The £3 a Day Challenge - Day Seven

The first two meals on this my final day of this Challenge both came in two parts.  

My first breakfast was a couple more of yesterdays crumpets spread with the tangy orange marmalade and a glass of orange juice,  and then because the shops don't open until 10am on a Sunday I couldn't go shopping until after the doggy walk.

It was a glorious morning so we took the longer way round the river first down one side and then up the other, which rather handily brings me out just near Sainsbury's, which by that time had just about opened.  So I was one of the first customers, and I bet the only one armed with only £1.57 😄

Breakfast Shopping

Spinach - 1.00

Gala Apple - 30p

Total £1.30

2nd Breakfast

A nice green smoothie for us both, using the apple, my last banana and a good handful of the spinach.

It's nice to share 💖

Lunchtime Shopping

Sausage Rolls - £1.19

First Lunch

While the sausage rolls were cooking I had two mugs of the 'free soup' that I made yesterday with the trimmings and peeling, gosh that was tasty

Second Lunch

Two of the sausage rolls, these really are the best vegan sausage rolls on the market in my humble opinion and are at their best eaten when they have cooled down for about 10 minutes after coming out of the oven.  I was really full after two mugs of soup and two sausage rolls!!

Teatime Shopping  ... and the final shopping trip of the Challenge.

Baking Potato - 39p

Bitter Lemon Drink - 60p

Total = 99p

I couldn't afford any alcohol to celebrate the end of the Challenge, although believe me the thought of saving up for some had crossed my mind 😊 ... but I could afford 60p for a bottle of diet Bitter Lemon which is one of the few fizzy drinks I like.

Vegetable pasties, the filling made with the potato, the carrot from yesterday and half an onion from day five, all simmered together in stock and then slightly mashed up with lots of salt and pepper.

Tea

Pasty and Chips ... for two, it's still nice to share 😀

We were going to share the tin of peaches for pudding but we were both far too full.

Cash Carried Forward

5p

I have the feeling that's not quite right!!   I'm sure I should have 9p but it's the only money left in my coat pocket!!

Food Carried Forward

 - lots, I'll be back tomorrow with a photo.

And that's it final day over and done with, it's been a good week and it has absolutely flown by.  I'll be back tomorrow with a bit of a round up.  Thanks for following along everyone, there have been a lot of views every day, even if most of you have been too shy to comment.

Sue xx

The £3 a Day Challenge - Day Six

 

Breakfast Shopping

Orange Marmalade - 27p

Crumpets - 25p for 6

Tin of Peach Slices - 31p

Total - 83p

Again I went to Aldi for my breakfast, and quite unintentionally it turned into an orange coloured extravaganza.

So much so that I decided to have a black coffee with my breakfast rather than the glass of orange juice I was going to have 🧡

After a long doggy walk I walked over to Sainsbury's to pick up my lunch, Alan took the dogs home with him clutching a locally bought bacon bun for himself and a couple of sausages as a weekend treat for Suky and Mavis ... for some reason they followed him willingly barely noticing me slipping away  😄🐕🐕

Lunchtime Shopping

Tortilla Chips - 45p

Carrot - 6p

Iceberg Lettuce - 43p

Total = 94p

Lunch

   A pitta bread stuffed with coleslaw wrapped in lettuce, which is a good tip for not getting the filling everywhere when eating a salad sandwich of any description.  I had to eat a few more of the lettuce leaves on the side and start cooking my 'free soup' with the outer leaves as this was the only way the lettuce was going to fit into the fridge!!

This was a lovely fresh tasting meal.  A really good discovery this week has been these pitta breads,  bought on Monday for just 35p for 6 they have stayed nice and fresh all week, with this the last of the pack tasting just as fresh as the very first one I had. Also well worth mentioning are these tortilla chips, at just 45p a bag they are really tasty and would be brilliant with a dip ... or just on their own with a nice cold cider 😃

Free Soup

All the trimmings and peelings from this week's meals that have been in a bag in the freezer were simmered along with the outer leaves of todays lettuce and a couple of teaspoons of my stock powder, and after half an hour were whizzed up in the blender and then strained through a sieve. 

 This has given me over a pint of free soup, possibly for lunch tomorrow if I buy something to go with it.

Teatime Shopping

Garlic Bread - 32p

Spaghetti - 39p

Total - 71p

I could have made a garlic bread, I could have made some more pasta, but it was Saturday night and an easy option just cried out to be had.

Teatime

And it was lovely, thirteen minutes from start to finish and my meal was in my dish.

