May 2017 Grocery Challenge

XSpender · 23 May 2017 at 9:08PM

2nd NSD for me this week.

I have switched the meal plan around so had omelette last night and lasagne tonight. The lasagne made a generous portion for DH and 2 portions for the freezer.

I have started freezing DHs sandwiches in advance and defrosting them ready to take to work. He hasn't noticed any difference in them which will be a godsend when I am away at the beginning of June as he would go through £50 in the week on work lunches alone:eek:

I made JJs Cheesy Herb Bread from the index at lunchtime and there is only 1 piece left

amandaatnumber7 · 23 May 2017 at 11:07PM

I forgot to add my shop from Sunday which came to $153.29 :eek:
But I am still on track with my budget, I was just hoping to start putting a bit away for Christmas.
We had a free meal last, my Mum made dinner for my bday so not only was it free, I didn't have to cook :j

armchairexpert · 24 May 2017 at 1:51AM

I was a bit proud of myself last night, we had some leftover chicken cacciatore we were all a bit sick off, so I pulled out the chicken and shredded it with some spices and then stuffed capsicums with it and roasted it with some cheesy potatoes on the side. Huge thumbs up from Eldest Daughter.

Little Girl never eats anything anyway so I've given up worrying about pleasing her. A few weeks ago I asked both girls (they're 5 and 8 respectively) to write down their five favourite meals so I could take them into account when I meal plan, and Little Girl wrote "spaghetti bolognese" five times.

Small top up shop for lunch items (sandwich fillings mostly) which I forgot to buy on the weekend, but tracking okay!

mcculloch29 · 24 May 2017 at 2:12AM

I was all set to go shopping with my Tesc0 vouchers earlier, then my son rang for "a chat". Too late to go before going out for the evening after I'd put the phone down. So yet another NS on groceries day. I still have all the money I had at the technical end of my month, on May 20th. £80.

I am getting a bit desperate now though - I'm out of fresh greens, yogurts, cheese, any sort of sunflower/dairy/buttery spread and am low on flours, too.

elsiepac · 24 May 2017 at 9:30AM

armchairexpert wrote: »

YES PLEASE that looks amazing! I love chickpeas in basically anything.

Vegan Cream of Tomato Soup with Italian Roasted Chickpea Croutons

Ingredients

For the Roasted Chickpea Croutons
1 tin chickpeas, drained really well and as dry as you can get them
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the soup
75g cashews (put these in cold water the night before to soak)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 decent size onion (or two small ones)
3 cloves garlic
500ml stock
2 tins chopped tomatoes
15g sundried tomatoes with their oil (I used sundried tomato paste as I had this in - you could replace with more tomato puree but it gives a little extra)
4 tbsps tomato puree
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 black pepper

Method
1. Put your cashews on to soak the night before
2. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Make the chickpea croutons by mixing the chickpeas with the spices and olive oil, then spread out in a single layer on a baking tray
3. Bake on the top shelf for 15 minutes, take out and mix around well, then put on middle shelf for another 15-20 minutes. watch them in the last 5 mins as they can go from crispy to burned in a relatively short amount of time!
4. Drain and rinse the soaked cashews, and blend with some of the water until a thick cream in formed. You don't need a special blender as long as they are well soaked! I use the jug attachment of my food processor, and a small amount of water, blend a bit, add a bit more, and so on, until it's nice and smooth. Put to one side but leave in the jug.
5. Meanwhile, saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil until golden.
6. Tip the cooked garlic and onions into the blender with the cashew cream, add the 2 tins of tomatoes, the puree and the sundried tomatoes, and as much of the remaining water as you can safely fit in, and blend up.
7. Pour back into the saucepan, add the oregano, thyme, salt and pepper, plus any remaining water, and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes to cook through and let the flavours blend.
8. Add the croutons when serving as they go soft if left in the soup!

This seems like a lot of steps but is actually really easy and gives such a delicious result!

elsiepac · 24 May 2017 at 10:06AM

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Spent £5.83 yesterday.

Dinner for me tonight is spicy vegetable rice with chickpeas.
OH will be having ham pasta with cheese sauce.

£132.02/£155
£22.98 left.

Please may I have your recipe/method for spicy rice?

Skintmama · 24 May 2017 at 10:34AM

maisymoo5 wrote: »

...... Such a great forum for focusing the mind.

I quite agree!

£19.15 spent across a discount and main supermarket shop. Temptations were some nice looking spanish foods in one and 5 pence off a litre of fuel for a £40 shop in the other. I reminded myself that I don't have £40 left in my budget for May and that keeping to the budget is important to me. Likewise for those things I would have liked to add to my trolley. I didn't need them and once I was home I didn't even miss the fact that I hadn't bought them.

After shopping I made two tasty salads and some muesli bars, realising that what I make at home is going to be nicer and cheaper anyway.

Just under £9 left for the rest of the month. This will allow me meat at the weekend and any vegetables I might need before the month is out.

Doom_and_Gloom · 24 May 2017 at 11:05AM

elsiepac wrote: »

Please may I have your recipe/method for spicy rice?

There isn't really a recipe/method to be honest. It's more, what do I have in the fridge that needs using.
Yesterdays had (80g of each unless specified) onion, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, butternut squash (200g), courgette, pepper, peas, sweetcorn, chickpeas and half a tin of tomatoes. Cooked in order of time needed to soften (after onion was slightly browned first).
Add rice and spices, I use turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne and chilli usually. In all use spices you like and in quantities that you know you'll enjoy.
I have a rice cooker so the rice is cooked before. As much rice as I want either straight from the rice cooker, or from the fridge. Think it was about 110g cooked rice that was used yesterday. Usually I use more rice but I was in an overload vegetable mood.

I had the mix for lunch and dinner. So it makes quite a bit. I also usually have it with half an avocado but couldn't be bothered to mash it up so didn't bother

.

You can do this with quinoa or couscous etc easily. I find the texture of quinoa instead of rice very good for this, or even a mix of quinoa and rice.

Sorry I know that isn't overly helpful.

spendaholic · 24 May 2017 at 11:34AM

I had £19-worth of T vouchers arrive, so that will help with the final push for May.

elsiepac · 24 May 2017 at 11:35AM

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

There isn't really a recipe/method to be honest. It's more, what do I have in the fridge that needs using.
Yesterdays had (80g of each unless specified) onion, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, butternut squash (200g), courgette, pepper, peas, sweetcorn, chickpeas and half a tin of tomatoes. Cooked in order of time needed to soften (after onion was slightly browned first).
Add rice and spices, I use turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne and chilli usually. In all use spices you like and in quantities that you know you'll enjoy.
I have a rice cooker so the rice is cooked before. As much rice as I want either straight from the rice cooker, or from the fridge. Think it was about 110g cooked rice that was used yesterday. Usually I use more rice but I was in an overload vegetable mood.

I had the mix for lunch and dinner. So it makes quite a bit. I also usually have it with half an avocado but couldn't be bothered to mash it up so didn't bother .

You can do this with quinoa or couscous etc easily. I find the texture of quinoa instead of rice very good for this, or even a mix of quinoa and rice.

Sorry I know that isn't overly helpful.

No, that's great, thank you! I'm gathering lots of ideas at the moment as I want to develop a kind of list of go to recipes that I can rotate! I was probably more curious about which spices you were using and how you were cooking everything. I also have a rice cooker, I love it!

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May 2017 Grocery Challenge

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