Thriftuary (Part Four)

Here we are again.

It's that time of the week when I update you on the latest exciting goings on in the Thriftuary challenge.  Once again, I'm in the lead, thanks to a couple of meals paid for on expenses when I visited London for a couple of days for work.

Here are some handy tips:

1. Pick a hotel with an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.  It's all about quantity, not quality. A mountain of dead pig and aborted chicken will go a long way to alleviating your hunger later in the day. Also it's delicious.
   
   
2. The average suit can hold approximately four muffins from aforementioned breakfast buffet. These will make an excellent pudding later on!
   
   
3. Your workmate's handbag is also an excellent place to hide food. You never know when you're going to need a low fat strawberry yogurt, so you may as well be prepared.

Poor old Ben was unlucky when his planned overnight stay in London fell through. That meant that he had to pay for the curry he'd agreed to join us on, which accounts for one of the two enormous spikes in his spending. The other is a sordid tale of intrigue, betrayal, revenge, revolution and... Pizza Hut. Mostly Pizza Hut.

No pizza for me though.  Well, actually, there was a pizza, but it came from the freezer and I shared it with Dr K. They were 3 for £4, which is slightly cheaper than Pizza Hut.

I have declined several free meals this week, including one that both my boss and my boss' boss wanted to pay for when we went to a local cafe. I sat there drinking a cup of tea (which I did let them pay for), while everyone around me scoffed fry-ups and lasagne and chicken wings. There was a brief moment when I seriously considered murdering them all with a fork and stealing their lunch. And then possibly eating them as well.

In other news, Dr K and I may be suffering from  some sort of nutritional deficiency as we seem to have developed signs of a minor case of scurvy.  Here's a picture:

What's that? You want to see my food list for the week? You want to scrutinise it and pick holes in my terrible diet? Sure, go ahead:

