April 2022 Grocery Challenge

Vanlady

Hi everyone, quick check in from me. I love reading all your posts! Some fab food ideas going on. 
A NSD today from me, still the lidleee shop planned for tomorrow.  I'm actually one of those  who dont like shopping very much, never have. I go armed with my list, get what I need, and out again, if at all possible.  But....this is difficult if Van Man is tagging along with me, he Loves a good browse hopefully I can shake him off tomorrow  
Dinner tonight was fish fingers, sprouts, mashed carrot and swede and mashed potato out of the freezer for me,a nice n easygoing meal cos I'm k nackered  tonight, and Van Man had one if his batch cooked chicken curries and rice out of the freezer...I like a bit of green on my plate.
Dawn, you did an expert job with utilising your chicken.
And Cheery, I love the sound if Mr Daff  

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

Oh my goodness guys, I'm finally caught up!! I was so behind, I've been doing a few pages a day lol!

I LOVE all the meal plans being posted - thank you so much to everyone sharing!

elsiepac

Cheery_Daff said:

Evening all 😊

I never did write a meal plan 🙄 There's only really me to feed - Mr Cheery does live here and eat 😂 but usually fends for himself, eating bizarre things like a bowl of plain chick peas, or an entire bag of sprouts just with soy sauce. I'm certainly not joining him in those type of meals so need something more conventional 😂

My current aim is to NOT have to cook on work days, which means Mon-Thurs dinners and teas (so 8 meals) need to be in the freezer (and preferably a few extras for the weekend too). I'm trying to batch cook *something* every weekend, and slowly building up a stock of frozen meals so I can have a more varied selection. 

So, available in the freezer for consumption this week:

* cooked quinoa with green lentil & leeks x 4
* tomato and red lentil pasta bake x 3
* canellini bean pasta bake x 2
* red lentil and mushroom gratin x 3 

There's also 4 portions of cooked brown rice that I can defrost and fry up quickly with a bit of veg and some eggs, and some pizza dough and tomato topping that I could get out to make pizzas with - both of those are more weekend things. AND I've made and frozen a batch of small flapjacks - no more than one a day as a snack.

I've only been doing this a couple of weeks and I LOVE it. I'd got into such bad habits of eating toast and porridge when I couldn't be bothered cooking (not helped by not having a proper kitchen for 2 years) so this feels like a great luxury.

Not going to dictate what I'll eat on each particular day, just going to say I will eat a proper, home cooked meal from the freezer twice a day when I'm working 😊 And usually a smoothie for breakfast which I'll make the night before.

If nothing else I'm eating a lot more veg and wading through some of the storecupboard! 

Happy grocery-using this week folks, looking forward to seeing what you're all eating 😊

This sounds like such a good way of planning - but mostly please please please can you share how you made all 4 of those items?  I want them all now lol.  Also how did you store your brown rice for the freezer portions please?  This is something I always have in the back of my mind to do but can't get my head round - do you do it in individual portions and in bags or containers? Thanks!!

elsiepac

Third post in a row, sorry guys!

I made a gorgeous leek and potato soup the other day - I used a thyme and garlic stock pot as well as a knorr veg one, and I stirred through a decent amount of garlic & herb nutritional yeast and also quite substantial amounts of garlic pepper so it had a bit of a kick to the throat!! But it was gorgeous - if any of you use nooch, I do recommend the new flavoured ones from W1cked Kitchen and B0sh.

Tonight I was using things I needed to.. and made something simple but very effective so wanted to share!
It's an american thing I think really -

Taco Salad

Basically I sauteed a leftover 1/2 red onion with a green pepper and an orange pepper then added half a bag of Mr T vegan frozen mince. 

When that thawed I added a sachet of Mr T Taco seasoning (these sachets are brilliant at something like 60p each if you are lacking inspiration as they require no effort so I've taken to keeping a couple in the stores).

Also stirred through a drained tin of black beans and a drained tin of green lentils. 

