January 2020 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

Shopping today came to £24.27; £23.70 A&C and 57p at Mr S.

I will be having vegan ramen (buckwheat noodles) again for dinner.
OH is not feeling well so isn't sure what he'll be having for dinner. Likely tin soup with toast/bread as easy.

£222.20/£240.
£17.80 left.

Edit : saved a bit of money as OH thought we were out of treats for the chinchilla but I dug around and found a box of treats :j. His treats aren't expensive, £1.80 a box and they last months, but not needing to buy them helps.

Edit 2 : OH had a pizza yesterday. While the pizza was in the oven I took advantage and baked some tofu and aubergine for the next couple of days.

getmyacttogether2016

Evening all

Morries yesterday for food and toiletries so £58.25 spent. Total 103.91/200.

Hopefully will only need to do 1 more shop before the end of the month and will need to get a 20kg sack of corn and 2x 20kg sacks of pellets for the chickens. Hoping I can stay in budget.

Thinking I may have to try and save some money each month as when I need cat food there is no way I would be able to stick to £200. I bulk buy and get 2x 10kg sacks of cat biscuits at a time and they get proplan light food.

GMAT

Herbyme

I had a moment last week when I realised we were eating cheaply but not always healthily - not enough fruit or veg in meals, and some meals not having much protein in them. It made me wonder about the challenge of balancing spends and nutrition. It also made me remember that amazing meal plan (something to do with a weasel?!) which had measured all the nutrients down to the milligramme. But I won't be aiming for that!

Anyone else got any thoughts about the cost/food value trade-off?

Pixie_Fairydust

Hi everyone

A$da delivery today £49.99


Have been so ill since NY Eve we have just grazed through the freezer and cupboards! Hopefully on the mend now 😊

Pix :hello:
Xx

Pixie_Fairydust

carolinerunner wrote: »

I had a moment last week when I realised we were eating cheaply but not always healthily - not enough fruit or veg in meals, and some meals not having much protein in them. It made me wonder about the challenge of balancing spends and nutrition. It also made me remember that amazing meal plan (something to do with a weasel?!) which had measured all the nutrients down to the milligramme. But I won't be aiming for that!

Anyone else got any thoughts about the cost/food value trade-off?

Do you mean this?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2256959/weezls-phase-1-recipe-testing-and-frugalisation-come-one-come-all

Pix :hello:
Xx

Pixie_Fairydust

And this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2384579/weezl-and-friends-phase-2-giving-it-a-whirl-for-shirl-testing-meal-plan-for-a-month

Pix :hello:
Xx

Mrs_Cheshire

carolinerunner wrote: »

I had a moment last week when I realised we were eating cheaply but not always healthily - not enough fruit or veg in meals, and some meals not having much protein in them. It made me wonder about the challenge of balancing spends and nutrition. It also made me remember that amazing meal plan (something to do with a weasel?!) which had measured all the nutrients down to the milligramme. But I won't be aiming for that!

Anyone else got any thoughts about the cost/food value trade-off?

A lot depends upon individual circumstances, we could spend more money on groceries but then I would have to cut spending in other areas like days out, children's clubs etc.
I purposely set my budget at a level which is achievable with a careful eye, we have plenty of fresh veg and fruit, protein and even treats. If we did need to reduce it further, the first thing I would look at is treats as we have lots of ready made snack bars, chocolate, ice creams etc.

Could you use frozen veg to increase your consumption for a small outgoing?

Esthermate

Aldi: £21.50
£104/120.

I shouldn’t need to go shopping again except milk and fruit. It’s been eye opening. I spend a lot on cream. I could reduce that and maybe butter.

elsiepac

Welcome 2Scratters, janiebaby29

Welcome back poohbear59

Mrs Cheshire This is a recipe from a book called The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (yes, the actress!) - I've made it twice before and it's really yummy! If you already have tahini in the cupboard then it's extremely cheap! Note - shoyu is some fancy ingredient that isn't soy sauce - just use soy sauce!!

Vegan Barley Casserole

Ingredients

Barley Layer

2 cups hulled barley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves
3 carrots
2 celery stalks
5 tablespoons shoyu (use soy sauce instead!)
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¾ cup tahini dressing (see below for recipe)

Tahini Dressing

¼ small onion, diced
½ cup tahini
1 tablespoon shoyu
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of paprika
⅛ teaspoon dried basil or ½ teaspoon fresh basil
pinch of dried oregano
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup water

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350
2. Boil 3 cups of water and add barley.
3. Cook until tender (about 55-60 minutes)
4. Add olive oil to saucepan and saute onion and garlic
5. Add carrots, celery, shoyu, salt, basil, oregano, and garlic powder, until vegetables are tender.
6. Add barley to vegetable mixture and set aside.
7. Combine onion, tahini, shoyu, garlic powder, paprika, dried or fresh basil, dried oregano, and water to food processor for tahini dressing
8. Mix ¾ cup Tahini Dressing to barley mixture
9. Transfer half of the barley mixture to a 8 x 12 baking dish
10. Drizzle half of the Tahini Dressing on top of the barley mixture
11. Add the other half of the barley mixture on top of the tahini layer
12. Drizzle the other half of the Tahini Dressing on top of the second barley layer
13. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes

tessie_bear

hello x im always interested in the health/cost discussion I think it is expensive to eat healthily esp when you have a family and you are still buying crisps/biscuits for them. I think there are ways to shave a bit off the cost such as use markets/eat frozen fruit and veg/buy yellow stickers but i still think a healthy diet is a dear do .That said i would rather spend the money i have on a better diet than on buying what i will call rubbish as dont want to offend anyone an example being imo a scratch card

it gets quite difficult to work out macros so i try and steer a low fat diet with lots of fruit and veg...anyone got good ideas to cut corners ? costwise i mean