May 2022 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

Welcome @gill5blue. There are 2 of us too and I averaged £50 a month in Jan, Feb and March for all shopping from supermarkets including cleaning products and toiletrys so it is doable. Good luck. Hope you enjoy the challenge. 

JingsMyBucket

@DawnW your pie does sound really good. I have a bunch of frozen spinach in the freezer. Do you mind me asking for a link to the spinach filling recipe? 

@ragz_2 where do you buy your low carb rolls and breads? I'd like to start reincorporating those back into my diet. 

MissRikkiC

Me too please @DawnW I too have a bag of frozen spinach and a block of feta opened which I’d enjoy making into a pie instead of salads etc. That said I do only hage shortcrust pastry in!

wishus

Adding £4.54 so total is now £19.83 for the month. Blame disorganization and snaffling of ingredients. = £82.17 remaining. Only going up to 25th as it's holiday after that. 

Pinwheel

Hello, I've just added up the spends since our month started (28th April) and it's already £148.64, which is a lot for us.  We had visitors at the weekend so bought a lot that we don't usually buy.  I'm hoping to keep this weeks main shop at L**l quite small to compensate.

I've noticed a couple of people mentioning putting cooked rice in the fridge and also freezing it.  I think I was warned off re-heating rice because of the risk of food poisoning.  Is there a safe way to store/re-heat it?  

Thank you

joedenise

Rice is fine to keep in the fridge or freezer as long as it is cooled down quickly.  Best way is to spread it out on a tray in a thin layer.  To reheat it must be heated right through so keep stirring whilst reheating.  I usually do it in the microwave and do it in 30 second bursts and stirring between each burst until it is really hot.  Obviously can't give any timings as it depends how much rice you are reheating.

joedenise

Couldn't get a F&V box in Lidl this morning.  Needed to buy a few bits and spent £14.28 which leaves £185.72/£200 for the rest of the month.

DawnW

@MissRikkiC @JingsMyBucket @PipneyJane sorry for the delay in responding.

Firstly @PipneyJane yes it is perpetual spinach, with some chard thrown in. I find it over winters fine, and while not quite as tender and peppery as 'normal' spinach, it is a handy green for this time of the year. The plants were starting to bolt, so have been composted now.

As for a recipe link, I am afraid there isn't one - all I do is to wash the spinach and wilt it in a pan over a moderate heat with just the water clinging to the leaves (it won't take long, and if you are using frozen spinach it may just need defrosting), then squeeze as much water out of it as possible. Crumble up some feta or similar and mix in, season with salt and pepper. This is what you would use for the traditional 'spanakopitta' type spinach pie with filo pastry. I normally do this, but had bought the wrong pastry - so just used that, and mixed in a couple of onions softened in a little oil, and half a jar of chopped sundried tomatoes (without their oil) with the spinach and cheese. I didn't have enough pastry for both top and bottom crusts, so lined the tin and laid strips of the remaining pastry in a lattice pattern on top, and brushed the whole thing with beaten egg. It was actually very yummy, so I will do this again.

Hope this makes sense!

DawnW

Iceland shopping came this morning. There were missing items and substitutions, and the total came to £32.70 rather than the £35 minimum for free delivery. As my original order was just above this minimum, they honoured the free delivery. No cooking oil, but I still have a bit left plus some olive oil, and can use other things, such as butter instead if need be. Makes you wonder what the next shortage will be though, doesn't it?

£10.75 of the spend was for cleaning items and toiletries, the rest for food items. We may need more milk and fresh fruit before next week's shopping day, plus a couple of ingredients that Iceland don't stock, but all fine for now.

I also paid the milk bill of £4.78. So my total spent so far is £44.48. I am determined to use up stuff that I already have in this month, and keep costs low!

ragz_2

JingsMyBucket said:

@DawnW your pie does sound really good. I have a bunch of frozen spinach in the freezer. Do you mind me asking for a link to the spinach filling recipe? 

@ragz_2 where do you buy your low carb rolls and breads? I'd like to start reincorporating those back into my diet. 

Seriously Low Carb. They had an offer last month of 30% off so I stocked up as it's hard to justify full price when we're tight but they will last a while as I try not to use them every day. Eating low carb on a budget is tricky as all my go to cheap meals are carb heavy! DH cooks 4 nights a week and often doesn't know what to do for me, so at least I have the option of rolls for burgers or toast/bread with whatever he's cooked. Yesterday I had chili on toast, which was lovely, while they had jacket potatoes with their chili (that we all had when I cooked it the day before).