Not a menu plan

Lots of people do a menu plan for the week/month ahead, and then go shopping for what they want but after years in the not distant past when we raised all our own meat  and ate whatever we had in the freezer, I've always worked the other way round. I'm here every day with time  to cook, So we eat what we have in the freezer or cupboard and then shop next month to replace it. I also never know if our youngest and her bloke will be around to eat or not until the day before they come so my way is easier for me. During the winter most cooking is done in the Rayburn which uses free wood and is alight for heat and hot water.

I've noticed there is lots of interest in what other folks have for their dinner so here is a reverse menu plan - what we ate LAST month!

Home grown vegetables last month were potatoes, onions,parsnips, leeks, squash, swede, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. I buy value range carrots from Tesco, celery and a little salad stuff for lunches and we bought a sack of potatoes when our home grown ran out in late January.

Main Meals
Smoked mackerel fillets with baked potato wedges,seasoned with pepper and paprika and frozen peas. (Under £1 per person)
Cheap value pizza but with homemade tomato topping added and mozzarella.(Under  75p per person)
Bacon Chops (  from pack of Sainsburys value cooking bacon) and leek fritters(Under 50p  "    ")
Neck of lamb stew( Co-op Yellow sticker) including lots of homegrown veg with  dumplings ( Under £1 per person)
Herb omelet ( Almost free apart from a little sunflower oil)
Fish Fingers and home made chips and mushy peas ( Under  50p per person)
Cheap chicken and veg pies ( Tesco, small but actually quite good) + home grown veg ( under 50p per person)
Leeks, cheese and pasta bake with home made tomato/herb bread roll ( Under 75p each per person)
Roast Leg of Lamb ( Special treat with 2 guests) Home grown veg Not counting cost!
Shepherds pie - using left over lamb and home grown veg             
Home made  Tomato and Veg soup then baked potato (Under 50p per person)
Homemade Traditional Beef Lasagne + salad ( with 2 visitors)  ( Under  £1.50 per person)
Roast pheasant ( free!) with homegrown veg ( Almost free apart from gravy )
Veg curry using all home grown veg ( Under 25p per person)
Pork belly slices in Hoisin sauce with rice and stir fry veg - Mainly home grown ( under £1.50 per person)
Home made Celery soup then baked Potato ( Celery is bought for lunch crunch this soup uses the outside sticks so under 25p per person)
Home made meatballs ( mince and sausage meat and bread crumbs) in spicy tomato sauce ( Not sure of price)
Baked frozen fish in crumbs and home made chips and mushy peas ( Under £1 per head)
Tuna, pasta and calabrese bake ( Under £1.25 per person)
Roast Chicken ( with 4 visitors) home grown veg ( gifted chicken)
Cold chicken with home grown veg
Toad in the hole ( with 2 visitors ) plus Home grown veg( Vegetarian sausages for visitor, not sure of price)

Plus a few days when I didn't make a note
Plus some Sundays when I don't cook and we have scrambled eggs
Plus the Giant Takeaway for 8 people when all the family were here. ( A rare event!)

I've not given much information about our meals before as we tend not to count the cost of food as much as some folk do, preferring to cut back in other areas. I have the housekeeping in cash for food, cleaning stuff,chemist things etc. etc. in my purse each month. I don't spend more than I have!

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We had about 18 hours of continuous rain/drizzle that finally stopped around midday today. Our flat grassy field is waterlogged and big pools of water stand in every low bit. We are forecast more storms tonight, but  we won't be flooded  or have to move out so we are the lucky ones.

I'm looking forward to watching the winter Olympics over the next two weeks, if the jet stream had been in a slightly different place for the last 6 weeks all the rain that's fallen might have been snow instead, we would have needed skis to get around here too!

Back Tomorrow- Potato Day!