March 2022 Grocery Challenge

ancientmum

First spend of the month in Aldi, £5.75 for fruit, bread, tuna, flour and sardines.  Yesterday I cooked a sort of veg stew with onions, leeks and a butternut squash  that were part of the end of the day reduced veg box in the market a couple of weeks ago.  I threw in a tin of baked beans and some dried herbs, and had it for tea with a couple of HM cheese scones.  There is enough left for another meal tonight and two portions to go in the freezer.

so, my meal plan for the week is:
Tonight (Wednesday):  LO veg stew with cheese scones
Thursday:  Jacket potato and sausages, carrots and sprouts
Friday:   Breaded fish and HM oven chips, carrots and peas
Saturday:  Shepherds pie from freezer with extra veg
Sunday:  Pork chop, roast pots and parsnips, carrots and sprouts

I usually have fruit and a couple of biscuits or slice of cake for pudding.  Sometimes I make a rice pud if milk needs using up.  I've just remembered that I've got some left over mincemeat in the fridge, so might have mince pies and custard one night. Mmm.  Making myself feel hungry now...

wannalot

I had my first big shop of the month today: £57. 

It’s more than I wanted to spend, but I got a decent amount of stuff, including a lot of ingredients to do some batch cooking on Friday when I am off work. I’m going to cook and freeze some meals for the month. Some of the meals are rather new to me, because I have gone on a low carb diet since January, and I am still getting the hang of this way of eating. 

Anyway, this week I’ll make lamb soup (using minced lamb that has been languishing at the back of the freezer) and a beef chilli. I’m also planning to roast a chicken which I will use to make chicken curry to freeze (I’m nervous about this, as it has coconut milk in it), chicken in a tomato cream sauce and possibly chicken soup using stock from the carcass.

All being well, I should get at least 18 meals out of this.

joedenise

Don't worry about freezing coconut milk I never use a full tin when I make a curry and freeze the extra in a silicon muffin tray until frozen solid and can add to future curries which again get frozen once cooked!

Smoosh

I've got a few spends to declare.

OH spent £13.73 in B&M on a big bag of cat litter, a can of beans and a noodle pot.

Then we did the weekly shop on Monday. 

£14.73 in asda on 4 litres of fizzy drink, 3 cans of refried beans, Quorn mince, Quorn nuggets, Quorn lattices, Quorn bacon, cream (YS), a chicken pie (YS), prawn risotto (YS), a sandwich (YS) and some sushi (YS).

£17.25 in aldi on 2 litres of fizzy drink, 1 litre of juice, 650g ketchup, 4 pints of milk, soy sauce, dried parsley, 750g fries, 10 coffee pods, a pack of chorizo, 400g cheddar, 1kg basmati rice, a bag of onions, a pineapple, a pack of tortilla wraps, a bag of salad leaves, broccoli, yoghurt, sour cream and mushrooms.

We didn't need that many cans of beans but they were on offer, so stocked up. Also didn't need all those Quorn items, but they're also on offer (4 for £6) so bought things we can use next week. 

I wanted to get the 5 for £5 frozen items from asda but our store was largely sold out, so didn't bother. 

Meal plan (starting from Monday as that's when we went shopping):
1. Refried bean and cheese quesadillas with fries
2. Pancakes (savoury and sweet)
3. Stroganoff with spaghetti and veggie sausages. OH will also have mushrooms
4. Omelette (cheese for me, mushroom and chorizo for OH) with fries
5. Korean beef (using Quorn mince) with egg fried rice
6. I'm out one day, so OH will probably have a YS ready meal from the freezer
7. We're at my parents for Sunday dinner

I love seeing everyone else's meal plans

£45.71/£200.

thriftwizard

A little supermarket top-up spend of £7.42 on has kicked me off into the March budget, but I've also dipped into my temporary £90 bulk fund (left over GC-budget from February!) by £34.60 on some flour direct from the mill. That should last us several months, though I've realised I should have bought at least one more 8Kg sack; I'll pop into the mill & pick one up if I'm passing, which I will be in the next month or so. I'll be doing a big non-perishables run for the month's supplies in the next couple of days.

Prudent

joedenise said:

Don't worry about freezing coconut milk I never use a full tin when I make a curry and freeze the extra in a silicon muffin tray until frozen solid and can add to future curries which again get frozen once cooked!

Good tip thank you. I use it quite often, but the recipe doesn't always call for a whole tin.

_Moving_On_Up_

Small spend today of £2.80 on some milk and apple juice.

Edited to add dog food I've ordered to collect Friday so another £27.55

Alcohol £0/£60
Bulk Buys & Store Cupboard £4.83/£30
Cleaning & Household £4.68/£15
Dog Food £27.55/£50
Food £10.07/£120
Fruit & Veg £6.30/£50
Meat & Fish £4.39/£60
Takeaways £0/£50
Treats & Snacks £0/£25

Total £57.82/£460

Smoosh

We freeze coconut milk too
Sometimes separates a bit when defrosted but totally fine once stirred! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Suffolk_lass 

I was just going to say that. You are a legend you know...

Oh my dearest Suffolk lass - I'm much more scrag end than leg-end these days..... But thank you for your welcome back - as ever, mucho appreciated  😁

NSD kept to (YAY!) and buddha bowl made for tea (double-YAY!)  LG ate dhal, rice, an omlette and some steamed, shredded savoy cabbage, (triple-YAY!).  Their eating habits have improved massively (they used to be good, and then went picky, so fingers crossed we're coming out the other side towards expansive range of likes and unfussy eating).

I am going to have to alter my meal plan around between tomorrow and Friday though, as I hadn't thought it through properly.  I am going shopping tomorrow and shall stick.to.my.list 🙁I have made a list of meal 'thoughts' for next week, and will turn it into a 'plan' once I have been shopping.

Revised meal plan for this week;

Th - Mugg, mixed veg curry & rice (or possibly flatbreads as we had rice tonight)
F - Lentil bolognese, pasta and green beans
Sa - Black olive/mushroom pizza and HM wedges
Su - Veggie sausages, yorkies, mash, mixed veg & gravy

Greying X

PipneyJane

Good evening All

I've just tallied up for February and have £20.66 to roll forward.  Therefore, @elsiepac,

please set my March budget at £160.66, thank you.

- Pip