18/2/2013	3 Finn crispbread	0.18	2.38
	30g cream cheese	0.12
	10 almonds	0.11
	7x cups of tea	0.21
	2 pears	0.42
	2 value weetabix	0.08
	100ml milk	0.06
	Last night's pork	0.00
	1 small carrot	0.05
	4 leaves of spring greens	0.10
	3 value wraps	0.30
	1 value pitta	0.10
	1/2 teaspoon of cumin	0.02
	1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder	0.02
	1/2 teaspoon of turmeric	0.02
	1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander	0.02
	2x yoghurts	0.50
	4x free oreos (donated by Ben!)	0.00
	1 mini pork pie	0.07
19/2/2013	4 x tea	0.12	1.76
	1 morrisons avocado	0.25
	Leftover pork	0.00
	10 almonds	0.11
	1 tin of morrisons baked beans	0.25
	35g of cheese	0.16
	50g oats	0.04
	100ml milk	0.06
	1mini pork pie (reduced from Asda)	0.07
	1small apple	0.14
	2x weetabix	0.08
	100ml milk	0.06
	1 pitta bread	0.10
	Sunday pork	0.00
	Hula hoops	0.11
	Pear	0.21
	2x free tea from hotel	0.00
	Chicken shazlik (on expenses)	0.00
	Special fried rice (on expenses)	0.00
	Onion bhaji (on expenses)	0.00
	2x apple juice (on expenses)	0.00
20/2/2013	2x tea (free from hotel)	0.00	2.12
	2x sausages (free from hotel)	0.00
	3 rashers bacon (free from hotel)	0.00
	Scrambled egg (free from hotel)	0.00
	Apple juice (free from hotel)	0.00
	2x blueberry muffins (free from hotel)	0.00
	1x strawberry yoghurt (free from hotel)	0.00
	1x tea (paid for by boss)	0.00
	Avocado	0.25
	10 almonds	0.11
	Leftover pork	0.00
	5x cups of tea	0.15
	Mini pork pie	0.06
	Spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta	1.20
	Tin tomatoes	0.31
	1/2 teaspoon paprika	0.02
	1/2 teaspoon crushed chillies	0.02
21/2/2013	10 almonds	0.11	2.94
	7 cups tea (1 free)	0.18
	2 Finn Crispbreads	0.12
	20g pepper pate	0.28
	2 x blueberry muffin (free)	0.00
	1 pizza	1.33
	1 can of beans	0.25
	1 free pear from work fruit bowl	0.00
	paprika	0.02
	chilli powder	0.02
	2 weetabix	0.08
	100 ml milk	0.06
	2 slices 50p bread	0.04
	20g peanut butter	0.05
	2 banana	0.40
22/12/13	2 weetabix	0.08	5.82
	100ml milk	0.06
	2 slices of 50p bread	0.04
	Peanut butter	0.05
	Hula hoops	0.11
	banana	0.20
	2 free marshmallows	0.00
	7x tea	0.21
	250g shit mince	0.75
	250g nice mince	1.30
	200g onion	0.34
	leek	0.50
	avocado	0.25
	10 almonds	0.11
	30g cream cheese	0.12
	2 Finn Crispbreads	0.12
	1 free hotel muffin	0.00
	1 value pepper	0.12
	1 tsp chilli powder	0.04
	1 tsp cumin	0.04
	1 tsp turmeric	0.04
	1 tsp coriander	0.04
	85g flour	0.21
	85g spread	0.23
	350ml milk	0.21
	3 pasta sheets	0.15
	4 free chillies!	0.00
	2 yoghurts	0.50
	1/2 pint cola (paid for by Paul Reynolds)	0.00
23/02/13	6x tea	0.18	1.75
	2x sausage	0.42
	3x egg	0.25
	212g cooking Bacon	0.34
	1 tin beans	0.25
	2 portions of yesterday's lasagne	0.00
	3 banana oat cookies	0.27
	2 slices of 50p bread	0.04
	Cookie recipe:
	2 bananas	0.40
	Drop of vanilla extract	0.02
	50g ground almonds	0.50
	Knob butter	0.05	per cookie
	100g oats	0.08	0.09
24/02/13	9x tea	0.27	3.25
	2 weetabix	0.08
	100ml milk	0.06
	200g cooking bacon	0.30
	1 bread roll	0.02
	1 avocado	0.25
	1 pear	0.21
	1 banana cookie	0.09
	4 sausages	0.84
	114g self raising flour	0.04
	2 eggs	0.16
	125 ml milk	0.08
	138g spring greens	0.33
	3 small carrots	0.15
	1/3 bag green beans	0.33
	16g gravy granules	0.04
	4x oreos (from ben!)	0.00

Thriftuary (Part Three)

It's time for latest, awesome Thriftuary chart. Look at those sexy columns and those alluring lines. If that chart was in a bar, it would be pulling right left and centre. It's like the Fonz of charts. Phowarr.

We're two weeks in - just over half way. It looks like Ben's catching up, but he hasn't updated the spreadsheet for two days, so I assume he's had a massive curry and cake blowout and exploded! It's the only logical explanation.

If you look closely, you'll see that there was a bit of spike last weekend and, in fact there's a bit of an upward trend in daily spend overall. My average daily spend last week was £3.58 as opposed to £4.29 this week. Whoah, Nellie - we're going to have to reign that in a bit!  

This weekend, I experimented a bit with peanut butter chicken curry (delicious but wow, chicken got expensive!) and then, taking a leaf out of Ben's playbook, had a big pork joint for Sunday dinner. Fortunately, there are leftovers!

A few notes on supermarkets:  I can't figure out when the optimum time to visit them is; I want the reductions - I want more 5p bread.  Yesterday, I had to buy 50p bread. My sandwiches will taste bitter.  I figured that about  and hour before closing on a Saturday evening would be a good time. Apparently not, though.  Morrisons had pretty much nothing reduced and I'd clearly missed the Asda reductions by a mutant* mile!

Here is my plea to readers: If you see any 5p bread, or other awesome deals, buy them for me. I'll pay you back. I'm not proud!

