Day 12 of the Value Range Experiment and month 3 of the British Library Crime Classic subscription. An example of saving in one place to spend in another?
What I didn't know when I started the subscription was that the British Library enclose some mystery gifts in addition to the book each month. This month there's a card magnifying bookmark, another a book mark and a page of questions to answer while reading the book to work out who-done-it.
The next main meal - Day 12- from the experiment. Stir fried chicken and veg with rice. I took the meat from a chicken thigh +1 carrot +1 small onion + some home grown peppers from the freezer +1 chopped cabbage leaf. I added a spoonful of Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Sauce from a bottle already opened in the fridge (checked price and it's 65p per 100g, so 1 tablespoon full is approx 10p.
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| It looks a lot but mainly vegetables |
Running total £49.12 + 10p = £49.22p
Sue in Lancs (the Queen of Challenges) said be careful not to end the experiment with too many things left in the freezer so I had a count up and my main meals for the rest of the month should be...........
4 Using the Minced Pork already in freezer
2 Tuna and Pasta Bake - already in freezer
2 Fish Curry - already in freezer
1 Fish Pie using mashed potato already in freezer
1 Omelette
2 or 3 Meals using Bacon already in freezer
There are 4 Chicken Thighs left in freezer
There are a few pieces of the white fish left in freezer
+ I could do a pizza
So I should be about right for the main meal ingredients and they are all included in that £49.22. Although I'll need some other things but hopefully will still be well below that quoted average spend on food for a single person of £130 for a month.
I don't know what the weather was like where you were yesterday but here it was dismal. It actually got darker between 8 and 9am rather than lighter and then it drizzled all day and very chilly too even though the weather lady said it was milder. I just stayed at home and got the next library book finished and hoped for better today to get out and about.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
You're doing very well with your challenge, just shows what can be done if we really put our minds to it. Thanks, it's been interesting.
ReplyDeleteGetting through the month and still plenty to eat.
DeleteGosh, you're doing very well with this challenge. A nice tasty and healthy meal. I eat a lot of rice dishes, and have to say for a "boughten" stir fry pack, NOTHING can beat the Oriental one I got in Lidl last week. Fresh vegetables, not all carrot and cabbage like the Aldi and Tesco ones are. I did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy the books too.
I would usually eat noodles with a stir-fry but they didn't fit into the Experiment!
DeleteAs my other half won't eat veg (apart from peas or carrots) I usually buy various frozen packs of green stuff so that I can just take out a bit at a time for me. I don't know how that compares pricewise to buying fresh but it saves waste.
ReplyDeleteFrozen are probably cheaper than fresh and like you say saves waste.
DeleteThis is headed day 12. The last one will be day 31. That sounds a hell of a long way off. I had beans on toast for tea last night.
ReplyDeleteI'm working three days ahead of publishing so today is my day 15. Probably only going up to 28 days.
DeleteI like a stir fry with greens from the garden (baby kale leaves, perpetual spinach, purple sprouting broccoli plus wild garlic, dandelion and sorrel leaves at this time of year) and raw cashew nuts for texture and nuttiness. I always make the same sauce with the juice of an orange (always zesting it first - waste not want not!), a spoonful of local honey and a spoonful of light soy sauce and I use sesame oil in the wok. Served with whole grain basmati rice it is a protein-packed supper. The leek and potato and wild garlic gratin last night was delicious. All it needed was a slug of rapeseed oil to soften the leeks, a small pot of single cream, sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper and five minutes before the end of the oven cooking time I sprinkled grated Gruyere over the top. It felt very luxurious to eat. Tonight it is cauliflower and chick pea curry. I always soak and cook dried chick peas a kilo at a time and freeze in 300g cooked weight portions. Have been doing this since I was a student in the early 1980s and used to buy my pulses, rice, porridge oats, wholemeal flour etc from dustbins in the Student Union shop. The cauliflower cost £2.99 from the farm shop but it is local and organic and has never seen a plastic bag and that is important to me. I would be interested in seeing how you get on with buying from local producers, although I have enjoyed this challenge as you can probably tell. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteI like Chick peas but they don't like me!
DeleteI've never heard of B.L.C.C. It sounds most interesting.
ReplyDeleteBritish Library Crime Classics have been publishing long forgotten crime fiction for several years now
DeleteInterested in what you think of 'Marple'? And do you mind if I ask how much the BLCC subscription is as I love the sound of it. Just reading one of theirs at the moment, Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac, it's excellent and set near me too.
ReplyDeleteThe 12 stories about Miss Marple are all by modern writers of crime but I found several were American so some things jar a bit. It was interesting but not outstanding!
DeleteIf you check out the BLCC website it will give all the details, it's cheaper for a year but didn't say what's being published after June so I stuck to 6 months
Your meal looks delicious and healthy-I enjoy these kind of meals. I must make a batch of yoghurt today as the sachet from Lakeland is almost out of date. Chicken tonight with fridge clearance veg for us. Weather here is war er but very dull and wet. Catriona
ReplyDeleteToday here is no better than yesterday - dull and wet again.
DeleteVery wet yesterday. Brighter today. My food budget has been totally ignored recently because circumstances have continued to disrupt meal planning. I hope to get back on track after Easter.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea to have a list of questions to answer while you read the book, I could have great fun doing that. I have so many bookmarks, and I still use scraps of paper or turned down corners as the bookmarks are usually left in the books that they came in and vanish from view.
ReplyDeleteV.R.E, B.L.C.C., IDK Y U R trying to confuse me so much ;-)
So interesting to read about your foodie progress on this experiment and the meal looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThe weather is taking so long to cheer up - when it does there will be a mad dash to get things in the ground!
Alison in Wales x
I keep things in the freezer for later as well. Had to but=y a cheap white board from our Dollar General store to write what was in the freezer so I could keep track. Hate the freezer burned veggies.
ReplyDeleteLove your meals.
With some thought and planning, you have proven meals can be excellent and not excessively expensive. Stir fry with lots of veg is always a favorite. It is overcast and 50 degrees F today. I do miss the sunshine. The good news is...the snow is melting.
ReplyDeleteI hope the planning has been interesting for you, since I think cooking for one isn't always such fun. For me, it's fine, but everyone doesn't see it that way.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a really fun and interesting subscription. Are you planning on continuing with it? How long was it for?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea you could belong to a Crime Library classics club! Wow. Probably not an option for over here or so pricey one couldn't afford it. Marple looks very good!
ReplyDelete