May 2022 Grocery Challenge

ragz_2

Greying_Pilgrim said:

ragz_2 said:

@Greying_Pilgrim I've got a bag of dried black beans in the pantry, you appear to be the pulses guru around these parts... Any suggestions? 

Lawks hun!  No pressure! 🤣

Looking at my recipe card index, I've the following recipes that use black beans; Spicy hubby-approved black bean burgers, 

The burger recipe I've linked to is good - but i never put eggs in my burgers to bind, so I don't follow that recipe to the letter.  

Those are what I can suggest at the mo.  Any help?  I'm sure there are other GC'rs with plenty of other suggestions.  And I must admit, I have just seen a recipe by A&C for black beans, roast carrots and avocado which looks worthy of another peek........

Just to add, I tend to soak my dried beans overnight, and then cook at full power for approx 8 minutes in the PC.

Greying X

Those burgers look like something I could adapt quite easily, thank you! 30oz sounds like a lot, but I'm guessing that's cooked weight! I have a burger press which needs more use, so will give them a go in that. Thank you so much for all the tips, especially the pressure cooker timing. I'll probably cook them all in one go and then freeze in amounts that can be flung in things like chili. I did cook a bean chili in the pressure cooker recently and that went well, but I was using canned beans. I get freaked out by dried beans as I'm never sure what needs soaking and how long to cook for.

I can't eat huge amounts of beans as I'm eating low carb, but definitely want to get more into the rest of the family. These look like they'd be good for DD especially as she's not keen on meat (unless in sausage or nugget format) and the black beans seem to have a great micronutrient profile. She's a fussy kid but will happily eat a mixed bean chili or vegetable casserole... 

ancientmum

£9.30 spent at the weekend on fruit and veg in the market and milk.  It's going to be tight this month with only £2.46 left in the budget, but there's only me so I will have to put on my cloak of ingenuity.  I know I have enough in for most meals, so definitely won't starve, but there may be some odd combinations and I'll have to make some bread ( I'm not very good at it).  I don't want a big overspend like last month and yes, I know that I am lucky to have a choice.

Naturelover22

Hi all, popping in to update our total. £294.75. We didn't actually buy anything this week, which has made my weekly spending update and check banking etc a lot quicker! The fridge is pretty bare (cheese and spinach sandwiches for work tomorrow) so I'm doing a little shop after work tomorrow as I didn't have time today. Will mainly stock up on essentials, veg for the guinea pigs and some meat as we have a lot of mince and a small amount of chicken in the freezer. Will go to Mr Al with the list I have written this evening. I also signed up to Olio and its very good, I have done 3 collections so far, fitting in with my journey to work and other places so I'm not travelling out of my way. In our area there is a lot of breaded goods and some veg and other bits. I have told Mr naturelover no need to buy bread in the shop as I can get it off Olio instead now. Hope everyone's weekends went ok

PipneyJane

@ragz_2 I use black beans fairly regularly, to make Cuban Black Bean Stew.  My recipe has the seal of approval from a Cuban American friend.  However, he uses smoked ham hocks, while I use cooking bacon and liquid smoke.

@Elsiepac, please add this to the index.

Cuban Black Bean Stew

Ingredients

500g black (turtle) beans, soaked overnight and drained (£1.15)

1 onion chopped (12p)

6 cloves garlic, crushed (10p)

2 green peppers, roughly cubed (40p)

150g-500g  cooking bacon, roughly chopped (or use leftover ham (18p-60p)

2 chilies, chopped (or 1 heaped teaspoon ground chilli)

1 smoked dried pepper (if you are lucky enough to find them) (say 50p)

1 bay leaf 

1 tablespoon oregano 

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/2 teaspooon liquid smoke (2p)

Boiling water to cover

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Ensure that there is at least a 2.5cm (1 inch) covering of boiling water, more if your slow cooker lid doesn’t seal well.
2. Put the lid on, set the cooker to high and cook for a minimum of 8 hours.  
3. If it gets a bit dry, add more boiling water (cold water will cause the pot to crack).
4. If it turns out soupy, serve with lots of fresh bread.  Otherwise, serve over rice.

 Note:  you have to cook this on high or the black beans won’t soften.

- Pip

bupster

I make rice and beans with black beans - there's a recipe here https://cafedelites.com/black-beans-rice-recipe/ but to be honest when I do it it's largely guesswork. Makes the rice go miles further though and enough protein that you don't need much in the way of meat etc. I have been known to just eat this by the bowl as comfort food... 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

Good to read what everyone does with certain ingredients - always inspirational and an opportunity to gather new ideas; thank you.

We had a curry plate last night.  Turnip and Red Kidney Bean curry, lentil dhal and rice.  LG ate the dhal and rice, but wasn't brave enough to try the curry.  We had the last of the upside-down plum cake with greek yoghurt for dessert.  Two and a half portions of lentil dhal, a portion of rice and a portion of the curry got put into the freezer for another day, another curry plate.  

I've made a menu plan for the next 8 days, but I think I'll have to revisit it, as It's not exactly sparking joy at the mo.......But the freezer is full of meals and cooked ingredients, so we've food.  And if all fails, I have 1/4 of a turnip leftover too..........🤣👍No worries.

Greying X

wishus

Spent £55 yesterday in B &M yesterday - this puts me £10 in the bust zone, but I am now at the end of the challenge for me for this month. I'm going away, and I have half board so food is covered. Typical, went in for cat food, but went off list...
We now have lots of soft drinks to help with our next challenge of cutting back massively on booze.

Suffolk_lass

As I get bombarded with offers over email from the milkman, I pretty much ignore them and delete (along with many others that I occasionally buy from).

 As a result I missed the notification that milk has gone up from yesterday (this week for my DD) so up by 7p a pint to £1.05 for organic. I may have to consider watering it down at this rate.

Up from 98p at the start of the year and from 95p when we began getting it delivered, to stop me needing to shop every week.

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass that’s still good value and I’d keep the service going if I were in your position. Especially if it’s one less chore/supermarket run for you to do. 

Suffolk_lass

Thanks @JingsMyBucket, my temptations manifest themselves as off-list pick-ups so it reduces that particular risk by not going!