July 2022 Grocery Challenge

goldfinches

I'm off to a rather spendy start to the month as I didn't feel up to going very far yesterday so used the nearest and dearest Mr T's rather than the better value one, serves me right for being lazy I suppose.

Anyway, I spent £9.05 on 2x CC peanuts, new recipe notebook, 4x organic milk and 2x YS mushrooms so my current monthly total is £9.05/£120 and my average daily spend is £1.81.

The Baking Fund spent £3.00 on two bars of vegan chocolate which were a CC price offer so that now stands at £3/£20.

@Soontobeoap - I made the chocolate sorbet I mentioned in June's GC yesterday and early this morning and it was a very easy process but took ages with the cooling and then the chilling which I did overnight so it was ready to be churned in the frozen bowl when I got up. The flavour is really good and the texture excellent. I used liquid glucose rather than alcohol as I'm taking it to my walking group this pm and didn't think that rum or brandy would really be nice to eat in the afternoon. Overall it's cheap and easy to make and well worth the effort but you get a very rich but quite small amount from the recipe so when I repeat it I'm going to double up I think.

Here's a photo of my efforts.

goldfinches

I also made a use it up batch of chocolate cornflake cakes to take along this pm as I'm not sure that the sorbet is sufficient to slake everyone's appetites and I had several ends of bars of vegan chocolate sitting in the larder. I've decorated them with some butterflies I bought ages ago and hadn't used because there are only twelve in the packet so they weren't suitable for bakes where there were more portions than the dozen. I'm not entirely sure the butterfly ingredients are suitable for everyone so have left two cakes unadorned and am taking the decorations separately to be added if wanted.

joedenise

Main shop for this week done and have now spent a total of £46.14/£250 leaving £203.86 for the rest of the month.  Happy with that.

CynicalPinnacle

It's my second month of doing the grocery challenge and was pleasantly surprised to be £150 under the £600 budget I set for our family of 3. We have a self-catering holiday booked this month, and we're all battling viruses at the moment that have left us tired and hungry, so I'm going to reduce the budget just a little to set us up for success.

July's budget will be £550 and goes from the 1st - 31st.

Life has got a little in the way already this month and we've managed 3 supermarket visits without doing a single big shop and £141.04 of the budget is gone. I think we'd spent about £200 at this point last month, so there's hope.

goldfinches

Thought I'd just pop back to pass on the comments from those who tasted the choccy sorbet this afternoon. Eight of the group tried it and all pronounced it delicious and really refreshing, two of the group had seconds. It ended up going a lot further than I'd thought it would and I brought two small portions home to go back into the freezer.


More than one person said that they would buy the sorbet if it appeared on a menu and that it was delicious in its own right rather than being a good substitute for a dairy item.

The edible butterflies tasted like chewing slightly gummy paper so although everyone admired their appearance I won't be buying them again.

Soontobeoap

@goldfinches thanks for the update on chocolate sorbet It looks delicious. Been so busy with helping family members that I havnt had time to try any new recipes this month but. Am looking forward to trying it out even more after your pictures.

Finstickle

following on from the new recipes theme I decided to make a veggie lasagne yesterday for the first time (we're not veggie but always looking for good and filling cheaper meals).

I didn't have everything I needed so popped to Tesco, also got turkey bacon, bacon, egg whites and bread as well as the veg needed - 
veg - £4.26
Dry goods - £2.50
Protein (inc cheese) - £14.14

i can't get TB or egg whites in Lidl so top up when I'm elsewhere.  Also need to pick up some pizza for tea tonight as we are both now on a training webinar from 7-9 whilst we have DD to cater for so need something that can be cooked and eaten in the background and the current leftover selection consists entirely of last night's lasagne.

Current - £183/£465

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs!

Spends to declare from shopping at MrL.  I spent £21.15 today, which was more than I anticipated, but was bumped up a little bit by rising prices (the 2nd "cheapest" sliced wholemeal is now 65p, it was 59p last week.......), and a little bit by "unexpected items being put in the trolley area" - as i had forgotten that beetroot was in the PotW, and whilst not cheap at 49p a vac pac, we like it and it will keep, so I got 3 packets.  In addition, I found a 500g bag of dried greek white beans in the rtc section, so paid 90p rather than £1.29.  I don't think I would have bothered if I hadn't got a PC, but they will come in useful for soups/stews.  I also got a £1.50 box, which was a useful mix of fruit and veg today, although I am potatoed and onioned out for the time being, and am slightly worried about what to do with a whole pomegranate......

In addition this week I have benefitted from getting a couple of fruit and vegetable items from the waste food diversion scheme. So whilst meal planning is more difficult and every tea-time becomes like an micro episode of 'ready, steady. cook', we have ingredients to work with.

Also I purchased a new 8 inch by 8 inch cake tin this week from TeeKayMaximum.  I find that I am putting off cooking in the oven because of the cost of switching it on!  This way, I can put in 3 'cake' tins and something else on a tray/plate and fill the oven.  It may be 3 different flavours of cake, or cake and savoury flapjacks or somesuch.  It was £5 but it's quite heavy gauge and should last well if looked after.

Can't think of anything else to report.  It's been good to hear of all the budgeting successes on the June thread, and all about savvy purchases and successful cooking endeavours on this thread.  

£77.17/200

Keep on keeping on, all!

Greying X

thriftwizard

I've trotted round town this morning & done half of the weekly shop, so added £55.67 spent between the butchers (a joint of topside for Sunday & a ham hock to slow-cook on Saturday; both should provide some LO dishes) the bakery (a small sourdough for the freezer, a French stick & a focaccia loaf) and the supermarket - sliced bread, cheese, cream, bananas, apples & kiwis, green tea on offer, dates YS'd. 

I've yet to do the monthly non-perishable run, which probably can't happen until next week now as we're still celebrating the twins turning 30 (One yesterday, one today! Had them either side of midnight...) but it shouldn't be too ruinous this month as stocks are still reasonably high.

Suffolk_lass

No spends to report here this week. We had @foxgloves' chard pesto with pasta and grated cheese last night and a store cupboard chilli with red lentils (bit of wonky veg) for supper the night before (and will have it with already-cooked brown rice from the freezer tonight).

I will have milkman DD tomorrow plus I need to shop tomorrow as I am cooking two courses for a dinner party on Saturday (15 couples, lots of different houses, courses and different people for each course - good fun and raising a bit of money locally