May 2022 Grocery Challenge

otb666

362/600
grilled aubergine with tomatoes and cheese
cheesy butternut squash chips aubergine dip
roast beef with purple broccoli
avocado fennel carrot cucumber celery salad with ham
leek and potato soup

I will double/batch cook and freeze then repeat once  I will zap in microwave first and finish in fry pan/grill/SC to avoid oven
I will do leek soup on Monday to avoid them going off

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning GC'rs!

Should be a shop-free day for me today.  I shall be using the British asparagus later - I was going to make risotto, but DH suggested pasta, so I think I will break open the last bag of 33p casarecce from H3r0n, as that will match the shape of the asparagus, which I grill first.  Mmmmmmmmm - can't wait fer tea time!!! 🤣

Developed a little meal plan for next week.  Not terribly exciting, but funnily enough I did have more ideas than days - so I can't complain, eh?  The Quorn Korma is being held over from tonight, to make way for the asparagus dish.  

M:  Quorn Korma Curry, lentil dhal & rice
Tu:  Lebanese Gaspacho (i use cooked rice rather than breadcrumbs/oats)
W:  Buddha Bowl
Th:  Omlette, potato salad, green bean salad + one other salad tbd
F:  Ratatouille & pasta
Sa:  Curry plate, dhal & rice
Su:  Fish, chips and mushy peas.

Greying X

PipneyJane

Good morning all

As predicted, we walked down to L!dl last night after work and did our first shop of the month.  £14.72 spent.  Finally managed to get their puff pastry (2x89p) - it’s been out of stock for about 4 months.  Also bought a jar of their Gold Instant Coffee, which has gone up 40p from £1.89 to £2.29 since the last time I bought it in January.  

May spend £17.72/£146.30 with £128.58 left

Amazingly we stuck to the meal plan all week.  Now to work out one for next week…

- Pip

Soontobeoap

Slipped up a bit yesterday. Had planned to make pastry for Ham and chicken pies in puff pastry but we got a slow puncture and had to take a trip to garage. Whilst waiting for repair we were tempted into a couple of shops and whilst in Morrisons I weakened and bought pastry. £2.70 spent. 🤦🏻‍♀️. I had all of the ingredients in to make it too.

I guess everyday can’t be a good day!!

K9sandFelines

Hettyhound said:

@K9sandFelines just had to google hoppin John as I’d never heard of it.  Found a vegan version on holy cow vegan website; no celery or paprika.

Thanks HH, I hadn't heard of it either, until now. Thanks for the suggestion. I've not heard of that site either, will go check it out. 

joedenise

Another £15 spent over the last couple of days in Morries and Sainsbugs.  Total spent so far just over £30, £179.95/£200 left. Pleased with that.

Meal plan for the next week - trying to use up some of the freezer meals/components


Sat - braised liver, mash, veg (from freezer)
Sun - boiled bacon, onions, potatoes, carrots
Mon - ham and mushroom pasta bake
Tue -  butternut squash and chickpea tagine, couscous (from freezer)
Wed - cottage pie, green veg
Thurs - chana masala, rice (cooked dried chickpeas in freezer)
Fri - chicken breast roast, roast potatoes and veg, green veg (from freezer)

dustydigger

Pared down my Asd@ online shop to £54,down from last week's £73..Then Mr D said he wanted KP nuts,both the salted and the dry roast. £3 each! After a battle I got him to choose one of them,but when I think of how I spent ages cutting down and cutting out,(partly because we have a lot of salad and veg stuff which will take a couple of days in next week to use up),its annoying that one item added cost a whopping £3

Oh and to make me even happier,Scottish Power informed me that my £106 a month payment is going up to £337pm. They did later email to say after looking at my usage on my smart meter,they would kindly reduce it to....wait for it....£327. Wow! So kind.

So will have to go  on variable tariff,where I will probably end up paying about £200 a month. that now looks quite reasonable when I think of my £89 a month 2 years ago. Who'd have thunk it?

Greying_Pilgrim

Well, good intentions and all that.  DH was taking LG to the library to return some books and asked if I needed anything......  So a £2 coin was issued and instructions issued to purchase a pat of butter NOT branded; unsalted for preference, but either salted/unsalted would suffice.  Last time I bought butter, it was about £1.48, which i thought was dear then.......  I did set an upper limit to not pay above, and it seems that I must have price approximations ingrained in my dna, as I was spot on with my £1.75 upper limit, as that is what a pat of MrL's own brand u/s butter now costs.......  it will add to the asparagus dish, but.....................Even DH was surprised, as he was very good during the first lockdown and did most of the shopping, and recalled that on the few occasions he'd been asked to get it, the butter had been under £1 to buy.

Greying X

K9sandFelines

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Well, good intentions and all that.  DH was taking LG to the library to return some books and asked if I needed anything......  So a £2 coin was issued and instructions issued to purchase a pat of butter NOT branded; unsalted for preference, but either salted/unsalted would suffice.  Last time I bought butter, it was about £1.48, which i thought was dear then.......  I did set an upper limit to not pay above, and it seems that I must have price approximations ingrained in my dna, as I was spot on with my £1.75 upper limit, as that is what a pat of MrL's own brand u/s butter now costs.......  it will add to the asparagus dish, but.....................Even DH was surprised, as he was very good during the first lockdown and did most of the shopping, and recalled that on the few occasions he'd been asked to get it, the butter had been under £1 to buy.

Greying X

I remember years ago when I used to eat 'real' butter an dlong before going vegan, that the Tesco value one was £0.85p. I am going back about fifteen years though. Inflation is crazy.
Have you tried making it?
I make my own vegan butter if I ever run out and its not on offer ( as i buy Naturli and its super close to tasting like the real thing, as opposed to cheap marg). I used to make it pre-vegan days when I could get reduced cream. 

K9sandFelines

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Good morning GC'rs!

Should be a shop-free day for me today.  I shall be using the British asparagus later - I was going to make risotto, but DH suggested pasta, so I think I will break open the last bag of 33p casarecce from H3r0n, as that will match the shape of the asparagus, which I grill first.  Mmmmmmmmm - can't wait fer tea time!!! 🤣

Developed a little meal plan for next week.  Not terribly exciting, but funnily enough I did have more ideas than days - so I can't complain, eh?  The Quorn Korma is being held over from tonight, to make way for the asparagus dish.  

M:  Quorn Korma Curry, lentil dhal & rice
Tu:  Lebanese Gaspacho (i use cooked rice rather than breadcrumbs/oats)
W:  Buddha Bowl
Th:  Omlette, potato salad, green bean salad + one other salad tbd
F:  Ratatouille & pasta
Sa:  Curry plate, dhal & rice
Su:  Fish, chips and mushy peas.

Greying X

I love casarecce. Do you know if they are still selling it? My DD1 has a Heron foods near her