May 2022 Grocery Challenge

ragz_2

Big spend (around £180) online on a MrT shop, but that's more than half the main meal staples for the month. I was pleasantly surprised with their pricing, having used MrM and MrA most recently, which have all gone up so much. I do still mostly use MrL, but it's a half hour drive unless I go after work (then miss dinner with the family) and so many things often out of stock that I decided a big stock up shop and meal planning the main meals for more than a week might be a good approach this month. Took me over an hour as I'm not used to the website and my Favourites section has over 300 items which I've mostly only bought once in store (and often then only because they were YS) so it wasn't very helpful!

Made use of the slow cooker and instant pot for dinner, making (low carb so no beans) chili and rice (doubled up on both) and managed to rescue a sad aubergine which I finely chopped and no one even noticed it in the chili! Also have enough for lunch tomorrow and an extra single portion for the freezer, as well as the big tub that will do a main meal. 
DS2 doesn't like spicy food, so I turned a portion of frozen spag bol into a mild chili for him. I had cauliflower rice rhat I'd made and frozen months ago.
4 portions of brown rice in the fridge for a dinner later in the week and the chili will either do jacket potatoes or enchiladas. 

Smoosh

After my complaining about no YS bargains, I popped to the local shop where I spent £3.50 on a cheese sourdough loaf (YS - 54p), a pack of bacon (YS - 66p), a pack of mini malt loaf slices (YS - 27p), a pack of bagel thins (YS - 19p), a plain sourdough loaf (YS - 47p), a pizza pastry (YS - 16p), 2 chocolate twists (YS - 16p each), a cheese croissant (YS - 15p), 2 sticky toffee puddings (YS - 34p) and 4 packs of 10 coffee pods (YS - 10p per pack).

£93.61/£230.

Very very happy with the coffee pods at 1p per pod! 

ClaireT131

Morning! 

Yesterday I went and used the £10 off a £50 spend at Food Warehouse. I don't normally spend much in there as a rule, so doing 2 £50 shops in 2 days was difficult. Still, I have lots of meals, snacks and water stocked up and stored away from the children so it can't all go in a week!!  Now at £115.22/£360.00 for the month but should now only need a bit of meat and small top up shops to get me through.

The visits to Food Warehouse both generated £5 off a £40 shop which needs using before this month ends, so I need to factor that in to my budget. Who knows what I'll spend it on or how I will clear my freezer to accommodate more by then!

JingsMyBucket

Hi @elsiepac thank you for all the work you've done consolidating the recipes and links in the front. I go away for a few months and everything is all nice and shiny and tidy! Welcome to everyone old and new. Great to see some new usernames as well. 

I've been away for a while because life has been a bit chaotic. In March I traveled to London for work then got covid from that trip and passed it on to my husband. We were both shattered and relied on very easy food that I bought via a last minute Tesco delivery. Tons spent on convenience food that we could just open then heat and eat or eat straight out of the package. Think a lot of fruit, some lower calorie ready meals to keep it vaguely healthy, yoghurt, etc.

The same day I came down with covid, my best friend's mother died back in NYC. So April I flew back to NYC on (expensive) short notice to support her and help with the funeral. Mr. Jings and I also returned to London at the end of April and now I'm finally back in saddle trying to wrap my head around our food budget. Everything was just flying by the seat of our pants the past couple months. 

Could you please add me for this month: 

£250 (roughly £55/week seeing as there are 4.5 weeks in May)

Our freezer is full to the brim and so is our fridge. I told Mr Jings that I'd like to work from the pantry and freezer this month. Here's a meal plan off the top of my head for this week, in no particular order: 

• Middle eastern beef meatballs 
• Roasted eggplant
• Roasted sweet potatoes 
• Quinoa 
• Soup (already made)
• Lentil, vegetable, and feta salad (might add some sliced orange to it for sweetness)
• Ricotta and meat sauce stuff red peppers 

The first half the meal plan is so we can just assemble different bowls and meals as needed. I may just need to get lemons and milk this week. We have a ton of peppers and eggplants to get through. Good luck to everyone this week! I'll catch up on the thread later this evening before bed. 

bargainbetty

First shop of the month done, already knocked a third out of the budget. That's what I get for doing an online shop instead of just buying what I need. 

Had a good clear out of the tin cupboard too, and found a disappointingly large numbers of tins that were out of date. However, I know that tins can't read calendars, so I opened the tomatoes, chickpeas, carrots and coconut milk and found that they all smelled perfectly good. Those tins, over some softened onions, ginger, garlic and curry paste made for a lovely batch of easy curry sauce. Blended, cooled into tubs and frozen. Feels like free food somehow. 

Next stop, sweetcorn fritters. Or chicken and sweetcorn soup. Something with sweetcorn, anyway. 

joedenise

First shop of the month done today and very pleased as only spent just over £10 from the grocery budget but have also spent some from the bulk fund/toiletries budget.  Now have just over £189/£200 left.

Will try for a Lidl F&V box tomorrow otherwise will need to get some veg on Friday/Saturday for the weekend.

atrixa

Mr M shop done this morning- £11.99 on fresh veg, coconut drink, cheap plonk for risotto, tissues, part baked baguettes, yoghurt, and a pack of doughnuts.
Total now:
£106.76/£140.

mumtoomany

Hello wonderfully clever people who live in my computer. I bought two packs of fancy mushrooms for £1 today. They looked so pretty and cheap! Now I need some inspiration as to what to do with them. Remembering that the three grandchildren, and their father, are picky eaters. This is one pack, the other is the same. Thank you in anticipation, mumtoomany.xxx

tykemum

First update of the challenge;

£9 spent at the refill stall on the market, mostly nuts and pulses. 

£1.54 spent on a loaf of bread and YS fruit tea cakes at Onestop because bank hol meant no kid free shopping day so just bought what we’d need for today.

So £10.54/£390 but I realised after I submitted the budget that I've not factored in a weeks hol mid-month which is budgeted for separately so hoping to come in at no more than £300.

joedenise

mumtoomany said:

Hello wonderfully clever people who live in my computer. I bought two packs of fancy mushrooms for £1 today. They looked so pretty and cheap! Now I need some inspiration as to what to do with them. Remembering that the three grandchildren, and their father, are picky eaters. This is one pack, the other is the same. Thank you in anticipation, mumtoomany.xxx

Couple of ideas with links:

Mushroom stroganoff - https://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/creamy-mushroom-stroganoff
Mushroom bourguignon - https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/mushroom-bourguignon/

There are quite a few mushroom recipe ideas on the Jack Monroe website - cookingonabootstrap.com which might be worth looking at.