Cash Carried Forward

57p

Food Carried Forward

oats

flour

2 cloves of garlic

1 banana

1/2 onion

1 carrot

3/4 cucumber

1/2 a carton  orange juice

4 crumpets

most of a jar of orange marmalade

3/4 bag of tortilla chips

1/3 tub of coleslaw

400g spaghetti

iceberg lettuce

a tin of peaches

two portions of 'free' soup

small portion of pasta sauce

It's the final day tomorrow ... just how did this week pass so quickly?

Sue xx

The £3 a Day Challenge - Day Five

Today for a change I went to Aldi to pick up my breakfast, and as I needed a banana I remembered my own blog post of the other day and found the biggest one I could.  It would have been interesting to take it to Sainsbury's to see how much it weighed there and thus how much it would have cost me.  I'm guessing at least the 13p I paid for it if not a penny or two more more.  I also bought a mixed pack of fruit, it would most likely have been cheaper to buy a single apple, but I really fancied a bit of a selection for a change.

Breakfast Shopping

Banana - 13p

Classic Fruit Salad Mix - 85p

Total = 98p

Leaving me with 4p change from my £1.02

Breakfast

With most of the banana, a couple of spoonfuls of flour and some water I made a nice thick batter and made myself two pancakes.  I chopped half of the apples and the pineapple pieces out of the fruit salad up and simmered them in a little touch of water.  Once they were soft I whizzed them in my Nutribullet to make a sort of thick hot puree to have instead of syrup, it work really well and was delicious.  

Gosh that was a filling breakfast!!

Lunchtime Shopping

I can't find my receipt, but I do know the orange juice was 55p and the cucumber 43p.  I got these from Aldi as the  cheapest orange juice  in Sainsbury's was almost a pound, so by walking for ten minutes I got a 'free' cucumber  ... yes my brain does work in mysterious ways 😃😄

Lunch

A nice picky, dippy plate with hummus, celery, cucumber slices and a toasted pitta bread.  Very tasty and all washed down with a half glass of my new orange juice, which is remarkably good for the price.

Teatime Shopping

Bag of French Fries - 59p

1 tomato - 16p

1 onion - 16p

1 carrot - 4p

 1 banana - 8p

Total = £1.03

Isn't it a joy when you are doing a Challenge like this one and you can shop in a supermarket with a weigh your own produce and print your own labels machine.  It takes away all the guesswork and means you can shop right up to your limit without worrying that you won't have enough money when you get to the checkout.  I sure appreciated this facility for this shop!!

Tea

Pizza and Chips

I made a nice rich tomato sauce with my half tin of leftover tomatoes, half of my new onion, the grated carrot, a bit of salt, a little curry powder, some of the fresh tomato and lots of pepper.  I was going to use it for my planned Pitta Pizza, but right at the last minute I changed my mind and used most of the leftover hummus instead, topped with the rest of the fresh tomato and a slice of onion.

It made for a simple but delicious tea, which was really good to sit down to at the end of a long day ... and now I have some pasta sauce maturing nicely in the fridge ready for tomorrow 😀

Cash Carried Forward

2p

Food Carried Forward

oats

flour

2 cloves of garlic

3 lemon slices

a spoonful of hummus

1 pitta bread

1 banana

1/2 an onion

3/4 of a cucumber

3/4 carton of orange juice

Sue xx

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

The £3 a Day Challenge - Day Two

Day two and it was a lovely morning so I nipped over to Sainsbugs nice and early before the doggy walk.

Armed with my breakfast £1 plus the 30p carried forward from yesterday, I knew I could go for a nice healthy breakfast with a bit of fruit included.  I had a look at the prices when I was there yesterday and fruit is the most expensive thing to buy in the fresh food aisle and the majority of it is packed in plastic so you have to buy multiples, which although cheaper in the long run, for the purposes of this Challenge makes them out of my price range.

Bananas are always the cheapest fruit to buy.

A TIP -  if you're watching the pennies don't buy single bananas from Aldi unless they have really large ones available.  At Aldi they are charged at 13p per fruit regardless of size, at Sainsbury's you can get bananas starting at around 8p.

Breakfast Shopping

500g bag of oats - 60p

2 bananas - 18p

1 apple - 30p

Total £1.08

Leaving me with 22p change to carry forward.

My Breakfast

I was going to have the apple later for elevenses with a cup of coffee, but I just wasn't hungry.

