May 2021 Grocery Challenge

Happy_Sloth

Can you please put me down for £300 for 3 adults?

I am not including dog food as that comes out by direct debit but i'm including all cleaning/toiletry's etc. 

Happy_Sloth

Suffolk_lass said:

Finstickle said:

So I apparently still haven't learned - sent my OH to the shop with a list - the list is not what came back.  £76 later!!!
When my mum had been literally days earlier!!  Also, when you don't go yourself things get missed, hence the extra visit he did on Sat and another one I have had to do today      Some things my mum didn't recognise and some things never made either list but I'd have just thought of going round - a couple which we actually needed rather than wanted, but when you go you get everything so another £26.63 from me today.

Current spend £102.63/£450

Maybe try building your list as a click and collect to minimise the temptations?

I would second this,  my OH is incapable of following a list, he comes home with every tasty item he spotted on his way around the shop.  He also only gets about half the things i had on the list because he couldn't find them.   

If i send him to pick up a click and collect i get what i wanted haha.. 

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

Hi everyone, just caught up on all your posts! I did a huge shop in the big Mr T yesterday in the next big town, so lots of lovely things filling up my fridge and freezer! Need to work out a meal plan and budget for the rest of the month as I'm now somewhat worse off than I thought I would be, oops! Small saving grace is that I booked a days leave from my normal work to work the election day, so that £189 in my pocket, just not sure when it'll get paid!  It's worth more to me than a day of annual leave from  work, i prefer cash haha!
New discovery which is not too budget friendly is the Wicked Kitchen Garlic & Herb Kebabs in Mr T - they are fake meat type product in this amazing marinade and you just oven cook them.  You get 4 in a pack - 2 is decent sized portion for the main protein part of a meal but I think I could stretch them further by adding to salady things - the first time I had them I used the second 2 cold the next day in a salad and I chopped them up into little pieces - I think done carefully 1 could definitely be used instead with another protein source such as chickpeas or quinoa added.

GSDMum

Had to take our dog to the vets this morning, just for a normal check over, worming tablets, ears cleaned, and a procedure that I'd rather not mention.... 

I had intended to call at the shops while I was in town for a few provisions, but thought I'd manage what we'd got for another day, avoiding almost certain temptation. In any case, my Rusty was a little stressed after the vet so we headed to the park instead for a bit of tennis-ball-therapy! A much more productive pastime!

The remainer of yesterday's beef joint has been turned into a crusty meat and veg pie, in fact it's turned into two pies, one for tonight's dinner and one for a dinner next week. My latest kick of reducing our meat consumption by replacing with more veg is paying off - squeezing two meals out of what used to be just one meal! 

Discovered a really lovely biscuit (digestive /hobnob) recipe.... the biscuits are really yum, and can really taste the butter. Got to admit I'm now itching to buy a pack of chocolate chips to add to the receipe...... hope this isn't a slippery slope!  

............
100g 'blitzed' oats

100g wholemeal flour (spelt)

50g butter 

salt 

teaspoon baking powder

50g light brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Sallyp2

Sallyp2 - I went AWOL in my last monthly food spend challenge. Lost track of what I brought/when and it was too hard to get control back. For 3 adults I am going to aim for a total food spend in May of £320. £80 per week. Will be amazed if I can make that happen. I've spent £3 today on a loaf and some kale for the house bunnies. But I'm not counting the trip to the pub Saturday afternoon. First meal / drinks out in months so it was a nice BH treat for us

joedenise

@Sallyp2 - do you have a local greengrocer or farm shop?  If you do ask them for the outside leaves that they usually throw away.  You'll probably be able to sort out some for yourself and rest will be good for the bunnies.  Anything which is too far gone goes into the compost or food waste bin and all totally free.

goldfinches

I did a top-up shop in M*rks for organic milk, live f/f yoghurt and radishes and came out with y/s milks, brussels and single cream as well as maris piper's, a cauliflower and bramleys, I think the weather is making me think of roast potatoes, roast cauliflower, brussels, yorkshires and apple sauce, at least that's the excuse I'm hiding behind.
Monthly total is now £21.17/£124 and my daily average spend is £5.29 which is making me gulp a bit.

@GSDMum - that recipe sounds delicious and even better I've got all the ingredients already. 
Can I just ask how many biscuits it makes please and whether I'm right in thinking that I should melt the butter and sugar together then stir in the bicarb before adding that mixture to the dry ingredients?
I've got some prunes and dried figs needing to be used up so I thought I might chop those up small and soak them in lemon juice overnight and add them in if you think they'd work?

Sallyp2

joedenise said:

@Sallyp2 - do you have a local greengrocer or farm shop?  If you do ask them for the outside leaves that they usually throw away.  You'll probably be able to sort out some for yourself and rest will be good for the bunnies.  Anything which is too far gone goes into the compost or food waste bin and all totally free.

Lol we have lots of farm shops and SM's around us. We treat our 2 house bunnies like children, they are quite pampered and refuse to eat kale, carrots and berries that are not to the standard they expect. I know that's not the grain of this thread, We've tried various greens from different sources and they voted with speed of eating: Number 1=M&S / No 2=Wrose / No3=JS / No4=A1d1 / No5=A2Da / No6=Farm Shop. I do have an allotment, so when the season gets going they'll eat homegrown veg. The bunnies know what they like

GSDMum

@GSDMum - that recipe sounds delicious and even better I've got all the ingredients already. 

Can I just ask how many biscuits it makes please and whether I'm right in thinking that I should melt the butter and sugar together then stir in the bicarb before adding that mixture to the dry ingredients?
I've got some prunes and dried figs needing to be used up so I thought I might chop those up small and soak them in lemon juice overnight and add them in if you think they'd work?

@goldfinches; I suppose you could add melted butter, I rubbed softened butter into the dry mixture like you'd do with pastry. The first time I made 12, the second time (using the same round cutter) I must have rolled the mixture thinner as I got 14. The next time I'll use a smaller cutter cos they are so moreish, and they might last longer . The biscuits are dry, so I don't think you'll need to soak the fruit otherwise the mixture will be soggy. But soaking them could work, experimenting can bring some surprises. Think currents would work, maybe I'll have a go with currents and a few chopped almonds.

thriftwizard

A horrendous £102 vanished today, between the monthy L!dls non-perishables shop and the wholesalers. That said, there are things topped up now that will last us 3-6 months; e.g. L!dls didn't have any chickpeas, but the wholesalers had trays (12 tins) for £1.99, so I bought two. (If I'd more room I'd have bought more! My pescatarian DDs love them & make lots of lovely middle eastern dishes with them.) There's enough sugar for an entire season of jam-making, pasta for 3 months, etc. etc. L!dls finally did have passata and tomato puree, which they haven't had down here for about a year, so I picked up several months-worth. I've run down my Armageddon stores during the last year, to save unnecessary shopping trips; it was time to re-stock. I do still need to order some good flour, and visit an oriental grocer, which are few & far between down here, but basically I should be able to coast through the rest of the month just topping up the supplies of fresh stuff.