Since the news last Friday that James was no longer employed, we have been trying to make sure that his gardening leave money goes as far as it can. Hopefully this way we can make sure that he has as long as possible to find a new job and make it the right one.
With this in mind our rare trip to the supermarket had a very careful budget of £50 to get everything we needed for the 3 of us, to top up our veg and fish boxes.
I have always been keen (perhaps overly) on reduced shopping, as there are normally at least a few good bargains to be had that allow the little treats to sneak into the shopping basket without splurging too much. Today was back to the reduced chiller to find some meat to fill the freezer with for the week and I kept a keen eye out for the red stickers all the way round. Buying British and on a very strict budget is not, I will admit, very easy.
We were careful to get the things we needed for the week and nothing more. We tried also to make sure that where there were offers to be had that we got them. One of the things we tried to do was to see where we could add value. For instance, we now have a hunk of gammon sitting in the fridge waiting to get turned into honey roast ham. Ham for sandwiches is pretty costly when both boys are such big ham fans. We have, as you will know, been really missing tinned tomatoes and so with the break in the weather we were very excited to see loose British tomatoes on sale. Not only that but at £2 a kilo it gives us the opportunity to preserve them possibly either as a passata or simply skinned and chopped. This opens up a world of sauces that have been rather closed off up to now the prospect of which is very very exciting!
We will let you know how the ham and tomatoes turn out and if you have any great money saving tips please share, as they say ‘every little helps!’
– Emily
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