Let all that warm through while I chopped up some romaine and some tomatoes - topped it with some of the taco "meat" mix, some rescued rapidly wilting coriander and some grated vegan cheese.

It was a great big bowlful and it was honestly way better than I thought it would be considering I improvised massively!

Obviously other toppings like sour cream, avocado, salsa etc could be added.  

Enough of the mince mix for another 2 meals at least leftover as well, so that's a win!

Cheery_Daff

elsiepac said:

Cheery_Daff said:

Evening all 😊

I never did write a meal plan 🙄 There's only really me to feed - Mr Cheery does live here and eat 😂 but usually fends for himself, eating bizarre things like a bowl of plain chick peas, or an entire bag of sprouts just with soy sauce. I'm certainly not joining him in those type of meals so need something more conventional 😂

My current aim is to NOT have to cook on work days, which means Mon-Thurs dinners and teas (so 8 meals) need to be in the freezer (and preferably a few extras for the weekend too). I'm trying to batch cook *something* every weekend, and slowly building up a stock of frozen meals so I can have a more varied selection. 

So, available in the freezer for consumption this week:

* cooked quinoa with green lentil & leeks x 4
* tomato and red lentil pasta bake x 3
* canellini bean pasta bake x 2
* red lentil and mushroom gratin x 3 

There's also 4 portions of cooked brown rice that I can defrost and fry up quickly with a bit of veg and some eggs, and some pizza dough and tomato topping that I could get out to make pizzas with - both of those are more weekend things. AND I've made and frozen a batch of small flapjacks - no more than one a day as a snack.

I've only been doing this a couple of weeks and I LOVE it. I'd got into such bad habits of eating toast and porridge when I couldn't be bothered cooking (not helped by not having a proper kitchen for 2 years) so this feels like a great luxury.

Not going to dictate what I'll eat on each particular day, just going to say I will eat a proper, home cooked meal from the freezer twice a day when I'm working 😊 And usually a smoothie for breakfast which I'll make the night before.

If nothing else I'm eating a lot more veg and wading through some of the storecupboard! 

Happy grocery-using this week folks, looking forward to seeing what you're all eating 😊

This sounds like such a good way of planning - but mostly please please please can you share how you made all 4 of those items?  I want them all now lol.  Also how did you store your brown rice for the freezer portions please?  This is something I always have in the back of my mind to do but can't get my head round - do you do it in individual portions and in bags or containers? Thanks!!

Ha, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you with my lack of recipes! I'll tell you what I did, but I warn you I am nowhere near up to Greying Pilgrim's standards 😁

QUINOA WITH LEEK AND GREEN LENTILS
Quinoa cooked separately (last week) and frozen (will show how below). This week I just fried up leek, onion, garlic, and separately boiled a giant mound of green lentils with a couple of stock cubes, then stirred it all together (saving the lentil water for soup).

TOMATO AND RED LENTIL PASTA BAKE
Cooked the pasta, and in a separate pan boiled a load of red lentils and a box of passatta, again with a couple of stock cubes. Mixed with the pasta, grated a little bit of mature cheddar on top, in the oven til the cheese went crispy.

(You're going to be sorry you asked - I am NOT a fancy cook!) 😂😂

CANELLINI BEAN PASTA BAKE
Fried up onions ,garlic, some other bits of fridge veg (can't remember, this was last weekend), added a tin of canellini beans and mashed them as they cooked, mixed that with cooked pasta, little bit of cheddar, in the oven.

LENTIL AND MUSHROOM GRATIN
I'm sure I saw someone on here mention this - do shout up if it was you! I confess I wasn't sure what a gratin was... 😂😂 so I googled, then largely ignored the recipes 😂😂 In one pan I boiled red lentils, stock cube, passatta, and then added some of the leek/onion/garlic I'd cooked to go with the green lentils above. in another pan I fried a load of mushrooms with garlic and soy sauce. Layer of lentil mix on the bottom of a dish, layer of mushrooms in the middle, layer of lentils on the top, then a thin grating of cheese. It looked nothing like the recipe pictures (unsurprisingly).

