May 2022 Grocery Challenge

pamsdish

Just a quick note to mention I have used the last of my fish in freezer, will take advantage Tuesday and call in Food Warehouse, as in locality, and restock claiming 10% discount for over 60s.

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning May GC'rs,

Should be a NSD today in terms of groceries.  Need to shift a tail feather just now and set to making lentil bolognese for tea.  LG has an activity thing this arvo, and I suspect by tea time, we'll all be fit fer nowt and need some ease and comfort.  I intend to try to sneak as many veggies into the sauce as poss - Shhhhhh! it'll be our secret 😉

Last night, I used the last 3 of the large, purple plums that I got from MrA YS'd to 24p for a punnet of 5, a few weeks ago.  I cooked an upside down sponge again - OK, I know I did the same with some of the other punnet, but we like the pudding and cooking is the best use of these type of plums.  Of the 5 that were in this second punnet, one had gone completely rotten - it looked fine, felt like it was ripe, but as I tried to slice around the stone the other night, my knife (which isn't razor sharp) cut completely through the stone and revealed a somewhat blackened rotten interior.  The other plum was just about the right side of ripe and so LG had it chopped up with greek yoghurt.  Cooking makes the plums soft, and releases some of their natural juice and perfume.  I had the oven on for LMc burgers and chips, so no extra fuel was used.  There is pudding left over for another portion each.

I caught an episode of JO & JD's friday night food fight on f00d netw0rk last night - it was talking about utilising waste food for feeding children in the school holidays.  Because I don't know how recent the episode was, does anyone know if the scheme got wings?  The Essex headteachers seemed game, but I realise that there is far more to being keen on camera, to making things fly in real-life for the long term - even moreso if trying to scale up local initiatives to national coverage.  

Greying X

Soontobeoap

Have just read that Asdas are taking 10%off shopping for everyone with a blue light card if they show it at the till. The card costs £4.99for 2 years. It not only applies to the obvious services but also social care workers and St John's ambulance etc. I really hope that this helps some of you guys. Everything in store is discounted including optical, toys, homewards etc.

Good luck

Suffolk_lass

Greying_Pilgrim said:

I caught an episode of JO & JD's friday night food fight on f00d netw0rk last night - it was talking about utilising waste food for feeding children in the school holidays.  Because I don't know how recent the episode was, does anyone know if the scheme got wings?  The Essex headteachers seemed game, but I realise that there is far more to being keen on camera, to making things fly in real-life for the long term - even moreso if trying to scale up local initiatives to national coverage.  

Greying X

The Government have jumped on the feeding school children in the holidays, tied into local authorities running holiday "enrichment programmes" and provided grants (total £200m) according to the Gov.uk assets publishing service. Here's a link.

Separately there are lots of local charities (London has the Felix Project for example, where food that would be wasted gets distributed to over 1000 schools and charities and they do drop ins with special assemblies so children get to choose the fresh food to take home and see what would be wasted). Your best bet would be to google "near me" or contact your upper tier local authority to see what they do and with whom they work.

leftatthetrafficlights

Ive been away for a while but back now to sort myself out!! 

I've just started on next month's budget so am bookmarking this so that I can jump on when next month's challenge is posted! 😉 

Planning on a very small spend for the month ahead - I really want to get the freezers emptied/run down so that I can defrost them ahead of the summer harvest (and I'll need the space!!) - so I'm keeping a really tight control on the budget (read that as trying desperately to stop dh coming home with random c*ap that we don't need!! 🤦‍♀️😂) 

Greying_Pilgrim

Suffolk_lass said:

Separately there are lots of local charities (London has the Felix Project for example, where food that would be wasted gets distributed to over 1000 schools and charities and they do drop ins with special assemblies so children get to choose the fresh food to take home and see what would be wasted). Your best bet would be to google "near me" or contact your upper tier local authority to see what they do and with whom they work.

Thanks Suffolk Lass - I was wondering about the Essex project really.  I hadn't heard of the Real Junk food project that was involved in the scheme.  What any government 'says' it is doing, and what it actually 'does' can be miles apart......Our local authority does not - and never has - believe that there is poverty in the area, schemes that exist are administered by charitable organisations and don't always benefit from joined up thinking......

Greying X

thriftwizard

I'm now over by nearly £10, having "popped" to W8rose for some coffee this morning when OH announced there wasn't any. So I picked up some spuds (none at the farm shop, and only new potatoes at the market yesterday) some green tea for the girls (having spotted that that shelf was nearly as bare as the coffee shelf in W8rose) & some frozen veg; we are now firmly in the "hungry gap" before this year's 'Lottie produce is ready to start picking. I think I've reached the stage where if it's there & we need it (or will do shortly) I'll buy it, and worry about sticking to the budget later.

Needless to say, when I got home & opened the cupboard to put the one jar of reasonably-priced coffee I'd found away, there were two full "refill" packs in there bought on S/O the other week... 🤨

Money_Choices

Hi

I've had an Asda delivery today where I spent £46.59, equals £46.59/£120 spent this month.

Money Choices

FrugalHedonist

Lurking around these parts until next months challenge but already shocked at the price rises and it has made me feel quite insecure for what may be ahead. I noticed big increases in Mr A on a lot of their core items. I popped into Mr S - I don't usually frequent that store as its out of my way but, as I was chaperoning my little one to a kids party, I stocked up on some spices that aren't stocked elsewhere so I can try and make some interesting  budget friendly dishes. Exhausted after a very over stimulating afternoon so glad I prepped tea before I left 🙌

Blackcats

budget seems to be going well this month - greatly helped by olio, yellow stickers, vouchers and freezer/cupboard stocks.  

Still have £154 in the budget.
well done to everyone on the thread and thanks for your inspiration.