August 2022 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

@ancientmum I have noticed how early the blackberrys are too. Took GD to pick some to make Her Mum and Dad apple and blackberry pie for when they come to dinner tomorrow. Tomatoes and raspberries in garden have started turning red, have also harvested runner beans, had some for meals, given some to neighbours and frozen some for later. My freezer is just about coping with the extra load but I am having to be very careful about what I buy. 

ladyholly

There are loads of blackberrys where I live but they are tending to be very dry and small due to the lack of rain,

joedenise

Blackberries around here are the same @ladyholly.  Picked some the other day but not nice!  Shan't bother again, just not worth the time and effort.

Been to buy some fruit and veg plus meat for tomorrow and next weekend.  Now spent a total of £34.92/£250 leaving £215.08 for the rest of the month.  Although the bulk fund isn't looking too healthy but not really expecting to need any more bulk items this month!

Greying_Pilgrim

Howdy GC'rs!

Pleased to report a NSD today, and that DH has indeed repaid me the £5 for the smellies that I got for him yesterday 😊So my August grocery budget figures are now £52.59/200.  Could be better, as we're not yet at the end of the first week of the month, but also that figure does include some 'stock-ups', so we've stuff to eat for now and into the month (and possibly beyond) IYSWIM.  

I managed to hook a couple of fresh produce items from the food waste divert scheme.  I got a couple of aubergines (there were plenty and you were encouraged to have several if you could use them), and unfortunately one has started to rot from the stem end.  No bother, I trimmed it and have popped it into a curry today, with 1 of the punnets of mushrooms from the MrL box and a tin of red kidney beans.  I made Jam1e O's Rogan Josh paste mix , and shoved everything in the PC and cooked it up for 8 mins.  Came out  a treat.  I'm particularly pleased to have used 1 red and 1 green bell pepper from the MrL box in the paste.  I'm not a huge fan of green peppers, but find it they are blitzed in pasta sauce (or now curry paste), they add texture and bulk, and don't seem to have the negative repetition effects that for me, eating them raw in salads has.  There is sufficient paste for another curry so I have popped that portion into the freezer, clearly labelled.

Lunch today was sandwiches using the last of the 'sort of' refried beans that I had made the other evening for our 'sort of' taco tea 😉Sitting in the fridge had done the bean paste no harm at all, and the lime juice had developed and was a good zest to the heft of the bean and the slight smoke of the paprika.  In no way, shape or form am I claiming any authenticity, but it used what I had, put food on the table and (as a bonus), tasted good too. I added shredded Romaine lettuce and sliced tomato (from the MrL box) to the sandwiches.  I do like the challenge of trying to make something out of what I have or have been given.  I actually prefer ingredient roulette to trying to work out what we can have based soley on whether we can afford to cook it 😕  Using the oven is increasingly not an option.

Greying X

katkin

@Greying_Pilgrim Your posts are really inspiring and full of creativity. I bow my hat to how you manage your GC budget and come up with so may canny ways to do things. It's amazing how your littlie tries new dishes and tastes  My 2 in their late twenties are still frightened of broccoli!

I'm bracing myself for a spend tomorrow, I think it's gonna hurt.... 

Greying_Pilgrim

katkin said:

@Greying_Pilgrim Your posts are really inspiring and full of creativity. I bow my hat to how you manage your GC budget and come up with so may canny ways to do things. It's amazing how your littlie tries new dishes and tastes  My 2 in their late twenties are still frightened of broccoli!

Aw, hun.  That is such a kind comment.  I think the 'stalwart' or 'tried and tested' ways of 'using what you have', 'improvising' and 'reframing' really are what works when it comes to trying to keep to budget - whatever that level of budget is for a particular household. I suppose time-served solutions are that for a reason - they work.  I was watching a video the other day, of a chap cooking a recipe that was a WWII one.  The fact that it was still relevant/useful/had some nutritional value in the 21st century was testament to the research that went into it's devising in the first place, the fact that it was being touted as a vegan meat-alternative, is just a sign of progress, and took nothing away from the original recipe/method.

The internet helps enormously, as if you have eg an aubergine or a courgette (glut), then you can suddenly expand your culinary horizons and be gifted any number of ideas of what to do with those ingredients.  Of course, you may not like the flavours, or not have 'additional' ingredients to make particular recipes, but then improvisation comes to the fore 😊The aubergine curry wasn't a particular written recipe as such, but I saw a recipe that involved aubergine and rogan josh paste, but was roasted, which I couldn't consider as it's too expensive to just pop the oven on for one item.  So I just took the idea of Rogan Josh paste, took the ingredients that I had, and made something with the PC.  I ended up serving it with steamed basmati, and a (small) portion of L/O parsnip curry (out of the freezer).  The savoury smokiness of the aubergine & mushroom curry worked well with the sweet parsnip and the rice soaked up the sauce.  I didn't even try LG with the curry - they are not a fan of mushrooms, so we are currently only trying them on mushrooms that are 'less obvious' in a dish.  But LG has now become totally comfortable eating rice and lentil dhal - which is a massive leap from where we were, and is now comfortable with rice being on the plate when lentil dhal isn't, which is progress for us.  