I'm not one for following a complicated recipe. I admire people who do! I don't eat meat, and generally meals involve throwing a load of veg and lentils/beans together, usually with something carby but not always, and sometimes grating a bit of cheese, or adding an egg (we have our own chickens so I'm always adding eggs to surprising dishes).

As for freezer storage, I use plastic bags, squash them flat, and layer them. For pretty much everything. fit loads in the freezer, defrost really quickly (running under a hot tap for a while helps) and make me laugh when I use them 😂

I'll add a picture to my next post, don't want to lose this one with all my carefully crafted recipes in! 😂

Cheery_Daff

Freezer storage for rice, soup, curry, whatever 😁



I can't remember where I saw this mentioned, possibly MSE, maybe a blog somewhere, but it's brilliant, I love it! I use zip lock bags (I think we got some from a cheap shop, 20 for £1) and I try to wash and reuse, although that doesn't always happen.

Obviously a pasta bake isn't quite so neat! But I try to get them relatively flat - I don't have anyone else to please with my food presentation (at least not for normal weekday meals) so I realise this might not work for everyone!

Anyway, thank you @elsiepac for asking and I hope you don't regret it 😂

ragz_2

PipneyJane said:

ragz_2 said:

£12.27 spent today at the Asian Supermarket. Wanted to get the teens out the house and they always like a trip there. It isn't cheap though, I was shocked at how expensive a lot of their stuff is, so we didn't buy much. I did get the lentils and black beans I wanted (for recipes in my new Instant Pot!) but they were more expensive than I'd expected. Plus their super spicy noodles. 

I need to find an online supplier for spices and pulses I think. DH gets out peppercorns on Ebay! Also spent £7.20 on hot Asian buns for everyone as their treat, they wanted to buy frozen ones but they were £6 for 4 frozen, so I've said we'll make some at some point.

Also £6 on toothpaste in £land. Should last a while though. 

How much spice do you get through @ragz_2?  Are you buying those small jars?  Also, are you anywhere near a branch of WingYip?  I usually buy my spices from there, in 500g bags, and each bag last years.  I am a curry cook, always from scratch.  Even my most used spices take 2-3 years between refills.  I store my spices in reused large Douwe Egbert coffee jars, in a drawer in the pantry that was specifically heighted to take those jars.  In a well-sealed jar, stored in a dark place, it takes years for a spice to lose its potency, for example my jar of 5-spice dates from before 2010 and is still going strong. 500g bags of spice cost between £3 and £5.  (Sorry, I can’t be more specific; their website is down for maintenance today.)

I can’t speak more highly of WingYip for bargains. One part of the site is set out as a supermarket; the rest is a wholesale warehouse, and you can happily wander between the two. They’re a well-kept secret amongst the Chinese and Asian communities and we are frequently the only Europeans in the shop, but they are very welcoming.  When things were really tight a few years back - DH unemployed and more than half my salary going on our mortgage - we stooped to a 10kg sack of broken basmati rice for about £4, when the cheapest regular was £12.  A couple of staff members politely questioned our choice, to make sure that we knew what we were buying, while another nodded sympathetically and said it made really good sticky rice dishes.

As well as spices, I usually buy rice, washing up liquid, rubber gloves, some pulses, noodles, frozen squid, tubs of concentrated Chinese Curry Sauce - the greenish curry you find in every Chinese restaurant - and large bottles of sauces from there.

- Pip

We do get through quite a lot of spices, I also keep them in old coffee jars in a cupboard! Not sure where the nearest wingyip is, possibly Croydon, if so it would be an hour away so would have to be a well planned trip. Have always wanted to go to a big one though, the tiny one in the coastal town just seems too pricey. £3 for 100g for most of their spices and the black beans were £3.99 for 400g.

