Wednesday 26 October 2011

Food prices are increasing, but I won't be beaten

Brain half full again, ha ha. I was up and about early this morning. Cup of coffee, feed the kitties, and on my way to Hull by 7.15. I parked at Barton and continued my journey by bus, saving me £6 on the bridge toll, it has just gone up.

The medical for my licence renewal was booked for 8.10 at the East Yorkshire Chiropractic Clinic on Holderness Road. It seemed a funny place to do it, but apparently the company, http://www.gettingamedical.co.uk/ rent a room in a suitable location and the mobile doctors travel around to the appointments. That way they have no overheads and can afford to offer the service at a competitive price.

The Doc was very nice, he told me he was the boss of the company, he set it up about a year ago because he spotted a gap in the market. He said it has really taken off and they are very busy. I am not surprised, when it cost a heck of a lot more to get it done at a surgery. Obviously he has the right medical qualifications to do this, but I had to laugh when he said he is a breast surgeon. I clutched my chest and joked, can you do anything with these, I've never had much to show off in that department, ha ha.

The medical went swimmingly well, he asked a load of questions, did the checks, filled the form out, and relieved me of £40. Job done. I was in and out in 15 minutes. The next chappie was waiting to go in as I left.

I thought you might appreciate this photo of a bright and cheerfull Christmas Shop, taken as I walked back to the bus station. No, I thought you wouldn't. I could quite happily put a brick through the window.

I had a bimble round Tesco while I was there, the store is next to the bus station. I spent the grand total of £4.82. My aim is to get my food budget as low as I can. I am monitoring it over a six month period, because I feel that's the only way to get a true picture of how much it costs to feed me.

It's all very well telling everyone I have only spent a couple of quid one week, and feeling good about it. Then spending mega pounds the next week and not letting on. It gives a false picture. I am going to come clean on every penny I spend on food and drink. I want to prove that you can eat healthily on very little money.

I started writing it down on 15th Oct. The total to date is £19.50. That still seems too much for 11 days. I was reckoning on £10 per week. If I spend no more untill Sunday, I will be on track. It's a tall order I know, but it should be doable. This check list will only be for food and drink, nothing else will be included. I'm off outside to dig some more potatoes up. Toodle pip.

PS. That's the last of the tatties.


10 comments:

  1. I had to purchase some bubble lined shipping bags yesterday as my stockpile is gone...checked out the groceries and prices keep creeping up... 4 cents here, 20 there...am going to follow your lead and start keep track of every cent on food and drink for a few months...

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  2. Prices creeping up in the US is the norm here. Some weeks I only buy milk and other weeks, like you, I spend much more. But, I get the sales and leave everything else alone except milk and maybe some fresh produce.

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  3. We are on a Grocery Challenge too. We try and stock pile as much as poss and spend only £60 a month on food. Our new month starts today.

    Our total is already at £20.42 for stockpiling goods (including a sack of spuds). We don't need to buy anything until next week now and hope to spend just £10 per week until the 26th of November.

    Looking forward to following your challenge too!

    Sft x

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  4. It is great you are doing this - it will be very interesting to see how you do.
    Am I right in thinking you are a vegatarian pretty much. I have bought a lot of lentils this year - very cheap, very good for you. Lots of brown rice also. I buy Aldi s instant coffee and as much fruit as I can. I make my own bread after finding a bread machine for a buck at a garage sale. I found the manual on line for free. Even with the electricity it is much cheaper and makes much nicer toast which I eat quite a lot of.
    My garden is finished also - I just bought the last of the herbs in to dry.
    It is getting cold here - porridge every morning, made with water - sometimes I soak it the night before, add a few raisins and some cinnamon; makes a nice change; the cheapest most delish breakfast. I m not using my heat but will have to soon as here in the mid-west we have the sort of cold that kills you if you are not careful. Still and all we are almost to November and expect our first snow in about three weeks.
    After that all bets are off. I did invest in a duvet from Ikea (the warmest weight) and the kids gave me micro fleece sheet for Christmas. The combination allows me to turn my heat off at night

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  5. That's a heck of a lot of potatoes compared to the one's that grew (or didn't grow) at this house. More stew?
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  6. I've used the last of my potatoes too. I grew two bags but didn't layer as many as I did last year because somehow I didn't have much enthusiasm. However, the crop was better than last year, probably because I left them longer.

    That shop is terrible.

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  7. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    What a great surprise when my parcel arrived this afternoon. The bag is beautiful and to make it even better its the one I commented on (see 25-3-11). The envelope is perfect to send to New Zealand and when I tell my sister the story I bet she will re-use it too.
    Thank you again Ilona.

    Best wishes, EileenM

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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  8. We have 3 people in the house and spend entirely too much.(I'm not telling but it is bad!). I don't know how much is totally food though. There really is no reason for us to spend so much. The chickens give way too many eggs and there is a lot of food already stocked but I always think I have to stock more of whatever is on sale or a good deal.

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  9. Glad you like the bag, Eileen.

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  10. I like to grow my own vegetables (I'm in my twenties by the way) and although I do not make massive savings, it's nice to have what I regard as decent produce. I have chilis, cucumbers, peppers etc, and of course will get the seeds from them for next time.

    Strangely, I was walking down my street recently, and I found a cucumber in the road. It was from the Co-Op and still inside its plastic wrapper and felt cool, as cucumbers are! I imagined it had slipped vertically from a hole in someone's carrier bag.

    I considered whether I should hand it in at the police station but decided no!

    It's nice to not only save money on food but find it free!

    ReplyDelete

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