September 2022 Grocery Challenge

mumtoomany

Hi @FrugalThymes, believe it or not, the first thing in the trolley was two big bottles of persil liquid, even remembering it had to be non-bio, (we have a septic tank). Then he bought cocopops for the DGC, then lots of frozen stuff that we would not normally buy, pies, chicken things like you might find in a fast food shop. Will make for some easy teas. Then battered fish and sausages. He did well, especially when he didn't know the shop layout. Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

goldfinches

@Auti - there is an incredibly clever way of dealing with fruit in cakes in this recipe from Mary-Anne Boermans Frozen Fruit Cake | Time To Cook - Online (timetocookonline.com) which I only stumbled across yesterday while browsing so thought I'd pass the tip on.

@mumtoomany - fascinating to hear about the trolley dash and how much your OH managed to scoop up in such a short time. 

I'm up very early thanks to aches and pains so decided I'd rather come on here than do the housework! I spent £2.05 at Mr T's yesterday for a cucumber, 2 x garlic and a packet of pitta breads which makes my new total £40.49/£120 and my average daily spend £3.11.

London_1

Good Morning all ,well did well with my slightly bigger shop today via my prepared shopping list, and owing to getting a few bits yesterday I am really pleased that I am more or less on budget for this month.

Only spent £22.68 this morning mainly in Aldi's and Tescos, as they both had all I needed.

Having snaffled some reduced fruit and a couple of things for basic meals yesterday it meant my shopping was slightly lees than expected. So at almost halfway through the month I'm just a tad over halfway through my set budget, but no more shopping required for a good 10 days hopefully as I have enough fresh fruit and veg and fresh food in the fridge and the freezer is pretty full as well   


Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

                                                   Spent £31.68/£60.00 only  this month, and 16 days left.
  11/14 NSDs  

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

I was doing well for a run of nsd's, but had to go to a market town across the way yesterday for a (much needed) haircut, so picked up a few items, and then nipped into MrS later when LG was at their club, so a few more £'s spent there.

I spent £24.71 in total - including the haircut and tip.  So my new total is £130.95.  Will I make it until the end of the month..... I also bought some clothes (tops for DH, socks for me - different budget) and some new hot water bottles (different budget).  Jury is out on the hot water bottles as they appear to have no washer on the stopper - will they leak?  Or has technology moved on?  We always used to have hot water bottles - have always lived in cold, damp houses until relatively recently! - and so are used to a certain style of HWB.  These look like the traditional sort, but I am a little worried about sealing.....

My food 'shop' consisted pretty much of; passata, chopped tomatoes, sea salt, bread and paracetamol, cottage cheese and hummus.  I got some YS'd coriander (fresh) and YS'd green grapes in MrS.  I also bought some (dried) split green peas.  I have split yellows in the cupboard too and will seek out some tasty/interesting recipes.  Hope I don't default to soup or dhal with them.  

Pootling around shops that I don't normally frequent, and purchase little more than YS'd from was an eye-opener with regard to prices.  Naturally, wandering around in a supermarket where more 'branded' products are stocked, the price differential is more obvious than I'm used to seeing.   But also, prices seem to have 'leapt' again.  The various liquid oils all seem to have gone up a minimum of 10p per L.  

The waste diversion scheme locally seems to have petered out in usefulness.  Far more of the food is absolute 'junk' or the vegtables/fruit are very much on the turn - to the point where you cut out or compost less than you can cook, so it's now coming close to not being worth the time/diesel to access.  Giving a donation for food that I end up not eating is just as wasteful, so moving forward, unless this period proves to be a 'blip' I shall probably focus my budget on buying food that I actively choose, trying to get value, and make do with what I have.  Waste diversion is an entirely honourable goal, but for me personally, there proves to be too much of the sort of foods that we - as a family - don't eat anyway, and it's started to feel like we're expected to be unpaid and grateful composters for the supermarkets...... 

Greying X

Auti

goldfinches said:

@Auti - there is an incredibly clever way of dealing with fruit in cakes in this recipe from Mary-Anne Boermans Frozen Fruit Cake | Time To Cook - Online (timetocookonline.com) which I only stumbled across yesterday while browsing so thought I'd pass the tip on.

@mumtoomany - fascinating to hear about the trolley dash and how much your OH managed to scoop up in such a short time. 

