March 2021 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

Big spend yesterday with a month's SM shopping and a quick trip into the SM as well as C&C (not me, the DH) he spotted some YS discontinued curry sauces at 75p each. We had two in the C&C at £1.65 each...

Also oats (jumbo organic) and prunes from the health food shop. Running total this month is £87.54 plus some stores spending (£205.60 for the year so far - much more than it should be). Treats were £8 - much better than previously as most carp is missing now.

We should see March out with one top up trip to the market plus the doorstep deliveries of milk and eggs. Still managing no-meat month but we are missing it.

2Scratters

Did an A!di shop yesterday turned out better than I thought it might, I did a list but as always didn't stick to it religiously (must try harder). Did need 2 new bags as my big bags diminished for some reason. Not sure if anyone else does this when doing a big shop try to aim for £1 per item or less. I had 40 items and my bill was £27.78 which averages out 69p per item.
stay safe everyone
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[Deleted User]

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.

joedenise

DH popped into the farm shop to buy some fruit and mushrooms and spent £4.99 leaving us with £211.04 for the rest of the month.

moneyonmymindsam

Got a spare milk when out so up to £30.69
Sam x

PipneyJane

Evening All

@Save_Dosh, aubergines are notorious for soaking up oil like a sponge.  That’s why so many recipes start with salting them to draw out the moisture.  I use them a lot to pad out mince-based meals (keema curry, beef chilli, Bolognese, etc).  Not too sure how well it’d work with soy mince, but I cut the end off, stab the aubergine 3 or 4 times and then zap it in the microwave for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool a little (so you don’t burn yourself), cut in half and scoop out the pulp.  Chop the pulp and add it to your mince-based meal, just after you add the obligatory tin of tomatoes.  The aubergine will just melt into the sauce.

We went to MrT’s yesterday evening to take advantage of a £1.50-off voucher for superglue.  While there, I went a little mad on YS items, buying YS ham (£1.05), duck legs (£3.65), a YS chicken pie (£1.80) and a YS quiche (£1.33).  With some fresh ginger, two packs of toilet paper and the superglue, we spent £16.63.  This brings our total spend for March to £55.20/£141.40, leaving £86.20 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

thriftwizard

I've spent a slightly massive £67.50 today; £30 at the supermarket (give or take a couple of coppers) £25 at the butchers and £12.50 at the bakery; oh my goodness, that flatbread's completely addictive! Must go earlier, before it comes out of the oven... but frustratingly, I've mislaid the supermarket receipt & can't for the life of me work out why it was that much. I've checked the prices of everything I had on my list, and the little items that - well, just fell into my trolley, like YS hot cross buns (OH adores them) and some crisps - but I still have £12 to account for. Genuinely baffled... oh dear!

Edited to add: remembered £5-worth, on YS soft fruit to make ice-cream with. £7 left to track down...

moneyonmymindsam

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

Suffolk_lass

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)

2Scratters

booking 19.50 for dog food for the dogs, this will last a  month and there is still some left over from Feb. Have had to slightly reduce my girls meal as she is carrying a bit too much weight. Next month will be a freebie as I have filled a loyalty card for a free bag, Yay!. Total so far £51.18 of £200 monthly budget.
Stay safe
2Scratters