Cooking on a budget

Recently I have been trying very hard to plan my meals for the next week and then go out to buy the ingredients I need and not stray from my shopping list but it's not as easy as I was hoping it would be! I am the kind of girl that loves nothing better than going food shopping, as far as I am concerned there is no better shopping than that of food! I became very accustomed to sitting down each day aided by my laptop and abnormally large amount of cookery books and magazines to think about what I fancied eating that evening and when I had chosen, off I would go to purchase the goodies needed from the various food emporiums scattered around Brighton, whether it be 'Thaj' with all its tempting exotic spices, vegetable and amazing hot counter with home-made samosas and kebabs or perhaps 'Infinity Foods' which has by far the best hand made pitta bread and creamy organic hummus I have ever tasted.
My biggest confession is my unashamed weakness for 'Waitrose'.. Yes I know its a chain supermarket and its expensive but I just can't get enough, Waitrose is my crack, dangerously addictive and so terribly moreish!
But alas I cannot afford my Waitrose fix at the moment so I am shopping around for the best deals I can find and I feel I am becoming a better person for it because I am learning the value of money. I managed to get two weeks worth of shopping for around £35 which for me to do is a miracle, I have always had the power but just not wanted to use it. I bought a huge bag of carrots for £1 and a butternut squash for 69p and with some onions i already had and some chicken stock I had made from last weeks Sunday roast, I made a very tasty soup which I had for lunch for the next week, fabulous!
Now as much as I would like to say I am totally converted to a frugal way of living I know for a fact i will still spend well over £35 on artisan cheeses, breads and organic meat at a farmers market and perhaps pop into waitrose for the ingredients for that nights dinner when my cash situation allows me again, but I have learnt how to budget and make a tasty meal out of not very much at all and will continue to use my new found skills in my every day life!