Before I go onto the dinner for tonight...
Earlier today, our local shopkeeper sent
this box down to me.
Not the nicest of presents, you might think.
But he knows I make Banana Loaves and Banana Muffins.
So, not wanting to disappoint, that's what I did.
Some muffins, and...
...a couple of Banana Loaves.
I'll take one of these loaves to the shop for him tomorrow.
That way we're both happy!
Anyway, back to dinner...
Tonight was a bit of a mish-mash.
Scotch Broth - yep, you guessed it - our own veg!
Mackerel and potatoes - I wasn't expecting to have this fresh mackerel, but one of my brothers-in-law caught some last night, and he gave some to us today.
For pudding, we had banana muffins, toffee sauce and ice-cream
One for me...
...two for you-know-who
Clearly, whilst we may be counting the pennies, we're certainly not counting the calories!
Love banana muffins/banana bread. If you don't have time to use them, apparently you can freeze black bananas (minus skin) to use later in baking.
ReplyDeleteRe saving money on food - one thing that really helps me is shopping online, it gets rid of any impulse buys and means that we have more or less the same basics each week.
Also, we are blessed to live next door (almost) to a supermarket and if one of us nips out around 6pm we can get a lot of food 75% off (cos it has to be eaten in the next 12 - 24 hrs) .
Not always the kind of foods we'd eat (means I have to get inventive sometimes when making family meals) but with six teenagers there is very little food that won't get eaten pretty fast in this house!
Our shopping habits have changed; back in 1997 when we had our sixth child, we used to go to Sainsburys once a week (in the evening) and could easily spend £150 on food and household materials, toilet roll, cleaning materials, etc.
Now, I shop online (Tesco) and we pick up some things (cleaning materials, flour, sugar, and a few other basics) from Lidl.
Our family size has doubled, and the older ones can eat for England (lol or for America if it came to that); but nonetheless, our food / household necessities bill is only around £200 a week.
That's not bad considering. Back then, I just picked up what I fancied, what was quick and simple and never looked at prices.
Now, I buy the same staples every week, and we supplement them with the bits and pieces we get on special offer or reduced locally.
And now and again we stock up at Iceland, their frozen food is really very cheap.
I'm no great cook and my children are not fussy eaters (nor is dh), which makes it easier.
Interesting to follow what you buy/cook each day for a week. Might try to post the same if I had time. .
That's interesting H - we also live next door to a supermarket, although they are not so generous with their % off, although one saturday night we picked up 3 pork joints for 10p each!! I think I would save so so much with online shopping, sadly we are still patiently awaiting anything of the sort to happen here!!
ReplyDeleteAnne - lovely treat to have all those bananas given to you!! Did you notice you had 3 FREE courses tonight, how lovely!! Hope you enjoyed the fresh mackeral, we had some a few weeks ago, was lovely!
It was amazing to have so many 'freebies' in that meal. I do think I'm gonna have to ask the shopkeeper to supply the eggs and butter next time he supplies the bananas, though!
ReplyDeleteWe've cut our bills hugely over the past year. Our own veg saved us on average £30-£40 every week for about 6 months of last year. But even in general, just by better planning, and lest waste, I've saved. Our average weekly bill though is still about £180. Apart from the 'veg saving', I just can't seem to get it any lower.
It is, though, definitely more expensive to shop here on the island. Much more so.
....A
Is that because you mean we don't have Iceland/cheaper shops you think it might be more expensive? Or we don't get so many reduced offers etc?
ReplyDeleteI think it is definitely more expensive to live on an island - fewer choice of shops/less price competition; and the cost of transporting food must make the prices higher.
ReplyDeleteHx
We definitely do have fewer choices of shops - we only have co-op & Tesco for main shopping... but we are not penalised by transportation costs, the prices are the same here as on the mainland in those shops.
ReplyDeletewww.mysupermarket.com is good for checking what offers are on when making out a menu as well, I always check that while making up my list.
I have never seen a "liner" for a loaf pan. Muffins and cupcakes, yes, a whole loaf, no ? ? ? Very interesting :)!!! By island do you mean Scotland, or an island off the coast of Scotland???
ReplyDeleteThe loaf liners are great. When I was growing up, my mum never had them - only the muffin ones. they're so handy though, and it keeps the loaf nice and neat in the freezer, or wherever...
ReplyDeleteBy 'an island', I mean, we live on a small island off the west coast of Scotland - the most northerly island of the Outer Hebrides, or Western Isles (not to be confused with the Northern Isles, which are the Orkneys and the Shetlands). Confused?? You will be!
Lovely to meet you
Love, Anne x