Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who read and responded to my last post. Your sympathy, empathy and practical suggestions went a long way to helping us feel a bit better. We have not given up but will explore every avenue down the painkilling route for G. Thank you!
Now... gosh... April 1st.... I can hardly believe that a quarter of the year has gone already. This month we both need sight tests and probably new glasses as well so we are still on a mission to squeeze the food budget down and down. We delayed the food delivery until today so that it would be a new month. By careful planning, including ordering a big bag of frozen chunky cod instead of meat, I kept the order down to the minimum we could get away with. ....
The protein bars you can see at the bottom of the order were a substitute and at £2 for just 3 bars 😱 they were sent back. My big tub of yogurt had split (all over some of the shopping!) so that was refused as well, which is where the refund comes from. Total, therefore, £41.10 so far. I intend keeping track again this month and have set a lower budget of £200 for April. We seem to be saving a fair bit by G eating fish instead of his thrice- weekly meat, as well as eating veggie meals on a regular basis too. Nothing is being wasted. G used to take a bottle of energy drink to work on Saturday and Sunday now he takes squash in a re-useable bottle, thus saving £1.50 per week as well as reducing single use plastic. He always takes a packed lunch.
For tomorrow I have made a list of 'things to do' whilst I'm on my own including:
Defrost the freezer in the fridge/freezer in the kitchen (as there is a build up of ice after only 6 months)
Wash a load of towels (hoping for a dry day but I expect to have to use the tumble dryer)
Finish the basket of ironing ( a job I hate 👀)
Design some more cards for the Hospice CS
Look for more things to sell on fleabay. We need new glasses!
Things I am grateful for:
- Kind people who will always offer comfort if they can
- Food delivery services so that we don't have to struggle
- A garage freezer to make defrosting the kitchen one a doddle
- Having a warm, safe place to live
Thanks so much for popping in and please be safe wherever in the world you happen to be x
April Food Budget: £41.10/£200.00
Oh gosh, I bet that yogurt made a mess 🙁
ReplyDeleteKeeping the freezer as ice-free and as full of food as possible is a good way to keep the running costs down for sure. We'll all be using every tip at our disposal this year won't we.
Absolutely right, Sue, it's never been more important.
DeleteYes, the yogurt was everywhere! Luckily it was mostly milk bottles and tins so I could wash it off.
Cereal bars are one of those mysterious things that I don't understand at all! at that price I won't be trying them to find out more.
ReplyDeleteGood luck for April spending.
I buy the Fibre One bars when they are on offer at 5 for £1.25 because they are like small cakes yet contain 6g of fibre each and only about 90 calories. They help with my IBS so are well worth the offer price.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your good luck wishes 🍀😁👍
That is so interesting that buying fish instead of meat is helping to keep the spending low; over here, fish is often, if not usually, more expensive than meat!
ReplyDeleteWishing you well with keeping to a low budget in April, too.
Fresh fish is very expensive here too, Bless, but a 360g bag of frozen skinless and boneless cod costs just £3.50 and will stretch to 3 meals for 2. 250g of frozen prawns (small prawns) are £2.50 and a few can be added to fish pie to bulk out the cod. Two small fresh salmon fillets can be bought for £3.50 too so G only gets steak once in a while as a treat! Fish certainly works out cheaper and I use Quorn instead of meat in a curry. He's getting used to eating in a different way ;)
DeleteThank you for explaining it, PP. :)
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