Round Up and a Carcass for £2.00

62p, a squash and 2 Cauli's to spare!

Well we did it, we completed our first week with 62p and some vegetables to spare. I have to admit that, had posted a couple of days ago I would have said that it was not going to happen and we were going to have to dig into next weeks budget.

So what saved the week? 

In short, I was struck down on Thursday evening with a vomiting virus. 

Unable to eat anything myself, or cook for the family our costs plummeted! As I wasn't baking there wasn't even a dry crust in the bread bin so Marcus made do with handfuls of seeds, some fruit from the fruit bowl and a leftover moussaka from the freezer. The girls fared far better, thanks to my lovely friend Annie who fed and entertained them while I hung out in the loo!

Obviously this is not a method that I can, or want to, employ for the forthcoming week so the next seven days will provide a much more realistic view of managing on a budget of £80. I am also aware that my store cupboard items such as olive oil, dried fruit and sugar need replenishing, costs that I didn't have last week.

Shelford Farmers Market Meat Spend £15.85 

Mixed Game Sausages £5.50, Chicken Carcass £2.00, Ham Hocks £3.20 each, Bacon £2.45

  

I am starting the second week with a slightly larger spend on meat than last week but at least £5.50 of  that (for the mixed game sausages) will be going into the following weeks meal plan. They were purchased in a moment of madness when the wonderful lady from the Radwinter Wild Game Company  http://www.radwinterwildgame.com, plied me with sausage tasters! Despite them not being part of my weekly meal plan they really were to delicious to pass up so I made an "advance purchase". 

My most exciting purchase was a free range chicken carcass for just £2.00 from the Hawthorn Farm stall. There is a really good amount of meat still on the bones so I intend to use it for a casserole on Thursday. I have bought them in the past and used them for soup but needs must and I do believe that with plenty of vegetables (and some lentils!) their will be plenty for everyone.

The Ham Hocks and bacon were from Priors Hall Farm  http://www.priorshallfarm.co.uk I have bought two hocks for next Sundays roast but may end up only using one if there looks to be enough meat. As they are cured and vacuum packed they will keep for a couple of weeks so it seemed worth getting more than one as a "just in case".