'Free' Food

Today I had to go into town to do flat buying paperwork.  So I took my wee bags of coins to the bank to pay them into my account.  I had £14 in 1p, 2p and 5p bags.  The bank only takes whole pounds of one type of coin but I still have about £4 in mixed coins to use in the self service checkout at Sainsbury's. (Anyone else do that??)  Plus I had a £5 reward voucher for M&S thanks to using their credit card.  I hardly use it anymore so getting even a £5 voucher is good going!!

So I 'spent' my money on 1kg of chicken thighs, 2 packs of tomatoes, 2 packs of beetroot, 2 packs of courgettes and 2 tubs of stock powder.  £19 exactly!!

I chopped up some of the courgettes and tomatoes with peppers, onions and garlic and roasted them for about an hour.  I added some chopped beetroot at the end as it was already cooked.

I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and had a bowlful for my lunch.  Very tasty indeed!  There's loads left for another meal.

I split the chicken thighs into 2 large casseroles and marinaded one with lemon juice, black pepper and honey.  I put some of my fajita spice mix on the other one.  I left both to marinade for an hour then baked them in the oven.

 While they were baking I made some healthy (ish) coleslaw.

There were 21 pieces of chicken so I had 3 with some coleslaw for my tea.  Lovely!

I'm counting it as 'free' food as the £14 was just loose change that's been lying around for a while and the M&S voucher is a reward.  I've shredded /chopped up all the chicken and portioned it for another 6 generous meals (3 thighs per serving).  And I still have a pack of tomatoes, a pack of beetroot and 2 courgettes to use in something else 😎  The 2 tins of stock powder are for my storecupboard.