So we didn't last out as long as I was hoping for without going shopping, we went and got quite a bit of stuff yesterday, along with the fresh whole salmon that was on offer in Morrisons, which is the reason why I went. I did plan on getting other stuff as well though, I even wrote a list and more or less stuck to it, just adding 3 or 4 items that were in the reduced cabinet and too good to miss.
I spent £39.46 yesterday....considering we got a whole salmon that will do us for at least 8 meals included in that price, along with lots of fresh veggies and the reduced items that will make another couple of meals, I'm pretty pleased with that. We got the fishmonger to fillet the salmon for us and I asked for the trimmings, I boiled and flaked them up for Betty as she loves fish. The stock I've frozen to make a fish chowder, so that's another meal. The reduced extras were some cooked chicken pieces reduced to 75p, which I'll use in a risotto or pasta bake, mushroom & cheese arancini balls down to 50p from £2.20 (they'll make a nice light meal with a jacket spud and salad), a small block of blue cheese and a little pot of single cream, both less than half price and will be used today to make soup.
As I said before, we could still carry on with no shopping, but were both missing fresh veg (that's something I never thought I'd say, seeing as I didn't really eat much in the way of veg until I was in my mid-30s, except for peas and spuds). And I did want to get that salmon whilst it was on offer....it's supposed to be on offer until Christmas Eve, or whilst stocks last, so I didn't want to take the chance that they might run out.
I'm now sure I can resist the urge to just pop into a supermarket whilst we're out and about, and confident that I can stick to my shopping list instead of just picking up whatever takes my fancy. Although if I see any reduced bargains on things that we would normally have anyway, I will get them - it'd be silly not to if they're going to save us money in the long run.
The key thing for me is - don't go shopping unless I really need to.
So my grand total on this no(!) shopping challenge, which lasted 14 days, is £48 exactly. I consider that to be not bad at all. Ok, so it's a bit of an abject failure really, in view of the fact that it was supposed to be no shopping!! But I'm still happy about it, we still spent a damn sight less than we would have done normally.
A lot of my "fresh" veg comes from our deep freeze. Not frozen by companies but frozen by me when it was on special. For example, mushrooms. When they are on special I buy up big. I slice them, I part cook them, then I freeze them in foodsaver bags. The last time I did it, I made 26 weeks worth of pizza mushrooms plus some extra bags for my meals - the other half does not eat mushrooms.
ReplyDeleteI do the same with lots of other vegies but especially things like Brussel Sprouts which we love but can only buy for half the year..
It's harder than it looks to 'not shop' isn't it. I know from experience :-)
ReplyDeleteYou need to treat yourselves sometimes. If you save and do things frugally , you should only be happy about it. I am. :)
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