Where Did September Go? - End of Month Figures

 

September ... it's been the strangest of months for many reasons.

To bring things up to date ... I sorted through my wardrobe and did a basic sweep of things I hadn't worn all Summer and also the things that proved annoying to wear.  I don't know about you but I like to be comfortable in my clothes and as I get older anything that annoys me gets short shrift.

I put away the lightest of clothes that I wanted to keep for next year and then sorted through my shoes.  The pale blue trainers will come out again next Spring when the weather is drier and my clothes are once again lighter.  The darker ones are all staying out.  The weather has turned so much colder this week that I can see all the Winter jumpers coming out and a final seasonal sort through being done.

With lots of sorting done both of my clothes and of things around the lodge, I decided to do a small table top sale to support the local Scout and Guide groups.  Alan showed his support by munching through lots of bacon butties while we were there and we both drank numerous coffees.  Somehow we still managed to come away with almost £50 profit from the sale.  Everything left over was donated to the local charity shop as it was pretty good stuff.

There was some more food shopping done after my £2 a Day Challenge week, but with everything going on I didn't record any amounts, so I am classing it as a full spend of £25 for the week even though I think it was probably a bit less.

Using that as a figure means that in September I spent a total of £76.96.  Thank goodness I did do my challenge week, as it kept me under budget and accountable.

Alan has had his first hand operation and is currently out of action and having a few days off from the day job.  Mum had three falls in three days resulting in two ambulance call outs.  They classed the first discharge from hospital as a Failed Discharge and kept her in the second time.  They then tried to send her home yet again until we put our feet very firmly down and made them realise that Mum going through the whole 'get found on the floor by your carer, call an ambulance out, visit A&E, get moved onto two different wards and then get sent home' idea was not a good one for either their time or resources.  Far better to get to the root of the problem and then plan for a safe discharge to a nursing home.  

We will just have to wait and see what the next few days brings, it can only get better ... hopefully!!  😄

Sue xx

A Blast from the Past

Sometimes Facebook Memories throws up a lovely blast from the past and gets you really thinking about everything you have done over the years.

This is a scene from September 2012 in Chicken World, from when we lived on our smallholding in Berkshire.  Seemingly it was moving day for the birds.  We used to move them up the Near Paddock by a quarter every couple of months to give the grass time to recover and give them other areas to play in.  It usually went well.  😀

The full story of moving day is on my blog HERE.

 

One of the geese ... it could be Harry. Larry or Mo, I can't tell them apart any more!!  

Caldwell the Second, the ruler of the roost.

And finally Alan doing one of his favourite jobs, processing apples for apple juice and cider.

It's nice to have a look backwards every now and then and see all that we got up too.  One day I might even read through my old blog chronologically and have a real trip down memory lane.

Sue xx

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Bonus Day - Day Eight & Leftovers

 

This is the photo that I showed you yesterday, so what did I do with the leftovers?

I decided that carrying them forward to begin another Challenge would skew the results of that Challenge, it's always better to start afresh.  So they had to simply disappear into my usual food or be used to make another days meals.

I made another days meals.  😀

Breakfast - Toast and Jam

This is the same photo as the first day as I had exactly the same breakfast, even cutting the toast into the same shape, so it seems crazy to have to take another photo.

For my lunch I decided to make some more soup, using the 

fresh ingredients.

It looked quite good when it was all nicely chopped and freshly in the pan.  After half an hours simmering away it looked like a pan of pond scum. 😕

But once whizzed up it looked better again.

I toasted two slices of the bread and had one myself with this bowl of soup and took the rest of the soup and the other slice of toast round to Alan, who had just stopped work for lunch.

I decided to use the last of the cheese, my leftover third of the onion and the last remaining carrot, which I grated, to make a sandwich filling, along with the last of the mayo and lots of salt and pepper.

My last two slices of bread and some of the sandwich filling made for a tasty evening meal, after a very hectic day.

All that was left to eat up from the fresh leftovers was my final apple, and along with a nice cup of coffee it made for a tasty supper and brought me up to over twelve of my five a day.  😃

The actual final leftovers, which I am quite happy just to eat alongside my usual food, and of course there's that jar of sandwich filling shown in the tea-time photo.

Leftovers

240g SR Flour

Jam

Spread

125g Pasta

jar of Sandwich Filling

Total Spend for this week £13.92 ... so 8p over too.

I was going to go straight into another '£14 All in One Go' challenge, but this will have to wait a while now as we have had a bit of a rough weekend, with Mum being rushed into hospital after a fall early on Saturday morning.  She was discharged after an overnight stay, only to be taken back in the very next night in identical circumstances.  We have sadly reached the conclusion that with her diminishing physical and mental limitations, her time at home living independently, even with help from carers has to come to an end.

I'll be blogging as and when I can, but the odds of me being able to concentrate and see through a challenge whilst also working and being available to travel at the drop of a hat are not good.  We'll just have to see how things go and take one day at a time, and that is all any of us can do.

