The menu thus far

I made pasta bake on Monday. We had the pasta and sauce, and when I checked the fridge we had a bunch of veg which I'd mostly bought reduced so needed using, and so that's what I did. I also had some reduced blocks of cheese which cost around 19p each and a packet of mince I'd got for 60p, so all in all I was able to make LOTS and lots. In fact we had it for dinner Monday and Tuesday, and I'll probably eat the final leftovers for lunch today.

Not sure what we'll have this evening. Acutally, we'll probably eat at my in laws. Menard is going there after work to do some painting, and I'll take Sophia over for them to look after while I'm out tutoring. So hopefully they'll feed us and I won't have to russle anything up when we get home at 7pm.

We have plenty of options for the rest of the week, so I'm confident we can 'eat what we've got' all week, maybe even longer.

Eat what you've got week

I've been thinking. Which is always dangerous. But anyway, inspired partly by this blog, partly by the fact I've officially resigned from my job to be a full time mummy but my maternity pay is now over, and partly by the fact that they're just really full, I've decided that this week needs to be 'Eat out of the store cupboard' week.
I've actually been doing this with my freezer for a couple of weeks, because it had got very full of sausages and pies. We've used up all the sausages, but have a couple more meals worth of pie, and we also have various other oddments in there, including 24 doughnuts (part of operation doughnut, which may or may not be explained in another post). But in the tin cupboard I have a whole wealth of variety. Well, I think I do, I haven't actually looked at what's in there, but I will in a bit and list it here. I know that we have 8 tins of baked beans which won't even fit in the cupboard. To Menard beans means Heinz, so I tend to stock up on those when I find them on offer, which I did last week.

I'm pretty sure, from memory, that I have a bunch of soup, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, tuna (yucky stuff, but maybe I can persuade Menard to eat it), rice, pasta, pasta sauce, olives, and probably some other things. I reckon we can make some exciting meals out of that. I also have flour, sugar, and other things that you might use for baking, various dried fruit, and some baby food (which I've been buying when I have coupons and will use when we're away on a church conference and not able to make my own baby food).
In the fridge I've got some vegetables, but again I'm not totally sure what. I know I have a lot of cheese. I really do need to sit down and make a list. I can tell you that the fruit bowl had a couple of bananas, about three kiwi fruit, maybe 5 apples and some little orange things (bought reduced and were labelled as 'easy pealers' so I wouldn't like to say what exactly they are). I'll do a proper survey, work out what I might need to purchase to make it through the week (most likely for making baby food, since I know I need to whip up a bunch of that) and get it this morning. And then I'm on my own, or on my own with the cupboards. I'll let you know what interesting meals we end up with.
I actually didn't have as many tins as I thought I did, although I guess it's still a lot. Here follows a list, so feel free to stop reading now.
Soup
Mushroom (I don't actually like mushroom soup, but it got bought once by someone else who lives in this house, so I guess it will be used at some point)
Spring Vegetables
Chicken and Vegetables

Beans
Kidney
Sweetcorn x2
Chickpeas
Cannelloni x2
Baked beans x8!

Tomatoes
Plum tomatoes x2 (ok, methinks I may have to buy some more of these)
Tomato and garlic pureePasta bake sauce x2

Meat/Fish
Red salmon
Tuna x2
Sardines

Carbs
Boil in bag rice (one sachet left)
Rice
Pasta
Spaghetti
Couscous
Lasagna sheetsRice noodles

Other
Peanuts
Pine Nuts
Raisins
sultanas
Dried Apricots
Dried Apple rings
Baby food
Packet to make rocky road
Bar of chocolate
Lots of herbs/spices/condiments
Oats

And some other random bits and bobs that may or may not get used.

*slinks in quietly and hopes noone realises how long I've been away*

There are many posts that ought to have been written, and now I don't know where to start. Sophia is 7 months old now, the reduced experiment is going well, and I have lots of other random thoughts that I might have blogged about had I had them in the past!

I'm addicted to shopping reduced. I've definitely saved money, and although I generally buy fruit, veg, bread meat and tins, I've also found laundry detergent, toilet paper, washing up liquid, chocolate and other staples of life. My freezer is full of meat and bread, my cupboards are full of tins and packets, and our bellies are full of yummy food. I'd say that my method of shopping is probably changed to shopping this way at the present as I have the flexibility of popping in to Morrisons as and when I'm near there (since I'm at home with Sophia rather than being out at work). I'm getting to know the guy who does the second reductions at the chill cabinet 'reduced to clear' section - and he's willing to let me pick what I want and he'll reduce those things next. (I possibly need to find a new hobby, as last week I think I was in Morrisons about 4 days in a row!)

Sophia's well stuck in to 'solid' foods. I don't know why it's called that as it's still mostly pureed or mashed. I gave her a dried apple ring this morning and unlike most other things, it only made it into her mouth once or twice! I think it got a few licks, and although she quite liked holding it and waving it around, it got a bit fluffy so I decided to remove it to the bin.

