Before I get into the grocery haul I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that keep on clicking back and coming here to read my blog. Yesterday marked a milestone for me as I reached 1,000 followers on Instagram and the blog itself received 5,000 page views! Eek. Thank You!

After this Food Lover’s haul, I felt really chuffed with myself but crashed somewhere in the evening and didn’t even manage to cook. I have a plan for all of these groceries and will share with you below. Let me know what you think of these ideas and what you would do with these groceries in the comments.

My grocery list is determined by what I have in the freezer. I tend to keep standard proteins such as: ostrich mince, chicken breasts and tuna but two weeks ago if you remember I bought tenderised steak as it was on special. Sometimes I supplement the basics with chicken wings or chicken pieces, ostrich goulash, shrimp meat, and beef sausages. These are the things we eat the most and I don’t deviate unless there is something else that we specifically want to eat or I want to make. I find this way I have the least wastage as they are very easy ingredients to incorporate into a variety of dishes.

Knowing this I picked vegetables that I can stretch into other dishes. I spent just under R 200 which is usually my budget for these hauls and think I did pretty well considering how many things I got.

Starting from the top I got a free pineapple if I bought 800g of Strawberries. You could choose between a pineapple and a paw paw. I am planning on making low carb jam with the strawberries so keep checking back for the recipe. I always need tomatoes since I cook mostly Indian food at home (most ethnic food actually) I can go through these tomatoes quite quickly because they are usually the base of many dishes .

The lettuce is for sandwiches and salads and I can even make a really nice salad with some of the strawberries and the green beans which I am planning on roasting in my Turkish Fig infused balsamic vinegar.

I cleaned and cut the green beans and peppers and have frozen them to use later. I will roast the aubergine and courgettes to make a couscous salad and will definitely have some courgettes left over to make courgette fritters or brownies. The avocado is for my lunch or guacamole, and the nuts and apricots are for two special dishes I am planning on making. One with a Moroccan vibe and the other with Thai flavours. I still have Canola oil at home but the special was buy 3 for R100, I only bought one for R33.33, the retail price for canola oil is around R54,99.

I have included my till slip so you can see what I paid for all the items. Hope you got some bargains too this week!