Tuesday, 07-02-23: low spend February

 Morning, everyone!
After my weekend away and working my fruit and veg right down last week, I did what I hope will be a fortnight's shopping, mostly for fruit and veg.  I am slowly making inroads into the freezer contents but there's weeks and weeks of stuff still there so happy me!

The thing I waste most of nowadays is milk.  While I was away, in the room there were some little single portion pots of milk (I'm sure you know what I mean) and I brought several of them home because, to be honest, all I want in the cow's milk line is enough for the occasional cuppa tea and for any visitors.  For myself, I am happy to use almond or oat milk which I have in little bottles in the freezer.
So I have ordered some more little pots of semi skimmed milk and I will see if they do get used and if I stop wasting milk as a result.  Fingers crossed.

Yesterday's meals:

I know I said Monday would be back to normal and by the evening it was but not before.

Breakfast was still away and, given its all-inclusiveness, I had the biggest breakfast in a long while.  It was nice and not all that unhealthy really, but there was too much oil around for proper SW-ness.
And by lunchtime, I was still pretty full so the soup stayed in the freezer and I just had some spready cheese on one slice of bread and, later on, a couple of easy peelers.
I didn't take photos of either.

The Kelly turkey sausages were absolutely delicious.  Hardly any fat came out of them so I think four syns was about right.  I did them in Nellie with the chips and, although they look burnt, they weren't, they was fine.  The veg was onion, red pepper, tomato and mushroom, done in Nellie's other drawer and set to synch so it all finished at the same time.

I didn't add oil to the chips so that was two syns saved, but I did have a Becks Blue which was two syns so it all evened out.

And today really is back to normal again.

Today's plans

B:  fruit and yogurt

I'll have an apple before Groove, if I go, and the rest at my Intermittent fasting time of around 11:00

SW:  half a syn for the yogurt

L:  salmon and ricotta ravioli, salad

This the the remains of what I made a couple of weeks ago.  I popped it in the freezer so we will see if it freezes OK.  I'll have to cook the three ravioli from frozen or I think they will go all mushy and I will just top them with some grated cheese.

SW:  there's half a healthy extra A of cheese actually in the ravioli and another half an A over the top

D:  corned beef and potato patties, veg; yogurt

I so enjoyed the corned beef hash thingy last week that I put this down for this week.  It's just mash mixed with softened onion and mashed corned beef and shaped into patties to spray fry.

There was no fresh broccoli in Morrisons yesterday (apart from the very expensive tender stem) so I decided to try frozen broccoli and see how that turns out.  I'll give that a go this evening  with, maybe, some sprouts.

SW:  two syns for half a can of lean corned beef, one syn for some brown sauce (got to have brown sauce!) and half a syn for the yogurt

Ex:   It's Groove today but I have quite a sore back of the neck so may not get as much out of it as usual and I will have to be careful.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra Bs

four 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)