Monday, 13 March 2017

A low cost week


I'm always reading that it's possible to live on £1 a day and I'm full of admiration for those people.  I've read that some people save money by meal planning and then sticking to their lists.  And some only live off yellow stickered stuff.  I meal plan, make lists and take advantage of yellow stickers but I still spend more than I want.  So, after checking my freezers and cupboard I'm making this a low spend week.  I gave myself £10 and popped into Sainsbury's after gym tonight.  I spent £9.35 on 1kg of brown basmati rice, 1kg of carrots, goats cheese, frozen blueberries and a bag of unwaxed lemons (cos I'm full of the cold!) The goats cheese is my luxury item at £3.40 for 240g!  It's a hard cheese so can be grated like cheddar for cooking. 


My raised beds are still producing some veggies.  My curly kale is still good and it's free!


My purple sprouting broccoli is delicious!! 


My 10p mint plant from a few weeks ago is thriving on my kitchen windowsill.  It's made a few pots of peppermint tea.

Last week I tried something new.  I scored some baby fennel for 10p.


I sliced it thinly and dressed it with some of my homemade blackcurrant vinegar dressing.  I liked it!

So back to this week's meal plan from the freezer/cupboard.  Breakfast is either overnight oats or porridge with blueberries, bananas or raisins.  Lunch is Lentil, kale and quinoa soup I made at the weekend with oatcakes and a slice of banana loaf.

Monday - oats; soup: turkey and veg bolagnaise with penne pasta
Tuesday - oats; soup; turkey lasagne with carrots and broccoli
Wednesday - oats; soup; pulled beef with rice and carrots/sweetcorn
Thursday - oats; turkey sausages in cider gravy with rice
Friday - oats; soup; chicken and veg stirfry
Saturday - boiled eggs; tuna wrap; rump steak with polenta chips and veg
Sunday - pot luck!!!

The hardest part is going to be cracking my snack habit.  I just don't have many 'snacky' things so I'll need to be creative or go cold turkey.  Eeeek!!
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10 comments:

  1. e14 March 2017 at 03:22

    Interesting meals and great shop!

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    1. Ali14 March 2017 at 17:34

      Thanks! I might have been able to spend less on the same items if I'd shopped around but since I wasn't driving it cost me nothing to get there!

      Delete
  2. Fran14 March 2017 at 04:49

    All sounds great. Fresh kale is so much tastier than than the supermarket stuff. I love fennel in a tomato sauce for pasta, it is easy to grow xxxx

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    1. Ali14 March 2017 at 17:37

      Now I've discovered I like fennel I'll have a go at growing it too :-)

      Delete
  3. Sooze14 March 2017 at 07:20

    Great menu. I've wondered about going into the shop with a set amount of cash and seeing what I can get for it....might give that a try. I love goats cheese, especially the hard ones.

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    Replies
    1. Ali14 March 2017 at 17:38

      I haven't found any other brands of hard goats cheese locally yet. I love the soft ones too but they add a different dimension to dishes if I'm subbing cheddar cheese

      Delete
  4. Sue14 March 2017 at 11:18

    My kale was doing brilliantly in the polytunnel until last week then it got decimated ... it turned out I had a family of baby slugs. How they managed to survive Nematodes, slug pellets and copper tape I'll never know but more pellets have gone down and I picked as much of the Kale as I could for me. Little blighters!!

    I only discovered Fennel recently, it's amazing added to any green soups you make (I did kale, cabbage and leek with my fennel), it adds a lovely depth of flavour.

    I love reading about the folk that manage permanently on £1 a day, and I have done it on occasion, but I could never keep it up long term, well maybe in Summer when the polytunnel is at full production. It makes for inspirational reading though, as does your blog, thanks. xx

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    1. Ali14 March 2017 at 17:45

      I did wonder why your kale had been nibbled as I knew you used the Nematodes! It's snails I'm plagued with in my raised beds. They like living in the gap between the wood and the liner.

      Thanks for the soup tip using fennel. Such a versatile veg with bulb/leaves/seeds all being edible. Sounds like my kinda plant!

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  5. Treaders16 March 2017 at 21:48

    I make fennel soup a lot - 6 boiled fennel, 1 potato, stock, then blitz, add goat's cheese and lemon juice. Very rich but lovely. I also mix raw fennel with an apple, walnuts and red onion and mayonnaise - delicious! Anna

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