April 2022 Grocery Challenge

Vanlady

Oops sorry, meant to add, I also bought double cream to sandwich the cake. Does anyone know how to freeze cream?  as id like to save half for my second cake.

joedenise

You can freeze cream but the texture will change.  Shouldn't be frozen for more than a couple of weeks.

Greying_Pilgrim

You know how sometimes things work...... made Rose Elliot's veggie version of Cocido for tea.  I made it in the PC, and wasn't too bothered that I hadn't got any cabbage, as there was plenty of most everything else, and the turnip & leek were both out of various MrL boxes, so I was feeling virtuous 😇 that it was a MSE meal.....

Anyhoo, I then remembered that I had kept the stalk from the MrA 20p broccoli that I bought the other day.  I gave it a quick wash and a trim, and then got at it with the potato peeler.  Once I'd transformed it into ribbons, I chopped them roughly.  Frankly, it was difficult to tell the difference between broccoli stalk over chopped white cabbage 😁 Tasted very similar too (nice sweetness to it 👍).  It turned colder this arvo too, so I hit on the idea of cooking dumplings (not done them in the PC before), and decided to make them with some ordinary plain flour mixed with some of the spelt flour (actually bread flour), that I had bought for that experimental cake, earlier on in the month ( or was it last month?).  And.... it worked!  The PC only had to be brought back up to pressure, and then allowed to de-pressure normally, and they were cooked. 

The broccoli stalk was so thin, it just needed stirring in to cook through.  Love it when food helps you out - a win for thrift!  The only thing that wasn't quite as normal, was i think I was a bit stingy with the paprika - it's usually redder than this version 👇



Greying X

Vanlady

Thankyou joedenise, I will give it a shot then. 300mls of cream is far too much to sandwich a cake. Wish they sold them in smaller amounts 

Omg gp, I love dumplings.....of any kind! The only thing I didnt like about your link was that there was no Van Morrison on the playlist

thriftwizard

Just added £9 spent yesterday on a couple of top-up items I didn't know we were running out of - sliced bread, basmati rice, a couple of spices, that sort of thing - which now I come to think of it is a LOT compared to what it would have cost in a proper Asian grocers. Must train the troops to inform me - at a sensible moment, when I'm likely to remember - if they're using up the last of something...

joedenise

Don't know if it work for you but I keep a piece of paper on the fridge and if anything is getting low it gets added to the list.  It's taken a while to get DH trained but he does at least do it now!

otb666

@Greying_Pilgrim That looks Lush, I am still on 348/600 had DS birthday as well.  Quietly pleased with myself. although major toothache when i eat at moment and have to wait 3 weeks before they can extract tooth.  When DH insisted on me cooking him  meat and veg 7 times a week i used reversed psychology and now one of his hobbies is cooking and shopping albeit mainly at butchers Suits me as i am more a Veg girl and quite happy with only odd box.  Just start of saying how lovely his food is and then he believed he was a great cook and you know what He actually is now

QueenJess

Been a while so lots to report - in total a £90.48 spend split between £13.10 milkman, £50.05 veg/fruit box etc delivery (2 weeks worth) and £27.33 emergency A*DA visit due to last minute family visit who stayed for dinner. Sent DH for the last one who bought some things I didn’t want as well 🙄

So total spend is now £172.40/£200 (+£100). I will be approx. £10 under on my £100 bulk fund as I put in the order tonight, but will only add it once it is delivered. It’s all going to be extremely tight, but I might make it… a definite improvement on every other month! I’d love to keep it up for next month, but my stocks are going down and the price rises are going to make it harder.

Bluegreen143

I’ve spent £315.86 on general food this month and £35.62 on treats and still have a week and a half to go 😳 (this is for two adults, two small kids).

This hasn’t been helped by the fact I’ve started a low-carb/high protein weight loss diet, which is definitely not a cheap way to eat. However I’ve decided it’s a top priority right now to sort out my weight and health and we are in an OK financial situation where I can invest a bit more in my health so I can meet these goals. I’m feeling great so far on this diet, loads of energy and don’t feel like I’m starving unlike when I’ve tried to lose weight in the past!

However given that, it’s more important than ever to reduce waste, mealplan and do everything I can to make sure the very expensive ingredients get into my body and I don’t make more than I need. I might not be able to do this on a super low budget but I can make sure the costs don’t spiral. 

Today’s meals:

B - smoked salmon, scrambled egg, avocado & spinach (other half of the smoked salmon and avocado to be used tomorrow)

S - apple

L - leftover chicken/veg kebab from our BBQ yesterday on a salad 

S - chocolate protein yogurt (protein powder mixed with Greek yogurt)

D - steak, mushrooms, spinach & cream with green veg 

goldfinches

Several spends to add to various budgets on here as I've been rather lax about updating.
I spent £11.15 at Mr T's, not sure on what as the machine didn't print a receipt, and then £10.18 at Mr T's on milk, stilton, feta, tomatoes, ys chillies, bread, salad leaves and cucumber which makes my new total £41.81/£120 and my average daily spend £2.20.
The Birthday fund spent £10 on jam, eggs, cream, chocolate, oranges and mini eggs making my new total £67/£150.