May 2022 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

Forgive me for sharing my smugness with like minded people.

This week I have stretched our chicken further than I ever thought that it could go!

on Monday I went to Aldi and got a chicken for £3.99 and some ham offcuts for £1.99. From this the 2 of us have had these meals with a couple still to eat.
1) chicken roast
2) cold chicken , ham, bubble and squeak and jacket potatoes
3) cold chicken,ham,chips and salad
4) chicken and ham pasta
5) ham omelette with salad
6) Chinese chicken noodles and fried rice
7) puff pastry pies with ham, chicken, mushrooms
I also have 2 more pies made up for the freezer and some ham pieces to make 2 more pasta dishes

thats 10 meals for 2 from just £5.98 worth of meat! I didn’t think this possible. Thank you all for your inspiration. My freezer is still bulging and I am trying to squeeze more in!!!

ragz_2

That's a seriously stretchy chicken, kudos! 

Vanlady

Soontobeoap, 
Fantastic use of a chicken there.
 The bones could also be used to make a stock.

I've got pork in the fridge for pulled pork at the weekend,  and the bones will  be made into stock in the slow cooker to add to soups.

dustydigger

I checked out my Asd@ deliveries for last month - over £280,ignoring Tesc* big spends too.Maybe a total of £360per month for 2 of us,its insane I already had a Asd@ delivery on Tues 3rd May£73.If  energy bills may be at least £60 a month higher than before (my fixed tariff of £106 ends at end of June) I'm definitely going to have to make drastic cuts in the grocery area. This month I will be experimenting and planning. Wont go down well with Mr Dusty,with his expensive tastes - fresh salmon 4-6 meals a week,rump steak,lamb steaks,butter,expensive Twinings tea etc etc - if I tell him he has to rein it in !

Not sure if we who are on pension credit will get this £150 or not..Never had any sort of letter from our incompetent council. No one has been paid yet,the council have ''software issues'',could take up to  August to process the payments!Typical.

Soontobeoap

@dustydigger I thought my husband was a fussy eater and that it would be difficult to change his habits but as long as there is some meat in the meal I have had no complaints. I am also only putting in one or 2 new recipes a month. I misjudged him. Your hubby may surprise you and if you could get your budget down by £100 a month think what you could do with the extra money. Good luck. 

mumtoomany

Hi, @dustydigger. I think it's to do with your council tax band rather than income. We won't get it, despite being dirt poor, because our house is big and a high council tax bracket. If also houses two families, eight people, has no carpets,needs decorating/repairs etc. HTH. 
Big shop the other day, was £120.93 over five shops. Only bits needed now for the month, mostly milk. Total to date is £911.12/£2640. Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Soontobeoap

@mum2many. Just wondering if your amazing budget feeds all 8 people in your household. I have just realised that you have your hands full there with all of your animals as well. Well done. I will pay closer attention to how you manage your grocery bill. Thanks for posting. 

dustydigger

Apart from hair raising SM spends,I have done quite well. DS1 kindly bought us a chinese,chicken curry and fried rice for Mr D,chicken foo yung and fried rice for me,and a portion of chips in curry sauce for Mr D,something he enjoys. I dont know how people manage to scarf down whole portions. I divided it up and made it into 3 meals,2 suppers and a dinner and we could barely finish it.Three free meals,cant be bad.Also I had a lamb steak left from 4 given to us by DD1's boyfriend who is good friends with a butcher who occasionally gives him lamb,or pheasant,and fresh eggs,and I sometimes benefit from it. Cool :)The lamb was so delicious,the massive steak made Mr D two substancial meals

For a while I have been trying to extend the time between Asd@ shops,from 7 to 10 days. But now that our Tesc* where we got our meat and fish closed down,we have to get  them from Asd@,so I am now doing a regular weekly delivery. We'll see if I can reduce my buys. Going 10 days meant we ran out of some things and had to buy locally,at ridiculous prices. Then I would overbuy the next time,especially fruit and veg,as our local corner shop doesnt sell them.and then things go off and get tossed out.Or Mr D will go to a fruiterer for topups,and always buys some expensive stuff I didnt ask for,like fresh pineapples,mangoes,avocados,passionfruit etc.Cant get it into his head that while those were abundant and cheap back home in Africa,that is SOOOO not the case here!

So here goes with a weekly shop,focusing on needs not wants if possible. I am well stocked up with fruit and veg till my next delivery,next Tuesday.Not sending Mr D near a fruit hop or butcher's should help. Lets see how next week's shop goes! If I get that £73 down to around 60 I would be so happy.

 

Greying_Pilgrim

Ducking in to record a £3.47 spend.  I popped to MrA after the school run to get something non-food, and decided to pick up a couple of groceries whilst there.  I hadn't planned to pick up tofu, but it was on special at £1.50 a block, dated until the start of June, so that can make a future meal.  I also picked up courgettes to round out my ratatouille and tomatoes and a cucumber to make cheese sandwiches a little more interesting.  I'm hopeful that we can possibly have a little trip out this weekend - if only to take our sandwiches to a different view at lunchtime 😊

Greying X

bupster

An unexpected £12.20 spend in the Co-op as I had people round helping with the local election and I wanted to have supplies in for them. Lots left over so no waste really plus I needed coffee and they had it cheap. Total now is £68.29 though which is ridiculous for six days. I was planning to do a big shop on Sunday but that'll push me nearly over my monthly budget a week into the challenge! So I'm going to dodge it, eat out of what I've got, and just go to the shop when I run out of milk and eggs.