Wednesday 8 March 2023

And More. Part 3 (Day 2)

 The total to carry forward from previous shopping trip and kitchen cupboards is £29.17. (+£2 for the frothy coffees for each week that I carry on)

The rest of the V.R.E. shopping done last week -  AL=Aldi, AS = Asda



AL Bread 39p (20 slices and 2 crusts) I divided these into 5 x 4 slices and the two crusts and popped all but one in the freezer
AL British Chicken Thighs 1kg = 7 = £2.85 Wrapped individually and frozen
AL Pears 97p
AS Back Bacon 300g =£1.40 ( I wanted to buy their cheaper 'Cooking Bacon Pieces' at 90p but not in stock)
AS Pineapple pieces 49p (They didn't have these when I shopped at end of February which is why I bought a tin from Aldi)
AL 2 Pints milk £1.30 (Makes up to 4 pints when mixed half and half with water)
AS Grated Cheese 500g = £2.60 I have NEVER EVER bought grated cheese before - lazy - except the crazy thing is that this is cheaper than a block of cheese at the moment so for this experiment it works. 
AS Head of Broccoli 34p
AL 1kg Carrots 50p
AL 500g Parsnips 50p
AL 6 Mini Apples 59p

£11.93

Total £29.17 + £11.93 = £41.10 ( A spend of £6 more than the average single person for one week,  but I know this will last a lot longer than 1 week!)

2nd Main meal from the value brands

Warm Pasta Salad
75g Pasta
Feta ( The Value Range is called Salad Cheese)
Few tomatoes
Few Olives
Handful of frozen mixed veg
Mayo



Still smiling at all the people who don't eat processed food and therefore never eat pasta!

This was a surprise on opening the curtains yesterday morning. A very thin covering of snow. Nothing on the roads and it soon went. Was it a taste of things to come or winters last Hurrah!




Back Tomorrow
Sue

35 comments:

  1. Bread for 39p!!! Our cheapest is around the £1 mark!
    Your snow is headed up here for tomorrow. Thanks!

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    1. It's Aldi bread and I'd not tried it before but it's not too bad, makes a nice sandwich considering .
      The snow only stayed on the ground for a couple of hours, fine today

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  2. You may have more snow - we have some this morning and a right nuisance it is too. Hopefully it will go soon.

    I quite like the Aldi essentials wholemeal and often get it when I'm there. xx

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  3. WintersEndRambler8 March 2023 at 08:42

    Certainly not a criticism but I think the grated cheese may be cheaper due to them adding cheaper things to it to make it not stick together in the packet. Crazy old world that it is! x

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    1. Potato starch is what's added, still a good amount of cheese for the price.

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  4. Grated and sliced cheese are a staple here now. It's amazing how your attitude will change if you suddenly find yourself unable to use a grater or a knife.
    Deb in Wales

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    1. My Mum had arthritis in her hands and everywhere and at the end of her life couldn't even hold a pen which frustrated her enormously so I understand the problem

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  5. I'm in south Hampshire and still no snow here, it's rained alot, so we are lucky to have missed this first lot.

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    1. Wednesday midday and I think we have what they call 'flurries'! Melting as soon as it touches the ground

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  6. If you stick to Lidl and Aldi you can't go wrong price wise. Lidl is even selling packets of organic vegetable seeds.

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    1. Our Lidl is really annoying with hardly any checkouts, hardly any staff and always in a muddle! I avoid

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  7. Enjoying following your experiment Sue and reading all the comments!
    I shop in Aldi because I have a tight budget but I find the quality and range of food very good. I meal plan and cook from scratch every night and I can feed 6 of us for, on average, about £80 a week including household bits. I go to Lidl a few times a month when they open for reduced meat/fish so never pay full price but with two vegetarians in the house we only eat meat probably three times a week. I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes that are inexpensive.

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    1. The comments are the best bit - so thank you.
      Wow, you do so well with shopping for 6.
      It would be lovely if you started your blog again and shared - so many people would like to cut spending and don't know how and my experiment isn't very representative because of it being just me.

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  8. Snowing steadily here (since around 8.30 on top of a sprinkling overnight). Of course, this is the ONE day we have to go out this week (GP).

    Good shopping haul there. Our nearest Lidl is Carmarthen (50+miles away) or Hereford (45). We have Aldi in Llandod which I use each week. I buy the great big blocks of Cheddar (900g) which last us a goodly while. Like you I've never bought grated cheese before but if it's cheaper . . .

