Thursday 15 April 2021

The £3 a Day Challenge - Day Three


 It was ironic that on the morning I had £2.06 to spend on my breakfast I was just not hungry at all.  I wasn't going to shop just for shopping's sake even on a Challenge, so I left some of the porridge oats I bought yesterday to soak while we went out with the dogs.


When we got back I made the porridge and Alan helpfully gave it a bloody good stir for me while I was busy doing something else, this and a spot of over cooking made it very claggy and stodgy, so I only ate half of it. 😞

Oh well there's always lunch I thought to myself.

Heading out with yesterdays overage of £1.06 plus this mornings unused £1, and now the lunchtime £1 saw me with a vast budget of £3.06 and do you know it made it harder rather than easier!!

At first I thought I'll splurge on a ready meal and I went into Booths, but I saw nothing that I fancied and just couldn't make up my mind what to buy.  I was about to buy some hummus when I suddenly pulled myself up short, why spend over a pound on hummus in Booths when I could get it much cheaper in Aldi.  So I left Booths and went 50 yards across the car park to Aldi ... and suddenly everything made sense.

Lunchtime Shopping

Mixed Leaves - 57p
Baked Beans - 22p
Coleslaw - 79p
Hummus - 69p

Total = £2.27


Leaving me with 79p still available.

A bit of everything I bought along with one of my remaining two potatoes.  Absolutely delicious and just what I needed.


Teatime Shopping

Microwave Rice - 45p
Tin of Tomatoes - 28p

Total = 73p

Before I have any comments telling me that this is the most expensive way in the world to buy rice, yes I know ... but I have so much rice in the cupboards here at the flat it seemed stupid to buy another kilo of rice that will obviously not be used up by the end of this week.  

I was also tired and hungry and looking for an easy tea to cook, I almost bought a jar of curry sauce to go with it, but I pulled myself together and bought a tin of tomatoes instead to add to my curry powder, half onion and some of the beans left over from lunch.  Easy rice is a real treat when you're tired and just want to sit and eat.


And with a handful of my lunchtime leaves, it made for a lovely tea.


Cash Carried Forward £1.06
... oooh a touch of deja vu here!!

Food Carried Forward
1 potato
porridge oats
SR flour
3 cloves of garlic
celery
5 lemon slices
1 apple 
1 banana
most of a tub of hummus
1/2 tin of tomatoes
1/3 tin of baked beans
1/2 bag of mixed leaves
a portion of curry
4 pitta breads

The apple is now in the fridge and the banana is in the freezer as I'm planning to have a smoothie for my breakfast, I'll add some of the oats to that but I'm definintely not having porridge again 😀


Sue xx


11 comments:

  1. This challenge really shows that not eating meat or dairy makes shopping on a tight budget a lot easier and healthier, I eat neither and I know if I didn't buy the faux meats, some of which I love,or other vegan treats ,I would be better off health wise and money wise.

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    1. It really does doesn't it. Yes I like some of the faux meat products too, especially a good Linda McCartney sausage butty every now and then, and some of the 'fishless fingers' are brilliant on a bun with lots of mayo. I could have bought a pack of the sausages in this budget if our Sainsbury's had any in stock, but it's a small branch and they didn't have the kind that had been reduced to £1.25 on the website. Shucks!!

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    2. Ooooh !I'm with you on the fishless finger buttie but I like the vegan salad cream in mine, I also love the quorn
      "chicken " nuggets in a pitta , I've even been known to put a few chips in there with them , when I write about food it hits home how much I love eating, I want to make a chip buttie right now, I haven't a hope of ever being slim !:)

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  2. Who needs meat with food so tasty! Can I just ask, Sue, did you wash the sauce off the beans before popping them in the curry or use them as they were please? I confess that I regularly use the pouches of rice because we only eat rice occasionally and there's just enough for the two of us. No messy pans to clean either and the brown rice contains lots of fibre 😁👍 A brilliant challenge this! x

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    1. This time I used them just as they were, as I normally add a little sugar to any sauce I make with tinned tomatoes to take off the slightly bitter edge that they can have, and I thought the sweetness of the tomato sauce the beans were in would do this for me instead ... it worked.

      The pouches are really handy and we usually have a couple in the cupboard as Alan really cannot master cooking rice when he wants it just for himself.

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  3. You carried forward list is getting longer and longer. It does go to show we could all do better with our shopping. I buy a few pouches of rice for when I'm in a csnt be bothered mood, they are handy and versatile.

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    1. It's getting ridiculously long ... you'll see what I have done to solve this tomorrow ;-)

      I don't mind buying the rice pouches so much these days when the supermarkets own brands are usually priced between 35p and 50p each, when they first came out and were priced at a pound or over it was a different kettle of fish. Mind you when I saw on a food programme the lengths they have to go to to keep the cooking and packaging of them safe I did understand the cost.

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  4. Very tasty meals today Sue. When Covid hit I bought a few pouches of rice and lentils etc... just to have in my storage cupboard but usually I make a big pot of rice and quinoa and then freeze them flat in a big bag and just break a piece off when needed. I'm sure you know all about doing stuff like that but I though it might be a helpful tip for your readers. I'm a veggie too (not vegan) and I wish we could get Linda McCartney food here. I had her sausage rolls last time I was in England and really enjoyed them. There isn't a huge variety of Vegetarian/vegan food here in Wisconsin so I usually make my own veggie burgers. It's also no fun to eat out because there is usually one veggie option on the menu. I don't know why I decided to write such a long comment today, haha! Loving the challenge.

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    1. Yes I do know about freezing rice and quinoa etc, but I usually just cook enough for 3 days and have them in the fridge, unfortunately I can't do either here as my fridge and freezer are so teeny. Once I get moved in I'll have a lovely big fridge again and a bit more freezer space. Oh I cannot wait for moving day 🤣🤣

      Limited choices on menus drive me mad ☹️

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  5. You are doing very well. Your meals are nutritious and well thought out. You even have carry over to add to another meal. Great work.

    God bless.

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    1. Thank you, this is proving to be very interesting to do, it gets me really thinking each and every meal time. 😀

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