Had to rush off to the shops after taking my daughter home , reason no 1-she had eaten us out of house and home reason no2-the laptop packed up!Last week in the middle of the night, the fridge freezer broke down..Very bad luck as we had just stocked up on meat..I had to run off to town to see if I could get one delivered that afternoon..
First of all, I tried the recycling place. they did have one but he wanted £400 for it!second hand!
I ended up going to my local electrical shop, who said they could deliver that day, so that was brilliant..but we were £349 poorer..just as well we had something put away for a rainy day but when it rains it usually pours..They were as good as their word and delivered and installed the new fridge that very afternoon, we still lost a quantity of stuff, and I was told by my insurer that it wasn't worth claiming as we would have to pay the excess of £50 and for a claim of £30 they would increase my premium next year by £90..and I would lose my no claims bonus as well..apparently most people are not aware that household insurances have a no claims bonus built into them..so in the end we decided not to claim ..it really hurt me to have to throw food away-we tried to use most of it up but some of it already begun to deteriorate.How annoying!I hate waste but not worth risking your health.
Fridge freezer now installed I went food shopping.
As we had already spent a good deal of money decided to try and do a budget shop as I had a freezer full of meat anyway so off I toddled to LIDL..
I had already written a list of what I intended to cook and what I had in the fridge ect-this is a good idea if you are on a budget as it helps to stop you overspending and making impulse purchases (well , most of the time anyway!)
Here's what I came home with
As you can see we eat a lot of veg and fruit..I do tend to make at least three veggie meals a week, the rest of the bill went on toilet ,shampoo and washing up liquid, there were two bottles of
cheap white wine for hub two bars of cheap chocolate, and a pack of bagels-treats for us but we hardly ever go out or spend money on ourselves..
The chicken was only small one, so we had roast chicken (cooked by hub) all the trimmings and lots of veg left over...for a reason, I might add..The spicy sausages I will chop up and put on top of a pizza- any left over I will use in a rice stir fry, with lots of veg or in a Spanish Tortilla...the mackerel I will make a smoked mackerel pate with and the cheese will come in handy for a pasta bake later in the week.Tonight I made a leftover pie..all the chicken leftovers, chopped sautéed leeks , leftover carrots and a handful of frozen sweetcorn-I also added a few spoonfuls of quorn chicken style pieces, made a sauce with leftover gravy and parsley sauce, with a spoonful of mayo mixed in.. I topped in with ready made puff pastry (LIDL 49p) cheating I know, but butter is over a pound for half a pound these days..Its looking rather nice!I will post a pic later..we will eat it with left over roast potatoes and cabbage, warmed up of course..The other things in the picture are clotted cream for my visitors (not for us!) and some margarine, milk and eggs (free range)The grocery section-the tinned beans I put into stews and casseroles so I don't need to use so much meat, or in fact none at all..the pineapple will be a pizza topping or maybe in a cake(pineapple upside own cake) the salsa I use as a pizza topping as well with a spoonful of ketchup..the bread flour is self explanatory as is the coffee!The cat food is for my dog who prefers It to dog food!I use the white balsamic vinegar to top up my fig vinegar which I will include at a later date..
