April 2022 Grocery Challenge

Smoosh

K9sandFelines said:

Smoosh said:

@K9sandFelines I don't really have any advice but just wanted to say, you are not alone. I left work recently for the same reason and I too find myself obsessing over budgeting a bit. Have you looked into olio? When I first joined there wasn't anything in my area, but it seems to be getting more popular which is great. 

@Smoosh, it makes you feel so alone doesn't it. I've been off for a while now, so ssp has stopped. Got an assessment on Tues to see if I'm fit for work. It's only me here, so one/little income.
I'm the opposite. Olio was brilliant at the start, but now the only thing listed near me is Pret stuff. By the time I get the notification it's gone. The same lady used to pick up from Tesco; but I think she has stopped, as she never lists from there anymore.

If you ever want to talk, my inbox is always open 

I hope your assessment went well. I'm currently living off savings, which I appreciate I am lucky to have, although obviously not sustainable long term. That's a shame about olio - definitely worth keeping an eye on as new people seem to pop up every now and then.
Thank you, that is very kind, the same goes to you! ☺️

K9sandFelines

Smoosh said:

K9sandFelines said:

Smoosh said:

@K9sandFelines I don't really have any advice but just wanted to say, you are not alone. I left work recently for the same reason and I too find myself obsessing over budgeting a bit. Have you looked into olio? When I first joined there wasn't anything in my area, but it seems to be getting more popular which is great. 

@Smoosh, it makes you feel so alone doesn't it. I've been off for a while now, so ssp has stopped. Got an assessment on Tues to see if I'm fit for work. It's only me here, so one/little income.
I'm the opposite. Olio was brilliant at the start, but now the only thing listed near me is Pret stuff. By the time I get the notification it's gone. The same lady used to pick up from Tesco; but I think she has stopped, as she never lists from there anymore.

If you ever want to talk, my inbox is always open 

I hope your assessment went well. I'm currently living off savings, which I appreciate I am lucky to have, although obviously not sustainable long term. That's a shame about olio - definitely worth keeping an eye on as new people seem to pop up every now and then.
Thank you, that is very kind, the same goes to you! ☺️

Thanks Smoosh, it got postponed as the recording equipment wasn't playing ball. I'd asked for it to be recorded as I've heard bad things about them lying about questions asked and what's been said in reply. Part of my anxiety has developed into agoraphobia. So I have safe places, which I'm anxious about going, but can just about manage to get to; and this wasn't one of them. So, I had a wobble yesterday. Thankfully the next appointment is by phone, which is what I had initially asked for.

Today, I haven't been to the shops. I've made some dough for rolls with the new yeast which is just rising now. Fingers crossed it works this time. I need to check the last fail to make sure mould hasn't set in; and get it in the food processor and made into breadcrumbs, or that will be money down the drain. Yesterday, instead of buying more vegenaise I made my own. Slightly runny, but did the trick. The downside to this is that I had to use more oil. I've a tiddly amount left. I also used some to fry off breakfast pancakes. I did lemon and sultanas for the first time in them. So nice and sweet and plump, when you get a sultana.I might try grated apple and cinnamon in some too 😋. Has anybody any other cheap combos I could try? 

Inevitably I have resigned myself that I am going to go over budget, as need quite a few things to carry me through to the 12th; but on the bright side, even if I go £20 over, it is still a massive reduction compared to what I was spending. I've made a meal plan to see me through to the 12th, and bar one or two ingredients I have most of the things in. 

K9sandFelines

Went to Aldi and stocked up, so hopefully won't need much tomorrow when I go to W*itrose, apart from cherries and potatoes. However I might just get potatoes as I picked up mango and blueberries, so will get pineapple and cherries next time. 
£23.83 spent.
This got me some tins, 3 milks, oil, veg, bread, frozen bits and other oddments. So, I think I did quite well. 
I'm going to have a bash at making sweet potato pakora like they sell in A1di? The ingredients say instant mash alongside others, but I can't get to the correct shop to get it. 75p in Tesc*. What else could I sub in? I don't have breadcrumbs (my flopped loaf had to be binned). I have couscous and quinoa, would they work if cooked? 
My airfryer rolls were nice, but might have been better with white bread flour. Unfortunately there was no bread flour at all in A1di earlier, not even a shelf edge sign. I managed to get naan so can use up the Dahl from the freezer. They had a massive one for 20p on YS in Home Bargains but it was dated 29th of April, and so I bought one in date that was slightly more, but smaller. I feel like they had a bit of a cheek still selling it, otherwise I wouldn't have been bothered by the date.
In conclusion anyway, I've now gone over budget and there's bits I will need next month; although other bits will carry over. Debating whether to up it or aim for £80 again. One week to go 😏

Greying_Pilgrim

K9sandFelines said:

 
.......I'm going to have a bash at making sweet potato pakora like they sell in A1di? The ingredients say instant mash alongside others, but I can't get to the correct shop to get it. 75p in Tesc*. What else could I sub in? I don't have breadcrumbs (my flopped loaf had to be binned). I have couscous and quinoa, would they work if cooked? 

i don't have the definitive answer to your question, and I've never made pakora myself.  However, the first recipe I g00gled didn't use any sort of binder..... but subsequent recipes, including this one, used besan/chickpea flour.  Got any of that?  As well as binding, it would add protein, but at a push, could you use cornmeal?  Plain flour? Plain flour with some Chia seed (ground up) added?

You are doing really well with your miniscule budget.  Only you can know if you can increase the budget next month, I did however, just want to say Bravo! for getting this far.  It's hard work, not made any easier by price increases and OOS items.  You are doing your best.

