May 2022 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

EH - I think it's really common that if we take our DH shopping with us that the shopping is more expensive!  Mine certainly was today.  He decided to spend £25 on a huge loin of pork to make into bacon - we do eat bacon but that is going to be eaten over a long period of time as it weight mored than 4Kg!  He also decided he wanted some meat pies in Morries so another £2 and then a couple of pain aux raison in MrLs so just under another £1 so that was £28 extra - fortunately none of it from my grocery budget!  The pork from the Bulk Fund the rest from his spending money.

Still need to tot up how much I've spent so far so will come back later.

By the way you can freeze yoghurt but it will separate and only be any good for cooking so should be fine to make flat breads.

Have totted up GC spends and to date it's £54.30/£200 so have £145.70 left but shouldn't need any meat or fish as lots of meals and ingredients will be coming from the freezer.

K9sandFelines

goldfinches said:

K9sandFelines said:

goldfinches said:

K9sandFelines said:

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. 

Any chance of a recipe for this please? It goes in and out of stock locally so unpredictably that it would be immensely helpful to be able to make my own version.

I spent £5.27 at M*rks on f/f greek style yoghurt, bread, a cauliflower, red cabbage, onions and new potatoes and then £9.90 at Mr T's on 3x frozen fruit and 2x plums which makes my new total £45.19/£124 and my average daily spend £6.45 which is horrifying. I shall just have to work with what I've got from now until at least the middle of the month, off to work out a meal plan, night all, goldfinches.

Is it the dairy butter or vegan one you're after? 

The vegan one please, thankyou very much.

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/2 cups Refined Coconut Oil
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk (not vanilla)
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Liquid Lecithin
• https://youtu.be/aPdQzf8VCmg
  
• 
  
• If you don't want to follow that particular recipe, there are lots more. Miyoko on YouTube does a similar one and she markets her own products in the USA. I made the mistake of ordering a bottle of liquid lecithin, which I haven't even scratched the surface of. I think it helps it spread. 

thriftwizard

Eeeek! A run down to L!dls & Makr0 has completely emptied my "bulk" fund and added £120.53 to my total, leaving me with just under £60 per week left for fresh stuff for the rest of May, which will be very tight. As against that, stocks are now very high and some things bought today probably won't run out for 4-5 months. That said, I was de-railed a bit by some of the empty shelves; obviously we will cope, but some things will need to be bought at a higher cost (or in lesser quantities/more often) elsewhere. 

Scary price increases on the pasta at Makr0 - I'd have bought lots of small packets at Lid!s if I'd known!

EssexHebridean

@joedenise thanks for the confirmation on the yogurt - I had a feeling that was it! It'll work fine for the flatbreads then - so getting that weighed and frozen is a job for tonight! In fairness it cost me nothing - it came from my Mum as it was in the fridge unopened when Dad was taken into hospital and she doesn't eat it - and it's already made 2 batches of flatbreads and been part of a korma sauce so I've getting value! 

Home cured bacon is something we'd love to try - we don't have anywhere suitable to do it though sadly! 

Thriftwizard has reminded me that I should add some bags of pasta to my list for this weekend. I must also go and have a look at Farmf00ds at some stage and see how their prices compare with everywhere else - we've had one in the town for a few months now and I've not been in. Also F00d Warehou5e might be worth a look at some stage - I want to compare their frozen veg prices with those at Als to see if I'd be better switching where I buy.

joedenise

The Food Warehouse is just a larger version of Iceland!  Plus they sell electrical items etc plus larger packs of some things like cheese - I always buy my cheese in there as it's a good price.  I paid £4 for a 850g block (they used to be Kg! so a price increase by way of weight reduction!).  They also do a huge piece (I think it's 5Kg) for £22.  Veg I don't think is any cheaper than anywhere else - in fact Aldi may well be cheaper (I don't know as don't get to one very often so not sure on their prices).

bargainbetty

Thanks you @Doom_and_Gloom and @goldfinches for the orange glut ideas. I do indeed imbibe (so much politer than calling myself a lush) and I might try to make an orange syrup for use in an Old Fashioned. I do like a tang of orange with bourbon. I also add soda sometimes to make it a longer drink and call it a Not-Very-Old Fashioned. 

@Greying_Pilgrim - I love the reverse psychology of getting kids to try new things. I cooked a curry for an American friend, and when her daughter expressed concern about the 'weird smells', I told her that it wasn't for her, it was for me and her mum only. If she wanted to try a bit she could, but I wouldn't be upset if she didn't like it, because it wasn't for her. She is now a young adult and uses curry spice in everything she possibly can.

Managed a couple of NSDs on food, which is good. Will be in town working tomorrow and have drinks with a friend planned afterwards - tomorrow will not be a non-spend day at all.... 

DawnW

Shopping today, at Mr L and Mr S. Spent a total of £100.92, for 4 bags of shopping I did add £7.26 worth to the food bank trolley as well, and £7 was spent on hay fever meds, both of which come from other budgets, but still ...

So £86.66 to subtract from my budget (included some beer for OH and some food for the dog as well as toiletries, cleaning stuff and groceries). There were no Lidl veg boxes today either   

We have no community pantry, and Olio is hopeless round here - driving 5 miles for a couple of bread products is a no go as far as I am concerned, so apart from growing what I can, there is not much I can do about it. We don't have takeaways, and don't eat out / have coffee out etc (except maybe twice a year), so our budget, plus what we grow, is what we have. However, we are very fortunate compared to many, and therefore I will continue to contribute to the food bank for as long as I am able.

I cooked the chicken that I had bought for dinner (and several other dinners). That was the only meat I bought, though I did also buy a bag of fish pie mix fish pieces, which have gone in the freezer and will probably not get used this week.

So, £131.14 spent so far out of £250, therefore 118.86 left to last the rest of the month. No more shopping this week unless there is an absolute bargain at the market on Sunday! And I expect next week's shopping to be much less, as I did stock up a bit on tins etc.

Soontobeoap

oh dear. DH went shopping for gluten free bread for me. Not sure what to get when normal loaf wasn’t available. He therefor kindly bought pitta bread and bake it yourself rolls as well as a loaf for him and some jam. Total spend £7.90. So it’s only 9th of the month and I have more or less hit my target! I need to reassess next month for sure.

MissRikkiC

What a great MrL box @Greying_Pilgrim I know how useful they are for you (and everyone else) when they’re good, so I’m pleased you could get one. 

@mumtoomany for the recommendation regarding the beans at FF! I scanned their leaflet which was put through my door today and thought I may pop there next week! I think the price of those beans would give the likes of Ald/lids a run for their money! 

I also love getting olio flowers @s@SausageDogSandwich but today I bought some for the house instead as they were yellow stickered tulips. It’s better than full price and I love having them at home. 

nannygladys

No more spends at the moment, hopefully will get to the food hub for veggies and bread sometime before the weekend and that hopefully will be all.