oops, sorry about that, it somehow managed to put one of my posts in three times. fixed now!!

am really trying to keep a spending diary up to date, and im going to put it on here every week to keep me up to scratch!

today was (relatively) lucrative: sold a book to another student, and got mystery shopping and survey money in the post. Tomorrow I'm doing more brain research! - so another £7.

On the spending sides, i did buy a top and some shoes today. but in my defence they are very nice, and were marked down AND buy one get one free. so I got some £18 shoes and a £20 top for £10. The top is really nice though, it's one you can wear for formal occasions, going out, and just looking nice.. so..

I also cracked and bought an electric can opener last week, it came today. My HMS makes it really hard for me to open cans and without helpful ffamily around I was struggling. However, I did:

-combine it with abook i was getting my bro for xmas to get the free postage
-this was about 40p under the free postage limit so I added a book I had a code to get free
- the code took off an extra £3 or so because it pays for the book's postage even though I was getting free postage
- i used a gift voucher I had from doing surveys

so in total the free book (which i read today and enjoyed), the xmas present, and my canopener actually cost me 52p. and, of course, I used a cashback link to buy them

Anyway...

Tomorrow is Grocery Day as I'm relatively free (apart from a lecture, some brain research, and a tutorial..). I'm trying to go cheaply on food, but without sacrificing health or eating completely boring food.. trying to eat lots of fruit, veggies and grains. one of the big problems I'm finding is with buying things like bread in a small enough quantity for 1 person. I don't have a freezer and although we kind of share some things with the other people on our floor, we all like different things..

This is my shopping list:
Cauliflower (50p)
Yoghurt (79p)
Tomatoes (£1)
Coriander bunch (60p)
Raisins (£1.20?)
Pickle (40p)
Bread rolls (30p)
Apples and pears
plus a cucumber if they have one marked down, as they almost always do.

I'm going to make cauliflower & potato curry with tomatoes (still using up my potatoes and onions!) with lentil dhal (yup, i stocked up on 2kg of red lentils..), rice, and onion/cucumber raita. That will last me a couple of days

then I have cereal and apple&raisin muesli for breakfasts.. cheese & pickle or brie & tomato rolls for my packed lunches on lab days.

Food is so expensive here. Even tho I try and make relatively cheap meals and I go to the market etc..

On the other hand, eating in the hall every day would cost me ~£25-30 a week. So I guess although it seems like a lot for one person to me, I am doing pretty well really. I reckon I spend about £10 a week on food, but I did start off with quite a well-stocked cupboard.

going to make vegetarian chilli probably over the weekend as well - quorn mince is on Try me Free, and i can send off for it as my boyfriend (ahem).. and I have all the other ingredients at home, and can serve it with microwaved-baked-potatoes to use up a couple more of them!

please feel free to leave any of your cheap recipes or tips in the comments section, I still need a lot of help!

rosie