So it Begins - The Accountability

sams247

A mixture of money and food = yesterday I went to a community food pop-up, where excess food from the normal session was being given away free. Although there was an opportunity to donate a pound, this goes towards allowing somebody accessing the community food to get their shopping for free if they are struggling to pay the normal five or £10. Most people I saw donated the pound. 

So, for my pound, I got some lettuce, some bread, seven eggs, and lots of  mushrooms, all different varieties. Last night was a baking extravaganza. I tend not to eat bread due to digestive issues so that was given to a neighbour. I made mushroom soup, and garlic and mushroom cream sauce which I mixed  with tortellini and that was my tea, (a replacement for the planned fishcakes which I will have tonight).

And for breakfast, I made a mushroom and tomato frittata.

I have some mushrooms left over so they got sliced up and put in the freezer to be thrown into shepherds pie and the like in the future. 

Three of the eggs were used in the frittata and the other four will be used on other days. The lettuce will accompany all meals until it's gone, so for £1 I think I've done pretty good. 

And I didn't go to any supermarket, so I did not spend any money!

Today is an at home because its too hot day.  Breakfast as above.  Half the soup for lunch with a little side salad made from the bits I picked up from community food.  Tea will be the fishcakes from yesterdays plan.  I’ve made the mustard mayonnaise ready, and I will add some (English) mustard and cheese to the mash.  Probably only use peas as I have lots now.  

sams247

I dont know how to make the photo's small!!!

Lolina

Wow those dishes look amazing, you are a good cook! Great going for £1, what a great idea that is!

sams247

The decision has been taken! I have cashed in my premium bonds and have moved the money to my emergency savings. I only had very few bonds anyway so it did not feel like a loss. And if I ever get to a point where I have spare money, I can always buy more premium bonds in the future.

A working from home day today so that can easily be translated into a no spend day today. I got a lot of free oranges from the community food pop up the other day and I spent a happy hour yesterday juicing them all, some juice went into ice cubes in the freezer, and some of it I made into smoothies.

Breakfast this morning was ‘boiled’ eggs (I put a quote around that as I actually use the air fryer to cook the eggs rather than actually boil them. This was the first time I tried this method having read about it, they came out firmer than I would have liked them so I think I need to reduce the cooking time, although they do say to plunge into cold water immediately after cooking and I certainly did not do that. Either way with a slight adaptation I think this is a perfectly quick and easy way to have a boiled egg). I served my eggs with a toasted and buttered bagel. Lunch will be the rest of the vegetable soup, I will crumble in some blue cheese to give it a salty flavour and I will serve this with the other half of the bagel, toasted. Tea tonight I have planned some breaded “chicken” and I will have this with salad, coleslaw, and the last of my mustard mayonnaise.

@Lolina Thank you. Food is a big deal so I learnt to cook very young. I am a very messy cook….. why use one pan/spoon when you can use 5 😄

sams247

When I was a child, my grandmother used to make us ice lollies by putting juice into ice cube trays with a little cocktail stick to hold them by when they were frozen. I did the same with my children. I'm sure somebody would protest as to the safety of children and cocktail sticks, but no harm was ever done to anybody. I still do this now for myself, so that in this great heat I can at least have one amazing ice cube of orange juice to munch upon to cool down.

Another at home day, so no money spent today either. Tomorrow I am headed to Aldi to get some coleslaw and the ingredients of mayonnaise. I use mayonnaise and mayonnaise based sauces quite a lot so I really want to learn to make my own rather than rely on shop bought. I'm sure it will be healthier as less additives.

I've been looking at local farm shops with the idea of getting my salad and vegetables from them instead of the supermarkets. Part of the idea is to stop myself from going into supermarkets where I buy excess other stuff at the same time, and it would also be a nice thing to support small businesses rather than large chain store supermarkets. Price is also on my mind though as some of the farm shops I've been looking at are a lot more expensive than what I've been paying in Aldi. I'll have to weigh up the pros and cons.