I don't think LG is particularly adventurous in their eating at times, but then whilst there will always be children who eat a wider range of foods, I occasionally see what LG's peers will/won't try, and I think to myself, "oh, maybe we aren't so far off the mark........"  And LG will oft surprise me by asking for something - the other day it was some cucumber that I was chopping up for sandwiches at lunch.  They ate what they were given, and know that if they want more, they can have it, but were happy with their portion.  Cucumber is a relatively new 'eat'.  We went (frustratingly) through the nursery years watching peers shove fistful after fistful of raw carrot, cucumber and bell pepper, willingly into their mouths, whilst LG resolutely....... refused 🙁  Mind, if I think about all the things I didn't like to eat when I was young, and yet willingly eat now, LG isn't being anymore picky or difficult I don't think - and DH's no-likey list was legendary when he was little - and I've now sorted him out.......... after over quarter of a century.........😉🤣

Greying X

mumtoomany

Another £1.70 spent on milk for the littlies. Baby brother is improving all the time, they are hoping be will be moved to his local hospital soon, and then home. Having these two here, as well as having the DGC off school limits shopping. Milk was room local garage, walked down. Total to date now, £1688.07/£2640. Off to play with some Duplo, hugs, mumtoomany.xx

mumtoomany

@Greying_Pilgrim, I wouldn't worry about LG. DS1 weren't through a phase of not eating egg, or anything containing egg. Omlete, and eggs, but also cake. He was only around three, but seemed to know the ingredients of everything. This lasted for about a year, then stopped as suddenly as it started. DGS1 (aged7), has this week, eaten carbonara. Well my version of it, bacon pieces, peas, onion and cheese sauce, with pasta. He has refused to eat it until now. This week he demolished it, claiming it's delicious. Strange creatures children. Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

Greying_Pilgrim

mumtoomany said:

@Greying_Pilgrim, I wouldn't worry about LG. DS1 weren't through a phase of not eating egg, or anything containing egg. Omlete, and eggs, but also cake. He was only around three, but seemed to know the ingredients of everything. This lasted for about a year, then stopped as suddenly as it started. DGS1 (aged7), has this week, eaten carbonara. Well my version of it, bacon pieces, peas, onion and cheese sauce, with pasta. He has refused to eat it until now. This week he demolished it, claiming it's delicious. Strange creatures children. Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

🤣 totally agree mumtoomany 😊 I think LG has things from most of the major food groups over the course of a day/week (although they choose not to eat meat - they don't like the taste/texture, but would be free to eat meat if they wanted), so I think they'll turn out OK. 

I'm hoping for a NSD again today.  I have some eggs that need using (last of the reduced to £1 - 15 pack I scored from HB before our hols), and I was planning on a crustless quiche to utilise the remaining punnet of mushrooms, but with the mecury rising, I'm wondering about the wisdom of firing up the oven.........  I have outline plans for several other dishes to fully utilise the heat with a batch cook, i'm just pondering whether it's a good idea.....

Greying X

elsiepac

Hi all

Small spend of £3.20 yesterday for me on olive oil spray - £1.80 (totally ran out of all oils and this was the most frugal way to buy olive oil as it makes me use tons less and lasts so much longer!), and 3 packs wholemeal pitta for the freezer at 50p each except one was YS to 40p. 

Apart from that there were no spends for me since Monday which I'm pretty pleased with and have also done a good stock take so I know where I am. 
Plenty of proteins and starches (carbs) in except I may need more bread if I don't stop my toast addiction, and also no pasta except spaghetti - will try and hold out on that one but we'll see.  I get wholewheat pasta as it's just that little bit healthier and I like the texture more - especially in spaghetti. 
Veg wise I can certainly hang on another couple of days at a minimum.

I have enough coffee and almond milk for the rest of the month and I always have my herbal teas in as well so drinks are sorted as I only really have water or occasional hot chocolate apart from those.

Equivalent of 23 full days of meals until pay day at the time of writing. I long for winter when it's so easy to make a vat of soup for weekday lunches on a Sunday (and actually want it because it's cold out!).

Hope you've all had/are having a pleasant weekend.