Student Homemaker

I’ve been eager to try out the Sainsbury’s Basics range for a while now, and I took my chance today. It’s Sainsbury’s absolutely-the-cheapest range - with some astounding prices! So at our local Sainsbury’s, BP and I played a new game. The rules are simple - if it isn’t “Basics” or on offer, we don’t buy it.

Most of the Basics range are aimed at students. Student food, student prices. No messing about, just plain products. Although there are household items and other things in the range, I was mostly interested in the food.

The aim of my endeavor was to prove, or not, that the Basics range could be lived off - and how cheaply.

I carried out the first stage of my investigation online from MySupermarket.co.uk
I found myself spoilt for choice, and even had to restrict my criteria by pretending not to be able to/bothered to cook. This, sadly, failed in practice because I couldn’t get a home delivery slot.

So, on to the supermarket went BP and I. It was for his benefit mostly that the “on offer” rule was introduced.
We broke the rules only twice:

• Once because I really wanted to treat myself to a new whisk
• And secondly, because sweetcorn is my absolute favourite veg in the world and I had to have it

I spent £15 on over 20 items. BP spent £12 on 10 items.

Here’s how we did it, and how we’re menu planning: Items bought on 2-4-1 will be repeated each week until they run out

• Wednesday night: Chicken fajitas (chicken 2 @ £6, fajita 2 4 1)
• Thursday night: Battered Fish (Basics range - 96p 4 pack)
• Friday night: Lamb flatbread (made from ingredients previously bought)
• Saturday lunch: Chicken soup can (Basics range - 18p)
• Saturday night: Roasted trout (made from ingredients previously bought)
• Sunday lunch: Egg and chips (ingredients already bought)
• Sunday night: Chicken kiev (Basics range - 83p 2 pack)
• Monday night: Pizza (frozen snack pizzas 2-4-1 offer £2.1
• Tuesday night: Pan fried pork (ingredients already bought)
• Wednesday night: Tortellini with tomato sauce (fresh pasta 2-4-1 offer £1.99, Basics range sauce 26p)

Other meal planning:

• Breakfast items: Bake at home rolls
• Lunchbox items: Fromage Frais (Basics range - 46p 6 pack), Wheat Crunchies crisps (10 packs 2-4-1 offer £1.65)
• Dessert items: Canned mandarin segments (Basics range - 11p), Canned fruit cocktail (Basics range - 15p), Ginger cake/Golden-syrup cake (2-4-1 £1)

Review post next Thursday with pictures