Today I actually skipped breakfast as I had had a rough night and wasn't feeling too bright. Better by lunchtime so I had breaded halloumi with some sweet chilli mayonnaise and salad. Tea will be chicken with rice, peas, sweetcorn, and chopped peppers.

sams247

Not been feeling too bright for the past couple of days so have reluctantly been ignoring all my tasks, including this one.

Moneywise, I'm doing okay so far. I've managed to have a few no spend days due to being stuck at home feeling sorry for myself. I did not go to the supermarket to get the coleslaw et cetera therefore I did not indulge in lots of extra goodies.

I have about a week to go before payday so I'm starting to draw up my budgets and see how I did this month and what I could possibly improve on next month. So far my Food budget is very similar to last month, but that was not my designed plan. I wanted it to be less. My big idea of the big shop did not work out quite as I had hoped, although I have to say it was really nice starting the month off with lots of different recipes in the cupboards and the fridge and freezer.

I have been looking at testing Home delivery meal plans, and going to farm shops, and going to greengrocers. Although it may sound odd I have really struggled to find a green grocer! I have found a market that says they have a vegetable stall so I'll have a little look at that.

Breakfast today was a crumpet, likely toasted, then I put a lightly grilled tomato on top of that, I grated some cheddar and some mozzarella over that and popped it into the air fryer for a few minutes until the cheese was melted and bubbly and brown. I had that with some fresh tomato slices and some cucumber sticks. For lunch I had a bowl of three bean chilli, I didn't have any rice, I just used a couple of crackers to scoop up the chilli. And it was more like five beans rather than three, but that's what the recipe said. For tea I had chicken with a home-made mushroom sauce and I served this over rice.

joedenise

Do you batch cook? If you make double when you cook and put extra portions n the freezer over time you'll have enough in there to have enough in there for the final week of the month which means you won't need to worry when money is running short. I've retired and I'm still doing this.

sams247

Today I escaped my home and went and met some friends for lunch. It was such a relief to feel better and because of that be able to get out and about. But this brought into mind something that has been nagging at me for awhile and something I've been very happy to ignore. And that is this, I never budget for meals out, or even trips out or anything of that nature. When I do my budget, I sort of allow in my mind for extras. But if I actually put figures on a piece of paper and seriously look at it, there is no extra to spare. So the reality is that when I eat out or, in any way, try and have a social life the money I use is drawn from the pots allocated to other things. 

Today's money came from sales I had made on Vinted mostly, but that had been destined to go into my emergency rainy day fund. 

What this means in my new determination to get debt free extravaganza is I am going to have to sit down with my budget and make an extra pot called ‘social and let's live life’.

Breakfast today was actually a weird concoction of a few leftovers, I had a couple of potatoes, some tomatoes, the last of the grated mozzarella, and I still had half a bag of onions in the freezer. All of this got thrown into a frying pan, cooked together until it was nice and crispy, and I served it up with a fried egg on top. Lunch out was a cheese and tomato crêpe with salad. It was supposed to come with garlic bread but, as I've said before, my body really hates me when I eat bread so I refused that. Tea tonight was tuna pasta bake that had been frozen on a batch cooking episode a couple of weeks ago. I grated a little bit more cheese on top to make it extra crunchy (crunchy seems to be the theme of the day) and I ate that whilst it was still piping hot.

I came across this quote today and I know on many occasion it would have truly helped me to get things into perspective, so I leave it here for anybody who needs it

Someone else's negativity doesn't define your value

sams247

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82068633#Comment_82068633

I do, and thank you suggesting this. I love batch cooking. My issue is, and it sounds mad even as I type it, that I can have a freezer full (or 2 in my case) and I still will find a need for food, and batch cook more etc etc. I have tried living out of the freezer as its the very best plan. When the shelves become empty my panic sets in and I am unhappy, then I buy rubbish food. I am (truly) having therapy for this but its a life long thing that came from years of (deliberatly) being kept underfed and hungry.

joedenise

Perhaps you could menu plan and make sure you use say 2 meals a week from your freezer throughout the month and then when you batch cook you'll have some space to put the new meals in! If you continue batch cooking without using some of the already batch cooked food you'll end up with no space to put the newly cooked batch food!