June 2020 Grocery Challenge

Bluegreen143

Creeping back on here

I will go back and read the June thread, and I’m sure I’ll find it’s a very common story that people have doubled their food bills during lockdown (hopefully not just me!). Various reasons I’m sure. Need to cut back a bit now.

We are a family of four including a 4.5yo and 1.5yo. They are moderately picky but they get what we are eating regardless of whether they are happy or not 

Will track food, toiletries, cleaning etc. I used to cloth nappy the little one too but she’s on disposable now so will include that too. 

We currently spend £25 a week on our fruit and veg boxes, £10 a week on the glass bottle milkman delivery and averaging £100 a week in the supermarket! !!!!!!!! A few years ago on here I was spending £250 for three of us on food plus maybe £50 toiletries etc. We currently have a massive stock of toilet roll (NOT stockpiling but I get quarterly delivered from an ethical supplier so have a full box recently delivered), and large amounts of plain, white bread and wholemeal bread flours because I had to get bulk bags from a flour mill to be able to keep baking. And we keep chickens and grow fruit/veg. So there is no excuse to be spending so much in the supermarket each week!

Only thing is I’m not sure how much of the spend is actual food and how much household stuff, plus husband has been drinking too much beer etc which I’m inclined to take out of his monthly spending allowance instead of the grocery budget. So this month I won’t set a target but am just going to track it all on here.

Meals today:

B - children and I had chocolate & banana overnight oats with blueberries

L - not sure yet, there is HM lentil soup in the fridge though we did have that yesterday

S - (kids afternoon snack) hummus picky plates as we have HM hummus to use up 

D - instant pot salsa chicken with rice, some sort of cabbage as we have lots, maybe HM wraps if I can be bothered

Got a loaf of sourdough proving in the fridge and also some sourdough discard pancake mix I made up last night - I’ll try the pancakes up this afternoon and freeze for easy breakfasts and snacks.

SJAllicat

No will power obv 😂. Went to Moggies last night to buy gin for our weekly ‘ gin bar FaceTime with DD’. Was going to have soft drink as have been trying to be good and not drink alcohol but last night ......😬. 

So another £15.13 spent ( also picked up 2 YS packs of gf rolls for freezer).

Going on the budget I do think I’ve maybe got ours about right this month at £250 👍

£139.83/250.00

Suffolk_lass

Ooh @Bluegreen143, I remember you - you used to look after the recipe index on here back in the day! Welcome back (with another child!) You already do (or at least know how to do) lots of the things you know are full of wisdom on here so a couple of weeks of compiling your stash inventory and tracking what you are spending on will give you good insight ready for July. That is what anyone overspending or feeling hopeless (or given up) might want to do - recognising your "I can't give up X" products and adequately providing for them or keeping a stash from when they are on offer will help you going forwards.

All our treats (there are too many) and alcohol are coming out of our entertainment budget and all my store-cupboard things (my non-perishable food and bulk buys) are in my stores budget of 2x a normal month, for the year

Narola1976

Cap in hand, reporting an overspend of about £20. To be fair, I added some extra things for lunch as we are all home, and need some healthier options.  OH however has just handed me £100 to get more bits at the big bulk buy store so this does not count as part of the grocery spend. My diary explains the ins and outs of that, so I shan’t bore you. Suffice to say this all works in my favour, as I can get some bits which will hopefully see us through to the end of the month. 

lantanna

£3.50 on soda bread and soda water today. That’s me done. July starts on Friday for me and don’t plan on spending anything else.

lantanna

My target for July is going to have to be £250. Threw a bit extra at my debt this month so have to reign it in a bit now to make sure I stay out of my overdraft. Halifax starting to charge on overdrafts under £500 again from the 9th of July.

Bluegreen143

@Suffolk_lass, so nice to be “recognised” and thank you for your encouraging words! You’re right, I do know what to do so hopefully we can make changes quickly. I won’t be looking to go as frugal as I’ve been in the past as I’m keeping my husband happy and he likes to make sure we have some junk in (crisps, biscuits etc) that I wouldn’t choose to buy much of. But I can definitely trim it from where we are.

Baked my loaf of sourdough and have mixed up another (to bake tomorrow). We are a bit obsessed now, it’s by far the best bread I’ve ever made and I actually find it much easier, more forgiving and less exacting than yeast bread (though it does take longer).

