Friday 4 November 2011

Food glorious food

It's raining so it looks like an indoor day today. I've just had breakfast with Bobo in his little room. He is warming to me a bit now, his front paws have ventured onto my lap, but the rest of him stays on the cupboard as he stretches over to me. It won't be long before he trusts me enough to take the leap of faith and go for the full Monty love and kisses.

There were some bargains to be had at Tesco last night, mainly in the veg department. On arrival I deposited the remains of the grotty virtual fish portions on the counter at Customer Care, and told the nice young lady what I thought of them. She duly noted my comments on her computer and it spat out a full refund of 97p. Fish went in the bin. It probably won't be taken any further, but I'll say one thing for Tesco, they are on the ball at giving back no quibble refunds. I would have just binned them, but thanks to the advice from lizzie and Dont Unplug Your Hub, take them back without the receipt, it worked :o) The young lady looked bemused when I said, I know they are cheap, but they should be fit for human consumption, ha ha.

Bags of spuds were reduced from £1.12 to 28p for 2.5 kilos, I have to buy some now as my home grown have all been eaten, I picked up two bags. Carrots are a good price as always., I go for the Value label at 76p for 2 kilos. I always like to have onions in because they are so versatile, you can add them to so many meals, 2 kilos of Value at £1.17. Brussel sprouts were on offer, BOGOF, two bags for £1. I haven't had them for a while, usually get broccoli, so it will be a nice change, I love sprouts.

They have an offer on at the moment on the jams and spreads, buy 2 get 1 free. I don't eat jam, too much sugar, but I do like peanut butter and honey, so I stocked up on the Value versions of these.

There is a big price difference on tins of chick peas depending on which department they are housed in. I got 3 tins from the Continental foods section, 39p each. In the tinned beans aisle they were 79p. You've got to study prices to notice this rip off.

Bananas are cheap at the moment, I eat them all the time. My favourite from kiddywink days is banana sandwiches with sugar sprinkled on them. Now I drizzle honey on instead. Makes a nice little filler with a cuppa, to tide you over, mid morning or mid afternoon. If I have loads I cut one up on my bran flakes for breakfast. Banana with a yogurt on top is nice. I get Tesco yogurts (not Value, they are horrible) but the next one up, 6 low fat for 89p. I've gone off the fruity ones, and have a taste for the Vanilla, Toffee, and Chocolate Orange ones, lovely.

For cat lovers out there, Tesco have Whiskas pouches on offer, buy 1 get 1 free. Mine prefer Felix, but 2 boxes for £3.49 is a lot cheaper than their usual at £5 for two. I'm going to sneak some Whiskas into their diet and hope they don't notice. Fat chance I hear you say, cats being the fickle things that they are, ha ha.

If you want to see my full shopping list I have added it to a stand alone page, the link is at the top of this page. I am keeping a food diary up there for six months to monitor my eating habits and spending. A lot of people struggle to keep within budget, I want to prove that it can be done, and to eat healthily doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Toodle pip.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the Whiskas tip off - I'll do my online shop with Tesco now! (owner of 3 cats)

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  2. Just discovered your blog and enthalled, lot's of great information, just brilliant x

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  3. Glad you got the refund on the fish - another small triumph on the food front. I m really enjoying this as I think we all spend too much on food and drink and could live on a much healthier diet, spend less and beat the supermarkets at at their own game without swearing and weeping into our hankies. I so agree about bananas, I buy a huge bunch every week at Aldi. Their oranges will come in soon so will buy a big bag of them every week too. I eat one every night for dessert right through the winter, no need for expensive and useless vitamins.

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  4. Mine have started turning their noses and tails up at whiskas (good for the old purse!) and are loving the Aldi senior pouches at the moment. I think they either changed the recipe or the cats wanted a change, even though they have a variety of flavours.
    Give Bobo a hug and cuddle when you can get close enough that is, from me.

    Have a great weekend,

    Sandie xx

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  5. Good tip about the chick peas!
    My treat is a banana and peanut butter sandwich, the combination of sweet and salty is divine.
    Glad to hear little Bobo is coming round slowly, give him an extra stroke from Aunty Kath x

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  6. We make our own yogs,you can flavour them with home made jam. The plain yog I bought in June is still continuing its life in each new batch so it is only the cost of the milk a 3 mins in the micro and we have another weeks worth.

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  7. Banana sandwiches have to be made the right way according to personal preference for them to be totally delicious. I prefer mashing the banana with sugar and spreading it on thickly buttered soft white bread. It's a challenge to keep the bananna mix in the sarnie when bitting into it. (This is the healthy version when compared with the same sarnie, dipped in sweet batter and deep fried.)

    Others, I note, prefer slices of banana with a sprinkling of sugar. Apple sandwiches are nice that way.

    Where I was brought up, banana sandwiches were 'banana cake'; jam sarnies 'jam cake' and best of all, fried bread, was 'fatty cake'.

    Brian

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  8. Another glorious post! Lol, at least to me anyway. I love all of the helpful information and while I confess that I will not be following all of them, I am definitely using quite a few of these tips. Education is indeed key here and i always find it here on your blog! By the way, I am from the Bahamas and I have no idea what "Toodle pip" means...please do enlighten me.

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  9. Hello Beauty and the Green, feel free to ask me anything. Toodle pip means goodbye, cheerio, adios, farewell, till we meet again.

    According to answers.yahoo....

    It is quite an old fashioned (pre-war) expression for "good-bye". Generally used by the `bright young things` from the upper classes and by the working class if they were attempting to immitate the former.
    It is not true to say that the English do not now actually use the expression, in recent times it has been making a come-back, mainly due to the popularity of some television programs in which the expression is used.

    Hi Brian, some good ideas for bananas there, thanks. I might try them with peanut butter though, hadn't thought of that, thanks Kath.

    Thank you for your kind words, anonymous. you are very welcome here.

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  10. Good for you Ilona ! I stopped buying Tesco own brand for exactly that reason I thought they weren't fit for human consumption too! Yeuk! Sainsburys own brand are much tastier i find. Each to their own i guess ...just my personal preference. Jules

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  11. Good for you for getting a refund. Trouble is, that gives them no feedback on the quality of what they are selling.

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  12. Peanut butter is a neccesity on banan sandwiches, ;) Just sayin....

    Bev

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