Lunch Shopping

Bag of SR flour - 45p

Change = 55p

Leaving me with 77p to carry forward.

Some pastry made with oil was on the cards for lunch using the leftover stew from yesterday as the filling for a couple of pasties.  

With lots of extra pepper and some salt it made for a good pasty filling.  I compress my fillings into one of my breakfast bowls and then divide into two, et voila ... the right shape to fill a pasty with no air gaps.

They might not be the prettiest pasties in the world due to the pastry being so short it was like a deliciously savoury shortbread ...

... but they were so tasty I ate this one and then went on to try and eat the other.  

No chance once I got to almost halfway through I was so stuffed I offered it to Alan, who had already had his lunch, and he wolfed it down in a couple of minutes ... he's always happy to help 😁

While the pasties were in the oven I used the same bowl to weigh out some flour to get a head start on tonight's tea.

And five minutes later my Tagliatelle was drying on a coat hanger 😀

Teatime Shopping

Haha ... this looks so random!!

I needed an onion and some garlic to make a tasty tomato sauce for my tagliatelle and as this really was all I needed when I spied the lemons for 30p I thought why not.  I have been missing my morning lemon slice in hot water and now I don't have to miss it anymore.

Onion - 16p

Garlic - 25p

Lemon - 30p

Total = 71p

With 29p change from this particular pound.

Tea

Tagliatelle with garlicky tomato sauce with a pitta garlic bread.  Gosh this was so tasty and so filling and added bonus ... I do not need to fear vampires tonight  😄

Cash Carried Forward

£1.06

Food Carried Forward

2 potatoes

celery

half an onion

porridge oats

1 banana

1 apple

6 lemon slices

half a bulb of garlic

4 pitta breads

I'll be back tomorrow with Day Three, it's going to be good starting the day with extra money and I will be able to leave some oats soaking while I walk the dogs.

Sue xx

The £3 a Day Challenge - Day One

 

On a bright and sunny Monday morning I trotted off to Sainsburys armed with my re-usable bag and a single pound coin, my logic being that if I didn't have any more with me I wouldn't be tempted to go over for my first shop of the Challenge.

It worked.  I had planned to have tinned tomatoes and onion on toast and I managed to get all the ingredients I needed.  There was 22p left over, ooh I thought, is that enough for some garlic?  But on walking back to the fresh produce aisle I discovered that the bulbs of garlic were 25p each 😞

Oh well, it meant that I would have an extra 22p to spend somewhere along the line.

Breakfast Shopping

6 wholemeal Pitta breads - 35p

1 onion - 15p

1 tin tomatoes - 28p

Total 78p

22p change

My Breakfast

Leftovers

Five pitta breads, 2/3 tin of tomatoes and most of the onion.

The pittas were the only way I could afford to get any bread to make my breakfast a complete meal.  The cheapest loaf was 55p and it was that pappy cheap white supermarket bread that I just would not have enjoyed (they had no cheap brown loaves left).  Actually the pittas have worked out well, as when I cut them in half they fit neatly into my tiny toaster.

Time for Lunch ...

Lunch Shopping

4 baking potatoes - 45p

a head of celery - 43p

1 carrot - 5p

Total 93p

7p change

Everything peeled, washed and ready for chopping, I decided to add another potato after I had taken this photo as I do like a higher potato ratio in my stews 😀

The bowl on the right was my lunch and very tasty it was too, and the bowl on the left a more strained version and with all the bitty bits from the pan is going to be the filling for a pasty.

A colander full of the washed trimmings and peelings ready to go into the freezer to give me a pot of 'free' soup in a couple of days.

Leftovers

Two baking potatoes and most of the celery, now washed and wrapped so it stays nice and fresh for the whole week.

And then there was Tea ...

After a day of walking, cooking and cleaning up the mess at the house I'm afraid on the way back from the evening doggy walk I just went down the easy route, and as these Aldi No Cheez Bakes were on offer at 99p (instead of their usual £1.29 I think it is), I just bought these.

Teatime Shopping 99p

change 1p

Half an hour later and my tea was ready.  

Not magnificently nutritious but it hit the spot and with a cup of coffee and the latest Midsomer Murders it made for a pleasant evening before an early night.

So not a bad  first day and there was money over ... a whole 30p.

Which will roll forward to breakfast tomorrow and give me a little leeway with my spending, and perhaps encourage me to eat a little more healthily 😃

Food carried Forward

5 pitta breads

2 potatoes

most of a head of celery

2/3 tin tomatoes

Sue xx