"if you don't need it, it's not a bargain"

The experiment is going well, according to my figures I spent £16 on food, which if I'd bought it at original price would have been £22 more. Yes, that's a saving of £22! Of course it helps that I started with a near empty freezer, which is probably now more than half full.

I liked what Kathleen said in her comment so much that I used it as the title for this post. Yesterday I popped into Morrisons as I'd been to the doctors which is very close by (as an aside I'll say that I'm trying to combine my supermarket trips with other errands, since it's no good saving money on food if I'm wasting it on fuel!). One of the fridge area reduced sections was absolutely crammed with stuff, and yet I only left the shop with five things. That's because there always seem to be a lot of microwave meals and that type of convenience food, and I refuse to buy those even at reduced prices. Personally I'd say that shepherd's pie or toad in the hole will taste ten times better made from scratch, and they'll probably still cost less than the reduced microwave-able version. (Especially if I use mince or sausages which I'd bought at a reduced price!)

Actually, there is one exception to this rule - I did pick up two 'meal bags for one' yesterday - it's the equivalent of a takeaway curry meal in a bag, with curry, rice and poppadoms. You can freeze them, which I did, and we'll be able to get them out at a time when we fancy a night off cooking. And they were reduced to 99p each, so I don't think that's bad!

I think I also have high expectations of the reductions on certain items. What happens is that there's one reduction done in the morning, once they discover that an item hasn't sold and today is the sell by date. Later on in the day further reductions are made. Yesterday as I stood by the fridges there was a guy doing all the second reductions on that area. That meant I could select what I wanted and pass it to him to be reduced further. They sell things like stuffed peppers or vegetables prepared for roasting - all you have to do is remove the foil and stick them in the oven. Usually these retail at £2, but even with a first, and possibly second reduction, I'm unlikely to buy them. These are the bargains you'll occasionally find at the end of the day, marked down to 19p a packet. And that's when I'll happily stock up!

(I'm suddenly aware that this post is either interesting or frightfully boring. If you're finding it boring feel free to pass on reading it, and come back when I post Sophia pics or something like that!)

The great 'reduced' experiment

I'm a canny shopper, I love my deals. I think I partly learnt this from my mum, and partly I just love maths and working out price per 100g or whether the bigger or smaller packet works out better value. I remember a time when petrol was 49.9p per litre, and watching with my mum to look out for which petrol station sold it cheapest, and what if you took into account store points and things like that. Well now petrol is reaching record highs of around 120p per litre, and I now have my own family and household to run.

I was in Morrisons* yesterday picking up some bits and pieces and ended up with a basket that was made up either of reduced items or 'value' product. And I idly wondered to myself whether it would be possible to only buy reduced or value products. Later in the day this lead to an idea, and now the idea is in practice. I want to try for the next couple of weeks to live off my store cupboard and things I buy from the reduced section, or the value brand, or a few exceptions, buy fresh.

For example, yesterday I bought two packets of mixed berries which were originally £3 a packet, reduced to 49p each. The fruit inside was still good, they'd merely reached the day of their 'sell by' date and needed to either be shifted from the shelves, or thrown away. Since we now have a freezer in our new flat I can purchase things like bread or meat products on their 'sell by' date at a reduced price, and safely use them a few days or weeks later. (I like the sound of that!)

Morrisons also has a reduced section for non-perishable goods such as tins. Yesterday I found a tin of tomatoes well within date (by more than a year) that was reduced to 19p because it was dented. I was quite happy to buy it as dents don't bother me.

So, my experiment is as follows - for the next couple of weeks or so (depending on how it goes and whether my husband gets sick of it!) I plan to only buy things which are reduced, or from the value range. The exceptions to this rule are milk, things for the baby (like formula, and potentially fresher veg) and possibly yoghurts for my husband! I know that currently we are stocked with toiletries like deodorant and toothpaste and also things like cleaning products and washing detergent, so I am not including those in the experiment.

There are several things I like about this personal challenge. Firstly the excitement of not knowing exactly what I'll be buying. I am entirely at the hands of the supermarket! I'll make sure that we get fruit and vegetables in our diet, so if I have to buy unreduced, I will. Secondly I think it will be good for me to stop and think about exactly what I'm spending. I'm putting it all in a spreadsheet (yeah, I'm a geek) and categorising what I buy (fruit, veg, bread, meat...) including a section for 'splash' - something that was reduced, but wasn't necessarily an essential.
Thirdly, I'm hoping it will be good for my diet - I'm less likely to just grab a chocolate bar to add to basket if I'm looking for bargains and trying to be canny in how I shop. Finally, I'm hoping it will save a bit of money, because after all, who couldn't do with saving a bit in the current climate!


(*Morrisons is one of the cheaper supermarkets, and their store own branded products are called 'value', whereas in somewhere like Asda they're 'smartprice'. Just a bit of clarification for any of my readers across the pond!)