Making the Most of What You Buy

 

 

I'm still concentrating on using up the contents of the freezers and cupboards, so most of what I bought this week has been fresh items and things we had run out of, oh and a couple of treats for Lovely Hubby for while I'm away next week (the Shreddies and Nuts and Raisins).

 

I did quite well, the salady stuff that I bought to go with what we still have growing here was all so ridiculously cheap.  I guess it's not selling that well at the moment with the weather being so cold.

 

Here's what I bought.

 

 

2 Bottles of Sparkling Water - 34p

3 Bags of Onions - £2.50

1 bag of Potatoes - £2

An Iceberg Lettuce - 80p

2 Cucumbers - £1

Pack of 3 Peppers - £1

Pack of 8 Tomatoes - £1

Four Individual Sized Pizzas - £1.50

Block of Cheddar Cheese - £6.01

Pack of Honey Shreddies - £1

Bag of Jumbo Nuts and Raisins - £2

Bag of Cinnamon and Raisin Bagels - £1 (not pictured)

 

Total Spend £20.15

 

(The food you can see lurking in the background is from my Approved Food order received on Saturday, I'll post about that tomorrow.)



 

 

 

To make room for all the lovely fresh veggies I emptied my veggie drawers in the big fridge and chopped everything I had into chunky sized pieces.  These were roasted in the oven with herbs, garlic and oil and served for tea on Monday with Salmon fillets from the freezer and Cous Cous from an AF order last year.

 

The leftovers, and there were quite a lot, were already earmarked for my little bit of batch preparation yesterday.

 

 

 

Why did I buy those little pizzas you may be wondering?  Well they cost me not much more than making my own from scratch, they are simply a  medium thick pizza base with tomato paste and a sprinkling of cheese, they saved me some time and they meant that I could use some nice fresh toppings and leftovers to make them come to life easily and cheaply.

 

 

 

Firstly my cheese is always grated, it goes so much further that way.  The food processor is put into use for 5 minutes and the whole block is grated and loosely packed into freezer proof boxes.  It flows freely if you give it a shake a couple of hours after freezing and you know then that there is always cheese on hand for sandwiches, toppings for dishes, cheese on toast etc etc  It never goes stale on you and thaws within minutes of removing from the freezer in the portion size you want.

 

 

 

So out of the fridge I then pulled the veggie leftovers, some meatballs that Lovely Hubby enjoys and a pack of ham nearing it's sell by date.

 

 

 

The pizzas were placed in my open freezing trays on greaseproof paper, I use this quite a few times before it gets thrown away, this had the scones on it at weekend.

 

 

 

Then the toppings were added, a Meat Feast style pizza with Meatballs and Ham, a Meatball pizza and two Veggie pizzas (just in case there are any left when I get back from my holiday).

 

 

 

Sprinkled generously with cheese (about a £1s worth of my big block).

 

 

 

And then stacked, with the freezer stickers loose in the tray ready for wrapping and labelling when they are frozen.  Then they and the box of leftover cheese were popped into the chest freezer.

 

This morning they were individually wrapped, labelled and then placed in a large box to keep unsquashed and perfect until we need an all instant meal, or have the urge for a 'takeaway'.

 

So four pizzas that cost me about £1 each to make, including all the toppings and they are big enough to have either one each for a meal, or a half each with a jacket potato, salad or handful of chips.

 

Good tasting simply made food, that's a brilliant standby in the freezer. 

 

 

Even the Bagels have been split and frozen, this way you can just have half a Bagel whenever you fancy it and they don't go stale if you freeze them this way on the day you buy them.  No wastage at all.  Frozen they can be popped straight into the toaster (or under the grill) and take only seconds longer than if they were toasted from fresh.

 

 

 

The bag of Jumbo Nuts and Raisins that I bought was tipped into a bowl and added to.   Some Almonds, dried Goji Berries and the last of my jar of Cashew Nuts and then popped into a large jar to keep nice and fresh.  So now Lovely Hubby has a luxury nut mix for dipping into next week while I am away, just in case he gets the nibbles .... and he does!!  So much cheaper than actually buying a bag of 'Luxury Nut Mix' that are usually padded out with the cheaper nuts with just a couple of the big favourites.

 

I hope these examples of what I do with some of my shopping when I get it home give you some ideas or at the very least make you stop and think, 'I do that too', and give yourself a pat on the back for saving the pennies and pounds that would otherwise be spent on buying foods that someone else has prepared for you.  Where you are paying for the labour and not the quantity or quality of the foods.

 

Sue xx