Technically, my January budget for food started in December because I go payday to payday and work out how much money I have for the month from there. It’s going to be five weeks until my next payday so the total for the month is £75. January is a miserable month because Christmas is over and its dark and horrible, it doesn’t help that everyone is on a health kick or going dry for January, no-one has any money and nothing is happening. So the 5 people I know with January birthdays do suffer a bit!

However, the upside for me is that the first couple of weeks of January are usually filled with leftover Christmas food especially, cheese, cake and potatoes. So it’s a weird limbo-ish time all round..

After Christmas Day’s feast, we were out for the Kenny Boxing Day drinks. Breakfast on Boxing Day was the traditional post Christmas breakfast of champions, cold roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.

In the evening we worked on the cheese mountain….On Sunday we were in Watford with the family. And spag bol was cooked by Ben, which was lovely…

Ma went home on Monday morning, and although I sent her home with food, my fridge was full. In fairness, I don’t think that Ma and I bought a massive amount for Christmas and we didn’t eat loads more than usual but it did feel like a lot. I was ready to get back to normal.  I did shopping on Tuesday

 My plan was to make granola and use up the leftovers.I checked the cupboards before I shopped and discovered that I didn’t need the peanut butter for the granola because I already had some.

I spent £14.91.

I made a salmon and potato tart, which used up pastry, salmon, some of the potatoes, and all of the cream, which I consider to be efficient leftover usage. Ma, Sarah and I had it for lunch, with enough leftover to do me for a lunch later on. New Year’s Eve is for me a very traditional affair, I eat steak and salad and drink fizz, the only change this year was the addition of chips because I had potatoes in the house for the next planned meal.

Cottage pie with the leftover beef. This was a first, I have never used cooked beef in a cottage pie before (there’s never been enough beef left). I used Delia’s recipe as a rough guide and was impressed with it. I like dinner on New Year’s Day to feel like it’s setting a theme for the year, so making dinner out of the leftover Christmas roast felt appropriate for the first meal of 2016, zero waste, frugal and delicious!