Thanks hon, I need to remember that sometimes.

Haven't been able to tot up Clod's shop as yet. T'internet is being a bit ridiculous and dropping every few mins. Supermarket homeshopping site doesn't like it. I get a few products in then the page goes to 'cannot show website' blah blah.

Anyways:

Here's my latest shop. It's just a basic provisions top-up shop. I already had meat, fish and veg in the freezer, plus rice, pasta and beans etc in the cupboard.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3733/1...4406c6f48f.jpg

From the top, working left to right (more or less):

Whole milk 4 pints (2.272l) £1.39
'Basics' range Tomato Ketchup 460g £0.30
McCains 'Homefries' frozen chunky chips (fries) 1kg £1.20
'Basics' Fruit & Fibre cereal 500g £1.19
'Basics' Cornflakes 500g £0.35
2x Bananas £0.28
Sainsbury's own Green Tea x 20 bags £0.90
2x 'Basics' Instant Coffee Granules 200g (x100g per sachet) £1.10
Sainsburys own frozen Hash Browns 700g £1.00
'Basics' Strawberry Jam 454g £0.30
'Basics' Milk Chocolate 100g £0.33
White sugar 1kg £0.90
'Basics' Strawberry Dessert sachet (just add milk!) £0.18
Sainsburys own Butterscotch Dessert sachet (just add milk!) £0.35
'Basics' Peach Slices in light syrup 411g £0.35
'Basics' Broken Mandarin Segments in light syrup 312g £0.26
'Basics' Bourbon Cream biscuits 200g £0.35
'Basics' Shortbread Fingers 160g £0.50
'Basics' Butter (salted) 250g. £1.20

Total cost: £12.43 = $20.69


The chocolate, biscuits and dessert sachets are my attempt to stave off chocolate bars and sweeties from the cornershop (expensive!). I'm trying to ration how much I eat of them each day - I've been a bit over the top just lately with my sugar addiction and it is costly as hell and terrible for my skin and overall health. So, couple of biscuits and a few squares of chocolate is what I'm allowing myself.

The dessert sachets will probably live in the cupboard for months and will no doubt come into their own one stoned nigth when the munchies hit - at which point a 17p dessert will be better than going and spending a couple of quid on munchies from the shop!

I sweated blood over this. I'm not great at maths at the best of times. *

I worked it out from prices at the supermarket I work in, because it has the best organic selection in the town I live in. It's not the cheapest by any means, but would be your best bet for your shop.
Where I had to source elsewhere/ cannot compute, I have noted it.

£125.35 or $208.33

Soft fruit is completely out of season here, so it has to be flown in; you will not get any deal on it unless you are buying on the expiry date. Calculating pints of fruit had me tearing my hair out, but I think I found a reasonable comparison. What a difference in price though.

* ETA - I've converted Imperial to metric and calculated the prices from there.
In some cases it would not be possible to buy in these exact quantities; soft fruit is only ever available pre-packed for example, except on Pick Your Own farms.

Remember my stupid sale on strawberries, though. Had I paid normal price for the strawberries, it would have been another $20 on top of what I paid, or $151.63. Still though, being closer to the equator does have obvious perks in the produce department.

Oh yeah. Flying your raspberries in from Chile makes a difference in price!

I've mentioned food air-miles before, it's another reason why I try to eat in season.
But then the seasons of the year influence my appetite and were probably learned in childhood. So Winter vegetables are what I crave right now; potatoes, leeks, onions, cabbage, root vegetables. Heavy suet dishes and preserved fruit.

With Spring will come greens, with Summer the salads and gorgeous soft fruit. I'd rather have 100g of English cherries than 1kg of foreign ones - they're near on tasteless in comparison because of the time it takes to get them on the shelves.

I'm not being holier-than-thou. My Winter tastes include garlic, ginger, vanilla, sultanas and many spices. And they're not grown on the local allotment :o
Ditto the Christmas citrus fruits, and that famous British panacea, a nice cup of tea.

But I do envy you the smell of good strawberries in February.

Dani I have a few of those desserts in the cupboard too...
Actually bought to add to large cakes; they were a real discovery - made them rise so much more and kept them moist. Never used.
I must make them up to gobble down before Mum realises they're out of date. As if things like that can ever really go out of date ;)