Thursday 15 August 2013

Stocked Up for Winter

 
It might be Austerity August but when an opportunity to get stocked up for Winter comes your way you simply have to take it.
 
The other day I got my usual daily email from Approved Foods and on it was a brilliant offer for cake mixes.  Now cake is not something I eat a lot of, honest .....  but Lovely Hubby is very partial to a nice slice of cake with his morning or afternoon coffee when he's been doing physical work on the land and who am I to deprive a man of obviously much needed sustenance.  He's also rather partial to a slice smothered in custard for his supper after a hard day at the office and then I'm usually quite happy to join him on that occasion.
 
 
And these were all on at a brilliant price.
 
I got 12 packs of Madera Cake Mix, 4 packs of Ginger Cake mix and 8 packs of Oaty Crumble mix all for just 25p each, a total of £5.50 for all these cakes and crumbles.  With our own eggs and using powdered milk and the only expensive thing I have to add is a spoonful of butter to each cake mix, which means we have 16 cakes that will come in at around 40p each.
 
 
As I have tipped all the Oaty Crumble mix into a tub in the freezer I can make many more than 8 crumbles with it, possibly up to 14 crumbles for two people I would say, we like our crumble thick on top of the homegrown fruit.  With nothing to add to that it means 14 nice crumbly desserts for two people for around 15p each.
 
 
I also got six boxes of Carrot Cake mix, which comes with everything you need for the cake and frosting, again I just need to add powdered milk, butter and eggs, these were also just 25p each (and still well in date).  So that's another six cakes for around 40p each.
 
 
I ordered three packs of shortbread for £1.20, I normally pay 50p each for something very similar from Sainsbury's, but I thought I would try these while the order was going in and there's still a small saving.

 
Some of LH's favourite salad dressing at 60p a jar. (Also in date until the end of the year.)

 
Enough tea bags to keep my man happy for at least eighteen months both at home and at work at just £3.49 a box  ...

 
... and enough Vegetable Bouillon Mix to keep us both happy in veggie friendly stews and soups for a lot longer, for just £1 for a 2.5kg tub.
 
 
Also, very unusually for me I was in the right place at the right time and they had some of their Lucky Boxes available, they have a hundred or so every now and then, you get about £5 worth of food for £1. 
 
Now when I was little I loved the Lucky Bags you used to get from the sweetie shop.  Never knowing what sweets or little gift you were going to get was a brilliant way to surprise yourself with your spends every now and then.  Obviously this mentality has stayed with me :-)  so I ordered one ...

 
... and was pleasantly surprised. 
 
 Lots of lovely goodies and well worth my £1 outlay.  Lovely Hubby's eyes lit up when he saw the jam tarts.  Everything was well within it's sell by date and fine to pop in the cupboard to use whenever we need them.  Luckily with our eating our way through the cupboards there is room for all the new purchases ... just!!
 
 

 
And following on from yesterdays 're-use, recycle and repurpose' mantra once I had unpacked all this lovely store cupboard stock I had some bubble wrap and nine cardboard boxes to use for our impending move, two large, six medium and one small.
 
And one bemused little Pug that was obviously wondering what on earth Mum was up to yet again!!
 

And I have to stand up and confess to buying a few little naughty treats, well it would have been rude not too!  The Yorkie was a freebie for ordering more than £25 worth of goods and the box full of Snickers Cruncher just could not be ignored at only £2.99, making them 12p each.  These have now been reduced again and are £1 for a case of 24 making them now only 4p each - WOW, I missed out on that one!! 
 
The Easter Eggs ..... well who can resist a cute chicken and cow with Easter eggs AND fillings for just 50p each - nope not me!!
 
Obviously with our juicing journey still being well and truly ON, these treats are to be rationed out and we have decided that cake and chocolate will only be consumed in moderation and only at weekends if we have worked hard enough to earn them.  So no dossing on the couch and munching our way through the cupboard :-)
 
I've temporarily moved the Approved Foods link to the top of the sidebar if you want to nip over and have a look at any of these goodies for yourself. 
#
To look at any of the pictures, especially if you want to read the prices on the invoice a bit more easily just click on the pictures and they should enlarge.
 
Now I'm off to pack up one of the boxes with some of the things that we have been buying for the new house with our Car Boot sale profits, I'll be back tomorrow to show you what we bought.
 
Sue xx
 



18 comments:

  1. I have often wondered about placing an order with approved foods. It does seem a good idea to stock up when you can.

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    1. I was being SO good and ignoring all the emails from them, but when this one came with LH's favourite cakes I just had to go for it. Sometimes it's worth biting the bullet and stocking up again, even with a house move round the corner, after all what will be better during a break from decorating the new place than sitting down with a mug of coffee and a slice of cake!!

      Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :-)

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  2. What a bargain shopper you are. Im not sure if we have something similar here. The online shopping for our major supermarkets is way more expensive than actually going there. Its just convenient for those housebound or short of time.

    PS. Sounds like you are having fun being austere!

    Cheers from Down Under.

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    Replies
    1. It IS fun if you get in that mind-set isn't it, I mean austere needn't mean having nothing, it can also mean making the most of what you have, and in this case it was room in the cupboards and money in my Approved Foods account :-)

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  3. Wow... I sure live in the wrong country!

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    1. Do you have nothing similar? This company is doing really well since the downturn in our economy and I'm really pleased for them ...and for me obviously :-)

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  4. Great buys! We don't have anything similar in my part of the US but I have been learning to make my own mixes from staples. Keeping them on hand seems to make for less of the statement "there is nothing to snack on."

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    1. Having a mix ready to hand does make it so much easier to actually get on and bake when there's little time doesn't it. Sometimes it's the thought of all the weighing and preparation that puts me off.

      I really must stop being such a lazy oink!!

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  5. I ordered last week and got the boillion mix, crumble,madiera cake, cupcake mix,whoopie pie mix to name just a few items:-)

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    1. These are just too good a bargain to let pass aren't they, knowing that we are soon to need warming and comforting foods to see us through another Winter.

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  6. Nice haul! My next order is due tomorrow, I just couldn't resist the bread flour and then added a copy of Marco Pierre Whites Great British Feast Book into my order, so I'm looking forward to thumbing through that at the weekend. :)

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    Replies
    1. Wow, funny you should say that I was almost tempted to buy that, at £2.99 it seemed like a real bargain, maybe I'll get it next time I order if it's still available.

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  7. You certainly got some bargains there Sue! I think Approved Foods would be a great place to start for a celebration of some kind, you could feed many people cheaply.

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  8. It's great that you have room to store all of that!

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  9. I'd just completed my recent order & then I received the email about the easter eggs the next again day. Hmph! Altho' maybe it's just as well I missed that one as the 4 of us would probably be fighting over the chocolate!:) I've always wondered what type of items you'd get in a lucky box so it's good to see your one here.

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  10. Hi Sue,

    Blimey, it must be in the water! Mum and I placed our order today! We got Vegetable Bouillon Mix too! Some storecupboard items and bits for our Cornwall holiday too.

    Sft x

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  11. Like the sound of the lucky box x

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  12. I had an order delivered last week and have stocked up with 60 cans tuna for 50p a can. I also got 400g jars of Hellman's Light Mayo at 60p a jar, 4 x 3 kg bags of white bread flour at 50p a bag (equivalent of 25p for the usual 1.5kg bag), several jars chicken casserole and also bake mixes and sauces, 2 x 10 packs of hotdogs for 50p, plus extras such as a can opener for 99p and curtain and cup hooks at 5 packs for £1. I love Approved Food for stocking up on basics but I do now try and only buy stuff I know we'll use and not get tempted into buying junk food.

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