£7 Food Challenge Day 3: M R Fish... CDBDIs (Think of Two Ronnies...)

Day 3 and I thought I'd blown the bank already for a minute.

Because I'm an idiot who rounded down from £7 to £5.

Yesterday, I went through the cupboard (lots of beans), the fridge (hellooooo!!! A bit sparse...) and the chest freezer. (Lumps of probably beef. Check. Lumps of probably bacon. Check.) Then I went and made a meal plan, taking into consideration what I could make from what I've got. Meal plan was checked and approved by OH. Good.

Then I went to Aldi with a shopping list, having consulted this week's Super 6 offers (now 89p per pack. I could have sworn they were 39p a month ago?). The bus into town was half an hour late, so I thought sod making bread tonight and used all my contingency pennies in buying a loaf.

So: semi-skimmed milk, 2 pints - 79p
canned garden peas - 20p (processed were 19p, but, for the sake of a penny...)
1kg carrots - 79p
6 medium free range eggs - 95p
Conference pears (Super 6) - 89p
wholemeal bread - 45p

Total spend today: £4.15. Add that to 94p. Total spend so far £5.09 - leaving £1.91 in the kitty. That's £1.91 I didn't think I had. That's £1.91 I'm probably going to spend on spuds, as I had to cut a load of bruise out of some of the potatoes I used for tonight's tea, which would have left Sunday's chicken dinner looking a bit mean as there are now only three remaining in the bag.

My Day 3 food went like this:

Breakfast: wheat biscuits, milk and sugar
Lunch: fish paste and cucumber sandwiches; plum
Treat: More leftover party snacks in the office.
Dinner: Sprattus Sprattus. Vino Tinto (the 50p one - very nice)

Tonight's make do from what we've got meal was sprats - very cheap fish; the sort of thing most people use to catch other fish. Sprats are high in Omega 3, though. Latin for the sprat, according to the tray they came in, is Sprattus Sprattus. I don't know why I am amused by that, but I am.

Anyway, they are sweet little fish, of a convenient size for waving at cats to annoy them.

To prepare, wash the whole fish, pat dry, then add to seasoned flour and play 'hide the eyes'.

Oi - Oi've got moi eye on you.

Then they can be fried in a shallow pan, with a generous glug of oil. Cook until they go brown and crispy - about 5-8 minutes in total, 2-3 minutes each side . Season with lemon juice and parsley.

Just like whiting, they can be eaten whole. I mean, try biting them first. Don't swallow the entire fish at once, you'll choke. I mean you can eat the whole fish - bones and eyes and tails and all.

I served mine with mushy peas which had been soaking with bicarbonate of soda for 13 hours, and were then cooked for 20 minutes. Also with potato wedges seasoned with smoked paprika.

Mushy peas: so much nicer than they look

That was a huge dinner, and we have 2 very happy cats tonight who got left a fish each, and a very happy OH too. Why do cats think all the fish belong to them? It's weird.