April 2022 Grocery Challenge

OrkneyStar

Joining the challenge halfway through the month as our months run from the 15th or thereabouts. Where we live food costs are definitely higher - we only have a Coop and very expensive local shops in my town (butcher, small grocer, chemist), and 13 miles away we have a Tesco, Lidl, Coop (2), some decent smaller local shops and the butcher I prefer to use. We have none of the places like Asda, Morrisons, B and M etc., which exist on the mainland. Fuel is also expensive. Yesterday I almost finished last months grocery/fuel money with a small shop in Lidl (£20) and a meat deal in the butcher (£20), leaving £14.98 to carry forward. I've allocated £200 for food and diesel (for this month) and it will be a real challenge for us, almost not doable, but hey ho, we will try. Meals are sorted for the next couple of days - I plan to make a huge chilli today, which we'll have with rice tonight and as chilli nachos the next night. Anything left will be frozen. The day after that is a treat of sausages, eggs and waffles (and maybe some beans). I have enough diesel for a couple of return trips to the bigger town (one a week from now on, was occasionally more than that). We could spend more money on food if we have too, but we're trying to save to get a new heating system, so every penny counts right now! Forgot to say it's essentially for 3 adults, as my son eats as much as an adult now too (nearly 15). Thanks for reading.
15/4-13/5 Grocery Challenge
15/4 Grocery Balance: £214.98

DawnW

@OrkneyStar in my experience 15 year old boys eat MORE than adults

My son is  a lot more than 15 now, but when he was round the other evening he spotted the bowl that goes with my big old Kenwood stand mixer, and said to his GF 'Oh look, there is the bowl I used to have my weetabix in'

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning!

PipneyJane - I try to keep an eye on the till, but as you know, the operatives in MrL & MrAl are contractually obliged to push your purchases through the scanner at 'top speed', and with all the differences in price of my shop (only actually 19 individual items), would have caused chaos if I'd stopped them to check the prices - and you know how hard it is to get a manager to check things in these stores......🙄

I had stowed a pack of 6 MrL Hot - X - buns in the freezer towards the start of the month, and had had to sit on my hands several times, to avoid diving in to munch them!  So they will be enjoyed today.  I'm afraid they are only the 'traditional' type, no mega-exciting ingredients, but they are yummy, and will be enjoyed as a treat.

Pizza and wedges is on the planner for tea, so I'll set about making the pizza dough just now.

My meal plan for next week isn't terribly exciting, (the week after's is gonna be even more pedestrian..... 🙄), but here's how it's looking at the mo;

M:  (veggie) Bobotie & Rice
Tu:  (veggie) Cocido - Rose Elliot recipe from 'The Bean Book'
W:  (veggie) Sausage & puy lentil casserole (my version is from The Royal Marsden Cancer Cookbook)
Th:  Afghan Carrot Hotpot with rice 
F:  Black olive pizza and chips
Sa:  Pressure cooker Persian chickpea stew & rice
Su:  1/4lb burger baps and chips

At this mo in time, the only thing I will have to overtly purchase for this planner is the burgers, so will be looking out to see who has them on special.  Our Persian chickpea stew is an out of the freezer meal, but I've linked to the recipe I used.  

Hope you all have a great Good Friday.

Greying X

Suffolk_lass

@Vanlady the other way to crisp the potatoes is to cook it thoroughly then pp it under the grill for five minutes or so - cutting it open and putting your filling in then topping with a little grated cheese under the grill works here too

PipneyJane

Good afternoon All

I have another shop to declare from today plua one I missed.  The one from earlier in the week was £1.36 in Sainsbury last Sunday spent on brocoli and an 80p bag of peppers, when DH popped in to buy the paper.    (He had a voucher for the paper, so that doesn’t count.). 

Today, I went to L!dl.  £22.06 spent.  I stocked up on French and Italian Roast Ground Coffee, since their was a 15%-off offer in L!dl Plus,  6 for £7.48.  Also got a marked down family pack mushrooms for 70p, a YS gammon for £2.30 and a YS 6-pack hot cross buns 41p.  Something I noticed is that they’ve reduced the size of their packs of cooking bacon, 750g cooking bacon for 99p instead of 1kg for £1.49.  One pack bought.  