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    1. Hope you get in and out and around the hills and back safe and sound

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  9. I like the look of the pasta dish. I made some fusilli with tomatoes which were lurking, parmesan which was right at the rind and a mix of green veg for tea last night. DH had some bacon on his. It was delicious, filling and warming on a cold night. We are forecast snow for Thursday and Friday this week. Catriona

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    1. Warm pasta salad is one of my favourite quick meals as I can prepare all the bits while the pasta is cooking. Usually I might add cucumber and sometimes fresh cooked beetroot - becomes a pink salad!

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  10. I took mum in law to Morrisons this morning as it's the supermarket she prefers and she no longer drives - the prices had gone up again in there, considerably! We do 2 weeks at Aldi/Lidl and then the 3rd week at Morrisons but soon I won't want to shop there at all.
    We had a little snow to wake up to this morning, very pretty.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. If I go to Stowmarket it's Aldi and Asda, If I go to Diss it's Aldi and Morrisons and if I want to do the whole lot I go to the edge of Ipswich!
      After spending most of the 23 years at the smallholding by the coast with very limited choice it's quite a treat.

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  11. A good haul Sue. No Aldi or Asda here but lovely Lidl have the best conference pears, grown in Kent, not a dud one yet. Snow in Dorset, the hills are white. Sarah Browne.

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    1. I've been enjoying Conference - the only pears I like - for several months - think they are just about ending now.
      Lovely to have snowy hills - as long as it doesn't last to long

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  12. You did well grocery shopping and prices are excellent. I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and their store brand seeded bread was $4.99 for a loaf which was a bit less costly than other stores. Pasta, cheese, fruit and veg all seemed comparable to other stores. I noticed their packaging is much smaller than other stores and I prefer buying economy/bulk. The marinated steak tips looked good so I bought some. Pricey but a nice treat... My food budget seems every growing. Hopefully the steak will be tender. It is snowing lightly here and the ground is still white with 2-4 inches everywhere.

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    1. It is easier to find the bargains now that I live somewhere with choice of supermarkets.

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  13. Interesting continuing experiment. One way to have pasta is to make it from scratch. It's quite fun when you're in the mood and have time. And it's so good! I particularly like to make ravioli, filled with whatever I fancy that's in the house.

    I haven't done a price comparison with store bought, but often homemade is cheaper. You have to factor in the fuel required as well as the ingredients. That's beyond me, because fuel costs vary widely.

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    1. I tried homemade pasta once when I picked up a pasta maker machine from a car-boot sale - it didn't go well!

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  14. The pears have been delicious this winter - just had one for my lunch with a small piece of Baron Bigod (a Suffolk soft cheese) after a bowl of spicy carrot soup. That will do me until supper time which tonight will be a stir fry with kale, spinach and psb from the garden, garlic and chilli from my homegrown store, plus carrot matchsticks, red onion and cashew nuts. I make a sauce from the juice of one whole orange, local honey and soy sauce and serve with dried noodles. Woke up to snow but all gone now. A loaf from the village shop costs £3.20 - but it is made from organic local flour in Petworth and is absolutely delicious. When I was at university in 1980 I remember a large wholemeal loaf from the baker cost £1 (I soon began making my own bread) so I think £3.20 is about right. Interestingly my individual food budget then was £10 a week and now I spend around £33. Back then my annual budget was £2000 for everything. Going for a walk in the woods now to see if the wild garlic is ready for harvesting.Sarah in Sussex

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    1. Most woodland in Suffolk is private - not much chance of finding wild garlic here unless you have your own wood!
      How wonderful that you buy our Suffolk Cheese. At £8.50 for 250g I'm afraid I've never tried it.

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  15. very interesting posts. And a great way to save.
    Cathy

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    1. It will be interesting for a month then I will probably be fed up with the whole idea!

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  16. Hopefully that snow was only winter's last hurrah!

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    1. Heavy snow forecast for northern Britain - not here thank goodness

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  17. Pasta and rice are mainstays in this house.

    Hope your snow disappears quickly.

    God bless.

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    1. I use pasta a lot - it's easy when cooking for one

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  18. Pasta is a brilliant standby meal when you're catering for one isn't it. I've started making around three portions at a time (when I'm eating pasta ... not much at the moment obviously) and keeping some in the fridge to use in place of noodles in a stir fry.

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  19. Interesting experiments Sue, I'm enjoying reading. We have both Aldi and Lidl in our town, along with Sainsburys, Morrisons and Asda. I like Sains and Aldi best, the Lidl is quite disorganised and untidy looking and, like yours, lacking in staff.

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