February 2020 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Cheshire

Evening all, waiting for my grocery delivery to arrive around 8pm this evening, if I keep everything then I'll have spent £78.47 so far this month.
Edited to add - due to sending 2 substitutions back (curly fries instead of potato lattices and 500g dried apricots instead of 1kg(on offer), total stands at £73.77.
I've meal planned for the whole month, based on what I know is already in the freezers and store cupboard. I'm trying to add a few new meals in each month to vary things a little. This month we're trying loaded potatoes, honey & mustard pork, slow cooker chicken chow mein and easy tomato risotto.
I'm also going to try a vary my lunchtime meals a little, I've got 4 tubs of soup in the freezer, I'm going to try Elsie's barley & tahini recipe from the Jan thread and I might make some other soup recipes.

Herbyme

JS order came yesterday (which I'd booked for 29th Jan and then realised that would take me over for Jan, hence 1st Feb) - mainly did it to get a good stock of LmMcC frozen shredded 'pork' and hoisin 'duck' which are great for stir frying. Annoyed to find that they've run out of duck and I got mostly the 'pork' but it will all get eaten. I hope the 'duck' (and indeed the pork, they didn't have all of that either) aren't being discontinued. My family is starting to want to revert back to meat eating, which I don't want, and stir fry is one of their most popular veggie meals (there aren't that many...)

Anyway, a lot of that and some other stuff I can't buy elsewhere came to £91:eek:

The other stuff is Hz baked beans, la di dah cat food (only kind that can actually be eaten apparently :rotfl:), some Oatly milk and some Pukka Vanilla Chai tea bags which (again) may be discontinued and which I'm trying to drink more of - too much tea stops iron absorption, I read. Mainly if drunk with meals I think, but as I drink so much tea, some it is bound to be drunk near a meal time :rotfl:

On holiday next week so that comes out of a different budget. Am pressurising each adult in my house to cook once a week. Think donkeys with heels dug in...

Suffolk_lass

I'm going to a big cash and carry place on Wednesday with a friend who is a member there. I have a list of things to go for if they are cheaper than my usual offers. I went last February with her husband and am just coming to the end of some of the bulk things I got then. It is very tempting as they do lots of really good quality stuff but I probably don't actually need another TV, gazebo or whatever, so will try to be a bit disciplined.

Esthermate

£24 in Aldi
£24/£120

Suffolk_lass

In terms of month so far, I did a big shop of vegetables, yogurt, milk, fruit and one YS large chicken from my Feb budget (which runs from whichever day DH's pension hits the account).

In the interests of sharing how I manage within £200 a month, this is an example (memories of the rubber chicken thread).

The chicken was slow roasted in a cast iron pot with stock -

1. The first breast did a warm chicken salad for two of us.
2. The stock went in to a courgette soup (4 small onions, two large carrots, one sweet potato, three courgettes, the middle flowery stalks of celery, some herbs, a stock pot (veg) and half a teaspoon of lazy chilli) that will do four days' lunches for two of us. We might have leftovers or cheese and apple for light lunches, or fast for the others.
3. I picked the meat off the carcass and used half to make a chicken curry (5 portions) with carrots, onions, garlic, chillies, red lentils, chick peas, frozen spinach and a jar of Morries Kerahi sauce - we had it (2 portions) with a veg curry of onions, chick peas, (homegrown) butternut squash, red lentils and some curry paste (both curries from stores).
4. The other half of the meat went into a casserole with onions, carrots, celery, leeks (from the garden), herbs, white wine and veg stock (thickened with cornflour) - and served with roasted butternut squash (the other half from the curry). It made enough for four portions. We have had two, so far.
   
   
5. DS is coming tonight so I will make naans and maybe cook rice to make the other portions of curry go further - I might add some more vegetables.
   
6. We have enough salad to have avocado or egg salad another evening
7. I will make cauliflower cheese, maybe with leeks which will take us to Wednesday/Thursday - and I am going to the big cash and carry then so we will see.

My shopping was £28.88 this week and included wonky veg, a cauliflower (£1) fresh fruit (2 bags of apples @£1.60 for 6), 10 oranges (35p each), blueberries and raspberries (£3 each large pack). I bought a lettuce (70p), 3 peppers (£1.25) and coleslaw (£1). Yogurts were (2) large greek style 80p each, 2 pints of milk (as I had two) and a pot of cream (£2).

I promise I won't bore you with everything we eat again, but carrying over from the January thread where I posted about meal planning based on what you have in, I thought it may provide a bit of insight into how I make food stretch. NB we are not eating bread, potatoes, rice or pasta at the moment as part of a low starch diet.

I have maybe ten butternut squashes left from growing them last year (in a sack in my larder) and probably 40 leeks left in the ground. I do use these to top up and make meals from, but any seasonal food is good.

I hope this is helpful to some of those struggling.

jak

£20 spent today. £40 left for the week but I don’t need lots more thankfully! X

lantanna

£5.40 spent on a chippy tea. Had a rubbish day and the car needs a new exhaust so of course my answer is to spend more money.

supersaver1000

Went to do a top-up shop for a few things and ended up spending an extra £10 on a few things as flu is in the house and also topped up on spices as they are in the larger packets. £66.94 spent altogether this week and considering the extra £10 I'm quite pleased as this will see us through our 2nd week. Three more weeks to go at around £50 each, budget currently looking good.:j

Doom_and_Gloom

Spent £22.96 today.
10lb of nishiki rice, 2kg oats, 1kg brown lentils, 4 tins tomatoes, 2 jars tomato puree, 1 tin sweetcorn, 1 tin kidney beans, 1 tin baked beans, stir fry vegetable mix, 100g spinach, cucumber, yellow pepper, aubergine, 375g red onions, 300g courgette, 835g red cabbage, 695g tomatoes, 245g easy peelers, 200g brambly apple and 935g bananas.

I'm having vegetable noodles for dinner.
OH is having beef stew and mashed potato.

£22.96/£216.22
£193.26 left

zafiro1984

Third NSD of the month. I'm hoping for another two before I need to go and get just a few items this week.