Frugal February part 2
Well, hello there. It’s finally nice to be writing about something other than the human anatomy or the reproductive system. Side note, if you find any rather off topic sentence, I am just somewhat jotting down notes, lol. I have about 7000 words to right on anatomy in the next few days. But let’s not get into that right now, lol. You are most likely wondering how did my first week of frugal February go ?? Did I stay under my target?? Is the suspense killing you, lol. Well I am happy to report I came in at $135.78 for the week. Which keeps me under my overall budget on $180 for the week. Also, it keeps me under my $150 target out of that. If you are just joining the blog this week jump back to last weeks blog post to see how I worked my shopping budget out and what my targets are for frugal February.
So, I did say I was going to talk about how I stocktake my pantry and a few new items I had found that I was super impressed with but, after I started to write the blog on this, I soon realised you would have no idea what my staple items would be in my pantry and what I would be keeping a stock take on. So, in other words I was getting ahead of myself. So this week I am going to show you my grocery haul where I have had to stock up on a few of my staples I keep, give you a general look at what we will be using over this week and I’m going to show you the items I always have in my pantry that I find I can make almost anything out of. So let get this party started, lol.
So, when it comes to fresh produce, I like to have the following vegetables and fruits on hand. Side note, my fruit does change week to week and season to season but I can tell you I probably need to start growing my own avocados. My small human easily eats 4 a week. Big fan of the smashed avo and feta toast lol
Carrots
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Brown & Red onions
Bananas
Apples
Lemons & Limes
Spud Lite Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Avocado
I like to keep vegetables that can be used in anything. So with the carrots, zucchini, tomatoes and mushrooms I tend to add these to almost all of my meals from a bolognaise to meatballs. I have even hidden them in burger patties. They’re also so versatile you can easily grate them down and hide them from those little fussy eaters. It is a win for all mums out there.
When it comes to the drier goods, I tend to always make sure I have them well stocked up because you can make anything with just a few simple staple items. In COVID lock down before the bread maker came into the family, I believe we had run out of bread and just by having those simple flour, salt, oil, and yeast in my household I was able to make a loaf until we went shopping. My drier goods that I keep well stocked are
Self-Raising flour
Plain flour
Yeast
Salt
Baking powder
Bi- Carb soda
Oats
Caster/ Brown Sugar
Vinegar
Pasta
I also keep a small number of canned items and stock
Tomatoes
Lentils
Black Beans
Passata
Coconut milk
Stock
I also have a handful items I use to create flavour which I also keep well stocked
Vegeta
Balsamic vinegar
Stock cubes
Coconut amino sauce
Chopped Garlic.
All these items can help create a meal on any sort of budget. You are probably wondering how any of this is relevant to frugal February? Well having these items stocked and, in the house, can help bring your shopping cost down over time and being able to create your own homemade items lowers the cost #tryingtonotpayforthepackaging. You can also make a meal go a long way with bulking it out with fresh produce, even frozen produce does the same thing. All while giving that extra love to your body with a good hit of vegetables to add to your protein of choice. Also, my little trick is when I use one of something, I’ll put it on my list and replace it that way I don’t get caught when I wish to use it again but also, I might be lucky to catch it on sale.
I have added photos below of our weekly shop this week it came in at $131.75. Shopped at Woolworths and yes, I am sucker for the collectables, lol. Might be why we went there this week lol. This week there a more up there in price items like bread mix etc but we are working out a cost-effective way of making bread now so we will see how that goes as this was a cheaper option. You are also going to see splurge items like a block of chocolate, but I am all about the balance and what works for my family.
So, stay tuned to see if I come under target again. Now I am off to recover from my girls weekend away. Having a hangover as an adult feels like nature’s way of grounding you as an adult. So hopefully we made it through without random anatomy notes as well.
Have a Fabulous week loves.
Xo Tieana
