Tuesday, 28-03023: more-low-spend-March

Morning, everyone.

Yesterday's photos:

It looks a bit like a pizza, this omelette, doesn't it?  A great way to start the day when you have an exercise class coming up.

This was very nice.  I used a basa fillet, that being what I lifted after dipping into the fish bag.  I suppose they're goujons really, not fish fingers, but they were delicious egged, crumbed and cooked in Nellie.

Much later on I had an apple

This was a recipe I found on the SW site and it was OK, I suppose, but I won't be making it again like that*.  The kofta meatballs were as dry as a bone - good flavour but the texture was - just no!  I made six and ate three.  The other three have been chucked, sadly.  Oh, well, can't win them all, can you?

A nice sauce though - I swapped green beans for broccoli and somer broad beans and that was tasty.

I finished off with a yogurt.

*However, I liked the idea and will likely use the same spices/seasoning but use my own meatball construction which is 100g lean mince to one rosemary and red onion sausage and 15 g grated cheddar.  It produces a meatball that is not in the least bit dry and very flavoursome (I think).

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and, maybe, yogurt

For no more reason than that's what I really want this morning.  I have a nice selection of fruit to choose from.

Actually, a bit of me rather fancies a smoothie, that naughty bad SW no-no - another time when I ignore the rules.
SW:  half a syn for the yogurt or, if I have a smoothie, also one and a half syns for 10g oats.  I do NOT syn fruit just because it has been blended, sorry.

L:  teriyaki chicken skewer, some sort of salad, maybe a warm one with edamame, sweet potato, etc; fruit

I was a bit bad and fell for these in Iceland.  I got two bags of the teriyaki ones and one bag of the satay ones (I think they are satay anyway, must check) - three for a tenner.

SW:  one and a half syns for the skewer

D:  sticky chicken pieces, a mix of med veg; yogurt

A PoN recipe and here's the link.

https://pinchofnom.com/recipes/air-fryer-sticky-chicken-nuggets/

However, I'm not making nuggets, just chicken chunks in the sticky sauce.

SW:  10ml ketchup is one syn, same of honey is two syns, and the rest seems to be speed or free.  Half a syn for a yogurt

Ex:  Groove class today

Summary:

no healthy extras today - ooops (unless I have a smoothie and there's some oats in that)

five and a half syns

What do I mean by low spend?

At the beginning of this year, as part of a de-cluttering thing, I did a detailed audit of all the food I had in cupboards, fridge and freezer and was somewhat horrified at how much stuff I had.
So I determined to make a huge effort to reduce it down and use it up with minimal waste.

January and February were no spend and low spend months respectively.  March is going to be another low spend month with just a few exceptions and, of course, all the essentials.  It has got to work with Slimming World.

'Essential' means  food such as fresh fruit, veg and dairy/eggs and other essentials including things like cleaning products and toiletries as needed.  A few other things will come up through the month but generally it is just real essentials as I see 'essential'.
Of course, all regular bills, direct debits, etc, will still be paid as usual - they are essential.

It's really helping in these difficult times.  I am still able to save a wodge of my income (which is all pensions now) as I have done since I retired, plus a bit more.  After all, at some point, I will have to start replacing things - just not yet.