Tenner Week: Getting started
It’s time for another Tenner Week to begin! I’ve started by going round the house looking at what we already have, so I know what needs using up and what can be relied upon in an emergency. We’re a stockpiling household, so I didn’t think it would be too bad. We buy things with a long shelf life in bulk when they’re going cheap so we have beer and wine, loo roll, shower gel, toothpaste, cartons of orange juice, cat biscuits and kitty litter aplenty.
A quick check of the fridge revealed milk, cheese, five eggs and some leftover chicken, but not much else. The kitchen cupboards have flour, rice, cous cous and pasta. It’s clear we won’t go hungry, but Tenner Week is also about living well, so I want tasty and healthy food too. Which brings us to the fruit bowl. Oops.
I won’t be getting my five a day from one sad, solitary little lime. Suppose it does show that we didn’t cheat by buying loads of fresh food in advance though! Anyway, the lack of fruit is going to be a problem – after a big search all we had at the beginning of Monday was one lime, a couple of cartons of orange juice and some tins of pineapple in natural juice.
The next thing to do was to look at the calendar, and plan meals around events and whatever food we already had in the house. Here’s the evening menu for the week:
- Monday: Fajitas with leftover chicken, leftover black bean stew and frozen flour tortillas
- Tuesday: Out (will have a baked potato when I get home if food isn’t laid on)
- Wednesday: Home made pizza with frozen dough, salad
- Thursday: Meal out (probably Japanese)
- Friday: Meal out (fish & chips)
- Saturday: Risotto with home grown pumpkin, sage and chilli
- Sunday: Rosemary roast potatoes, chicken/veggie roast, garden vegetables
For breakfast there’s cereal, porridge or toast, and lunches will have to be packed ones on days I’m not working from home.
This week I’m also hoping to clear up the study, alter a few clothes, get the kitchen garden ready for winter and catch up on some reading. One of my hours of television is marked out for The Fades on BBC3, as I’m in the mood for a bit of comedy horror, and the other two hours will be saved for watching at the weekend as I fully expect I’ll have run out of cash by then.
Are you doing a Tenner Week of your own? What are your plans so far?