I'm up very early thanks to aches and pains so decided I'd rather come on here than do the housework! I spent £2.05 at Mr T's yesterday for a cucumber, 2 x garlic and a packet of pitta breads which makes my new total £40.49/£120 and my average daily spend £3.11.

Thank you will go and have a read….. i say to my child that he is hunting for treasure when he asks where is the fruit

Sayschezza

I went to MrT yesterday on a meat and fish run. Spent £89.42 in total but it did also include bread, veg and fruit which we were running short of. I now have £65.02 left for the month with a Mr S shop due tomorrow and again on the 22nd and 29th so definitely won't keep within budget this month. I portioned up the meat and it should give us 40 meat/fish meals. With veggie type meals now and again it should last us 2/3 months as I am away most of October and OH will survive on ping meals and take aways during that 2/3 weeks.

FrugalThymes

My daughter won a competition and the prize was a huge cake from a local cake makers! I think it was about a 20 portion size, but we cut it into 40 pieces about the size of a mini roll. Some goes to school for her friends tomorrow and the rest is in the freezer for lunch boxes!
There were lots of off cuts so DH picked up some dark chocolate and I've made cake pops.

We spent some money on a 'cheap foods' website, stuff past its best before date but tins and jars and dried stuff. It's all going in the pantry so I've created a different budget for that

goldfinches

@Auti - I'm storing your comment about treasure hunting in my memory for future use, thanks for the tip.

@FrugalThymes - now that's the sort of resourceful child we all need in our households, clever her and clever you with the cake pops too.

I made this batch of Liberty Mendez's Ginger Biscuits to take to my walking group this afternoon for a stroll by the river and I see I have clocked up a very respectable 11,403 steps so far today so I'm feeling rather pleased with myself even if my joints do ache rather. The biscuits were very popular even with the dog!

LadyWithAPlan

Auti said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

Saturday  Spending day so NSD 5/16 still

Hi, I am GF and vegetarian and I wondered which bread recipe you use? I am struggling with bread but found M&S sourdough one is good but so expensive. If I could make the bread that should be cheaper I make cakes that get eaten by non GF child and taste good - though fruit goes to bottom. Also GF pastry is a disaster in any form so given up on that - do you make crumble if so do you have a crumble mix recipe? Sorry for so many questions and thank you

Hi  @auti i am not an experienced GF breadmaker but I tried for the first time  a few weeks ago a FREEE Doves seeded bread mix - it was YS and amazing - I froze most of it in slices.  It was not that risen but it is delicious 
https://www.freee-foods.co.uk/products/gluten-free-seeded-bread-mix-500g

I have started making GF bread as my family had a Panasonic bread maker when I was there last month - everyone is GF and  the GF bread was spectacular, rose and so tasty - using normal GF flour. You literally dump the ingredients in and it does all the work including mixing!!! We worked out with all  the ingredients it costs about £1.30 a (not huge) loaf - but very tasty and all the kids are loving it too. You do have to freeze though in slices as no preservatives so it gets hard the next day. I also made a GF banana bread and GF apple cake in it as well that worked well

So a bread maker is on my  Xmas list but in the interim I used  my 6 in 1 pot to rise and then halogen to bake - it was lovely but not that risen.  I think best thing is to try - and see what happens

I  did get this advice from a fellow MSE-er on GF pastry 
My husband says you need a quarter of a teaspoon of xanthum gum for every 4 oz of gf flour, use an egg, but not more than one, make it slightly wetter than you think, and make sure you refrigerate it for the full 30 minutes. It also became a lot less patchwork after we got one of those square slidey under lifter things from Lakeland. He is the master of gf baking in this house! 

On GF crumble I have not tried but I have made a GF DF protein oat banana blueberry lo carb pancake for years that I bake and travel  on long flights etc with as GF  plane food is often difficult. 
Recipe 'GF DF protein oat banana blueberry lo carb pancake'
100g oats
1 tsp baking powder
Half a tsp Xanthum gum if you have in (don't worry if not)
2 scoops vegan protein powder (I use strawberry flavour)
shake of cinnamon
Fresh or powder ginger (if you have in - dont worry if not)
2-3 eggs
one mashed banana
blueberries - 3 -4 oz as you wish -  fresh or frozen
DF or normal milk - at least 400ml - depends on your eggs

Mix ingredients together. Add enough milk so mixture is not dry and holds together
I oil (coconut) a silicon round container and slightly heat in oven before adding mixture to it 
Cook 20 mins or so in 180 oven - it may take a little longer 25 mins  - don't burn the top   
Keeps well in foil, you can freeze and lovely hot with DF yogurt

If you dont like vegan protein powder - which has some sweetness in it you will probably need a bit of stevia or sugar.

