We have had some photo's of Bobo through, he has a lovely home and looks quite settled. It's lovely when people let us know how they are getting on with their new family member.I've done a bit of totting up on my food bill, the end of the four week period is on Saturday, and my cupboards and fridge are looking quite bare. My diet is getting a bit samey and I am looking forward to going shopping again to get something different to eat. I still have some broccoli, a few potatoes, salad leaves, two eggs, bread, four pieces of frozen salmon, and loads of tins of tuna fish. Bran flakes or porridge for breakfast, by the way the Value soya milk is just about acceptable, but I think I prefer the diluted condensed milk better for taste. The Aldi baked beans are ok, and have similar amount of sugar in them as the Value beans.
It's a good idea to eat out of the cupboards to get your spending down, but at some stage you have to start spending money to build stocks back up again. So far I have spent£19.80 in the current four week period, which is well below my target. If you add it to the previous four week period of £59.33 which was above the target, it gives a total of £79.13. This makes it within my target of £80 for 8 weeks. I could even afford a treat of a bar of chocolate before Saturday, ha ha.
It takes a lot of discipline and organising to get your food bill down, but I want to prove that it can be done, that's why I will continue with this experiment. The only way I can do it though is by not eating meat, and buying reduced yellow stickered about to go out of date, or out of date food. I am in a good position to get the most for my money, anyone who goes out to work or has a family might not be able to do what I do without the support of the whole family. It's a good sign that the Cash and Carry is expanding into the next business unit. Hopefully that will mean more choice. I shall certainly be visiting there when I pass to see what they have in. I like 20p bags of spuds :o)
Are you winning the war on price rises?
Toodle pip.
have you thought about buying dried beans and lentils. It is definitely more work preparing them etc but the prices are much lower. I buy chick peas, red and green lentils, kidney beans and white beans. Not good for last minutes meals as they have to be soaked etc. but wonderful as the basis for salads and healthy too.
ReplyDeleteI bought butter here in the States today for $1.88 a lb
(I dont eat margerine, too many unknown things in it)
that would be about one pound fifteen pence a lb
(I bought 4 lbs)
Things are going up here too, I really dont think I want to spend extra on organic fresh food and try to grow my own as much as possible.
Do you have plans to grow more veggies this year Ilona. Your buckets of lettuce are brill.
I'm winning so far, but like you I have time to shop around. I spent around £70 last month from 1st to 26th for the 3 of us- me, hubby and 16 year old daughter. That's for all food, toiletries, loo roll etc and we didn't have Christmas leftovers to use up either. I've set a budget of £100 per month, have all meals planned until hubby gets paid again on 23rd Feb, and have all ingredients for all those meals, and some to spare.I'll be interested to see how/empty full my freezer and cupboards are at the end of this pay period.Shopping around and meal planning for a month is time consuming initially, but once done I haven't had to think about it again.
ReplyDeletehere in Canada butter is at least$3.50 a pound.
ReplyDeleteI agree beans and lentils are good sources of fibre and are filling.
I am going to increase the amounts of beans I eat.
Gill in Canada
I eat a lot of beans and lentils, that's why I'm still single LOL!
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy them too, especially this time of year in stews or on toast.
I'm in love with Bobby cat! He looks a very sleek, handsome boy!
And maybe a little mischevous, but, then he's only young.
I hope he gets a good home.
Sandie xx
I think I am winning the war on rising prices. I went to the store today and only got what was reduced + milk. I don't need milk, but I get 5% off on Wednesday, Senior Day at the grocery store. Today, the discount I received was $1.35. Four packages of cheese on sale, milk, oj, grapes, one apple, one banana, and yogurt were other purchases. The bananas and apples did not suit me, so I just got one of each. Grapes were still pricey, so I got just a handful. Oh, I got a bag of Romaine, all chopped with carrots.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow I am going to a friend's yard sale and selling plus helping her. Romaine with tuna will be what I take to eat along with the apple and banana. I spent $27.98, too much, I am sure. But, I won't buy bananas until I see them reduced to half price,and same with apples; both will be reduced in a few days. Butter is $3.98/lb here. Margarine is much less.
