Shopping day has come around fast – by the time I got to the supermarket tonight I had spent the best part of the day in Leeds trekking up to St James hospital for blood tests then getting the train back to Huddersfield and going to work. I worked until 6 o’clock then walked around to Sainsbury’s in the downpour and stood dripping at the counter waiting for a very welcome hot chocolate!
I wasn’t in the best frame of mind for shopping but managed to grab a few bargains. My total spend has taken me over my £50 by £7.05 but I took advantage of some of the offers still on this week.
Groceries
Fruit and veg
The offers
- 2 more packets of Oatiflake cereal still on offer for £2 a box,
- 2 packets of Birds Eye frozen petite pois peas at £1 bag,
- 3 x Soya milk – 3 for £3,
- 2 organic Cheddar cheese – 2 for £4.50,
- 2 x organic semi skimmed milk for £3,
- 2 x organic Braeburn apples for £4,
- 2 bars Green and Black organic chocolate 2 for £3.00,
- 2 boxes mushrooms for £1.50
- 2 organic granary loaves reduced to £0.59 each
Because the mushrooms were such a bargain I will be amending my original menu plan to incorporate two mushroom meals one of them a Stroganoff.
The cheese I will grate into a container and freeze.
The chocolate is also a bargain and I have bought this ready to make chocolates for Easter.
The bread I had sliced and this will go in the freezer.
Total spend £63.34 less savings £6.29 = £57.05
Reward points 122
Total rewards 885 worth £4.42
I am building up a nice stock of some items that have been on offer for a few weeks – cereal, cheese, soya milk so that when the offer finishes they should last me a while hopefully until they are on offer again!
We still have a lot of food in the cupboards but until the threat of snow disappears I am not going to run my cupboard stores down just in case.
Menu plan for this week
We never got to make the curry last week and I had to adjust the menu plan to fit in with the fact we came home late on the Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesday we had Pizza as I bought 2 Marguerita Pizzas for £1.59 with salad and Saturday good old Egg and Chips.
I made the curry on Monday evening and we ate the rest tonight. Lovely hubby made a big pan of soup on Sunday for lunch and so I have been able to take this to work for 2 days. I also bought a crustless Quiche in Sainsbury’s which I will take for the next 2 days and have with salad – this will save me £8.20 on my lunches.
This isn’t the most exciting menu but it will use the cheap mushrooms and the left over courgettes from last week. I haven’t planned to try out a new recipe this week as I know I will be a bit short of time.
Monday
Lunch – homemade veg soup leftover from Sunday
Evening meal – Veg and Lentil Curry with brown rice
Tuesday
Lunch – last of homemade veg soup
Evening meal – Veg and Lentil Curry with Taco shells
Wednesday
Lunch – salad and 1/2 Sainsbury’s crustless Quiche
Evening meal – Mushroom Stroganoff with green beans
Thursday
Lunch – salad and 1/2 Sainsbury’s crustless Quiche
Evening meal – Ratatouille (using mushrooms) and Baked potatoes
Friday
Lunch – sandwich and salad
Evening meal – Lasagne with ratatouille as a base and Broccoli
Saturday
Lunch – homemade soup / something on toast with salad
Evening meal – Shepherds pie with brown lentils and frozen broad beans
Sunday
Lunch – homemade soup / sandwich
Evening meal – Shepherds pie and frozen broccoli
Hopefully I will be able to keep to the plan this week but I can recommend making a plan to anyone who wants to save money and reduce waste as even a very loose plan is better than none. It helps to focus on making the best use of the food already in the cupboards and fridge and reduces the amount of fresh food that is wasted if it doesn’t get eaten in time. I find with careful planning I buy fewer veg – but what I do buy we eat at its best and I am not ‘guess’ buying only to find I have over bought.