The wrap up – May is over

Well, my month of no shopping is over. Despite not blogging very often, I did stick to the rules, and only bought breakfast for the family, and a little fruit.
The total cost was about $45, or $1.50 a day.
At the end of the month though, I haven’t been reduced to lentils and frozen zucchini at all. The place was even more well stocked than I thought.
My first shop this week had only three items other than fruit which I was buying anyway – butter, potatoes, and a packet of pasta for the Aunty collector’s favourite meal. Total cost $11.
I thought I’d show you what we still have in the house, and why the challenge is continuing until early next week.
So, to my mind the staples are protein (meat in our case as well as legumes), fruit, vegetables, bread, other carbs for filling teenage tummies, flavourings, and treats.

So, in order of the freezer drawers, first is bread. I have a few bits, some pastry which could do at a pinch, and lots of bread flour.

In the meat department, I still have quite a bit. Three bags of it arrived half way though the month courtesy of my lovely friend, H, but the rest is left over. We have chops, shanks, chicken, chorizo and bacon.

The most interesting item, though not the most useful, is the fish heads and bones for stock. On a recent fishing trip, a fish completely swallowed the hook, and I forgot to remove it when I was filleting, hence the warning label!

On the vegetable front, the garden is keeping us in capsicum, chilli, late tomatoes and spinach. This is this Thursday’s pick.

The freezer drawer is still full too, but not with the variety it contained at the start of the month. We’ve eaten lots of peas and beans, and what’s left is mostly tomato and zucchini.

I’ve used the summer produce as much as I can. I’ve made and frozen basil pesto, which is going great with the roasted tomatoes.

One of my freezer drawers is for fruit. This has plums, cooked mandarin for cakes, banana frozen for muffins, as well as lime juice and rind from last year’s crop, and our homemade prunes.

The next pic is of a drawer which I have labelled “part meals” this contains all sorts of things that would go towards a meal, as well as leftovers, although after I took this photo we ate all the leftovers over a two day period. The other thing that this drawer is full of is stock. I save bones and when I have enough I make and freeze stock in one cup portions. I have chicken, lamb, fish, and chicken master stock at the moment.

If you ask Mr Gorgeous, he would tell you that ice cream is one of the major food groups, and even he still has the essential items in the freezer.

I have most stocks in the pantry other than self raising flour, so we’ll keep going, until I can do what the challenge is designed to do – make me use my supplies right down to the layer that I never get to. Or until my parents arrive on Tuesday, depending on Dad’s tolerance for Rabbit Food, in the form of chick peas and lentils. We’ll see!