XSpender

@joedenise thanks for the reminder about Thrifty Lesley, I have found some useful savoury snack ideas on there last night

@PipneyJane DH likes most things and prefers savoury and spicy to sweet.  I have lots of YS bread to make egg, cheese or ham sandwiches and he usually has 2 rolls with crisps, a couple of choc biscuits and fruit and then a savoury snack, currently a pot noodle, in the afternoon.  He likes HM soup and ready meals and really liked the sw meals Iceland do and I have kept some of their recipe cards to recreate them.  He would usually have something to bung in the microwave pre lockdown but it is currently out of bounds.  He isn’t fussed about home baked sweet things but would eat it if it was in his lunch box.  I do have a big bag of oats I could make into flapjack.

Any suggestions to help me achieve this £1/day lunch challenge welcome

joedenise

@XSpender I make sweet chilli noodles sometimes for lunch.  Just break up some noodles and cook for 4 minutes (or whatever the packet says!).  Cool quickly then just stir through bits and pieces from the fridge chopped up and mix with some sweet chilli sauce.  It makes a nice addition to a lunchbox.   Or you could make pasta or rice salads in a similar way.  All of quick and easy to make.

PipneyJane

XSpender said:

@joedenise thanks for the reminder about Thrifty Lesley, I have found some useful savoury snack ideas on there last night

@PipneyJane DH likes most things and prefers savoury and spicy to sweet.  I have lots of YS bread to make egg, cheese or ham sandwiches and he usually has 2 rolls with crisps, a couple of choc biscuits and fruit and then a savoury snack, currently a pot noodle, in the afternoon.  He likes HM soup and ready meals and really liked the sw meals Iceland do and I have kept some of their recipe cards to recreate them.  He would usually have something to bung in the microwave pre lockdown but it is currently out of bounds.  He isn’t fussed about home baked sweet things but would eat it if it was in his lunch box.  I do have a big bag of oats I could make into flapjack.

Any suggestions to help me achieve this £1/day lunch challenge welcome

@XSpender, how is your baking?  How about savoury scones/soda bread rolls instead of shop bought bread/rolls?  (Or use small ones as a treat to replace the pot noodle?). Follow a regular scone dough recipe but fold in some slivers of fried cooking bacon and some grated cheddar +/- a dollop of Dijon mustard.  If you are making this as a substitute for bread, then you can always cook up extra bacon and use it for filling (e.g. chopped in bacon and egg mayo or whole in a BLT).  

How about home made quiche for him to take?  You could make small ones in muffin pans instead of a large one in a quiche dish, if that would be easier for portion control.  I think there are a couple of recipes on the BBC’s Eat Well For Less website for crustless mini quiche, which you might find useful.

The French do a lovely whole-lentil salad, which he might enjoy for lunch.  It’s cheap and filling, too.  You’ll need half a cup of lentils per portion:  soak the lentils in cold water for an hour before cooking. drain.   Dump into a saucepan and cover with fresh boiling water, bring back to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until soft.  Drain.  Return to the hot saucepan. While hot, pour over a couple of tablespoons of vinaigrette, put the lid back on and leave the lentils to steam.  Meanwhile, thinly slice up a spring onion or two and a small sweet pepper.   When the lentils have cooled a bit, stir them in.  At this point, you can add slivers of leftover roast/ham or some more cooking bacon, fried and chopped.    The French would serve this warm, but it’s just as nice cold.

HTH,

- Pip

(FWIW, I paid £1.45/kg for cooking bacon in L!dl three weeks ago.  A little goes a long way - most of it got frozen.)


ETA:. Details of the recipes I was remembering on the Eat Well For Less site:

Lunchbox chorizo frittata https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lunchbox_chorizo_07622

Cheese & Ham Quinoa bites:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheese_and_ham_quinoa_37074. (You could use rice or bulgar wheat instead of quinoa.)

Bacon & Egg Bites:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bacon_and_egg_bites_26820 (I’d use cooking bacon slices.)

Tray baked eggs:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tray-baked_eggs_36571 (Use regular mushrooms for cheapness.)

They even have a homemade version of pot noodle, Chicken & Sweetcorn Noodles:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_and_sweetcorn_44908