Thursday, 22 February 2024

The Third Food Shop of February

 The 3rd food shop of February happened - before floods-  and I actually bought some meat.


The third shop was Feta, a tin of sardines, apples, pears, a head of broccoli, sultanas, chicken thighs and bacon and a leek off the market - which is the only place to buy one at a time. Not in the photo are fish fingers which I keep in the freezer for grandchildren. Total spend £16.88.
I always buy chicken as a pack of thighs, divide them into packs of two before freezing. Sometimes I buy a pack of two chicken breasts and cut each in half, wrap and freeze for stir fries and fajitas. This time it was 1Kg of thighs which was 8, for £2.85. I cook two at a time - one to eat hot and one cold.
The bacon is Aldi Essentials range which is quite thick and large slices.  1kg pack of bacon (£4.29) is split into packs of two rashers before freezing which is what I need for a quiche, a leek and bacon pilaff, a good bacon sandwich or to eat with fritters. This makes 7 packs. It will be several weeks before I need either chicken or bacon again.

Total food spend in February so far £78.07 + the fancy farm shop pie and a dozen eggs (which I had to buy from a shop as I'd not been swimming so hadn't passed the farm stall) = £85.70


Back Tomorrow
Sue

34 comments:

  1. your monthly bill is about what my weekly bill comes to, but then I buy a lot of pre prepared things now due to mobility. My bill also includes everything, cleaning stuff, paper goods etc. I can't be bothered to itemise things, I'd rather be painting.

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    1. I like keeping accounts - mental arithmetic -good for the brain!

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    2. A little off topic but I've been reading your blog(s) for many years and am totally in awe of your record keeping.
      Christine K.

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  2. I'm surprised you can only buy sole leeks from a market stall when every supermarket I use in my part of Wiltshire sells fruit and veg individually. Luckily we also have a good veg stall where nearly everything is £1. You do need to use some of it quickly but there are wonderful bargains to be had.

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    1. Aldi and Asda have almost nothing individually now. I don't know about Tesco as I rarely go there and everywhere else is further away

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  3. I'm glad the floods subsided enough to allow you out. Now, you're prepared for anything again.

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    1. This shop was before the latest flood - haven't been out since - lots of places still very bad

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  4. We still have our groceries delivered and buy our veg in our town. Your monthly spend is our weekly one!

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    1. It's low spend so far but one more shop to go and the list is longer

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  5. Incredibly frugal. Just the cat food cost me over £20 this week, but we do have 5 cats, and you can't get tins any more (or rather, they are prohibitively expensive - I saw one tin of Whiskas priced at £1.70 recently! I thought they were dear when they went past 50p!) The biscuits last a couple of weeks, but when it's top-up time . . .

    I spend a good bit on special stuff for Keith too - Border chocolate ginger biscuits which aren't cheap, but he loves; the dark chocolate bars with almonds and cranberries - on offer this week at £1.95 (normally about £2.50); lamb leg steaks (£4.95); Pomegrate (£1.85); Glace -vegan - ice cream which he adores; double cream for extra calories - it soon adds up. A bottle of wine for me is my indulgence, and a pack of chocolate bars and I must have apples and cucumbers.

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    1. It's good to have nice things to eat when poorly.
      I've never eaten pomegranate!

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  6. It's going so very well!
    I think I'm lucky - plenty or supermarkets sell an assortment of veg either in packs or singly, whichever you need. Very useful when catering for just one. xx

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    1. Nothing much sold individually anymore. Asda used to but have drastically cut down choice in fruit and veg in the last year or two

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  7. Yes, even onions here are sold in packs now in both our Tesco and Morrisons, to be fair they're both smallish shops, not huge superstores. I did manage to get a single red pepper though.

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    1. I'm sure more things were available loose before covid

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  8. Feeling so ill all month, has lead to us eating and shopping less.

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  9. Thanks for sharing your shopping-I must add feta to my list and I feel a Greek style salad coming on. Catriona

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    1. I use feta in warm pasta salad with tomatoes, olives and peas and mayo

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  10. I shop for the family so spend quite a lot. Have not been calculating, deliberately, as food is food. We have two deliveries, monthly from Morrison, in which the bulkier items are bought but we also have Aldi and Lidl in town which at least cuts the price of vegetables and fruit.

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    1. Took me a while to change to shopping and cooking for one - now I'm used to it

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  11. That looks like my grocery shop as we are using up what we have in stock.
    We will be eating the Christmas cheeses from the freezer, for many weeks.
    I buy Sainsbury’s cooking bacon at £1 for 500g and freeze portions.

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    1. When we lived in coastal Suffolk and Colin worked in Ipswich we could go home via Sainsburys and I would buy that bacon, but I'm too far from a Sainsburys now

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  12. I spend rather too much on food methinks and I don't consider we have many luxuries, I'm just a bit haphazard 😅 I love seeing other people's shopping - does that make me odd? 😉
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. Food shopping on the blog is to fill up blog posts when nothing else is happening!

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  13. You've done really well this month at keeping your costs so low. I've been shopping six times up to now but it's just been for little bits and pieces to go with what I already have and some treats. I sort of miss doing a proper shop and filling a trolley ... but I don't miss paying for it at the checkout. ;-)

    Funnily enough I was tempted to buy a single leek from Booths yesterday, they looked lovely, but then I remembered all the frozen veggies that I have and the things going wrinkly in the fridge drawer.

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    1. I made Leek and bacon pilaff for the first time for many months - it was delicious

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  14. Your food costs are much less than mine. I shop weekly and spend at minimum $70-100. Our costs are continuing to rise. For example, a small container of cream cost $4.79. Only weeks ago it was $3.70. Needless to say, I continue to buy what I want and enjoy nice meals mostly at home. A restaurant dinner for two is $100+ and then a 25% tip.

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  15. I am amazed at the amount you spend on food
    Like others have said - your monthly spend is less than I spend weekly . I fell j to some very poor food habits when my husband was first diagnosed - and things have not improved in the almost year since he died
    I admire you consistency
    I am having Pringles for supper !
    Siobhan x

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  16. Thick cut bacon is the only way to buy it as far as I'm concerned!

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  17. Still not too bad for a monthly bill. I am pretty sure we are way over that amount. Must figure out what I spent in UK pounds sometime.

    God bless.

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  18. Good lot for that price! Things are a lot more expensive here.

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  19. I found my Woolworths microwave crisp maker hidden in the bottom cupboard behind the jam making equipment. It is just a circular rack to hold thin slices of potato to cook them until they go crisp.
    I got a 2kg bag of potatoes yellow stickered to 34p. Home made crisps, Ingredients: a Potato, a very little salt.

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