Also purchased was a £1.50 veg box that was surprisingly heavy.  When I got home, I weighed it.  This is what 7kg of fruit and veg looks like, including quite a few potatoes, 3 carrots, 1 pak choi, 9 plums, 8 kiwi fruit, 5 apples, 6 bananas, 4 lemons, multiple satsumas, 2 peppers and a bunch of spring onions:



Only two items were “gone’ - the pepper and the satsuma circled at the bottom right, which are now in the compost bin.

There are enough cherry tomatoes for me to make “Baked Feta Pasta”, although I will need to buy some feta, when I’m out tomorrow.  I’m contemplating a plum crumble to use the apples and plums, which can go in the oven at the same time.  The pak choi, beans and pepper will go into a chicken hot-and-sour soup for Monday.   But what I’m going to do with the kiwi fruit, God knows.  Any suggestions?  

The above brings my total spend for April to £90.10/£142.10, leaving £52 for the remainder of the month.

- Pip 

Wicked_Lady

Once they're fully ripe I just eat kiwi fruit as they are. Can be peeled, chopped and added to other fruit for a bit of fruit salad as well. They are full of Vitamin C so very good for you!

Vanlady

Suffolk_lass said:

@Vanlady the other way to crisp the potatoes is to cook it thoroughly then pp it under the grill for five minutes or so - cutting it open and putting your filling in then topping with a little grated cheese under the grill works here too

Thankyou Suffolk lass, that sounds like a really good idea.

What a great Forum for sharing ideas. 

What an amazing haul Pipney Jane, I would love to find one of those!
Sorry  no ideas for kiwi fruit but always delicious as a porridge topping or fruit salad. 

No spends to report today. 

pamsdish

Something I noticed is that they’ve reduced the size of their packs of cooking acorn, 750g cooking bacon for 99p instead of 1kg for £1.49.  One pack bought. 

@PipneyJane that`s cheaper. 3/4 the size, 3/4 of £1.49 = £1.12 ish

kayannie

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Good Morning!

PipneyJane - I try to keep an eye on the till, but as you know, the operatives in MrL & MrAl are contractually obliged to push your purchases through the scanner at 'top speed', and with all the differences in price of my shop (only actually 19 individual items), would have caused chaos if I'd stopped them to check the prices - and you know how hard it is to get a manager to check things in these stores......🙄

I had stowed a pack of 6 MrL Hot - X - buns in the freezer towards the start of the month, and had had to sit on my hands several times, to avoid diving in to munch them!  So they will be enjoyed today.  I'm afraid they are only the 'traditional' type, no mega-exciting ingredients, but they are yummy, and will be enjoyed as a treat.

Pizza and wedges is on the planner for tea, so I'll set about making the pizza dough just now.

My meal plan for next week isn't terribly exciting, (the week after's is gonna be even more pedestrian..... 🙄), but here's how it's looking at the mo;

M:  (veggie) Bobotie & Rice
Tu:  (veggie) Cocido - Rose Elliot recipe from 'The Bean Book'
W:  (veggie) Sausage & puy lentil casserole (my version is from The Royal Marsden Cancer Cookbook)
Th:  Afghan Carrot Hotpot with rice 
F:  Black olive pizza and chips
Sa:  Pressure cooker Persian chickpea stew & rice
Su:  1/4lb burger baps and chips

At this mo in time, the only thing I will have to overtly purchase for this planner is the burgers, so will be looking out to see who has them on special.  Our Persian chickpea stew is an out of the freezer meal, but I've linked to the recipe I used.  

Hope you all have a great Good Friday.

Greying X

GP - I'm not an 'official' contributor to this thread, but love reading about you & your recipes. Regarding the burgers - if you have a tin of kidney beans, an onion & a carrot, you can quickly make some good burgers - it's a recipe from one of those eating well for less programmes. Chop onion, grate carrot & fry in oil for just a few minutes. Meanwhile drain beans & rinse to remove the 'gunk'. Blend beans with hand blender, or mash with fork, they'll just be a bit chunkier. Mix everything together, season well & form into burgers, using a bit of flour on hands. This makes 5 good sized burgers. Any kind of beans will do, I have used butter beans but they look a bit colourless.  Good to see someone else using The Bean Book!
KA

ragz_2

Wow PipneyJane that makes my box from Wednesday look even more pathetic!

DH eats the kiwi, skin and all. Odd man that he is...