April 2022 Grocery Challenge

goldfinches

Waving to all and saying a warm hello and welcome to all the newcomers.

I was seduced by this recipe Rukmini Iyer's Black Bean Burgers which popped into my inbox yesterday so trotted up to M*rks with a short list and spent £9.40 on mushrooms, ketchup, peanuts, radishes, brioche buns, coriander and 2x y/s honeydew melons. That makes my average daily spend £3.13.

The burgers were very nice and easy to make and tasted pretty good but if I make them again I shan't bother with buying the buns as they're so soft it feels like you're eating cotton wool. I was a bit miffed that M*rks had run out of my favourite f/f yoghurt again and decided to do without it for a few days and just have the melon for breakfast with some overnight oats instead and see how I get on. I'm planning to roast a butternut squash and make a rhubarb crumble at the same time for dinner and combined with the remaining burgers and veg from the freezer I think that will carry me through until sometime around Wednesday before I have to think of anything else.

nannygladys

Whilst I was out yesterday, I decided I need some salad bits, from the retail park we were on, there was a food warehouse and m&s, so we went to the first place, the lettuce was slimy looking and definitely gone past its best, they only had some really unappetizing looking tomatoes and no cucumber, so walked round to marks and got them all from there plus some flat green beans for a recipe I've seen that uses them and that was it £6 dead on, and although I know it was more expensive everything will last days and days, in fact I've already eaten some of the salad and green beans (not in the recipe though, but cut up raw) and it all tastes lovely, so a win for me.
Ps I don't normally go in there, but on this occasion I was very pleased
Signature updated. I'm hoping to keep food costs as low as I can for the next few months as I have a couple of monetary outlays coming up.

otb666

i have got Romanesco Cauliflower/Choi Sum and Aubergine coming shortly.  Never had these before and no idea how to cook them.  Can you please help me. Can i add them into vegetable soup?.  I found the tip on here about zapping butternut in microwave for 5 mins then scooping out very good.

otb666

Can you eat Romanesco Cauliflower leaves in soup?

JIL

You can eat anything in soup. I made a really nice stirfry with the choi sum,  it also had some tenderstem broccoli in it, which isnt too unlike romanesca cauliflower. Mine was a wagamama recipe.

https://www.wagamama.com/cook/wok-from-home/sides/wok-fried-greens

Do you like curry? Aubergine and romanesca would work.
Aubergine can be stuffed or battered and deep fried.
Or moussaka, just layered between a bolognese sauce, topped with a cheese sauce. There are lots of different recipes of how to. 

I got 2 of the biggest aubergines I have ever seen in my veg box. I made a huge pan full of Ratatouille today and froze a few portions.

RandomOne

Good morning everyone.

Thanks for the tips & advice about different categories. I think my plan is to just track how much I spend on the pets for a month. I do have a pet sinking fund for vet visits, insurance etc, so it'll mainly just be for their food.

Then next month I'll see how much I spent and set up a new category for it. Including the dog food, cat litter & and cat food, I think it'll come to about £80, maybe a little less.

Yesterday was a NSD and I'm planning for today to be a NSD too. We don't need anything, I have all I need to make all of our meals today. I will need to spend money tomorrow though, as my son needs some packed lunch food.

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

@GreenCat80 - I use carrier bags to keep similar things together - eg separate bags for burgers, sausages, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, joints etc.  I've also got small baskets across the bottom which are much easier to get to by moving the carrier bags.

It still needs tidying up from time to time but it's definitely better than just bunging it all in!

GreenCat80 I keep the open bags of veg and stuff in the tiny frozen part of the indoor fridge-freezer and like joedenise, I use baskets for meat, veg and baked products in the chest freezer. I fill the gaps with things like frozen egg whites (from a glut), frozen butter and bags of fruit. I no longer freeze milk - I use powdered made up if I run out (much easier!)

bargainbetty

£3 in Home Bargains for snacks and £3.09 for a TGTG box from the Morrisons near my mum. She and I split the box, which makes it much more likely that it will all get eaten!

Salad leaves, spuds, pears, avocados, turkey breast slices, pasta salad and a few other little bits. Well worth the money, although skimpier that my local store!

Cocobeans

So far I have spent £39.50 which I am happy with as my budget works out as approx £50 a week so on track! I spent the morning at the allotment filling the beds with compost so feel ready to go with it now! When we got the allotment 11 months ago it was a state but we still managed to get enough crops to make it feel worth it so hoping this year will be even more productive! Am already harvesting rhubarb so will be making a crumble this week.

April £39.50 / £250 spent

Cheery_Daff

£1.65 spent today on milk to take to work - signature updated.

Doing well with munching through the storecupboard. I made a batch of cous cous tonight using up some sweet potato I roasted the other day, and the last of a lettuce, and some boiled eggs (we keep chickens so there are always plenty of eggs knocking around - we forget to eat enough of them sometimes). Got the same again to take to work tomorrow.