The tiny container of yogurt is to make 10 times that much yogurt in my yogurt maker. Remember, yogurt maker was free!
I went to a converter and your 80 pounds = $126.26. I don't spend nearly that much and eat meat most days, sometimes twice each day. Can you buy chicken and eat a bit each day?
Tonight, I bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.59(1.01 GBP). Plus, I got 5% off, making it $1.51/lb. I will often eat less than one breast for a meal. I can eat chicken for two weeks for $5.20 that I spent tonight on chicken.
You buy more prepared food than I, but I buy Cokes, too many.
I don't eat lots of beans and rice, but they are part of my regular diet. AND, I get them free at a food bank.
I'm also winning - food costs dropping each month as I get more and more into frugal cooking.
ReplyDeleteI use a lot of lentils in 'meat' loaves etc., but buy cheap tinned red beans and other stuff that need long cooking, I think thelong boil needed cancel out any savings due to the amount of gas/electricity needed to cook them. I think they can be cooked in a pressure cooker, but those beasts scare me !
I don't 'meal plan' because I never know what I'm going to get in the reduced cabinet at Tesco, whatever I get, that is the basis for the meal.
I keep a good stock of herbs and spices, rice, pasta etc., and have some winter greens in the garden so can usually make a meal out of any bargain I get.
I agree it must be so hard to do this with a young family, it must seem 'uncool' to them to be penny pinching and making meals out of leftovers - so hat's off to any of you who are succeeding with a family.
I love Bobo -
I took one in just before Christmas just like him, he was so scared at first and wouldn't come anywhere near me, now he seems to have taken over the living room (and my chair) he's happy, well fed and warm - can't ask for more than that.
You're doing great work with the cats, I miss my rescue centre very much.
Bobby is gorgeous, I always wanted a black cat. I have a pointy hat of the same colour :-D
ReplyDeleteI look at the rising prices and think..who is getting the benefit of that?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly isn't the producer OR those working in the shop on minimum wage.
How sad that black cats take longer to home. My little black cat Kimmy is a joy to share our home with. Independant , funny and sweet , she has a lovely temperament.Think I'm addicted to black cats now. Hope Bobby finds a new home soon. Jules
ReplyDeleteBobby is beautiful. I had a lovely black cat from a rescue home called Merlin (yes my Siamese is called that too but that was already with him when I got him). He got run over. He was a huge cat and used to run after me and take chunks out of my thigh. He was lovely and sadly was run over when I was away. Husband didn't know how to tell me when he picked me up from station.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a lot more difficult living off your stores when you haven't got room in your house for lots of food. I would love to do online shopping but you wouldn't get the mark downs etc.
Re Lizzie's comment on dried beans etc, I think you would probably spend the money saved on cooking them and then how long would it take for you to eat them? Also, you're not in a lot so it would be a bit of a nuisance. I have tried cooking my own beans (and you will see a good recipe in The Goode Life blog, but I was disappointed, for what they are it's not worth it.
I'm surprised that black cats take longer to rehome - in my very biased eyes, they're the very best colour cat :D I hope Bobby finds a home soon - he looks like such a character :)
ReplyDeleteI'd +1 the suggestions for dried chickpeas and dried mixed beans for dropping into soups & stews. The latter take soaking but don't require any extra cooking if the soup/stew is on the hob for a while anyway. Very filling, cheap and they last for ages.
Bobby is beautiful. If I didn't already have 3 cats, I'd be wanting to give him a home. Sadly my 3 would not accept another cat, they are still disgusted at me having 2 dogs.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful cat, indeed!
ReplyDeleteSlowly winning the price increase war. I`m mainly making up meals from my freezer at the moment, just to be able to defrost and clean it at some stage in the next month or so. I fear my winning streak will end when I have to re-stock that freezer, eventually.