May 2022 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Good evening All

Just a quick fly-by to record a spend of 90p on a can of anchovies in the C0-0p.  I was cooking dinner and realised we didn’t have them, so popped to the Icel@nd at the end of the street.  No anchovies.  Was shocked to discover that they don’t stock them.  They had tinned tuna, cans of mackerel in tomato sauce and several different types of cans of sardines, but no anchovies.

Anyway, the above brings our May GC spend to £131.20/£146.30, leaving £15.10 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Pinwheel

Hello

A couple of small spends on milk and potatoes taking me further over budget.  We will need to shop on Thursday but hopefully it won't be too much just fruit, veg, yoghurt, milk, cheese...actually maybe more that I thought!  

Tonight I made up an oven baked rice pilau/risotto type dish with chick peas, tomatoes and olives.  It was ok but needs tweaking if I make it again, everyone ate it and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow so it was a success in that way.

Have a good evening.

Doom_and_Gloom

K9sandFelines said:

Doom_and_Gloom said:

OH went to get milk as we didn't get an A&C delivery. There went £3.47; the milk he got was £1.25 so there were a few added items. 

Dinners from yesterday to the end of the month for me are the following. 

M - japanese vegetable curry with tofu cubes and rice. 

T - ratatouille with rice. 

W - vegetable fried rice. 

Th - japanese vegetable curry with soya chunks and rice. 

F - vegetable sushi and tofu stir fry. 

S - mexican rice. 

Su - vegan fry up. 

M - pasta salad. 

T - vegan okonomiyaki. 

£227.71/170.50.

£57.21 over budget...... 

Does the okonomiyaki require alot of fancy sauces to dress/top it @Doom_and_Gloom ? It sounds right up my street, as does all the rest of your meal plan (I love me some rice 💚). Also, what recipe do you use if you don't mind me asking, thank you 😊? 

Fancy sauces? Wouldn't say so. You can buy an okonomiyaki sauce but I make a tonkatsu like sauce with ketchup, vegan Worcestershire sauce, soya sauce or tamari, a little sugar and sometimes some mirin. I do it by look and personal taste. Some recipes say to cook the sauce but the OH and I don't bother. They traditionally serve it with japanese mayonnaise aswell but that isn't vegan. Bought vegan mayo or homemade (very easy, I love the aquafaba version) works fine.
https://www.veganricha.com/vegan-okonomiyaki-cabbage-carrot-pancakes
It's easily made gluten free too. If you want to do Hiroshima style you cook noodles into it
I serve with togarashi on top as well.
I've put all sorts in my okonomiyaki. As long as you stick to the core ingredients you can play around with or add very easily. What I love about it the most is that we always seem to have everything in for it. Cabbage is rather a staple here as it goes in nearly everything.

Rice is amazing 😍 🍛🍙🍚. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks for all the cake ❤️😊 We had a slice of the pear & blackberry cake for pudding with greek yoghurt, it did taste good, and the fact i left the skin on the pear didn't matter, it had softened beautifully.  LG likes pear anyway, but they declared the cake delish and polished it off in no time.  We've not tried the orange cake yet, but it cut just like a sponge cake and still had a lovely aroma, so I'm sure it will be fine.

LG had to attend their club so I nipped into MrA.  I got 1kg of carrots for 20p YS'd (2 x 500g bags for 10p), and some British rhubarb for 27p.  I suspect LG won't like it, but DH is partial to rhubarb crumble, and it'll be something a bit different.  I then got a bit bold and went to MrS on the way back to pick up LG and found blueberry packs (150g) YS'd to 25p (from £2.10).  So I bought 4 packs, and left 2 for others.  I will freeze 2 packs, and have the other 2 packs to go with yoghurt teas this week.  So I have £1.47 more to add to my grocery total (eeek!), but expenditure is all things that we will make good use of.   

Greying X

K9sandFelines

Doom_and_Gloom said:

K9sandFelines said:

Doom_and_Gloom said:

OH went to get milk as we didn't get an A&C delivery. There went £3.47; the milk he got was £1.25 so there were a few added items. 

Dinners from yesterday to the end of the month for me are the following. 

M - japanese vegetable curry with tofu cubes and rice. 

T - ratatouille with rice. 

W - vegetable fried rice. 

Th - japanese vegetable curry with soya chunks and rice. 

F - vegetable sushi and tofu stir fry. 

S - mexican rice. 

Su - vegan fry up. 

M - pasta salad. 

T - vegan okonomiyaki. 

£227.71/170.50.

£57.21 over budget...... 

Does the okonomiyaki require alot of fancy sauces to dress/top it @Doom_and_Gloom ? It sounds right up my street, as does all the rest of your meal plan (I love me some rice 💚). Also, what recipe do you use if you don't mind me asking, thank you 😊? 

Fancy sauces? Wouldn't say so. You can buy an okonomiyaki sauce but I make a tonkatsu like sauce with ketchup, vegan Worcestershire sauce, soya sauce or tamari, a little sugar and sonetimes some mirin. I do it by look and personal taste. Some recipes say to cook the sauce but the OH and I don't bother. They traditionally serve it with japanese mayonnaise aswell but that isn't vegan. Bought vegan mayo or homemade (very easy, I love the aquafaba version) works fine.
https://www.veganricha.com/vegan-okonomiyaki-cabbage-carrot-pancakes
It's easily made gluten free too. If you want to do Hiroshima style you cook noodles into it
I serve with togarashi on top as well.
I've put all sorts in my okonomiyaki. As long as you stick to the core ingredients you can play around with or add very easily. What I love about it the most is that we always seem to have everything in for it. Cabbage is rather a staple here as it goes in nearly everything.

