Frugal Friday...

Last week was our "Supermarket free" week for this month, and I elected to shop at the Farm Shop, which meant my spend was entirely in cash. When I shop there I tend to go without anything more than the most basic of lists, and see what looks good, what is in season, fresh and cheap. It does sometimes mean modifying the meal plan but this week that wasn't really an issue as everything fitted in quite nicely! MrEH saved us some money too by never actually bothering to overcome his dilemma regarding his milk - he went without! My bottle lasted right through the week too I'm pleased to say - the very last of it went in my first thing cup of tea this morning!

I spent a total of £11.26 but came away with lots for my money as always - a couple of kilos of potatoes (including some large enough to be used for jackets - hurrah!) a savoy cabbage, kale, leeks, apples, citrus fruit and a pack of the on-site butchers dry cured bacon offcuts.  I also bought some frozen spinach - a bit of a gamble as I had the 12 mile drive home to face but it arrived back at EH Towers still perfectly frozen and is now nestled in the freezer awaiting use. The apples, citrus, cabbage and kale have all been eaten already, and I may turn some of the leeks and potatoes into soup - or possibly into pasty filings with the bacon and some more of the cheese mountain, I haven't decided yet! 

I used a wet friday afternoon last week to do some baking - chocolate & caramel muffins using the last of a jar of salted caramel sauce (lovely, thick, gloopy stuff it was!) that we bought reduced and using a voucher in the co-op before Christmas (cost to us 22p - who could have resisted such a bargain?) several were eaten over the weekend but the remainder have gone into the freezer for treats. Also a tray of flapjacky things for breakfasts. I wasn't the only one baking those this week either as Debbie tried them out for the first time and pronounced them a success! The muffins were made using the method for "Jam Doughnut muffins" where you half fill the cases with batter, spoon in a dollop of the jam (or in this case, caramel) then top up with batter, and they worked brilliantly! I also used up the last of a container of cocoa when making them too. Also in the spirit of "using things up" the last of a pack of paella rice got thrown into a risotto, and the final box of Spelt with red pepper and chilli from a long ago AF order also got eaten! 

"Earnings" this week are £3 in luncheon vouchers for doing a survey. As things stand we now have:
£15 Morrisons vouchers
£10 M&S voucher - I don't think this will be used during the challenge
£7.50 Luncheon Vouchers
£7.50 in spendable Nectar points (I assume this is points from British Gas which has increased this)

I intend to shop in Morrisons this week - as I'm working today I'll go after work, while waiting to collect MrEH from the station. I'll top up his car with fuel while I'm there too which will save us needing to make a special trip for another fortnight. When we can combine trips like this, we do - quite apart from anything else it's excellent training for future hoped-for Island living! MrEH and I both need milk this week, we'll probably buy that from Tesco as it's worth making a one off trip there if the saving is significant. 

The meal plan for this week looks like this:

Sat:    Lunch: I’ll eat something that needs using up. Tea: Crumpets & cheese 

Sun:  something portable if we're walking – couscous salad?  Tea: Cheese & crackers

Mon: Soup & Bread

Tue: Pork, tomato & onion stew

Wed:  Chicken & Mushroom Canelloni in tomato sauce

Thur:  Pasta with mushrooms and feta

Fri:   chickpea curry

(In case you were wondering, the chickpea curry is still on there as a Summit meeting earlier in the week ruled that tonight was going to be our monthly treat takeaway night - and no, that will NOT be coming under the heading of "groceries!") There may be a degree of re-jigging required there yet - we'll see.

Current state of play for the month:
Total spend on groceries: £22.32
Of which cash: £11.50

That was my week 2....how was yours?

Robyn