June 2017 Grocery Challenge

allmannerofthings

I had my first online shop of the month delivered yesterday on 31st, but I'm counting it as the first shop for June. A$da, £44.22.

Anything left over from my budget for this month is going to either my much-needed home improvements fund, or mortgage overpayment, I haven't decided. I'm hoping that will keep me motivated.

maisymoo5

First shops done for the month:
£29.95 meat from Heartier (the bbq and meat hamper in the money saving article this week)
£1.50 a dozen eggs from the local farm
£30.95 Tesco (going away and husband needs things that are quick to cook)
£62.40/£260

elsiepac

Hi everyone, loving all the posts so far and welcome to all the newbies!

I have had a lovely Squash, Orange and Barley salad for my lunches this week -
1 big butternut squash (aim for about 1kg when peeled and chopped into bite pieces, mine only came to about 800gso it's just a guide)
Coat the pieces in 1 tbsp olive oil and the zest of one orange, season very well with salt and pepper.
Roast for around 30-40 minutes until cooked but still firm as you want it to hold up!
Cook 150g barley - takes 30-40 minutes to boil, convenient!

Dice up a small red onion.
Chop up some fresh mint and parsley.
Make a dressing out of the juice of the orange, 4 tbsp red wine vinegar, and 2 tbsp olive oil.
When the roasted butternut and barley are cool, mix everything together.
Serve on a handful of rocket each.

I got 4 portions for lunch out of mine.



I've also had a very simple Tarragon, Carrot and White Bean Soup (still have 5 portions in fridge):
2 leeks, 700g carrots
Chop up and saute in 1 tbsp olive oil for a few minutes.
Add 4 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 1.4 litres stock and 2 tins of cannelini beans (haricot would be a good sub, or even kidney)
Add chopped up fresh tarragon and simmer the lot for 20-30 minutes until all soft and delightful.

You want to use decent amount of tarragon - I used a whole bag, which once I had removed the stems etc, came to 21g.

I used dried beans, Aldi carrots and the Knorr vegetable stock pot. My costing for the 6 portions this made,was 48p each.



On Tuesday I had a small top up shop of some herbs and a bit of treat food. Ate the lot, felt sick, and bitterly regret it!
Yesterday I bought 3 lemons from the little Mr T, forgetting mum was bringing some down, so bit of a waste!

I have my grocery shop tonight - projecting less than £20 spend, although need to double check menu plan as I have a bit more leftover than I had anticipated, so may be able to cut something out.

Oh, also on tuesday I bought batteries (£4.50 for 8 and that was Mr T own brand!)

Last night for film night, which my sister now joins us for (horrible reason, her partner of 12 years had a freak accident which left him in a coma the last 3 weeks and he has just died, so my sister is of course devastated, it's been a horrible time), I made

Spiced Cauliflower with Herbs, Chickpeas and Pine Nuts
Well, mine is adapted from the above which is a BBC Goof Food recipe as I didn't have pine nuts so I subbed cashews and sunflower seeds, which worked well. Also I added lemon juice which it needed.

1 really big cauliflower, 2 tbsps olive oil, 2 tsp cumin seeds, 2 tsp caraway seeds, 2 cloves garlic, juice of one lemon.
Mix all together and roast for 25 minutes.
Add a tin of chickpeas, 100g pine nuts (or whatever you use), the juice of another lemon, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Mix well!
Put back in the oven for 15 minutes.
Mix through fresh dill and parsley.
Serve with lemon wedges.





................................£150 Budget
Date.......Shop......Amount.....Remaining
26 May.....Ocad0.......£45.31....£104.69
26 May.....Co-0p.......£01.60....£103.09
26 May.....Superdrug...£08.32.....£94.77
26 May.....Lush........£06.25.....£88.52
26 May.....M&S.........£05.00.....£83.52
26 May.....A1di........£01.10.....£82.42
29 May.....Tesc0.......£20.95.....£61.47
29 May.....A1di........£07.15.....£54.32
30 May.....T3sc0.......£09.24.....£45.08
31 May.....T3sc0.......£01.30.....£43.78



Date....Fresh/Frozen..Cupboard/Dry Goods..Cleaning/Toiletries..Treats..Bags
26 May..£04.80........£08.26..............£32.25...............-.......£00.30
26 May..£01.60........-...................-....................-.......-
26 May..-.............-...................£08.32...............-.......-
26 May..-.............-...................£06.25...............-.......-
26 May..£05.00........-...................-....................-.......-
26 May..£01.10........-...................-....................-.......-
29 May..£13.05........£07.90..............-....................-.......-
29 May..£04.57........£02.58..............-....................-.......-
30 May..£02.10........£04.50..............-....................£2.59..£00.05
31 May..£01.30........-...................-....................-.......-

PennyGrabber

Hi all,

Re: alcohol in the budget... You can choose your own rules. My grocery budget is just for food and drink (not alcohol), and not toiletries/cleaning products. That's just how I do it though.

