I was sat at my little desk area in my kitchen ... this is not my kitchen you have seen my kitchen far too many times, this is another one that I really like. I have a lot of lovely kitchens saved in the photos on my computer. Isn't this one serene. 😄 ... pondering on doing another Challenge.
I decided on another £25 for a week all in one shopping trip challenge and I went on the Sainsbury's online shopping site to load up my basket with what I would buy. Then I realised that I do not have £25 left in my budget, and I do not want to dip into what I do have left this week.
So I decided this morning that this will be an Imaginary Challenge.
With my basket loaded, and then reloaded several times I eventually came up with £24.97 worth of shopping and some basic meal ideas in my head. Then I thought why not screenshot it and share it for your amusement/inspiration/something to read on a wet August day ... and yes after I put all the washing out on the line this morning in lovely, breezy warm sunshine, it decided it wanted to be a wet August day.
This is the food I chose for a week's worth of meals:
A grand total of £24.97.
The only things that I would have allowed myself from the cupboards at home would have been oil, salt and pepper, everything else had to be bought in the £25 per week budget, which is obviously very generous compared to other Challenges that I have done in the past.
And here is a photo of my workings out.
How I would have used the foods on meals that I fancied at the time of doing my workings out. The overall week works out slightly low on carbs, which is really never a bad thing unless you have a medical needs for them. Pretty perfect on protein, it seemed low on fats but then I realised the mayo and oil would very quickly rectify that. It is low on calories but again adding in the mayo and oil will bring that up sharply.
I'm happy with that as a weeks food, with enough fresh items to keep it healthy and interesting. I have averaged it out at just over three of my five a day, but if I was concerned about that being too low or felt that I needed more, I could simply eat more of the frozen vegetables instead of having so much left over.
As I'm not much of a snacker these days, I had in the back of my mind that I would carry the leftovers forwards to do a second week with a £10 budget. I could afford to do that so I might just give it a go ... and not just in my imagination. 😀
Sue xx
Gorgeous kitchen! That's a good balance of healthy meals Sue, everything you need nutritionally. I do find your Challenges (real or imaginery!) so interesting.
ReplyDeleteI do love a nice light green kitchen, I just have to persuade Alan to have one when we move into our final place. He loves modern and full glossy white cabinets. Doing an imaginary one is definitely quicker than doing it for real. :-)
DeleteLovely kitchen pic. Amazing how much you could get for your £25 , very impressed. Once again I find myself thinking, perhaps I should just try a little harder to only buy what we really need and cut out some of the rubbish 😀. TQ for cheering up a very wet day in Wales
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I need to share some more of the kitchens I have saved on the computer, there are some gorgeous ones. Oh sometimes you HAVE to buy some rubbish, it might not be great for the body, but it nourishes the soul. ;-)
DeleteIt’s amazing how you manage to work out all the different menus for your challenges! We’re having chicken stir fry tonight with the last of the butcher’s chicken and all the green veg from the fridge so that it’s not wasted. There’s some fresh pasta that DH bought so I’ll serve it on that. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are doing perfectly well yourself. :-)
DeleteThat kitchen is dreamy. I need to get on with a menu plan myself. However, I'm not sure I could manage to budget as efficiently as you do. Xx
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you could. 😀
DeleteI am surprised at how low I can make my weekly shop now. Of course, cat food bumps it up every fortnight, but they insist on being fed! I could be quit inventive with what you have bought - Lentil Dhal and rice, Lentil and Veg soup; fishfingers, beans and chips; a veggie risotto; egg fried rice fishfingers again with a jacket potato with beans on; Frittata; omelette, veggie curry etc.
ReplyDeletePet food is ridiculously expensive isn't it. 😬 I managed to give myself lots of options with these choices didn't I. They are very interchangeable. 😀
DeleteI'm curious at what they would send as a substitute for a cucumber for instance. I've only ever done online once so haven't a clue what happens if you were to tick all the allow substitute buttons - maybe they would just go round chucking in random things!!
ReplyDeleteThink I'm over thinking!
I know!! 😄 When I worked as an online shopper in Sainsbury's the only switch that I ever did was two half cucumbers ... but would the youngsters think of that?
DeleteThere's fun to be had in over-thinking. 😄
Wow! I am impressed!
ReplyDeleteI bow gracefully ... thank you. 😄
DeleteThanks for the weekly plan layout ... going to "steal" it for my own use. Great that everything's on one page instead of having to view several. And I love that green kitchen too! -- Madelyne
ReplyDeleteI screenshot the shopping page in sections to be able to make it large enough to read. 🙂
DeleteI love the kitchen, especially the cushioned sitting nook. My kitchen walls are painted pale green (Jurassic Stone by Dulux) and the cupboards are a mix of oak and painted. The painted bits are really hard to pin down colour wise - they change colour from the palest green to blue to grey according to the light and time of day. We’re eating lots from the garden so menu planning is really easy and we’re popping down to our excellent village shop (we won the National award for the best village shop a month ago) for essentials like South Downs butter, milk from the farm, eggs, Sodt bread made just outside Petworth, wholemeal flour milled at the water mill down our lane, coffee beans roasted in the village, south coast landed sea bass for a treat, porridge oats for breakfast etc. Very different to a national supermarket online shop. Sometimes I feel like such a dinosaur when I admit to never doing an online shop. I don’t count the Riverford box I used to get weekly from the late 1990s - it was just a one-size mystery box of muddy veg in those days - that was a real challenge to cook family friendly meals from! Sorry to hear about your poorly mum. A lot of us have been there and understand how emotionally and physically draining it is. Keep yourself well so you are able to cope. Sarah in Sussex - feeling weary this morning after days of meadow mowing but it’s gently raining here this morning so I’m taking the day off and will have a swim later to ease my aching ageing body.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done an online shop in years, I tell a lie . . one from Waitrose at the end of last year ... but before that it was during lockdown when I had one delivery while we lived in Wales. I plan online, but shop in person. I love the sound of your village shop, we had a couple of amazing ones when we lived in Oxfordshire. We do have a farm shop across the road from us, but it's pretty expensive compared to supermarkets.
Deleteoh my goodness! I'm from New Zealand and the UK grocery prices are INCREDIBLY cheap!
ReplyDeleteThey really seem to be. I don't know what the current exchange rate is, but we do seem to have cheaper food prices, although they are rising.
DeleteGorgeous kitchen♥ I do online shopping every week and rarely visit supermarkets:) I take my hat off to you with meal planning and your budget👏
ReplyDeleteThe online shopping pages are great for planning budget challenges since mysupermarket.com was discontinued, but I always go in person to get the actual shopping ... when it's not an imaginary challenge of course 😄
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