Approved Food Mini Haul - October 2024

In my weekly blog post last week, I made reference to having placed an Approved Food order for the first time in months. For anyone who doesn't know anything about Approved Food, they are a company who sells mostly out of date products, although by no means everything is out of date. Some items have short dates, some long, some items are long out of date whilst others are only a month or two out of date, but mostly only a best before date as opposed to a use by date, so they can be still safely eaten way past the BBE date.

As I've already stated, I haven't placed an order in months, partly because many of the items they sell are things I don't eat anymore, i.e. crisps, chocolate, sweet treats, etc. so I've deliberately avoided placing orders as it creates temptation to have these kinds of foods in the house, especially whilst I've been trying to lose weight. Now, however, I'm more on maintenance and I do eat the odd treat here and there, but I still try to be careful and not eat really calorie dense foods, so I've tried to be careful what I've chosen to buy in this order to minimise temptations.

The reason I placed the order was that there were a few things that we use regularly or that would allow us to control our consumption more easily which you'll see as I go along on this post. So here's what I ordered with Xmas on the horizon and a very busy time at work expected over the next couple of months. Here goes:

These were the main offers that I was drawn to when I received an email from the company in my inbox. The box of 10 x 2 slice packets of Soreen fruit loaf was on offer at £1 for the box. These are great little items to take to work or travelling. When I'm working long days at work and need to take a packed lunch, they are great to pop into my lunch box as a sweet treat that isn't too calorific, containing only 150 calories per pack.

Similarly, the lotus Biscoff biscuits, which incidentally are packets of single biscuits like you get in a cafe with a coffee, and are another thing that I can take to work or limit my consumption by eating one biscuit at a time or maybe two. The biscuits themselves are 30 calories each, so again, they will be useful for work or just dunking in a cup of tea. I never buy biscuits, mainly because it's too easy to eat one after another until the packet is gone. 

I do admit that the plastic packaging is excessive on these, but surely it's better to use them than for them to be just tossed into landfill. I could even use them crushed as a crumble topping or to crumble into yoghurt or other desserts. This box contains 300 biscuits and also cost £1, which is totally insane, but it has been out of date for a very long time. I did try one as soon as the order came and they are only very slightly soft, but this doesn't bother me at all.

Talking of tea, these PG Tips Decaff teabags were a good deal too at £2.99 for 140 teabags. Branded teabags are so expensive these days, so to get some at a reasonable price really appealed. They are past their best before date, but I like my tea weak anyway, so I doubt that it will affect my enjoyment of a cuppa.

With Xmas on the horizon, I bought this Cadbury Yule Log for £2. It is not yet out of date, but will be by the time Xmas rolls around. It will still get eaten though. It's a bit indulgent, but if I eat thin slices it's not too bad and I do like a Yule Log at Xmas.

I also bought the Schweppes Bitter Lemon tonics for drinking with the odd glass of gin at Xmas. They are slimline and therefore full of sweeteners, but I doubt a couple of bottles will hurt. They cost 50p each. The SanPellegrino are also a purchase for Xmas as a treat. I look forward to drinking these. They are Pomegranite and orange flavoured and are only 68 calories per can. They cost £2 for the six cans.

Also with Xmas in mind, I bought some treat sized bags of Maltesers for £2.99. They tend to be a bit more expensive than this in the shops and I like to eat a small bag sometimes to treat myself. If I open a box or pouch, I'll eat the lot, so this way I can be a little more disciplined at 99 calories per bag. Also, I use them in my hand made advent calendar by putting a few Maltesers in some of the little homemade pouches I use for each day of the calendar. I'm thinking of doing this again this year. Otherwise, they can be taken to work in a packed lunch, or put in Xmas crackers or stockings as an extra treat, although I doubt they'll last that long.

Other food items included a couple of pouches of Tikka sauce at £1 each. We use these regularly and they were in date until sometime next year. The two multipacks of crisps at £1 each were also thrown in, as I buy these weekly for OH to eat. (I only eat lentil or corn snacks these days, so I rarely eat them) The mini apple pies are also mainly for OH, but I may eat the odd one at only 100 calories each pie. These cost £1.49 and were just a day out of date.

The final few items were toiletries, namely a Nivea shower gel for OH which was £1.25 (I use a bar of soap, so never use shower gel, but OH likes to use one) and the refill pouch of Carex hand wash, which I bought to bulk out the order. The handwash costing £2.50 didn't really work out cheaper than buying handwash elsewhere, but I like the idea of the pouch refill rather than buying two bottles and it is almost on a par with buying handwash at Poundland, which I often do.  The two small packs of cleansing wipes were a great handbag size and at only 39p each, I threw a couple into the order as they can be very convenient to have in your bag when you're out and about.

I ended up spending the minimum amount to place an order and with the £3 delivery charge, it came to £26 in total, which didn't break the bank. I'm pretty happy with what I ordered, I think I did okay, so let's just hope I can resist over-eating the biscuits. Wish me luck.