Sunday 8 January 2023

Sunday, 08-01-23: low spend, no spend January

 Good morning, everyone.

In the interests of saving a bit of fuel money when cooking, I am trying to use my Ninja a lot more and I was pleased to get notification that Siobhan from the wonderful Slimming Eats site has written and published an article on converting to an air fryer.  
If you have an air fryer and in case you are interested, here's the link.
https://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/air-fryer-conversion

I have printed off the PDF conversion chart - I think it will be really useful.

Yesterday's meals:

The blackberries and the mango were from the freezer and the blueberries were fresh and it was all absolutely delicious.
Oh, how I love a toastie.  It's the texture, I think.   I found some scraps of my home made cranberry sauce tucked away in the fridge so I used that.  I'm not convinced that it was as effective as onion chutney but . . . no waste!
This was a Pinch of Nom recipe from the new book, Enjoy, the ras el hanout chicken orzo bake.  So good although I think maybe it was slightly under seasoned for me - I added a bit of salt.
I made quarter amounts (apart from the chopped tomatoes) and added the leftover peas from yesterday; it made so much, I picked out all the chicken and half of the rest to eat and what's left will feed me today too.  I think it will be lovely with some chorizo and pulses added

I thoroughly recommend this recipe.  Easier than it looks at first sight, it is yummy!


Today's plans:

B:  cooked breakfast
I was going to have fruit and yogurt but
a) I'm very low on yogurt (shopping tomorrow morning) and
b) it's Sunday, I fancy a cooked breakfast and I have the soup for lunch
so it's bacon, egg, spray fried toast, mushrooms and tomatoes - those last two are from before Christmas and really do need using up quickly.
SW:  half a healthy extra B for one slice of wholemeal.  The rest is all free food, one way or another.

L:  tomato and roasted red pepper soup; fruit
This one is in the interest of no waste as I had half a can of chopped tomatoes left over from yesterday, to which I added roasted red pepper from a jar, a bit of carrot and onion, garlic granules, chicken stock powder, black pepper and water plus two tomatoes that were very squidgy, and boiled it all up for around twenty minutes until the carrots were soft.  After a good blending, I pushed it through a sieve to get rid of that remaining fibrous bits tasted and adjusted seasonings and it will be perfect for lunch.
SW:  all syn free and containing loads of speed veg.

D: ras el hanout chorizo and bean orzo bake; yogurt
Yesterday's leftovers without chicken and I will probably add mixed pulses, a bit of chorizo and, most likely, mushrooms to use them up.  Some grated cheddar sprinkled over will be nice too, I reckon.
SW:  I think the chorizo is two syns although this may need upping a bit when I get it out of the freezer and weigh it and any cheese I use will be one healthy extra A.  The dried fruit is one syn and if I can scrape together enough yogurt, it will be half a syn.
(Later edit - I got the chorizo very wrong - it will be seven syns for the amount I want.

E:  Lindsey has posted an early Shimmy Snippet so I will do that.

Summary:
one healthy extra A
half a healthy extra B
eight and a half syns (changed from earlier)




What is low spend, no spend?

All I will buy through January is essentials - and by that I mean food such as fresh fruit, veg and dairy/eggs.  All other foods will come out of my existing supplies and, to be honest, that may not be much of a challenge.  Also included in any low spend essentials are cleaning products and toiletries although I think I am fine for the latter.  
Also anything else essential that I won't think of until it lands!
That is the low spend part.

Everything else, unless it is either a regular bill/payment/commitment, will not happen.  No sneaky little Amazon purchases, no 'bargains' from the supermarket, certainly no clothes . . .
That's the no spend part.

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