October 2018 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

K9sandFelines wrote: »

I mostly need alternatives for dinner, as i am so used to a sandwich crisps and fruit. It's unbelievable that even crisps i mightn't be able to eat, and things that you wouldn't dream of being off limits are!
Do you have any meal plans or anything i could take inspiration from?

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Stir fry. Veg and rice, rice noodles, 100% buckwheat noodles.
Curries, just be careful about some spices having wheat in the mix if already made. Again with rice, potatoes or quinoa.
Love chilli. Had the last of that today with a jacket potato.
Veg soup. I have with rice cakes. Not the same but I've gotten used to it I admit. Again when I treat myself or make the bread I have that. Rice in soup works too as does gluten free pasta.
Vegan lasagne. The gluten free sheets aren't cheap but it is worth it in my opinion.

K9 it will of course depend on what your elimination diet ends up being but we have cut out all wheat (bread, pasta), rice and potatoes to lose weight. I use the outer sheets of a leek to make lasagne and as long as you cut them to portion size (necessary so the whole sheet does not pull out when you serve it) it is very tasty and a sauce thickened with corn-starch (cornflour) or just grated cheese (veg or dairy dependent) is just as good.

For breakfast I have greek yogurt (depends on your dairy position) with frozen berries and a mix of nuts and seeds (always pumpkin for the potassium and zinc) and oats if you can (whole, not milled). It is very filling and delicious.

I gave up sandwiches by making up salads with avocado and raw cashew nuts so that it is quite filling, with some berry fruits for lunch. High protein and reasonably low fat too

And roasted squash, onion/leek, carrot and sweet potato and some peeled whole garlic is fantastic for supper (with or without meat) and some steamed cabbage.

I have got used to stir-fry without noodles or rice, and use lots more bean sprouts, but buckwheat noodles is something to look at trying.

And my chili is always padded out with carrots, lentils, peas and beans so that I don't miss rice, bread or potatoes with it.

JingsMyBucket

thriftwizard wrote: »

I've just been told I'll need an operation very shortly, so I may have to duck out for a couple of months, depending on how mobile I can be afterwards; I'm really glad to have had a few months to get the budget back under control, but let's see if it can stay that way hurtling up to Christmas!

@thriftwizard Oof, good luck. You've had a real time of it lately and I hope you continue to pull through.

Yesterday I picked up the last few things for my dinner party and some other items for the cupboard.

€6.36 for mushrooms and thin Thai rice noodles.

€8.43 at the Asian store for coconut milk, fish sauce, and hoisin sauce.

80¢ at my local open market for a bunch of mint and a bunch of cliantro.

ETA: €4.75 for chocolate ice cream for our dessert.

TOTALS SO FAR:
€236.48/ €300.00
6/12 NSDs

Some of the noodles went into lettuce spring rolls for the appetizer; half the mushrooms went into the soup. Part of the hoisin sauce was used to make a peanut dip for the lettuce spring rolls.

So a funny thing, pretty much every guest except for one person declined or bowed out at the last minute. That was fine with me because my friend and I had a grand old time laughing, eating and drinking. This is the same friend I took to the market last week Saturday. I have lots of leftovers and am have another friend over for early dinner this evening so I can use up some more supplies. Today I don't need or want to buy anything and I won't be needing anything for a while. The fridge, freezer, and cupboard are full!

Have a great Sunday everyone! :j

Graciefields

Hello, I've not been doing this for a while but really need to pull my belt in tight. My grocery shopping has spiralled out of control. I have noticed things have gone up quite a bit in the shops. Have you all adjusted your food budgets accordingly or have you been more creative to keep to the same budget?
I use to aim for £25 per week or £125 per month for 1 adult and a Cockapoo doggie. I'm going to do this until the end of the month, then join the November challenge. I eat anything but prefer healthy as opposed to ready meals. I do like to cook from scratch. Can I have some advice on how much realistically my food budget should be? It's for food, dog food, cleaning, and toiletries. Thanks.