Optional extra ingredients
1 - 2 tsp peanut butter
flaxseed/linseed/chia seeds/other seeds eg sunflower seeds toasted.
Other berries
chopped apple
raisin/sultana a handful

mumtoomany said:

Hi all. We went to the grand opening of the new iceland warehouse this morning. I spent £45.35 there, but actually got £65.75 worth of shopping, as i had two £5 vouchers and also got the over 60's 10% discount. Also, while waiting in the queue, raffle tickets were given out, and OH won a 90 second trolley dash. So am extra £82.50 worth of food and washing liquid. Also a free tub of jelly beans, and crisps and sweets given out while we waited to pay. Glad we went. Also called in at Aldi, so total spent today is, £58.44. Total spends for the year to date, £2005.22/£2640. 
The problem now is the freezers are now full again! Need to start emptying again before the pigs arrive! Hugs, mumtoomany. xxx

This sounds fabulous especially the trolley dash!


@goldfinches I tried the crisps recipe - twice!! in the microwave so less oil - they took longer to crisp up but yes delicious!
I will buy a mandolin - I just used my potato peeler in the interim  

Wed GC spending
Despite saying no Grocery spending til the weekend ...

I was late to bed, late to rise, had sudden work thing to do and then ran out to hairdressers starving - I only go every 2.5 months...) So as I was early I spent £2.80 on some salami and some reduced peanuts.
On the way home I was near the Mr Mark*.. so popped in as sometimes  they have good bargains - was going to buy couple things but huge queue so I didnt.

£14.53  of which £3.70 bulk
So then popped to Mr Ald* as near there - I normally do Mr Lid* but needed some linseed and sunflower seeds for bulk .No chia seeds in. I also got some frozen blueberries and frozen peas that other stores did not have on my last few visits.
No real reductions -some Tomatoes- bought also  celery as soup making soon, blueberry soya yogurt,  bananas, DF milk, also a green thai curry mix to try with some YS chicken in my freezer.
One pack of sweets - I can see if I dont eat properly in day I crave sweets.. but they come out of treat drawer


Grocery spending Sep 22 GC £65.44 /£160  + £18.70 /55.50 bulk - all paid from cash

NSD 6/16 - Tuesday 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs,

Lovely to hear about GC poster's competition wins - it has to be someone?  So glad it was you 😁👍

Did the grocery shopping this morning.  For some inexplicable reason it seemed to take an age.  I was amazed how quiet it was in MrL - thought I'd missed out on a memo or something... 😂  Anyhoo, I got everything on my list except fish fingers, and nothing that I bought today had increased in price (I mean the regular things that I buy on a weekly basis).  I had to get some red lentils, as I poured the last of my 5kg kayteecee bag (bought for £7 from MrS well before all this inflation kicked off), into the jar last night and it did gaul a bit to pay nearly £2 for 1kg of lentils.....  But as I'm not likely to get to any world food shops in the near future, I decided to bite the bullet, as we eat alot of red lentils.  I did also buy a 500g bag of (dried) pinto beans for £1.29 - I've been watching too much southern frugal momma and want to try my hand at beans and rice!  👍

I took a pootle a few yards to MrAl to see if they had any fish fingers (they did, YAY!) and clearly the missed memo said, "We're all in MrAl, where are you?" as it was very, very busy.  MrAl also had frozen broccoli in stock so I got some of that too.  To be fair, MrL wasn't too bad for stock levels today, but MrAl was even better, very few empty spaces - from what I saw as a pootled around the shop.  The fish fingers were more expensive than the last time that I bought them, but then I haven't bought any in a while, so I had assumed that they would cost more.  We just will eat less fish going forward.  

Total expenditure across the 2 shops was £34.08.  New total is now £165.03/200.  We might just squeak it, but it is looking less likely that I keep to budget this month 🙁We'll see - I'm still keen to, and we have food - and I even now have a 'cheat' tea of cardboard fish fingers, oven chip and mushy peas on hand, so I've got to try! 👍

Greying X