No extra spending in November

 Hey Ho! Here we go again!

At the beginning of the last lockdown, I tried really hard to support friends in the craft industry. If I just spent a tenner with them, it was a help.

This time, I've got more than enough fabric and craft supplies to last me, so I'm going to try and focus on food spending.  Which can get way out of hand!

The basics. I rarely go to supermarkets; I didn't like shopping before all this, now I avoid it wherever possible - helped greatly with lots of delivery services.

I have a regular fortnightly veg/fruit delivery from  Riverford, which supplements the stuff in the fridge/cupboard, and ends up as soup.

Every 4th week, I add meat to this order. I get mince (450g) , chicken breasts and a joint. The mince gets made into about 8 chilli/spag bol type meals, and I get about 4 meals out of the joint, so that basically keeps me going for ages as I don't eat meat at every meal.

I top this up with milk, and the rest is store cupboard stuff, which occasionally gets updated with a Tesco order.

And I get treats from either LIDS Liverpool or Delifonseca who also do a great basics box, with eggs, milk etc.

I also walk to my local shops, or to the grocers in Aigburth Vale Bread Shop Bakery

What's in the freezer?

Quite a bit of chicken

Salmon - from the fish van at the market £5 for a side.

Some frozen mince things.

Soup

Bread

generic 'white fish' - rescued from my son's freezer, as his girlfriend bought it and she isn't living there now.

Prawns, both fresh and cooked.

Frozen veg and frozen fruit.

And that's without actually looking! I'll work it out.

So how's it gone so far?

Not bad - mainly because I've got store cupboard staples. I'd get really bored with rice and lentils, but I wouldn't actually starve!

 Riverford order arrived on the 4th  - it had in it a spaghetti squash, which I've no idea what to do with, so it will probably just get roasted and chucked into soup, along with the carrots and some random veg.

The market is now closed, but there were a few vans there on Friday, so I spent £3 on salad/veg and a couple of quid in the bread shop.

Friday night, I gave in and had fish'n'chips but hey ho! Who cares?

Made bread on Sunday - not sure what went wrong, but it was solid as a rock. Used the breadmaker, so it's hard to judge. I've checked the yeast, and it's definitely active, so I'm stumped.

Spending so far £12.50

I need to get dried fruit to make Christmas cakes, and I won't buy 'economy' versions of that, you definitely get what you pay for!

I've taken a curry out of the freezer, so that's tea for the next two nights, and I'll either make flatbread, or use some rice.