The final decision was made as I was finishing off my weekly shop in Asda this morning. I was stood behind a girl in the queue who had mainly smart price items in her basket and I wondered if she was taking part, but didn't dare ask her. Having noticed as I'd gone round the store, a few items I could get cheaply I started to think that maybe it would be possible to do it myself. I paid for the few things I had bought and went out to the car. I sat and did a few calculations and thought of a few meals I could try to make for the 5 days of the challenge then headed back into the store.
It took me another hour of putting things in my basket, recalculating the total and then taking things out again, to whittle it down to bare essentials. It was incredibly hard and I am a pretty canny shopper. An hour later I was at the self service till still not quite sure if I'd spent too much but ready to put an item or two back if I had to. I had earlier in the day bought a tin of kidney beans for 21p at Lidl and needed to allow for this in the total at the till.
So here's my haul. It was mainly smart price items, but I'm hoping that they won't taste too bad when it comes down to it.
80 Smart Price Tea Bags 27p
1 Pint Semi Skimmed Milk 49p
1 Smart Price Loaf Brown Bread 47p
Asda Sunflower Lighter Spread 500g 50p
Smart Price Ham & Beef Paste 75g 32p
Smart Price Passata 500g 29p
Smart Price 12 Thick Sausages 681g 84p
Smart Price Tinned New Potatoes 550g 14p
Lidl Tinned Red Kidney Beans 420g 21p
Smart Price Tinned Garden Peas in Water 300g 20p
2 Red Onions 20p
1 Carrot 12p
Smart Price Spaghetti 500g 19p
Smart Price Ground Black Pepper 25g 20p
Smart Price Tinned Rice Pudding 400g 15p
Smart Price Low Fat Yoghurts x 4 33p
Total Spent £4.92
I realise that I am a bit late starting the challenge as I started at lunchtime due to my late and last minute decision, but as a consequence I intend to finish at lunchtime on Saturday. My two crumpets and tea for breakfast plus an orange after my Zumba class should strictly be included, but I'm afraid this is the best I can do.
I am doing the challenge on my own as my daughter requires a high fibre diet which would be more difficult to achieve within budget and my partner finds the whole thing bizarre, so they will be carrying on with their normal diets and I will just have to cook several things each evening, but for a week only it shouldn't be too bad.
When I got home I immediately set about my lunch which was a ham and beef paste sandwich in two slices of brown bread and a cup of tea with milk. I'm already feeling a bit deprived as I usually have a huge salad. I was shocked at how little fruit and vegetables I could afford on this challenge. Probably as a result of deciding to buy some meat in the form of sausages and have puddings with my evening meal i.e. yoghurts and rice pudding. Tinned vegetables seemed far cheaper than spending nearly a fifth of the budget on frozen veg. I might regret some of my decisions by the end of the week. It doesn't really help that I bought my food after having done my usual weekly shop and the house is now full of lots of nice things to eat that I can't indulge in.
I am feeling a little apprehensive, as I haven't dieted or restricted my food intake for a long time now and am hoping that I aren't going to feel hungry too much or get bored of the food I make. Tonight, as I am taking my daughter to her trampolining lesson, I am intending a quick tea of sausages, peas and new potatoes when I get back as it will be late, followed by rice pudding. I will be doing my second exercise class of the day and will need to refuel afterwards.
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