No Food Fortnight Success

We did it. We managed two whole weeks without buying any food other than fresh fruit and veg. And the only things we've bought for eating/using at home since the two weeks were up on Friday are: a bag of bread flour, a bag of coffee, a tub of bicarbonate of soda and a tub of baking powder.

Our freezer is still amazingly well stocked. On Sunday morning we unpacked/repacked it and made a list of what is left and, as you can see, there's still enough to feed us for a while yet, especially if we want to eat pork (we bought 1/2 a pig back in October and it's lasted rather well.) I've crossed off the bag of gnocchi and one of the packs of lardons as that's what we're having for tea tonight.

The larder cupboard is still pretty full, but a trip to the supermarket is looming on the horizon. In fact, I may go today as I'm enjoying an unexpected day off due to a system malfunction at work (such a pity...) We've run out of DC's favourite cereal (Cheerios), the washing liquid is running low, the pasta jar is nearly empty and I've got an urge to do some baking since I got the book on the left for Christmas and we need a few odd ingredients.

However, my next challenge is to take a list to the supermarket and ONLY BUY WHAT IS ON THE LIST. Yes, capitals were necessary there, because I actually think that's going to be a bigger challenge than No Food Fortnight has been. I don't think I've ever been to the supermarket without coming home with plenty of things that weren't on the list, be it special offers, reduced items, 'oooh, I fancy one of those' items, 'oh, I forgot we needed one of those' items, etc, etc. I'm almost nervous about going - it's probably a bit like being addicted, the best thing is to just stay away from what it is you're addicted to and not put yourself in the way of temptation. Yes, that does sound a little melodramatic, doesn't it?!

No Food Fortnight has actually been rather enjoyable. It's made us think about the food we have in the house rather than just popping out to the shops to buy more (and more, and more). We've saved money (which can only be a good thing), and we've eaten more interesting foods (for instance, hubby made sweet and sour sauce from scratch to have with the chicken which was left over from a roast we had last Sunday - and it was delicious.) We've also decided to have Simple Tuesday, whereby we eat something along the lines of beans, cheese or egg on toast, or an omlette, or jacket potato for dinner, rather than something bigger/more complex. We have a habit of forgetting to eat simple, but enjoyable foods, because somehow it's ingrained in us that dinnertime must mean meat and veg, or curry, or some version of 'proper food' (if that makes sense?) So, all in all, No Food Fortnight has been a resounding success, and possibly even a little bit, I don't want to say "life-changing", but perhaps "habit-changing". And that's a good thing.