Merlin's_Beard

£23.01 at T's sees me to £73.46/£100 with one shop left to go (hopefully).

Gracefields, I think to some extent it depends on where you're starting from as to whether that target is realistic, we're all a bit different. My £100 covers everything including toiletries and cleaning, but others might be a bit different.

Graciefields

Merlin's_Beard wrote: »

£23.01 at T's sees me to £73.46/£100 with one shop left to go (hopefully).

Gracefields, I think to some extent it depends on where you're starting from as to whether that target is realistic, we're all a bit different. My £100 covers everything including toiletries and cleaning, but others might be a bit different.

Is it just for yourself Merlin's Beard? I used to try and stick to £25 per week. Sometimes successfully. Due to price rises just wondering if I should up it or try and stick with it.

Doom_and_Gloom

Since last post we have spent £7.28.

Edamame beans, red pepper houmous, water, Lucozade 4 pack, deli roast ham, chicken and sweet corn sandwich filler and a loaf of bread.

Using another pack of the vegan mince up, fajitas tonight. OH is out most of tomorrow so it's an easy meal to heat up or have cold tomorrow for me too. Is the reason he bought water and the sport drinks. I've tried to get him a reusable water bottle but he keeps ignoring me .
Not sure what the OH is doing for himself. Probably instant noodles, cheese pasta or tin soup.

£164.95/£200.
£35.05 left.

Merlin's_Beard

Graciefields wrote: »

Is it just for yourself Merlin's Beard? I used to try and stick to £25 per week. Sometimes successfully. Due to price rises just wondering if I should up it or try and stick with it.

That is just me - there's a cat too, but she's got her own budget. And, I guess, it depends how much you feel you can tighten your belt, how much you find that drop acceptable, and whether tit's something that you financially need to do. I'm lucky enough that if I felt I was making myself miserable, I could up that budget without having to lose anything much from anywhere except savings. If money was tighter, well, I could drop it if I had to but I wouldn't have some of the stuff that I wanted. I do let any change left over roll into an emergency overflow, though, for random splurges.

For you, you have to assess all of that for your circumstances.

[Deleted User]

Used up one bag of the salad - honestly, it was huge. I made a pesto with some and a salad leaf soup (why yep I did) with salad leaves, onion, spinach & garlic. It tasted very nice. One batch in fridge and 2 frozen.


Spends today were £1.35 - 6 cakes and a loaf of bread all ys . I have updated sig.

thriftwizard

£20 spent today, on meat, fruit & veg at the market. With the addition of bread & bananas midweek, that could have been me declaring for the month, because what I bought today would see us through until payday, which is 31st. BUT I'm still planning to do November's non-perishables run this week, and stock up on livestock food etc, simply because I won't be able to otherwise.

I'm kind of intrigued as to how we'll do in November. Reluctant to set a budget as I won't be doing much of the cooking, to start with at least, but I think I'd still like to keep track. The family will of course call me a control freak! So I'll probably still hang around on the November thread when I'm able to, if you don't mind.

selloptape

Yesterday I went through the food cupboard, fridge and freezer and listed everything apart from spices/condiments/flavourings. They're all full to bursting but I've fallen back into the habit of shopping every day and not using anything from the hoard... Then meal planned for the week incorporating some of the stash.

Sun - Honey mustard chicken thighs plus veg from fridge and freezer
Mon - l/o chicken plush colcannon (from potatoes and fridge greens)
Tue - omelette (for teenager), home made freezer curry for me
Wed - pasta with salmon paste, chili, lemon
Thu - l/o pasta
Fri - quorn biryani
Sat - l/o biryani

I didn't spend anything on groceries yesterday, but did go to Mr Ts today so I shouldn't actually need any groceries til midweek now apart from milk top ups and a few desserts for the teenager

Graciefields I've definitely found groceries have increased in cost and it's made me unsure of what my budget should be. 14 years ago it was £40 a week for two adults and one child but not sure what I'm aiming for now I'm back :rotfl: I'm just going to try and shave a little bit off each month's spend until I reach a level where I can't reduce any more.