I start the week so well and then slack towards the end of the week!

SHOPPING

I shopped on Friday afternoon. The shop was light on vegetables because I had lots left from last week, I was short on lots of staples and needed to start to re-up them. I also bought dried chickpeas which aren’t pictured, the total was £14.51

I also bought a bunch of baking supplies for baking for the Halloween Pumpkin Trail. Some of that will make its way into my usual cooking but I bought it so I could bake and sell the cakes so I’m not counting it in my weekly budget. I accept that it’s a bit of a fudge but so is the produce from the allotment, food that I buy for family lunches and alcohol that I don’t count. I’m very lucky that my £15 budget is a self imposed limit not an absolute one so sometimes there is a fudge so I can have a life. I’ve never claimed otherwise but I don’t want anyone to think that I’m claiming it’s all completely possible to do do everything on £15 a week, its a very interesting challenge for me but I can (and do) go outside it but it’s not how I have to live, which is a whole other thing. It’s good for me but not an example of how people with little money should or can live. I also don’t work out how much electricity I use or the cost of my cooking equipment or note that I have more time to cook because it’s just me, or that I work a 9 to 5 job so I’m not trying to work around difficult hours or have any health issues that make cooking as much as I do difficult.

I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m not a great example of how to live on a very limited budget, if these updates are helpful and make you think about food and cooking and budgets, great but don’t use them as a club to beat other people or yourself…

Anyway, baking stuff came to £8.87 and I didn’t take a photo of the eggs…

FOOD

On Saturday morning, I ate yoghurt and granola for breakfast. Saturday was a busy day and at about 2pm, I realised that I didn’t eat lunch so ate pasta with crispy sage leaves.I was at the allotment for the pumpkin trail. I ate a hot dog and a cake while I was there, I got home at 8pm-ish and was absolutely shattered, fortunately I wasn’t hungry because I was too tired for food.

On Sunday, I ate granola and yoghurt for breakfast. Ma came over for a quick trip to the allotments and lunch. We had tomatoes and pasta, my version of this.Monday was yoghurt and granola for breakfast. Lunch was chickpea soup and homemade bread.Dinner was a bit of a disaster. I came home and put some rice on to cook, then I went to do something in the living room. A bit later I smelt burning rice. Proof that I am my mother’s daughter! After I’d thrown the rice away and rescued the pan, I had a toasted cheese sandwich!On Tuesday, I had yoghurt and granola (don’t mess with it if it’s working!) and for lunch, courgette and mint soup with added roasted vegetables, half a sandwich and some raw vegetables. Dinner was rice with courgette caviar, black beans, roasted vegetables and cheese

Wednesday’s breakfast was an egg roll (the picture is from Friday morning!). Lunch was leftover rice and raw vegetables.There were work drinks after work and I also had a meeting about the allotment website that evening so dinner was a bottle of beer, some crisps and olives and a mini mars bar. Yeah, I know I’m setting records for sensible eating here!

If Wednesday night was bad, Thursday morning was worse. I was really busy at work and I had a coffee and started on what I needed to do and just got caught up. Then at about 1pm, was wondering why I was feeling off. So I ate my breakfast (egg roll and veg again). Dinner was sauted vegetables on toast (aubergine, courgette, onion and pepper)Friday was a repeat of Thursday for breakfast and rice for lunch. I was so busy on Friday, I didn’t eat dinner so no Friday night pizza!