March was obviously a bit of a different month for us with me being away for almost two weeks of it. But Lovely Hubby manfully worked his way through the meatier contents of the large chest freezer, sharing the spoils with Rosy, what a lucky little doggy she was!!
He also chomped away at the frozen veggies in stock and most of the salady stuff I had left for him. In my little holiday home I had filled the cupboards with a stash of foods taken from home and I bulked this out with some fresh purchases from local supermarkets, buying myself a few lovely treats with my own spends. Suky the overweight Pug was on a strict diet eating just her doggy 'lightweight' foods and only the merest tiny scraps of morsels from my plate. In two weeks away from home even with the reduced food and extra doggie walks she only managed to lose .3 of a kilo, not a lot but at least in the right direction.
So in the month of March, both at home and away we managed a total spend of just £67.
For more detailed infomation visit the stand alone page at the top of the Blog 'The £2 House Keeping Challenge for 2013 - Less Spending' or click HERE
Suddenly there is a lot more space in my little housekeeping money tin. In total in this last three months we have spent £176 pounds leaving just £304 in the tin. This means if we want to be able to survive the whole year on the cash left in the tin we have to pull the spending down to just over £101 a quarter, which means a monthly budget of around £33 or just over £8 a week. Is this possible?
To try and make it possible this week we are continuing to eat out of the freezers and use up the last of the fresh foods in the fridge, it's surprising how well some of the fresh items have lasted, it is now over two weeks since I went away leaving the fridge drawers full of salady and fruity type things for LH's consumption, I want to make sure now that I use up every last little bit before I venture out to the shops for a top up shop.
I'll post a picture of the foods when I do eventually have to cave in and shop!!
In the meantime this is what I'm aiming to use up over the next couple of days .....
... most importantly these fresh or in actual fact not quite so fresh, things.
How often do you use up every last little thing in the fridge before you venture out spending?
Sue xx
Great that you kept your spending so low for March!
ReplyDeleteWish we could manage that. We don't seem to use up EVERYTHING in the fridge often enough in this house! I'm trying to make more effort but at the moment we still seem to end up composting at least 2 veg items a week.
Well at least you compost them and don't simply chuck them in the bin :-)
DeleteTrue! But it's turning out to be expensive compost ;-)
Deletewe got "rid" of a lot of things over the weekend when we had everyone over for Easter, but I did end up throwing out two peppers which were soft and icky............I know not good, but thankfully that rarely happens.
ReplyDeleteI hope you achieve your goal, I know I couldn't do it.
Gill in Canada
I've just started reading your blog. What an interesting idea. I am so wasteful with food although our chickens are very pleased about this. I'm interested to see how your adventure pans out. It's very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteI try to use up every last bit in the fridge, but sometimes end up with something unidentifiable...mostly that happens when darling husband rearranges the refrigerator for me. (For some reason he thinks his favorites should always be on front and not actually what the cook uses the most. :-) )
ReplyDeleteJust about impossible to empty everything, fridge, freezer, cupboards down to nothing, unless you live next door to a 24 hour superstore.
ReplyDeleteMust admit to being over-stocked in most departments, I've got to learn to resist the yellow stickered bargains.
I tend to make 'fridge soup' using any veg thats past its best. Its differnt every time and can be frozen. You could also have a 'smoothie-athon' with the left over fruit. :o)
ReplyDeleteI really hate to waste any food whatsoever, it really upsets me. Obviously sometimes things do go off and they then get put in the food waste which is recycled by the council if it can't be composted so it is rare that anything is completely wasted.
ReplyDeleteSalad stuffs tend to get used up by the time the next weekly shop comes around and I use a salad spinner which keeps lettuce fresh and crisp in a bowl in the fridge for a week. Any vegetables that are getting a bit wrinkled and old I tend to chop up and cook in a stew or casserole or roast in the oven with some sausages.
I love your £2 housekeeping challenge. I admire your continued self-discipline in this regard and enjoy these update posts.
wow. I cant wait to see your shopping list for £8. when we are really cutting it fine and we want something super tasty, I make homemade naan from my flour stash and HFW's chickpea curry made with ketchup. it sounds bad but it is really nice. I am lucky though, there are lots of Asian supermarkets near me, and chick peas are between 33p and 45.
ReplyDeleteSoup and baking are my go to items for using things up that can't be frozen. Also stir fries, pasta sauces/toppings, veggies over rice, chef salads which can contain fruit, giant fruit salads, etc. can use up lots of things before they go bad. Looks like you are doing a good job.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point. Probably never.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing SOOOOOOOOOOOO WELL with this challenge. I honestly believe you'll be able to do it.
Sft x
Never! we live some way from any shops and if I did that and then one of us was ill, as we often are, we'd then be under too much pressure. as my husband works in a supermarket, we generally shop weekly and then he gets things as and when we need them (things not in stock when we shop, things reduced and things we forget!)
ReplyDeleteLike many others I will make a soup out of 'tired' vegetables lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Most things do actually get eaten up, I used to be quite bad with yogurt - I would buy it and then not really eat that much (we don't really have 'puddings') but more recently I have been buying greek yogurt which tastes lovely and seems to last well passed it's best before date. If there is the end of a loaf left I will have boiled egg and toast for breakfast - nothing better, and fills you up for the whole morning!! Looking forward to future progress reports - it will be easier once you start to harvest your own vegetables - if it ever warms up enought to be planted!!
ReplyDeleteI nearly always empty our fridge of fresh stuff before shopping - I hate wasting food. It helps that I only buy the exact amount needed for my menu plan.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm running down the fridge before our holiday and need to be very careful what I buy over the next few days.
PS. MUNCHIES!! Can we share them?
Noooooo....they are Lovely Hubby's guilty pleasure.
DeleteI have to let this pack sit there, the last pack he accidently left on the passenger seat while he nipped in the garage to pay for petrol on the way to join me on holiday, and Rosy, the Jack Russell ate half the pack. She never normally steals things but obviously Munchies are her guilty pleasure too!!
(She didn't suffer any health consequencies luckily, the high biscuit content must have helped....silly doggy!!)
We also empty everything before we shop. I don't think I could live on so little though for food. :)
ReplyDeleteOh those Munchies are calling out to me!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your ideas with a £33pm budget. We use up the contents of our fridge before our next shop too, with the leftovers often becoming my vegetable soup for the coming days lunches.
P.S - Lovely to see you back from your break