Greying X

goldfinches

K9sandFelines said:

 
I'm going to have a bash at making sweet potato pakora like they sell in A1di? The ingredients say instant mash alongside others, but I can't get to the correct shop to get it. 75p in Tesc*. What else could I sub in? I don't have breadcrumbs (my flopped loaf had to be binned). I have couscous and quinoa, would they work if cooked? 

I reckon both of those would work if you overcooked them slightly and then mashed or liquidised them so that you got a sort of smoothish mush that would be similar to the instant mash texture. Like @Greying_Pilgrim I was also going to suggest besan as I've used it to make pakoras and onion bhajis myself. The other thing that might work is overcooked white rice whizzed in a food processor or blender. Let us know what you decide and how it goes, it's always useful to hear about substitutes that work and to be warned about ones that don't too.

I'm sorry to hear about your budget tribulations and think you're managing brilliantly in a horrible situation. I suspect that we'll all have to start considering whether to increase our GC budgets soon as I'm really noticing prices creeping up everywhere and the latest news never seems to include anything at all hopeful. 

K9sandFelines

Greying_Pilgrim said:

K9sandFelines said:

 
.......I'm going to have a bash at making sweet potato pakora like they sell in A1di? The ingredients say instant mash alongside others, but I can't get to the correct shop to get it. 75p in Tesc*. What else could I sub in? I don't have breadcrumbs (my flopped loaf had to be binned). I have couscous and quinoa, would they work if cooked? 

i don't have the definitive answer to your question, and I've never made pakora myself.  However, the first recipe I g00gled didn't use any sort of binder..... but subsequent recipes, including this one, used besan/chickpea flour.  Got any of that?  As well as binding, it would add protein, but at a push, could you use cornmeal?  Plain flour? Plain flour with some Chia seed (ground up) added?

You are doing really well with your miniscule budget.  Only you can know if you can increase the budget next month, I did however, just want to say Bravo! for getting this far.  It's hard work, not made any easier by price increases and OOS items.  You are doing your best.

Greying X

Thank you so much. I've Youtube in the meantime and also saw suggestions of besan flour (just ran out) and plain flour. So will try the plain as have a twiddle left or might even throw in some flaxmeal, as normally it would replace the egg as a wet ingredient anyway. It's for DD2 to take to work. It's her last shift on Saturday and she will be looking for something else during the summer. So I don't have to worry about making sure she has enough to eat (12 - 14 hrs shifts).
If if I decide to up it and I don't go over, it's the same as me not upping it and going over if that makes sense 😏.
Will update on the pakora. I will be making tomorrow 🙂

K9sandFelines

goldfinches said:

K9sandFelines said:

 
I'm going to have a bash at making sweet potato pakora like they sell in A1di? The ingredients say instant mash alongside others, but I can't get to the correct shop to get it. 75p in Tesc*. What else could I sub in? I don't have breadcrumbs (my flopped loaf had to be binned). I have couscous and quinoa, would they work if cooked? 

I reckon both of those would work if you overcooked them slightly and then mashed or liquidised them so that you got a sort of smoothish mush that would be similar to the instant mash texture. Like @Greying_Pilgrim I was also going to suggest besan as I've used it to make pakoras and onion bhajis myself. The other thing that might work is overcooked white rice whizzed in a food processor or blender. Let us know what you decide and how it goes, it's always useful to hear about substitutes that work and to be warned about ones that don't too.

I'm sorry to hear about your budget tribulations and think you're managing brilliantly in a horrible situation. I suspect that we'll all have to start considering whether to increase our GC budgets soon as I'm really noticing prices creeping up everywhere and the latest news never seems to include anything at all hopeful. 

Thanks goldfinches,as mentioned above I have no besan but have plain and flaxmeal, semolina, quinoa and couscous. I might even use the left over rice from tonight as its quite sticky as its coconut rice and it reminded me too much of rice pudding 😁. With spices added it should be fine and will be like an arancini ball/pakora,/falafel hybrid 😀. Will update you. 

Greying_Pilgrim

goldfinches said: ....... The other thing that might work is overcooked white rice whizzed in a food processor or blender. Let us know what you decide and how it goes, it's always useful to hear about substitutes that work and to be warned about ones that don't too.

I agree, it's always helpful to know of substitutions that work/don't, if we're talking about special dietary requirements or no, whether we're talking about 'normal' times, or indeed tight times where we're having to use every scrap out of our pantry's or every ounce of ingenuity to pop something edible on our tables (or into snap boxes!), for ourselves and/or our families.  

Greying X

K9sandFelines

Bought the Waitr*se potatoes finally, so can now can resume the rest of meal plan. Didn't even look in the direction of cherries. I figured if I went over to see if they were in stock, I would be too likely to pick a bag up just because, instead of waiting. Thinking about it, I didn't have the voucher with me either, so pleased I didn't do that now 😊.
Need to put some sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot for mash to try the pakora.
Will definitely update both of you. 
Thanks for being so supportive and staying on the thread with me 🤗

K9sandFelines

The pakora kind of worked. A little wet in the middle, so definitely needs more of a dry ingredient added. I didn't want to go overboard with the flour incase it dried them out; but will be more liberal if I try again. They taste delicious, but they need less spice. I added one teaspoon of coriander, one teaspoon of coriander, one teaspoon of garam masala, half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, half a teaspoon  of smoked paprika and half a teaspoon of chilli powder. I would go for a quarter on the chilli next time. I also added the rice, but will leave it out next time; because i'm not sure if this has contributed to it being too wet.