Suffolk_lass

ragz_2 said:

PipneyJane said:

ragz_2 said:

£12.27 spent today at the Asian Supermarket. Wanted to get the teens out the house and they always like a trip there. It isn't cheap though, I was shocked at how expensive a lot of their stuff is, so we didn't buy much. I did get the lentils and black beans I wanted (for recipes in my new Instant Pot!) but they were more expensive than I'd expected. Plus their super spicy noodles. 

I need to find an online supplier for spices and pulses I think. DH gets out peppercorns on Ebay! Also spent £7.20 on hot Asian buns for everyone as their treat, they wanted to buy frozen ones but they were £6 for 4 frozen, so I've said we'll make some at some point.

Also £6 on toothpaste in £land. Should last a while though. 

How much spice do you get through @ragz_2?  Are you buying those small jars?  Also, are you anywhere near a branch of WingYip?  I usually buy my spices from there, in 500g bags, and each bag last years.  I am a curry cook, always from scratch.  Even my most used spices take 2-3 years between refills.  I store my spices in reused large Douwe Egbert coffee jars, in a drawer in the pantry that was specifically heighted to take those jars.  In a well-sealed jar, stored in a dark place, it takes years for a spice to lose its potency, for example my jar of 5-spice dates from before 2010 and is still going strong. 500g bags of spice cost between £3 and £5.  (Sorry, I can’t be more specific; their website is down for maintenance today.)

I can’t speak more highly of WingYip for bargains. One part of the site is set out as a supermarket; the rest is a wholesale warehouse, and you can happily wander between the two. They’re a well-kept secret amongst the Chinese and Asian communities and we are frequently the only Europeans in the shop, but they are very welcoming.  When things were really tight a few years back - DH unemployed and more than half my salary going on our mortgage - we stooped to a 10kg sack of broken basmati rice for about £4, when the cheapest regular was £12.  A couple of staff members politely questioned our choice, to make sure that we knew what we were buying, while another nodded sympathetically and said it made really good sticky rice dishes.

As well as spices, I usually buy rice, washing up liquid, rubber gloves, some pulses, noodles, frozen squid, tubs of concentrated Chinese Curry Sauce - the greenish curry you find in every Chinese restaurant - and large bottles of sauces from there.

- Pip

We do get through quite a lot of spices, I also keep them in old coffee jars in a cupboard! Not sure where the nearest wingyip is, possibly Croydon, if so it would be an hour away so would have to be a well planned trip. Have always wanted to go to a big one though, the tiny one in the coastal town just seems too pricey. £3 for 100g for most of their spices and the black beans were £3.99 for 400g.

Buy Wholefoods Online is in the south - it is an independently owned company and much cheaper than that for beans, pulses, herbs and spices. I discovered them when I was buying lots of nuts. Here is a link if you want to take a look

SausageDogSandwich

Thank you for adding me to the list @elsiepac

Just checking in to add weekend spends of £27.87 in total from assorted shops, a lot of that was treats for the kids and a cheap bottle of wine from l!dl. This brings my April spends so far to £78.64 / £217
 

Todays meal is quorn chicken stew with tiger cobs and tomorrow will be pasta with frozen mixed veg. 

Vanlady

Afternoon everyone,  

Interesting to see how people store their food.  We tend to store and freeze soups, sauces etc in used yoghurt and butter tubs, anything with a lid I suppose. They do take up more space in the freezer, but once frozen we remove from the contain and transfer to large bags, great for batch cooking, plus we then reuse the bags. The bags that cant be reused anymore are  eventually used in the bin. 

£19.40 to report in Lidleee today, small trolley chock full of loads of veg and fruit, theres some good 39p offers at the minute - shallots, kale, potatoes etc.
15 eggs, butter, sultanas.
I already have a tray of chopped tomatoes and chickpeas so no need to buy any more of those just yet.

So, D tonight some kind of concoction of the veg, eggs and cheese, possibly a frittata.
 Tomorrow:
B porridge for Van Man, overnight oats and frozen fruit for me
L I'm gonna make a soup using loads of veg and lentils, enough to use up alot of my butter and yoghurt containers
D cheese and onion omlette with veg and potatoes or salad

Good luck everyone!