Saturday, 11-02-23: low spend February

 Morning, everyone!

It was no surprise to find I had gained one and a half pounds at weigh in yesterday morning.  I was pleased it wasn't more.  I hope to lose that by next Friday!  :-)

Sometimes I let go a bit on Friday evenings but not yesterday - I really want a bit of a loss next week!

Yesterday's meals:

I had an apple at group and an orange when I came home and that was breakfast.  No photo!

No photo of lunch either because I had a guest, but there's leftovers for lunch so I can take a photo then.  It was absolutely delicious and another to go on the list of 'kits to have again'!  Making three portions, even though I only made half the amount of pasta and added mushrooms, reduces the syns a bit too.

Later on in the afternoon, I started to feel peckish which is always a bit 'dangerous' but I remembered I hadn't had any healthy extras so I made some marmite on toast which hit the spot perfectly.

This was the stir fry chicken from the new SW recipe book.  It was simple, quick and quite nice for such a simple mix of flavourings.

With all those veg, it was filling but Carly had kindly brought along some grapes and strawberries for our dessert and there were some left so I finished them off.  It was probably too much fruit really but lovely, all the same.

Today's plans

B:  boiled eggs and marmite toast fingers

I really, really fancy this today - and it means I will get my healthy B today too, for a change.

SW:  one healthy extra B for two slices of wholemeal.

L:  Cuban mojo pasta; fruit

The Simply Cook kit made loads yesterday so I'm having the leftovers today - looking forward to it.  I might very well sprinkle over some cheddar too.  
SW:  again a bit tricky to syn but I am saying five syns in total which seems pretty close, bearing in mind the calories for the kit and the added Elmlea.  All the other food used is either speed or free apart from the added cheese which is one healthy extra A

D:  chicken and mango korma, rice, side salad; jelly/yogurt

The chicken I defrosted for yesterday's dinner was ginormous so I had half yesterday and have found another recipe from the SW book, Fast Feasts, for this evening, chicken and mango korma on p 89 - except that I will be using a tikka paste because that is what I have.
I'll see how it turns out and might splash out on two and a half syns for a tbsp of Elmlea (I bought a couple of pots before Christmas 'just in case' and never used any.

SW:  it says the whole recipe is one and a half syns so I will go with that - I think the syns come from the curry mix because I can't see anything else that carries syns.  Plus two and a half syns for the Elmlea, of course.  If I make a jelly, one portion will be half a syn, as will the yogurt.

Ex:  A Shimmy Snippet or one of Lindsey's YouTube classes

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

ten syns

What do I mean by low spend?

February is a low spend month.

Through January, I spent very little on non essential food and other items.  The idea was to spend nothing on non food things and I didn't quite achieve that but I was happy with how it went, all the same.
I was so pleased to be able to make some charitable donations as a result; it's so nice to see positive outcomes.

'Essential' means  food such as fresh fruit, veg and dairy/eggs and other essentials including things like cleaning products and toiletries although I think I am fine for the latter, plus anything necessary that comes up through the month

As for all other spending, there are a few items I need but not an awful lot so I'm really hoping it will also be low spend.

(Of course, all regular bills, direct debits, etc, will still be paid as usual)