March 2021 Grocery Challenge

goldfinches

Spent £7.01 at Mr S on cherries, butter, organic tofu all to go into the freezer and wine for salad dressing. Spent £15.25 at M*rks on milk, shallots, cucumber, spring onions, radishes, mint, tomatoes, chillies, parsley, basil, dill and lambs lettuce and then had to go back to Mr S because they'd stopped stocking za'atar between last week and this!. So back to Mr S and spent £3.75 on sumac (to make my own za'atar) and more nicer radishes. 
Grand total so far £37.09/£124 so I'm running at £6.18 per day at the moment, will have to do better.

zafiro1984

An interesting website showing how much we spend on food and eating out. I thought it was for 2019 but right at the top it says updated Nov 2020.
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-uk-household-cost-food#poll

PipneyJane

Good morning All

I have one spend to declare from yesterday, £40.42 in L!dl, mainly on veg, cheese, and salmon-en-croute.  They’re selling the 800g blocks of Wyke’s Farm Extra Mature Cheddar again for £3.69, so we bought 2.

This brings my total spend for March to £97.40/£141.40 leaving £43.60 for the rest of the month.

moneyonmymindsam said:

@PipneyJane
That sounds like a great shop and money well spent for only £16.63  👏👏👏👏

Thank you, @moneyonmymindsam.  Very sweet of you to say so.

Suffolk_lass said:

Save_Dosh said:

Hi Elsie, can you put me down for £80. (for the month)

I've not had any spends yet.  Using up pantry and freezer items. I buy aubergines a lot, then end up binning them, as they always end up tasting greasy and spongelike.  Finally managed to make some nice tasting ones, stuffed, with spicy savoury soy mince, topped with vegan cheese.  I'm assuming they will freeze as well, so a nice quick meal.  I will probably make burritos with the remainder of the mince. I made tahini with the black sesame seeds and then made 'black houmous' errmmm.  The houmous tasted the same, but reminded me of cement that hadn't dried, not visually appealing.  I wont be making it again and will probably bin the batch I made, as yuk comes to mind everytime I use it.  I ran out of soy milk, so made some oat milk.  Its really easy.  Just put a cup of oats and 3 or 4 cups of water in a blender, I add 2 tblsp of a neutral oil to help emulsify and some date paste, but you can add anything to sweeten,  blend for a few minutes, then strain.  That's it.  Happy shopping everyone.

@Save_Dosh the way Pip suggests, where you roast aubergine in its skin and then scoop out the flesh is good - also with tahini, lemon juice garlic and spices to make Baba Ganoush (Lebanese dip). When I did an evening class with an Italian chef they said there is no need to sprinkle the modern hybrid aubergines with salt any more - I roast them in chunks or slices just sprinkled with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and chilli flakes for about 20 minutes (my favourite is in a dish, layered with my own (hm) passata and then sprinkled with a good strong (grated) cheese and grilled for about 15 minutes - a quick imitation of melanzane parmigiana)

MMMM..... Baba Ganoush is YUMMY  @Suffolk_lass.  Thanks for the recipe idea for Melanzane Parmigiana.   Two more classic recipe suggestions for aubergines are Brinjal Bhaji and Ratatouille.  My ratatouille recipe is simple: 

Ratatouille 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion,  chopped

1 large clove garlic, crushed

100g mushrooms, sliced if large, quartered if small

2 courgettes, sliced

2-3 peppers, sliced

1 aubergine, cut into 1cm cubes

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

Method

1. Gently fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft and glassy.  
2. Add all the other ingredients, turn up the heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.  
3. Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  
4. Taste it.  If it is too sour, stir in half a teaspoon of sugar.  Need salt?  Add it now. Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.

Can be served over pasta or used as a side dish to something cooked dry, like a steak.

- Pip

moneyonmymindsam

Thank you @zafiro1984 I will have a nosey.
Picked up YS broccoli and 6 eggs for 50p. So quite happy with that. 
Sam x

Suffolk_lass

Mmm @PipneyJane - I love both ratatouille and brinjal bhaje - I might have to make Ratatouille tonight (allergic to mushrooms so a bit different to your recipe) - a quick check and I think mine is a Jamie Oliver recipe

Hettyhound

I’m really going to have to tighten up for the rest of the month.  So far £75.66 across 2 shops at Aldi, ££24.19 at Tesco and £12.40 at HB so comes in at £112.25!  Gives me about £25 per week for 3 more weekly shops.  Cupboard is full so might be able to manage it 🤞

Karb

After a successful week, thanks to a number of yellow stickered bargains, I treated DS1, DS2 and me to a takeaway curry this evening. Ending week 1 at £101.01, pretty much bang on target

PipneyJane

Evening All

@Suffolk_lass, mushrooms aren’t compulsory in a ratatouille.  I have no recollection whether they were in the version I ate as a child - it was the only way I ate vegetables back then - or whether I just added them at some point later.    Incidentally, the chef at the hospital where I used to work would fill a baking tray with ratatouille, pour over white sauce, sprinkle on cheddar and then bake it for half an hour or so, until the sauce had set.  A 4-inch square cost 40 cents and was a very cheap lunch or dinner when I was a broke student nurse.

I have a small spend to declare:  £3.48 in the Co-op on a YS pizza and YS mini pork pies.  Today turned out to be quite a busy day, so we took the lazy option for lunch.

This spend brings our total for March to £101.28/£141.40, leaving £40.12 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

moneyonmymindsam

Declaring a spend before I forget of
4 pints milk, instant coffee on offer, bag sugar £4.30 (I didn't get a receipt so could be £4.40 🙄) 
Road beef today so this is also lunch and dinner tomorrow. Probably could get away with smaller joints in future, but is nice to not have to cook on a Monday. 

No YS today but didn't really look as it was busy so shot in and out of shop.

Sam x

[Deleted User]

@Suffolk_lass & @PipneyJane Thank you very much for the suggestions.  I love the microwave aubergine hack.  I've been meaning to have a bash at Baba Ganoush, so thanks for the recipe.

OK, still no spends for me.  Batch cooked a load of 'mustard stew', which I have frozen.  I have a ton of lentils/yellow split peas, in varying colours, about 5kg, so not gonna buy chickpeas, till I have made a dent.  Made some Spicy Red Lentil Dip (cooked red lentils, tomato paste, garlic & some chilli paste), blitz.  Managed to find a use for the 'Black Tahini', I made some Chocolate Spread (tahini, maple/golden syrup, coco powder).  My pantry is now organized to within an inch of its life.  I have a few 'unlabelled bags of beans, from the health shop, I'm guessing, adzuki, soy and butter, so will soak them overnight and cook in the instant pot.  They can be frozen, and flung in stews, curries etc.  The adzuki makes a lovely dip, with some garlic and curry paste.  I've nearly run out of fabric conditioner, but might use distilled vinegar, it's amazing at softening clothes, and add some essential oils for scent.  It's a lot healthier.  Does anyone do this???  Anywho, have a lovely day everyone.