Getting to the Month End

It's that  time of the month again, when money in the bank starts to dwindle and I have to start taking slightly more frugal measures in the shopping and cooking department.  I have been looking around the kitchen, in the cupboards, fridge and freezer today to see what there is and see what I can use up instead of spending money.  There's quite a bit of meat in the freezer, well some mince, chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, sausage meat, quorn mince and frozen fish - so quite a lot really I guess.  Likewise, the cupboards have lots of dry or tinned goods in them that can be used, so really it's only fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy and bakery products that need to be bought for the remaining 10 days of this month.

After doing most of the weekly shop yesterday morning, I decided to write a meal plan to guide me carefully through the next week or so and facilitate using up as much as I can from the freezer.  With holiday time approaching, I don't like to leave the freezer full of food as sometimes we have had power cuts and all meats have been rendered inedible, so I like to leave as empty a fridge and freezer as I can before we head off on our holidays.  I might even manage to clear it enough to defrost it before I go too, which would be a bonus.

I've more or less given up on the Fasting diet, finding it too awkward to cook something different for myself on my fasting days, so without this restriction it does make life slightly easier in terms of meal planning and cooking.

So far, I'm planning on a Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice, Bacon and Bean Casserole with dumplings, Shepherd's Pie,  Chicken Tikka Masala with Rice and naan bread, Quorn Bolognese with pasta, Baked fish with New Potatoes and vegetables, Roasted chicken drumsticks with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings and vegetables, Baked New Potatoes with baked beans and cheese and Omlettes with salad, which should  hopefully see us through to the month end.  I will have to cook alternatives for my daughter in the case of some of these meals though.  Lunches will be salads and sandwiches most days and puddings will be fruit, ice lollies, yoghurt or small individual homemade rhubarb crumbles with custard.

With the meal planning sorted, I needed to think about what I still need to buy and where's best to buy it from.  Fortunately,  I happen to have several vouchers at the moment to use at a couple of the big supermarkets, namely Tesco and Morrisons.  These can be a life saver at this time of the month.

The trouble is, the Tesco vouchers are offering £4 off £40 spent, but I'm hoping not to spend as much as that, so I think it will have to be Morrisons, who are offering £3 off £20 spent, which sounds ideal.  With no packed lunches from the middle of this week certain things can be left off the list saving more money.  By shopping carefully and using vouchers I think that I should just about manage and still be able to buy a couple of bits of school uniform from the school before they close for the summer holidays, although the first week of the summer holidays will have to consist of very inexpensive activities.  I'll do a post on my take on this in the very near future.

Although I don't like to feel like I've got little money to spend at the end of the month, it does make me think a bit more creatively about outings and meals and utilise the things in my cupboard and freezer that I might not otherwise.