Here, for your edification (and mild distaste) is what we ate over the last 7 days:

11/2/2013	2 value weetabix	0.08	1.39
	100ml milk	0.06
	2 slices of 5p bread	0.01
	15g peanut butter	0.03
	Kiwi fruit	0.17
	Cheese and onion hula hoops.	0.11
	1 orange from the work fruit bowl (free)	0.00
	8 almonds & 3 Brazil nuts	0.20
	2 ryvita crispbreads	0.12
	~20g of spicy Mexican pepper pâté	0.28
	11x cups of tea	0.33
	Leftover Lasagne	0.00
12/2/2013	2 value weetabix	0.08	3.70
	100ml milk	0.06
	2 slices of 5p bread	0.01
	15g peanut butter	0.03
	Kiwi fruit	0.17
	Beef hula hoops.	0.11
	50g smoked salmom	0.70
	1 avocado	0.38
	3 x cups of tea	0.09
	1 frozen pizza	1.33
	2 eggs	0.17
	200ml milk	0.12
	110g plain flour	0.08
	15g sugar	0.20
	1/2 lemon	0.17
13/2/2013	3 value weetabix	0.12	4.63
	150ml milk	0.09
	50g cheese	0.22
	2 slices 5p bread	0.01
	Salt & vinegar hula hoops	0.11
	Kiwi fruit	0.17
	5x tea	0.15
	1 free apple from the work fruit bowl	0.00
	1 ryvita crispbread	0.06
	~10g of spicy Mexican pepper pâté	0.14
	8 almonds & 3 Brazil nuts	0.20
	30g smoked salmon	0.42
	446g spuds	0.45
	1 onion	0.17
	1 tin corned beef (less enough for sandwiches tomorrow)	1.54
	1 tin baked beans	0.28
	2 coconut yoghurts	0.50
14/2/2013	5x cups of tea	0.15	5.48
	1pear	0.21
	45g of Smoked Salmon	0.63
	1 avocado	0.37
	2 slices 5p bread	0.01
	corned beef & onion stolen from last night's dinner	0.00
	ready salted hula hoops	0.11
	the last kiwi fruit	0.17
	approx 250g beef skirt	1.72
	1 stock cube	0.20
	onion	0.17
	2 carrots	0.12
	3 small potatoes	0.35
	tin kidney beans	0.18
	50g frozen peas	0.10
	tin tomatoes	0.31
	2x yohurts	0.50
	2 value weetabix	0.08
	100ml milk	0.06
	1 tsp paprika	0.02
	1/2 tsp chilli powder	0.02
15/02/2013	9x tea	0.27	2.69
	3x value weetabix	0.12
	150ml milk	0.09
	1 tin tomatoes (added to last night's leftover stew)	0.31
	1 Finn crispbread	0.06
	~10g of spicy Mexican pepper pâté	0.14
	8 almonds & 3 Brazil nuts	0.20
	45g smoked salmon	0.63
	2x yoghurts	0.50
	2 small apples	0.27
	4 pieces of shortbread we were given at christmas and forgot about!	0.10
16/02/2013	2x free coffees at the mini garage waiting for MOT	0.00	5.45
	1free small biscuit at the mini garage	0.00
	2 sausages	0.42
	4 rashers of bacon	0.05
	3 eggs	0.25
	1 tin value beans	0.28
	5 teas	0.15
	2 chicken breasts (for peanut butter chicken curry)	2.33
	5 cloves garlic	0.15
	2 spoons peanut butter	0.11
	74g greek yoghurt	0.11
	2 tablespoons curry powder	0.05
	1 tablespoon cayenne pepper	0.03
	1/2 tablespoon cinnamon	0.20
	1/ tablespoon chilli powder	0.20
	juice of 1/2 lemon	0.17
	chicken oxo cube	0.20
	1 onion	0.17
	100g basmati rice	0.16
	2x pears	0.42
17/02/2013	100g oats	0.08	6.69
	250ml milk	0.15
	6x tea	0.18
	Pork joint	4.25
	3 small carrots	0.15
	1/3 bag of green beans	0.33
	1/3 bag spring greens	0.33
	3 potatoes	0.31
	1 avocado	0.37
	2coconut yoghurts	0.50
	16g gravy granules	0.04

( * Asda being primarily frequented by mutants...)