Rice is amazing 😍 🍛🍙🍚. 

I read a non vegan recipe, and thought I was going to have to go out and get a load of stuff in especially, hence the fancy sauces question. I have most of those bits in, as I love most types of oriental dishes.
I will save trying this one for next month though, as my meal plan is all done. 

atrixa

I'm up to £164.65/£140 for the month. I've run out of bread, so I'll see if I can get a yellow sticker loaf to see me through until payday tomorrow morning. I'll make sure to keep stuff in stores for vegan soda bread next month and have a crack at making that.

Freezer is full of sweet potato, chickpea and spinach curry (recipe here: Sweet potato chickpea curry recipe | Jamie magazine recipes (jamieoliver.com)), pasta sauce (recipe here: Penne with Tomato and Chilli Sauce | Tinned Tomatoes)  and three bean soup. The soup wasn't that successful so I won't bother linking the recipe. It's at least edible so I'll finish it off. 

I'm almost relieved to see I'm not the only one going over budget. I'm going to raise it again next month to bear in mind the price hikes.

K9sandFelines

I bought three things from the oriental shop today. I didn't need any of them urgently, but needed an excuse to go out for a walk. For some reason, because I'm struggling at the mo with my MH, my brain seems to not want to go out unless its for a purpose. A walk would obviously be for a purpose, (but try telling my brain that) ; and in all honesty it doesn't always make me feel better.
Anyway, although I did spend £6 odd , they weren't everyday ingredients; so I'm doing what I am doing with bulk buys of Pulsin bars etc. When I actually open the item, I will buy it from stores if that makes sense. Although not used, I have decanted the Kala Namak (black salt) to previous jar; so have wrote the 99p down. I did need Sesame oil; but they didn't have the normal value for money bottle that I get, so left it. The other two items were Gochujang and Doubenjang (sp?). Both will last a few months, I think 🤔 

Got £10.60 left to last til 12/6. Will be amazed if I do it 😲

Doom_and_Gloom

K9 -
Doubenjang? Is this the fermented soya bean paste (doenjang, simular to miso but not quite) or the spicy bean sauce (Doubanjiang/tobanjiang which is fermented soya beans, broad beans and chilli).

To be fair I would take the price on the chin if you can as they will as you say last a while. These kinds of condiments/ingredients bring change to what otherwise could be a boring meal. I know my dad's ma grew up mostly on plain British foods and she was content with that but I honestly think some spices/herbs/condiments have a way of making a meal. My own dad is a curry lover and the first taste of curry I got to taste, at rather a young age, was on the rather hot side because of him but it just spurred on my love for all Asian foods which surprised everyone as they thought a child wouldn't appreciate it.

The Gochujang screams bibimbap 😍. If you have any kimchi, well it is just written to be that. 

K9sandFelines

Doom_and_Gloom said:

K9 -
Doubenjang? Is this the fermented soya bean paste (doenjang, simular to miso but not quite) or the spicy bean sauce (Doubanjiang/tobanjiang which is fermented soya beans, broad beans and chilli).

To be fair I would take the price on the chin if you can as they will as you say last a while. These kinds of condiments/ingredients bring change to what otherwise could be a boring meal. I know my dad's ma grew up mostly on plain British foods and she was content with that but I honestly think some spices/herbs/condiments have a way of making a meal. My own dad is a curry lover and the first taste of curry I got to taste, at rather a young age, was on the rather hot side because of him but it just spurred on my love for all Asian foods which surprised everyone as they thought a child wouldn't appreciate it.

The Gochujang screams bibimbap 😍. If you have any kimchi, well it is just written to be that. 

It might be Doenjang actually thinking about it as it just says soy bean paste on the front, and I don't think there where any chilli ingredients in it. I'm going to write the dates on when opened, to see exactly how long they last. I'm the same as you in respect that I have an abundance of herbs spices and condiments, which I would be lost without. I couldn't imagine eating the way I was brought up with plain tasteless food. My Mum isn't very blessed in that department an nor does it interest her. I on the other hand love trying out foods from all over the world.
Yes, I have kimchi! First time trying it ever and it's homemade. I love it on the Autumn Bibimbap bowl which has sprouts in. Its divine. 
Too many recipes, so little time 😋 

pamsdish

Will be so glad to see May gone, way, way over budget, mostly on new dog exes, which are not even counted here, spent £27 yesterday in 1ce1and on 9 bags of plain fish, cod, haddock, smoked haddock, it will last though, 
While on the dog thought, took friend to dentist yesterday, sat in waiting room, my phone rings, childs voice "I have your dog" first thought scam, then she told me dogs name and your front door is open, the little/large madam must have jumped up the door and turned down the handle, can only be opened like that from inside, I count myself very lucky, only had her 10 days so she doesn`t know her way about yet, anything could have happened, asked if she would leave with next door until I got home, double lock doors in future, may even close drive gates so at least she will be contained.