Booths - 24th - £23.64
After my trip to the hairdressers first thing on Wednesday morning, I called to Booths for a little mooch around the shelves. I don't tend to be able to do that when Alan is shopping too, it's straight in and straight out and grab what I need if I'm quick enough.
But as you all know 'mooching' costs money, and although I only actually needed bread and milk I came out with quite a colourful little haul. The chips and potato croquettes* were on a 'buy two get one free' offer, so I just had too!!
* It turned out the croquettes had milk in them, so Alan got a free gift.
26th - Barton Grange Farm Shop - £15.96 😧
Then yesterday we went to Barton Grange Garden Centre for lunch, it's just five minutes up the road from us, so it's another regular place that we visit. After a stroll through the shop admiring the Christmas displays which are just appearing in all their glory ... it's a favourite destination for coach loads of people in the run up to the festive season, and throughout Summer of course ... we had a light lunch and then finished off in the farm shop as Alan wanted some milk.
He bought my Veggie Curry Pasty and Red Onion Marmalade for me, and I paid for my own Fruity Meercats ... they are quickly turning into a bit of an addiction so I can't let Alan keep paying for them!!
In the café, Alan had a salad and a cake, while I just chose a sandwich, so he talked me into a 'pudding', I chose an Oat Biscuit, unfortunately as I suspected I would be, I was much too full after the sandwich so the biscuit came home and provided my supper.
A quick food review.
These chips are absolutely delicious!!
And while they may seem to be expensive at £2.60 a pack, I worked out that after sharing a pack with Alan this week, with a breaded fish portion each and a large serving of peas, it was a quarter of the price that we paid for our tea at the chip shop the week before, and it was much, much tastier.
However, half a pack was slightly too much for me, so I split the other pack into three portions and froze them for future use.
Now they are double wrapped and nestled in the freezer.
Sue xx
I have just made some Compost Heap jelly using the River Cottage recipe you posted on your blog - NINE years ago this month! Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I just went over to that post ... NINE YEARS! I have to stop repeating myself.
DeleteHere's the link to that post if anyone is interested. https://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2016/09/compost-heap-jelly.html
I don't know about you but i feel like we hardly get any shopping for the amount we spend, like our money just doesn't go as far. It's good you can work out what it cost per portion etc. I don't know how to do that. 🤷
ReplyDeleteYou definitely don't get a lot for your money at that particular farm shop. But in a way it really focuses your mind on what you are buying, and that's something that I quite like.
DeleteTo work out the cost per meal I just keep it really simple, in this case I added together the usual cost of the pack of chips - £2.60, the pack of the two fish fillets that I had in the freezer from Aldi - £2.99 and a quarter of the bag of frozen peas - the full bag was 99p, so that made 25p for the quarter. A total cost of £5.84 for two meals. I asked Alan what he had paid for our last chip shop meal and it was a smidge under £20. So virtually a quarter of the price for a much nicer meal. I hope this helps.
As we are fending for ourselves during our upcoming trip to the UK which grocery shops would you recommend for value for money and good quality? I'm pretty sure there is no Booths where we are staying but it has the major retailers. Cheese is cheaper and so much better quality and tons more variety in England compared to Canada. We tend to live on it during our visits "home" but my husband has just been told his cholesterol is a bit high. I'm tempted to say ignore it and we will start afresh on restrictions when we get back.
ReplyDeleteIt's each to their own tbh but personally my choices & what's local to me (we don't have a booths either) I find Aldi the cheapest but it doesn't necessarily have everything I need so then it's home bargains, b&m &Tesco. I find Tesco Extra stores stocks things like dairy free products, world foods etc so thats a good. Alot of the big supermarkets do price matches on alot of their products so for eg on some items Tesco will price match Aldi. There will be signs of this is the case. Enjoy ya visit 😁
DeletePs reducing your intake of added sugars can help lower cholesterol levels too. Yes maybe cut back on cheese (saturated fat) but if you cut out or really reduce any sugar intake you may find that helps cholesterol too. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
DeleteSusan - I would recommend a look through the UK Aldi and then if there is no Booths, a Waitrose gives you the same quality of food just with less local produce occasionally, but they also have an Essentials range which is really good value for good quality. M&S food is obviously really good, and actually they too have essentials range of products which are fantastic quality.
DeleteAs for the cheese, try buying the extra mature cheeses, it means you can use less but still have all the flavour of the cheeses that you both love.
Those beer battered chips (what we call fries) look very tasty.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We too now call some some chips 'fries', but they tend to be the skinny ones like the ones served in MacDonalds etc. I do like a good chunky chip though. :-)
DeleteSounds like you got some good deals and Alan got a free gift as well. :) The veggie curry pasty sounds tempting.
ReplyDeleteHaha, he was very happy with his croquettes. :-)
DeleteLove the look of the chips and I may just try them if I can find some locally. Catriona
ReplyDeleteDefinitely worth a try, and I quite like that they are in small packs as I don't eat chips that often these days so just having a couple of little bags in the freezer is perfect.
DeleteCareful shopping pays off.
ReplyDeleteIt really does doesn't it. :-)
DeleteI'm going through yet another phase of my eating being all over the place, not helped by husband being always hungry 😁 Well I've got to blame it on something.......😉
ReplyDeleteCurry pasty sounds nice
Alison in Devon x
If in doubt ALWAYS blame the hubby. ;-)
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