November 2017 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Good afternoon all

We did our big shop for the month today: £8 at the farm shop (onions, potatoes, broccoli, spring onion, carrots, purple sprouting broccoli and a cauliflower), and £41.43 at Mr T. We went a little mad in Mr T’s: partially because we were trying to get over £60, in order to get the 10p/litre off on diesel and partially because they were well stocked with value items I haven’t been able to find for the last couple of months. The above total omits the £20 I contributed for hair dye (on offer at 2 for £10), which took us over the £60 threshold. Sadly, we screwed up on the fuel voucher - the offer ran out last week.

Never mind. The Osterley branch had quite a few of DH’s favourite value shower gel - lamented in an earlier post - so I bought a tray of 6 for 50p each. (Last of the big spenders, my husband.). We also found value shampoo - we got 2 - and “hand wash” (aka value foam bath), so stocked up on them as well. They even had cooking bacon, so we bought 4. The pantry is now well stocked with staples.

The above brings our total spend to £71.31/£155.69, leaving £84.38 left to spend. In addition, we’ve got £85 of Clubcard vouchers salted away, so I’ve suggested to DH that he doesn’t have to contribute to the grocery kitty next month. (He’s currently unemployed but should have 3 weeks’ work at the post office over Christmas).

I’m two days behind on the emails/boards; apologies if I’ve missed anything major in your life.

pamsdish

£40.86 today needed coffee, a few other bits needed too.

Mrs_Cheshire

YorksLass wrote: »

HTH. It's easy-peasy, cheap and tasty. This quantity will serve 6 and it can be cooled/portioned up/frozen at the end of Stage 4.

1 tablespoon oil
115g/4 oz lean streaky bacon (rinds removed), chopped into small pieces (you can use cooking bacon bits to make it even more economical)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
¼ celeriac, chopped (I didn’t have this so used chopped celery instead)
225g/8 oz red lentils
1.5 litres/2 ¼ pints stock (chicken, vegetable or ham, home-made or from a stock cube)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
S & P

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the bacon, stirring occasionally until it just begins to brown.
2. Stir in the onion, carrots and celeriac and cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are pale golden brown.
3. Stir in the lentils, stock and tomato puree. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are soft.
4. Leave to cool slightly, then tip into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
5. Season with S & P to taste.

Optional toppings: a swirl of double cream or some grated cheese. Serve with crusty bread. Enjoy!

Thanks for this, I've got loads of lentils to use up. We don't eat celery or celeriac here though, what could I replace it with?

RedFraggle

A small win tonight..........we tried the cheap smoked gammon joint from Mr T the other week £2.38.It was way too salty but undeterred I bought another this week and soaked it all day before roasting it and it was delicious! Left overs will make a ham, mushroom and pea risotto tomorrow with garlic bread I made the other week and froze from leftovers of an olive loaf.

Ginmonster

We had to stock up on a few different bits that we'd run out of at the weekend so £18.05 spent but that should last us until the weekend now. I just need to stay away from the temptations of the Xmas markets. Hubby has already eaten about half of the lovely cheese I bought last week which I was planning to keep for Xmas. That'll teach me to plan ahead!

£75.62/£100

YorksLass

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Thanks for this, I've got loads of lentils to use up. We don't eat celery or celeriac here though, what could I replace it with?

I'd try another root veg like parsnips, turnips, swede or even just potato and maybe add chopped parsley as well. That said, I haven't seen turnips on sale anywhere recently - not sure why as they should be in season now and I like to add them thinly sliced in pasties.

RedFraggle wrote: »

A small win tonight..........we tried the cheap smoked gammon joint from Mr T the other week £2.38.It was way too salty but undeterred I bought another this week and soaked it all day before roasting it and it was delicious! Left overs will make a ham, mushroom and pea risotto tomorrow with garlic bread I made the other week and froze from leftovers of an olive loaf.

Yes, the smoked ones can be a bit too salty sometimes, so well done on not being deterred. These little joints are really good value for money and the risotto sounds fab.

Ginmonster wrote: »

Hubby has already eaten about half of the lovely cheese I bought last week which I was planning to keep for Xmas. That'll teach me to plan ahead!

You'll have to keep them under lock and key next time! :rotfl:

Merlin's_Beard

£15.16 spent so up to £80.02/£100

pamsdish

Another £52.94 spent as I wanted to take advantage of the 10p off fuel £50 spend in Morries, tank nearly empty. This included 8 packs of reduced ox tongue 30p, love it on a sandwich, bottle of brandy and a famous grouse for xmas drink, joint of pork also xmas.

Mrs_Cheshire

YorksLass wrote: »

I'd try another root veg like parsnips, turnips, swede or even just potato and maybe add chopped parsley as well. That said, I haven't seen turnips on sale anywhere recently - not sure why as they should be in season now and I like to add them thinly sliced in pasties.

I'll try swede as I bought one on ys today for 25p, along with a spring cabbage and a pack of pink lady apples.
Total spend £1.97

butterfly2507

I've finally made it to calculate everything we spent last week 49,13 €. Thank God we were under our 50 € budget We won't be shopping next week but might have a little stop at the gas station haha