to a supermarket to get some fresh fruit and salad. So while I am in there, I have to avert my gaze from all of the tempting offers. And, to be blunt, they don't even need to be offers. They just need to be food on a shelf that has the ability to leap into my basket.

Breakfast this morning was two muffin sized cheesy frittatas, some sun-dried tomatoes and a handful of blueberries. The frittata were made using a batch lady recipe, and I froze a lot of them. They come out fine when defrosted but I do like to warm them in the air fryer for a few minutes before eating. Lunch is whole wheat crackers, a mix of cheeses (cheddar, blue cheese, and Philadelphia), pickle, piccalilli, and the last of those sun-dried tomatoes. Tea tonight will be three bean chilli, (I tend to make my chilli quite mild), jacket potato, small side salad, and some sour cream and chive dip drizzled over the top of the chilli.

@Lolina Oh my! That looks delish! I will give it a go for sure. I LOVE cooking, so am endlessly finding new recipes and test them ….. rule is if its delicious I cooked it perfectly, and if its yuk then the recipe is to blame 😎

Hmmmmm food blog……. goes to research…..

InDebtEnby

Could you go to a greengrocers for fruit and veg instead of a supermarket, there'll be a lot less temptation there.

itsthelittlethings

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82059943#Comment_82059943

What's a greengrocers.

InDebtEnby

It's a shop that sells fruit and veg and a couple of other things, like sauces. It's where people used to buy stuff before big supermarkets came along.

sams247

@InDebtEnby Yes! I could do that, Duh. I grew up at a time of greengrocers and markets, we had no supermarkets anywhere close, and even the ones that first arrived were tiny. We'd go to the butchers for meat, the fishmonger for fish etc. It took a morning as everyone chatted!

sams247

I had a tally up of the money I've spent so far on food this month. And I've spent about the same as I spent last month. I actually thought I'd spend a lot more. But I'm sort of disappointed that I haven't spent less. I'm not sure if I got to grips with the big shop, maybe I didn't make it big enough. Because I do know, by watching the purchases this month, that if I go into a supermarket for one thing I come out with 10. The idea of using somewhere like gousto is a good idea, because obviously that will save me going to the supermarket at all. Maybe next month I'll try combination of both and see how I get home

One thing occurred to me in my working out my finances, I've made no allowances for extra social time, and I've actually been invited to 2 events. But if I stick really strictly to my budget, I don't have the money to go to either. So I have to rethink that.

Today I had mixed muesli for breakfast, I added prunes, peach slices, and some mango and passionfruit yoghurt. Lunch is a pizza I made, I used naan bread as a base, I mixed some tomato purée with sweet chilli jam and put that on to the naan, then I topped it with tomatoes, shredded mozzarella and grated cheddar cheese. So I will cook that in the air fryer and that's lunch done. Tea is smoked salmon fish cakes, not home-made this time but courtesy of Aldi, and I will have these with a with mashed potato and tender stem broccoli peas and carrots. I also have some mustard mayonnaise that I made.