Sue xx

My £2 a Day Shopping Challenge - Day Seven

 

Day Seven Shopping - Total Cost £3.05

Thanks to only buying two apples yesterday I had £1.13 to carry forward to my final day, so a total of £3.13 to spend ... riches!! 😀

I managed to buy lots of lovely fresh things and a treat to end the Challenge with.

Breakfast - Two slices of toast, one with jam and one with spread.

I picked up a tip from Atomic Shrimp on YouTube a couple of weeks ago.  

I used to lean my slices of toast on each other 'tent style' to let them cool slightly before buttering, it crisps it up lovely doing this.  But this way is even more effective as none of the steam gets trapped.  It's always nice to learn a new tip, especially one that really works.

Lunch - Simply pasta and sauce, but this time it had the half tin of tuna in it and a sprinkle of cheese on top.

 I forgot to take a photo, or rather I think I might have and then deleted it ... oops!!  So this is a cropped version of one from the other day.  It was exactly the same meal just with the added extras, I'm sure you can imagine the slight difference in appearance that it had, so no real harm done.  This was the last portion of the pasta sauce.

Tea - Scrambled Eggs

I really fancied something different and light for tea, so scrambled eggs it was.  Nice and simple to make and as it was done in the microwave it took literally just over a minute to be ready.

Supper 1 - Toast with Jam

Perhaps I should have had a slice of toast with my scrambled eggs because an hour later I was feeling like I needed to eat something else.  So while the kettle boiled for a cup of coffee I made myself a slice of  toast and  jam.

Supper 2 - The Grand Finale

For my final meal of this challenge, a big treat ... two custard doughnuts.  

From the pack of five I gave two of them to Alan and saved the remaining one for the next day, when I rather naughtily had it for breakfast.  I was expecting it to be a bit stale but it was actually even nicer at a day old.

These are not something I have very often as they are very sweet, and obviously in no way whatsoever healthy, but once in a while we both like to partake, and the vanilla custard version seem a little tastier than the jam ones.

As you will have noticed the shopping, apart from the doughnuts, didn't get used.  In my mind I was going to have a nice big bowl of salady goodness, but it just didn't come to pass.  Perhaps at the end of Summer I just naturally go off salads a bit, even if everyone keeps telling me I don't eat enough fruit and veg.  😄

So now, the only question is:

What to do with the leftovers?

At first I thought that I would roll them forward to a following week, one where I would spend £14 all at once up front on a week's worth of shopping.  But obviously having such a large stock of food upfront, instead of just the same basic pantry items would really skew the challenge in favour of the second week.

So now I think I will use as many of these up as I can for one days food in-between the two one week challenges, and then allow just what's leftover from that to go forward.  We'll see I might change my mind again. 😶

Sue xx

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Day Six

 

Day Six Shopping - Total Cost 70p

I wanted to use up some of what I already had, so there was no need for much shopping today.  I had planned to buy a pack of 6 small apples that had, according to Sainsbury's Online been price matched to Aldi, but when I got to the shop there was no sign of them.  So I made the decision to just buy two apples, leaving myself with more cash to play with tomorrow.

Meals

Breakfast - Two Poached Eggs on Toast

I thought that this would be a nice change from just toast, and it was.  It was pretty filling too.

Lunch - Two thirds of a can of peach slices.

I wasn't overly hungry, but when I peered in the fridge and saw the peach slices I thought that they would make a small but tasty lunch for me.  It was exactly what I needed, although a tad sweet eating that many at once, maybe I should have rinsed them in cold water and not just drained them from the syrup.

Tea - A Cheese and Tuna Toasted Sandwich

Gosh, this made for a tasty tea, just what I needed after my light and fruity lunch.  Made with 3 slices of my bread, half a tin of tuna and about a quarter of the grated cheese.

Supper - One of the apples cut into slices.

Leftovers carried forward:

240g SR Flour

 DF Spread

Jam

250g Pasta

1 serving of Pasta Sauce

Mayo

9 slices of Bread

2 Eggs

150g Cheese

1/2 tin of Tuna

1 Apple

Cash - £1.13

Sue xx

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Day Five

Day Five Shopping - £ 2.40

This was possible sort of as there was a 23p underspend the previous day so I had £2.23 to play with, but still I managed to go over budget ... naughty!!

Meals

Breakfast - 1/3 tin of Peaches and Coffee

This made a lovely change from toast.  😀

Lunch - Herby Paratha and of course, more coffee.  I've not photographed all the coffees but there have been quite a few, especially since the weather has turned much chillier.  😄

Parathas are really easy and economical to make as they are literally just flour, water and oil, and any herbs or spices you want to include in the flavour of your finished dish.  I chose just some herbs, salt and pepper for this one.

You just mix together flour and water until you have a nice pliable dough, knead briefly and let it rest, covered for a while.  Then roll out quite thinly into a round pizza base shape and brush with oil.  Then roll up from the edge to form a long sausage shape, coil this around itself tucking the end under and roll out into another circle, brushing once again with oil and repeat. Next brush one side with oil and put the paratha oiled side down into a hot pan.  When it has been cooking for about five minutes check the underneath and if it is ready for turning over, brush the top with some more oil and then flip carefully.

