February 2020 Grocery Challenge

Saver.The.Taste

Just checking in with another top up of £1.43, hopefully this should tide me over til my first planned big shop, which I'm hoping wont be that big!!

Total now at £4.65

fairy3

Hi all - just to report spends of £26.32 mainly in Morri's and Cwarp - good bargains and basics bought, nothing exotic. 
Mrs_Cheshire - I tend to use a 750g pack for around 8 meals and couple of lunches (big sports appetites) and bulk out with grated carrots and extra veg as stated but also have used a couple of Tbsp stuffing mix - no one has ever commented and it stretches the meat.
Just getting used to the new format - finding it a bit different and hate the blue.......

lantanna

£55.45 today big Mr T shop. I still need chicken from the butchers but hoping I’ll not be spending much more now, month finishes on the 19th

thriftwizard

A massive £109.53 added to my total; that's £67.50 spent at the market this morning, £7.85 at the farm shop yesterday on Layer's Mash, and a horrendous £28.18 at the supermarket when DS2 & his beloved dropped in for dinner at half-an-hour's notice before heading off on a romantic weekend break. I'd been planning a leftovers dish for OH & I and there simply wouldn't have been enough to go round, so a hurtle up the road for supplies was necessary and of course at 5pm there were absolutely no bargains to be had, even if I'd had time to look for them! 

Note to self: stay out of the supermarket this week! There are plenty of things in the freezer...

Finstickle

Not feeling remotely Frugal following this week's shop. Was expecting a really cheap one but still ended up spending loads!!!  I always meal plan and didn't buy any meat/fish as I stock up in advance, I'm breaking my spend down by food/alcohol/cleaning/Toiletries so I can see where the spend is - definitely less wine and less snacks.  I think it will be hard to stay under budget (which confirms my thoughts that we were overspending so really going to look at using store cupboard more for the following week, the frozen veg we have, pulses we have etc instead of defaulting to top up the ones we use a lot. 

Positive is that we'll know where we are at the end of the month and DH on board to reduce food/booze spend going forward 

£311.25/£450

tessie_bear

hello hope everyone is well
just added up first week and spent 40 quid im quite happy with that as i got 6 packs of the 99p bacon in lidl for the freezer and some of the 35 morrisons steak which for rump was very good
wishing everyone a pleasant weekend

supersaver1000

Another small spend today.  This is my second week of the month and I've spent an average of £72 a week against my target of £65 a week.  I have got stores in for the month e.g. loo roll and cat food so hoping it might average back down again.  But even so, I'm pleased with the results so far.

Bluegreen143

Popping on to update as I’ve done this week’s shopping. OK with the cost though I think we could cut back slightly more. Did the main shop at Lidl and popped to Tesco after to get a couple of bits and Red then asked me to pick him up some junk and white rolls milkman bill is £6.80 a week on top.

LIDL £51.27

Fruit & veg £18.45

(Bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, plums, potatoes, onions, peppers, lemons, courgettes, apples, cucumber, aubergine, avocado, coriander, tomatoes, strawberries, cherries, kiwi, chillies)

Meat/dairy £12.36

(Greek yogurt, chicken fillets, cooked chicken breast, halloumi, butter, cheddar, bacon)

Bread £1.50

(2x seeded wholemeal loaves)

Storecupboard £10.87

(Peanut butter, chopped tomatoes, coconut milk, honey, coffee, oatcakes, tomato purée, spaghetti, red kidney beans, breadsticks, sugar, vanilla, mayonnaise, chocolate chips, passata)

Frozen £2.49

(Peas, sweetcorn & broccoli)

Toiletries & household £3.19

(Carrier bags, shower gel, dishwasher tablets)

Junk £2.41

(Diet cola x4, crisps)

TESCO £8.09

Storecupboard £4

(Tahini, tinned fruit) 

Toiletries & household £1.89

(Cat litter)

Bread 70p

(White rolls)

Junk £1.50

(Full sugar cola, pot noodle, white rolls)

Overall £61.08 spent on food this week (counting the milkman) and £5.08 on household supplies. Think I’ll go over on my £200 food budget but well under on the household supplies £50...

PipneyJane

Suffolk_lass said:

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.

Suffolk Lass, I’m quoting your entire post about stretching a chicken, because I think it’s wonderful!  Thank you for sharing all the details.

- Pip

Mrs_Cheshire

PipneyJane said:

 I use 250g of mince for a meal for 4-5 adult sized portions.  I add grated carrots sometimes but the main bulking agent is aubergine pulp, which is pretty indistinguishable in the sauce. (Cut the end off of the aubergine, stab it 2-3 times and microwave for 10 minutes, then cut in half, scrape out the innards and chop.  Careful, it's hot!).  I'll also add a beef stock cube to bulk up the flavour.

HTH

- Pip

Thanks for the tip re. aubergine pulp, will give it a try.