Tuesday, 17-01-23: low spend/no spend January

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast.  I had thought to have mushrooms and tomatoes but changed that to a pear afterwards instead.

I added some milk to the carrot and lentil soup so I thing you could say that was pretty much half my second healthy extra A.

Afters was a small apple and an easy peeler

Later on I had a cafe au lait so let's call that the other half A.

The cassoulet was so good although I did make more than I originally intended.  I defrosted three chipolatas by mistake so I used the whole can of cannelloni beans, added some spinach, peas and corn, had about two thirds and the rest will be my lunch tomorrow.  Instead of putting breadcrumbs on top, I toasted the bread and dunked it.

I didn't have any dessert which is probably just as well because . . . 

. . . I though all the pre-Christmas beer had gone but I found this.  Eyam Brewery chocolate orange stout and it went beautifully with the cassoulet.

OK, so a bit naughty and I'm most likely over syns, but mmmmmm.

I do like the Eyam Brewery beers.  It's a little artisan brewery in the Derbyshire Peak District, close to Eyam, the 'plague village' and all their beers have names associated with Eyam and the plague story.  I will definitely be ordering some more at some point but not right now - it is far too tempting!  :-)

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

SW:  syn free

L:  leftover cassoulet; fruit

As I said above, I hadn't originally planned to have leftovers and I could have put it in the freezer, I guess, but I'm having it second day.  I might sprinkle over some grated cheese.

SW:  one chipolata sausage is two syns and a bit of chorizo is one and a half syns.  The rest is speed/free.  If I have grated cheese, it will be a healthy extra A

D:  salmon and ricotta ravioli, green beans; yogurt

I'm making this up a bit.  The idea is to make my own pasta which will be 'free' because pasta is free.  The filling is ricotta, smoked salmon and lemon zest and I'm just using a bit of sauce spooned off the cassoulet to go over the ravioli and mixing it with a tbsp light crème fraiche because I think that will be nice.

SW:  you can have 90g of the ricotta I have for a healthy extra A - I don't think I will need that much but time will tell.  The yogurt is half a syn

E:  Groove class and a Shimmy Snippet.

Summary:

up to two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

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.