April 2022 Grocery Challenge

dustydigger

LOL. No way. I was  in hospital and he tried to make an omelette DS2 found himmaking it. Half an onion in a one piece,,with the skin on,was being shoved around a pan of burning butter. .Another time when I was in hospital he tried to microwave something,and misread 20 seconds as 20 minutes.Went away upstairs. Oh boy. Nearly burnt the house down. Days later on coming home I was nearly sick at the stink of the house. Next time I was away he stuck to takeaways. Better for my peace of mind!

joedenise

@dustydigger - do you batch cook and freeze meals?  That would free up time in the kitchen, especially as he likes things like casseroled beef and lamb.  Have you tried the Icel*nd lamb shanks?  They are lovely served with some roast potatoes and veg - it's one of DH's favourite roast dinners.  there's loads of gravy in it and I always freeze the LO gravy to add to other meals.  I managed to get some diced lamb recently so I'm going to make a hotpot with it and will add the LO gravy to it which I'm sure will enhance the flavour.  It also makes a relatively small amount of meat go a long way!

I haven't really been keeping track of spending as I usually just spend on the card and keep track on YNAB but this month DH sold something so we are currently using the cash so I've completely lost track.  Once the cash has gone then it will be back to card and I'll be able to keep track again!  Anything LO this month will be moved to another category - probably spending money for short breaks away in our motorhome.

pamsdish

£19.60 on various sundries in town.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ho hum,  went to the nearby market town, and spent some money 🥲  Another £6.07 of my precious budget was flung into the tills of the retailers........  I did manage to get things for (probably) as cheap as I could.  I got some large wholemeal burger baps YS'd in HB for 45p (I think they are about 89p in MrL???) and I got the 'branded' vegetarian burgers that I was after for £3 for 2 packs, from H3r0n f00ds, which I thought matched MrS or MrA current offers, but according to the net, those offers are expired, and the next cheapest option is MrW - which, had we had one within a 50 mile radius, would have provided the same product for £3.50.  So I am 'up' it just doesn't feel like it..... But also, being realistic, I really don't think a reamining budget of £10.25 is going to cut it until the end of the month..... 🙁

Jack Monroe has costed, and will be publishing a £20/7 day/42 meals, menu planner at the end of this week.  Hopefully, it will be on her blog and not just limited to Tw1tter.  She's an inspiration, and I admire how she always tries to find workable solutions for what you have in your cupboard, how many pennies are left in your purse, or what you have/haven't available to cook with.  Pity her critics can't proffer the same insightful help and guidance.

Greying X

elsiepac

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OrkneyStar

Another £5.10 small spend in Coop, from cash in hand. I had 10p in loose change in my purse again so used that along with the £10, giving me £5 back - I feel I'm less likely to break a £5 unnecessarily, than the pile of coins I would have got back had I not included the 10p!
I purchased Tiger loaf (to have with tea tonight), diluting juice, Capri Sun Small cartons 4 pack x 2 (we take these out on walks/trips and that saves popping into a shop to buy a drink and spending more!), Onion Rings (crisp variety). It would have been £5.60 but I had 2 x 25p off (bread/bakery produce and Capri Sun - I selected these as they are both things we use and not sweeties, as trying to avoid those just now!). Signature updated. 

nannygladys

Doing OK, no money spent at all this week and I've been eating all out of the fridge and stores, dds even bought me chocolate eggs and oranges on Sunday!! So just about back on track now and come Wednesday fully back on track, oh that's tomorrow - yay!!! It's amazing what you can do with what you have in and thank goodness for cookbooks for ideas!!

mumtoomany

Hi all, just flying in to update spends. £37.88 spent, milk plus looking for bargains on Easter saturday, knew the supermarkets would be shut on Sunday. Not many to be found! At least i spent less. Total to date, £726.64/£2640. Probably only need milk now till next month. Don't hold your breath! Haha. Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

Smoosh

I've added £30 to our monthly budget as we've welcomed a new little furry friend (almost 2 weeks ago) to the family who I estimate is going to cost about £30 per month in food - this will drop as she gets older.

We have lots of spends to declare. 

£39.45 on cat food that will last over a month.

£29.56 on 2 big bags of cat litter, 20 coffee pods, 2 kitchen rolls and a loaf of bread (YS).

69p on a loaf of sourdough and 6 brioche (both YS). 

£210.23/£230

Going to be really tight. We have 1 more shop to do this month (this evening). I'm hoping we can do it. 

Vanlady

£96.10/£180

An unplanned  £14.50 spend today in mr Al as I forgot I need to bake a birthday cake for this week. So several chocolate bars, chocolate buttons, 2 packs butter, 24 eggs, tea bags and porridge bought ( seen as I was in there). It does mean that i can cross off a few things off my next shop. As the oven will be on, I'll bake an extra cake for the freezer as we plan on feeding people in the next week or 2. 

Nice easy dinner tonight, omlette with red onions, cheese and whatever else is lying around, a side salad, plus......drum roll.......the slow cooker jacket potatoes that I finally got round to making!! They have turned out great! I managed to fit 11 medium sized potatoes into my slow cooker, only took 4 hours on high. The house smelt amazing! Plus they turned out a little bit crispy/dry, not soggy like I imagined. I will reheat in the microwave then toss in the frying pan or shove under the grill.   8 have been sent to the freezer for another day.

I feel for you dustydigger, I would hate to cook a large meal every night. Like joedenise said, batch cooking would enable you to have a few nights off? Small steps x

Ps I'm a big admirer of Jack Munroe too.