Spend Some, Save Some and Slimming World Apple Dessert

I've spent some money today...shock, horror! I did a top up shop, mostly at Aldi but also a couple of bits from Asda and FarmFoods.

This is what I got from Aldi. 

It came to £6.22 and, along with celery, carrots and a cabbage already in my basket, it should provide all the veg I'll need for the remainder of the week. The onions were 59p, sweet potatoes 69p, pack of 4 baking potatoes 59p, 3 peppers for 89p. In addition there's a jar of sweetner for 59p and 4 Bramley cooking apples for 89p.

The hot chocs, tin of mandarins, and jelly weren't needs but wants. There are 8 sachets of hot choc in the box for 99p; one a day for DH's evening treat and just 41 calories. I prefer to have sachets of Maxwell House Cappuccino that I get from Poundland, 8 sachets for £1 and 56 calories. The sugar free jelly is 23p a sachet and will either make a low fat apple dessert using 2 of the cooking apples, fromage frais (Asda £1 for 500g) and Quark fat free soft cheese (Asda 87p for 250g), or I'll just use it with the mandarins (44p) to make a jelly and fruit dessert. I find if I have these low fat treats available throughout the day it helps me keep off higher calorie (more expensive) treats.The other 2 apples will be stewed with a few foraged blackberries from the freezer and sweetner. I'll have some for a dessert with yogurt, and make a small crumble for DH to have with custard.

In addition to the Aldi shop I bought a pack of 4 garlic bulbs for 59p from FarmFoods (it was 89p for 4 in Aldi, so as much as I love Aldi they aren't always the cheapest). I also bought a tub of quark (87p) and 2 x 4 packs of WeightWatchers yogurts (2 packs for £2) from Asda.

My total spend was £9.66, but I should only need to buy a couple of extra bits during the rest of the week. 

My other spending confession is the £2.30 for coffee in Weatherspoons. An indulgence, but the money came from last year's sealed tin. As we still have about £20 remaining we decided to use it to treat ourselves to a coffee every now and then. We both had the refillable filter coffees at £1.15 each. Being able to have as many refills as you like up until 2pm, we each had a second cup bringing the price per cup down to 58p.

And after all that spending, the savings. Instead of buying anything else for our lunch today, I had some leftover soup and I made DH hummus to have with rice cakes we already had in the cupboard. 

I used tinned chickpeas I got ages ago from Approved Foods, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil from my cupboard and the last clove of garlic in the basket before I bought more from FF. I added a little seasalt and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. He pronounced it yummy.

And tonight's dinner of chicken stir fry will again be made from my food stocks. I saved some chicken I had cooked for yesterday's curry (£1.33 for 1/3rd pack), I have a bag of frozen stir fry veg from FarmFoods (3 bags for £2 so 66p a bag), noodles from AF (3 packs for 99p so 33p for 1) and a sachet of stir fry sauce, also from AF for just 1p. Total cost = £2.33 for 4 servings (approx 58p each).

For dessert I'm making DH a trifle using a box of Birds' trifle mix I got from AF at 2 for £1 and I'm having a raspberry sugar free jelly with frozen cherries from Aldi (300g for £1.49). All this came from my stores and the little pots that the jellies are in originally held Mullerlight greek-style yogurts.

And this is a little look at some of my stockpile.

Catering sized Branston Pickle and tomato ketchup, used to refill empty jars and bottles

My pasta mountain

The cats won't go hungry

Toothpaste, shower gel and anti-perspirant - at least we won't smell

Alcohol wipes, washing gel, more cat food etc.

Tinned beans and tomato puree

This is just some of what I have stored in my bedroom. There's loads of dried skimmed milk powder in boxes under the bed, and dried vege sausage mix, onion bhaji mix, rice, cornmeal and flour in other plastic storage boxes. There's even more on shelves and in cupboards downstairs. Not to mention what's in the freezer. I can't see us starving any time soon, can you? I don't think even Stoptober will make much of a dent in this lot.

Lastly, for anyone on the Slimming World plan or who simply wants a tasty, low fat dessert here's the recipe devised by one of our members for the apple dessert that I make most weeks. For SW members this is just 2 syns (for the jelly) and 1 B choice (for the stewed apple) for the whole recipe so you could eat the whole thing if you like and it makes a lot.

Apple Dessert

2 Cooking Apples (peeled and diced)
2 tablespoons granulated sweetner
sachet of sugar free orange jelly crystals
250g tub of Quark fat free soft cheese
250g fat free Fromage Frais

Put the diced apple into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water and cook on full power in the microwave until its a smooth pulp. While still hot, stir in the jelly crystals and the sweetner. Mix well until all is dissolved, then using a whisk mix in the quark and fromage frais until all is well combined and smooth. Pour into a single serving dish or into individual pots and put to set in the fridge. Eat and enjoy.