The rolling and coiling gives you lovely light layers, which make it taste like a cross between a flatbread and flaky pastry.  It is very satisfying to eat and I didn't manage to finish it all.  

If I had some fresh garlic I would have added garlic paste to the oil, it makes for a delicious paratha.

Tea - Pasta with sauce and leftover Paratha.

Leftovers carried forward:

240g SR Flour

 DF Spread

Jam

Mayo

10 slices of bread

250g Pasta

1 serving Pasta Sauce

2/3 tin of Peaches

1 tin of Tuna

200g Cheese

4 Eggs

(-17p)

Sue xx

 

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Day Four

 

Day Four Shopping - Total Cost £2.64

Going so far over my £2 was possible because there was an 87p underspend yesterday so I had £2.87 to play with.  It's good to try and have some cheaper days when you know that there's something 'expensive' that you want to buy on another day.  The eggs cost me £1.35, which would be cheap in any other scenario.

Meals

Breakfast - 1 slice of  toast and a banana

Lunch - Egg Mayo Sandwiches, made with 3 slices of bread and 2 eggs.

Tea - Potato Wedges and Mayo

I wasn't overly hungry after my filling lunch so I just a plate of wedges with a dollop of the mayo for dunking purposes.  It was a very simple days food, but very satisfying and I enjoyed it.

Leftovers Carried Forward:

400g SR Flour

 DF Spread

Jam

375g Pasta

2 portions of Pasta Sauce

Mayo

10 slices of bread

4 Eggs

Tin of Peaches

Cash - 23p

Sue xx

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Day Three

The Plan

With yesterday's 1p overspend there was just £1.99 available.

Day Three Shopping - Total Cost £1.12

If I had gone to Sainsbury's, as was the original plan it would have cost me £1.11, but Alan was going to Aldi and I decided to go with him and get their versions of the things I needed.  I had originally thought that I would need to buy another onion to make the pasta sauce that I had planned for today, but having the carried forward onion and carrot meant that I saved some money, and of course meant that shopping at Aldi was possible.  It's a shame that Aldi sell so little of their produce loose, but I understand why they can't.

Meals

Breakfast - 1 slice of Toast with Jam, one with spread and a Banana

A simple breakfast but with the added banana, very satisfying.

Lunch - Jacket Potato with Spread

I had to use the same photo from yesterday as I forgot to take another one before I got stuck in.

Tea - Pasta and Sauce

I made the sauce with the tinned tomatoes, onion, carrot, mixed herbs and seasonings.  Simply cooked for a long time together and then whizzed up with my stick blender.  As you can see I manged to make three good portions from the ingredients that I had.

Leftovers Carried Forward:

14 slices of Bread

400g SR Flour

 Jam

 DF Spread

375g Pasta

2 portions of Pasta Sauce

2 Potatoes

1 Banana

87p

Sue xx

 

My £2 a Day Food Shopping Challenge - Day Two

The Plan

With yesterday's leftover cash I had a total of £2.03 to spend.

While I managed to get everything on my plan this time, overnight the Aldi 'Price Matched' baking potatoes had increased in price to 79p.  Luckily I had the 3p in reserve from yesterday's shopping trip so I decided to be lenient and dip into tomorrows money for the other penny.  

It does seem that food prices after settling down for a while are suddenly starting to go up again.  No wonder there are so many 'UK Preppers' suddenly posting on YouTube.

While this is not my usual choice of spread, it was the cheapest one available and I had often wondered what this one tasted like.

The Receipt

Day Two Shopping - Total Cost  £2.04

Meals

Breakfast - 2 slices of Toast - 1 with spread and 1 with jam.

The Flora 'Buttery' is actually quite nice, very mild tasting but with a good texture and it doesn't disappear the moment it sees a bit of heat the way that my usual 'Naturli' spread does.

Lunch -Leftover soup from day one, with 1 slice of toast.

I was happy when I found that I had enough soup from the pot made yesterday to do a second day's lunch.  I had originally thought I would need to use two of my newly bought potatoes today and use my leftover onion and carrot to replicate this healthy lunch.  This time I just left the toast whole and dunked it into the soup.  

So, it's the same meal as yesterday but it's looking slightly different.  😀

Tea - Jacket Potato and Spread

The Flora came into it's own again here and made for a very tasty jacket potato, which was surprisingly filling.

For all the 'protein worriers' out there just this one potato gave me over 15% of my daily requirement for protein.  And please don't forget this is a ONE week challenge, I am not going to keel over and ruin my health because of one week.  At every yearly health check all my readings, measurements and blood tests are well over the healthy range and have never given either my doctor or myself any cause for alarm.  But thank you for your concern. 😀

Leftovers carried forward:

400g SR Flour

 Dairy-Free Spread

3 Potatoes

16 slices of Bread

Jam

1 Onion

1 Carrot

(-1p)

Sue xx