Wow ... it felt like I had so much money to spend on my shopping after the previous four days of shopping with just £2.75.
I went to Sainsbury's clutching my £5.47 and a list of items I had decided on from the mysupermarket.co.uk website, photographed off the computer screen onto my phone. This website really is the best way to do price comparisons and work out your shopping plan for general shopping and for Challenges 😃
As you can see the plan was going to be to get yogurt and banana for breakfast (a welcome change from porridge), a baking potato and a tin of beans for my lunch and a pasty and some Bisto gravy to pour over it. Plans don't always work out when you're shopping in a small branch of a supermarket and they don't have the full range of stock that the larger stores carry. In this instance I'm really glad they didn't, what was I thinking ... I already had pastry in the fridge and had just eaten a pasty over two days!!
Anyway I picked up all the foods in the top photo and I've photographed them laid out in the 'meal plan' idea. Breakfast, dinner and tea.
It only came to £3.05.
I was so pleased, and after sending Alan out to the car with the just paid for shopping and the things he had chosen for his last meal at the Van this week, I went back into the aisles clutching my remaining £2.42 in my sweaty little mitts.
My first thought was ooh a treat ... chocolate, a big bag of crisps, a packet of biscuits. But as I walked those aisles I realised that I didn't really want any of those things. Sometimes you just have to listen to what your body is telling you. My body, well my legs took me back to the fruit and veg aisle.
Obviously my body wanted GREEN!!
After only a few moments of deliberation and a bit of quick mental arithmetic I spent £2.40 on an Iceberg lettuce, a bunch of vibrant and fresh looking Spring Onions and a bag of six Golden Delicious Apples. An absolute fresh looking bargain.
And it was back to the self service tills to pay for my second batch of shopping, and still I had two pence over!!
So this is my shopping for my Challenge Within a Challenge Day.
Yes there are a few items, yogurt, apples, spring onions and lettuce, that will obviously in part be carried forward to join my little larder of foods but the majority of the food will be eaten today. As per my decision to buy a whole days food with my two days money.
So in fact thanks to my little tub of bargain fruit … reduced to just 24p and according to the label and the weight, forming two of my five a day ... I would have had a very well balanced days food for just £3.05.
I came home and put all my shopping away straight away so that nothing spoiled, the fridge stuff in the fridge the potato in the dark cupboard and my lovely Spring Onions after a good wash, and having the very top tips chopped off, were stood in a jar of water … did you know that they continue to grow if you do this and it keeps them lovely and crisp.
Carried forward from yesterday £2.72
Todays money £2.75
Total available to spend £5.47
Spent £5.45
Carried Forward 2p.
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I do enjoy your Challenges, Sue, they're very thought-provoking. I'd love to try something similar to this particular challenge myself, but it's not practical - we don't live near enough to shops to go daily, and husband wouldn't be too keen on driving to town every day for such a small amount of shopping. As we live a fair distance (in terms of mileage and time) from town, we only go when we have several things to do at once, to save fuel and time.
ReplyDeleteI like it as it really concentrates your mind on what you are eating, and makes me meal plan much better ... and therefore eat better.
DeleteI always combine my shopping trips with something else, posting letters, getting fuel, family visits etc. at the very least with a doggy walk for Suky.
The shops are 3 miles from the Van or 8 or 16 miles from home.
Great choices Sue, lots of possibilities there. Love the vibrant green choices. I think as a way of refocusing the mind after the indulgences
Deleteof Christmas we ought to set a new years challenge. People could take part without actually having to do it. We should make a list of 25 products and 5 own choice pantry items, then see how many meals for 2 people could be made.
A brilliant idea, but you know me ... I'll be doing it properly :-)
DeleteOh, lovely! If you get some eggs (my Morrisons sells them individually for 20p each) you could make some apple oat pancakes for a breakfast.
ReplyDeletexx
I don't eat eggs any more! I didn't realise that supermarkets sold them individually ... what a good idea, especially for anyone on a budget that doesn't need many.
DeleteThe best way to make a breakfast pancake without eggs is to use either mashed banana and oats or gram flour and your favourite plant-based milk, which makes wonderfully protein rich and nutty tasting pancakes, and of course is much cheaper. Add in the no-cruelty aspect and it really is a win-win situation.
Haha I must be losing the plot as I was excited to see what food items you purchased:) Wow very impressed indeed. I love golden delicious apples which I was able to buy years ago but for some reason I haven't seen them for a long time:( I always read your blog at breakfast time when I'm hungry:)
ReplyDeleteThe Golden Delicious were on offer, I've not had them for years either. |I always think they are good multi-purpose apple as they cook so well as well as being tasty as they are.
DeleteYum. Everything looks wonderful and quite the bargains.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It does look nice and fresh today's shopping doesn't it :-)
DeleteSorry, really late to this party again (see your other blog) but really enjoying the challenge unfold. It is amazing how quickly you are building up stocks of food, and the amount of fresh food you are able to buy. I know I would want to shop once at the start of the challenge with the total allowance.
ReplyDeleteThe New Year Challenge sounds a really good idea; we should be settled in our new home by then and as we will not actually be working, I am sure I would have the time to plan it all out.
I might do the Challenge again this time doing it the other way, going out armed with £19.25 shopping money and seeing how things differ to the daily shopping. It would be interesting to see how different it pans out.
DeleteI'm up for the New Year Challenge … if we all remember by then!! :-)