December 2021 Grocery Challenge

QueenJess

Suffolk_lass said:

QueenJess said:

Somehow DH still managed to spend too much money on the shop. Another £41.64 spent mainly on milk, meat and some other junk.

Spending total: £155.29 / £600

It's a struggle when they go off-spec, isn't it!? We had "that" conversation and now I get calls if there is temptation and he rarely takes a "that will be nice" view without first speaking

It’s better than when he first started doing the shop as he realised how much things were and did swap to own brand at least. I just want to take it all back because frankly I’m better at it and I’m the cook usually. I’m sure I’ll win eventually… I usually do 😂

goldfinches

MissRikkiC said:

A question for those in the know - I purchased from quite a reputable ‘green - less waste’ shop a whole load of dried beans and pulses. And have now attempted to use both the butter beans and kidney beans having soaked them over night but they’re still so hard even after cooking and the butter beans had an almost a detergent taste to them! Are they just not good quality or did I do something wrong?! 

In my experience this tends to mean that the beans were rather elderly when you purchased them rather than there being anything wrong with your preparation method. One of the potential problems about this type of supplier is that they sometimes don't have sufficient turnover for their merchandise, so if you're buying to stock up your store cupboard you need to get the ones in plastic packets. 
I know it isn't as eco friendly to buy things in plastic but when you think that a shop might have opened the bag their dried pulses came in several weeks ago and they've been drying out since then you can see why I think that. 

Here's Yotam Ottolenghi's method for overnight soaking of dried chickpeas which gives a good example of how freshness affects cooking times.

250g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in double their volume of water,
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
To cook the chickpeas, drain them and place them in a medium saucepan on a high heat. Add the bicarbonate of soda and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1.5 litres of water and bring to the boil. Cook for about 30 minutes - timing can vary from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the freshness of the chickpeas - skimming off any foam that appears. The chickpeas are ready when they collapse easily between thumb and finger: almost but not quite mushy.

You can see that the cooking time can vary a lot and the chef allows for that by giving a physical check for doneness in the method.

joedenise

@MissRikkiC - I've never had much luck with cooking butter beans, they always seem to just burst but they are soft; they just look unsightly so I tend to use it to make hummus.  If they are still hard after cooking I suspect they are stale.

I've never bothered with dried kidney beans so help with that but suspect it's because they're stale as well.  I just buy tins of kidney beans but don't use them often anyway as don't really like them!

MissRikkiC

Thanks @goldfinches and @joedenise that’s as I expected then by the sounds of it, which is such a shame. 

I have a few tins of kidney beans but I wasted half a ring of chorizo last week and some really fancy passata we got free from Mabel and Vole so I was really dissapointed. I might actually politely complain and just see how they take it. 

goldfinches

MissRikkiC said:

Thanks @goldfinches and @joedenise that’s as I expected then by the sounds of it, which is such a shame. 

I have a few tins of kidney beans but I wasted half a ring of chorizo last week and some really fancy passata we got free from Mabel and Vole so I was really dissapointed. I might actually politely complain and just see how they take it. 

I think if I was you I would try to at least discuss it with them because that's a fairly big loss of money as well as the time and effort you spent preparing the dish. It is really upsetting when something outside your control spoils all your hard work and careful planning. If you felt like letting us know the outcome I for one would be really interested in whether they took your concern seriously.

Anyway, to get back to budgeting, I got my test results this am (negative, thankfully) so felt able to pop to the corner shop for milk, bread, baking potatoes, shallots, nuts and raisins, salted peanuts and a treat packet of crisps for £10.85 which makes my new monthly total £10.85/£176.66 and my average daily spend £1.55.

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

@MissRikkiC - I've never had much luck with cooking butter beans, they always seem to just burst but they are soft; they just look unsightly so I tend to use it to make hummus.  If they are still hard after cooking I suspect they are stale.

I've never bothered with dried kidney beans so help with that but suspect it's because they're stale as well.  I just buy tins of kidney beans but don't use them often anyway as don't really like them!

I substitute Borlotti beans or Pinto beans for kidney beans - much nicer and I grow a few borlottis for the pink pods and freeze the bean-seeds to add to chilli.

When I cook beans and pulses I do a bag at a time in my pressure cooker - 45 minutes once it is up to pressure, but like you @joesenise, my Butter Beans burst. Here is Suffolk, I feel marginally less guilty using cellophane bags as all the domestic black (general) bin waste is incinerated to produce energy.

cornishchick

managed no spends at all till today, but need to top up fresh veg and things, so off to the shops after work. 
will be back to edit and add spends later. 


ok Spent £24.46 in As*a. but with the Bluelight discount, it was £22.04. 
that's fruit, veg and bits and pieces for at least the next week, week and a half.. eating all the soups and bits I had stashed in my freezer. trying to minimise spending as not sure whether I will have a job in the new year!!

QueenJess

Veg/fruit box and eggs paid for this week £20.25.

Spending total: £175.54 / £600

thriftwizard

£40.73 added, spent on a trot round town on topping up bread, yogurt, cream, milk, bean sprouts, mushrooms & a few other bit & bobs.

diminua

I’ve spent £66.55 so far this month. That includes a mulled wine at the Christmas market, and a mince pie and fancy coffee, as well as today's pain au chocolat, cheese sandwich and crisps. This is the way the money goes.. Groceries include the fruit and veg box (it’s leek and clementine season by the look of things), venison steaks (same company) butter, bread, milk, mackerel, chunky marmalade, eggs, salmon, tomatoes and pasta.

I need coffee and more milk.