Having done my first June shop on Tuesday, I made sure yesterday was a nsd. Hoping today will be too, but just need to stay out of morries after Sw!! Should be able to be strong enough, as I have to take my children with me, and they hate shopping!!

Having bacon and veg pasta for dinner tonight, so it's not like I need to buy anything anyway!

PG x

YorksLass

Kittencat: I don't count beer or wine in my grocery budget. If we fancy any it comes from a separate treats budget. Cleaning items and toiletries have their own budget too. I find it helps to have separate budgets for things so I can see better where the money's going. Everyone's different so ... whatever works for you.

Well, here I am at the end of "my" Wk1 with a total spend of £102.90; £101.45 last Friday (my week runs from Friday to Thursday) on a large sm spend plus a large-ish market spend, with a further £1.45 yesterday at the local C!op and 5 NSDs.

My fridge is in pretty much the same state as it was last week i.e. practically empty, having used up all fresh f&v again this week. Some items gone from freezer but tbh it doesn't look an emptier!

We've had a good variety of dinners this week: Fish shop battered fish & hm mushy peas (Fri), seafood salad (Sat), braised pork steak with pots & cauli (Sun), chicken & chorizo crispbake with braised red cabbage & chips (Mon), cod fillet with cauli cheese & pots (Tues), steak burger with pots & swede/carrot mash (Wed) and tonight it's chicken stir-fry with a sweet & sour sauce and noodles. Everything's chopped and ready to go so it should only take 5-10 mins.

I was pleased with the cauli; for once I managed to get one that hadn't had the green leaves trimmed off it (bought in the market rather than sm); these have been shredded and will be added to tonight's stir-fry, so no waste. Why do sm's insist on trimming veggies? :mad: Obviously to make it look more attractive but as everyone on here knows, those trimmings could be used instead of being binned!

The swede/carrot mash came from the freezer and seemed a bit "sloppy" once it had defrosted, but I managed to rescue it by squeezing out the excess liquid and then stirring in fresh breadcrumbs to absorb the rest. I added a bit of nutmeg, then turned the mixture out into a 4-hole shallow pudding tin, lightly oiled. Added a mix of breadcrumbs and grated cheese to the top and baked in the oven with the steak burgers. Lovely crispy, chewy topping.

Shopping day tomorrow but only for f&v and possibly ys items if there's anything that appeals. I'll be going locally so I can take a few unwanted items to the cs and pop in the hairdressers to make an appointment for next week.

Budget left for the next 4 weeks now stands at £97.10 and I'm optimistic - I keep reminding myself this is a budget, not a target; I don't have to spend it all!

Rachiedabbler70

Kittencat wrote: »

Quick question if I may?

Do you count the odd bottle of wine/beer in with your groceries

Xx

HI Kittencat - I'm no help to you at all as I don't drink alcohol. I think some on here have a separate alcohol budget and others add it into groceries.

Thought I'd have to go shopping today, but I have got away with food already in stock. I think I can also get through tomorrow as well - so 2 NSDs to start my month off. I have lots of little 'bits' of meals in the freezer but no full ones for my DS and I - think I will dig some out each night and just shop to add things to the freezer items. We'll have to eat different things, but will see how it goes. Some of you manage on much less than I do for 2-3 people so going to see how much tighter I can get this month. Good luck all

Doom_and_Gloom

Hugs to those that need it. Sorry to hear you going through though times.

So £60.97 on bulk items and £11.28 on fresh foods (a few reduced items as total should have been £19.28).

Dinner OH - beef stir fry.
Me - sweet and sour vegetables, rice and nori.

£72.25/£150.
£77.75 left.

FoxFace

Another none drinker here, so can't help with the alcohol budget, sorry!

NSD here again Nothing fancy about today... just plodding along

lynnejk

Evening all and a warm welcome to the new peoples :hello:

I think with the budgets we all tend to do our own thing - whatever works best for your own household. After all it's only a tool to try to stay in control of our own spending at the end of the day.

Our budget covers food, toiletries, laundry and cleaning 'stuff'. Wine has it's own budget. If either of us wants a drink in the house, or go out for a beer, we buy it out of our own budget. Eating out and drinks with that come out of the entertainment budget. Don't know if that helps

First NSD of the month here

Hope you all have a frugal Friday
Lx

PennyGrabber

I did it! I went to sw without ys-ing in morries afterwards! Another nsd here then, and def one tom as well, as we're out for the day and won't get back until late.

'See' you all on Saturday!
PG x