September 2022 Grocery Challenge

pinkypig

Hello Thrifters and happy Hump Day 😀

Fridge was looking a bit sparse as all the fresh stuff had been used up or turned into something for the freezer.
I always try and get a TGTG box from Morrisons (in my area they are always just fruit and veg which is great) before I go shopping as it really keeps costs down and saves food waste to boot!  

I’ve managed  to get one for the second week in a row which is very exciting!  
You never know what you’re getting and you often get huge quantities of certain things but they are amazing value if  you
don’t mind a bit of sorting out, processing and creative thinking!  It also helps if you eat anything, which we do 😂
Tonight’s was so heavy!!!  It was also an excellent one, loads of still fresh Romaine (which keeps well) green beans, tomatoes, baby corn, loads of spring onions which freeze,  baking potatoes, new potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, kiwi, grapes, passion fruit (I think!!). a mango, two oranges, two pomegranates and about 20 lemons!
A few soft pears needed turning into compot which will freeze and the mango needs using asap but everything else was in great condition.  Most of it was also loose so not much plastic waste.
We had stir fry for dinner to use up some of the veg and the rest is in the fridge or the freezer apart from a box which I’ve set aside for DD to help her stretch her grocery pennies😀. £3.09 very well spent as that’s all our fruit, veg and salad for the week and probably the same for DD.
£121.97/£150.
7 days until pay day and counting!
Hope you all have a lovely evening 😀

PP x

cinnamon123

Soontobeoap said:

Just nipped into sainsburys and got 420 tetley tea bags in the clearance section for £3.75 (they had loads) also 500g of "free from" fusilli pasta was 85p a bag as opposed to tesco where it is £1.05. Might be worth a look if any of you are near Sainsburys. Bought all of the bits that I need to take on holiday. £13.77 spent. 

I just had to pop on to Mr S to confirm the amount of tea bags. We drink tetley ("British blend") and where I am they sell them in packages of 80 tea bags for $3-$4 (depending on store and if it's on offer). The decaf British blend is usually about $3 for 40 tea bags with the regular tetley costing $3 for 100 tea bags.

Well done on this clearance purchase! Needless to say, as a big tea drinker I'm more than a tad jelly! 

@pinkypig Excellent TGTG box haul!

goldfinches

I have to admit to being beguiled by the YS section of Mr T's today while on the hunt for some washing up liquid on my way home from a museum trip this afternoon so I spent £6.30 on fairy, 2 x YS mushrooms, YS brussels sprouts, paneer, cous cous and ciabatta rolls. That makes my new monthly total £77.09/£120 and my average daily spend is now £3.67.

LadyWithAPlan

El_Scot said:

Thank-you, this is great!

I already found the Masa flour, and have a tortilla press  I just find it a bit fiddly - they take so long to cook. We've been trying crepes as an alternative, they're really good with savoury fillings too

Unfortunately I really struggle with Lidl and Aldi Aldi gluten free products made my partner (coeliac) ill 5 times, and when we tried to flag the products, they said it was my fault - I must not be taking enough care to avoid cross-contamination at home, so I just don't shop there anymore on principle. Lidl are definitely better, but do need me to have a surplus of GF things in the cupboard.

I actually just picked up flaxseed in Lidl at the weekend, so I'll give your meatballs a try. How much do you add?

Sorry, I can't reply to each point individually but thanks for all the tips

I have a tortilla press on my xmas list as I am currently using two plates to squash them     @El_Scot

Flaxseed in meatballs -one to one and a half  large tbsp per 500g meat.  Also add an egg or two - and you can add oats or GF breadcrumbs. You can just shallow fry or oven bake but I am liking my 5 min pressure cook then shallow fry that day or the next for extra crunch. I am a chef that doesnt really weigh stuff so..

You can also make wraps with just flaxseed, water and a tsp of (optional) yeast -mix into a ball then make flat - maybe  use the tortilla press and then fry on each side for a minute.

Not bought much GF stuff from ald* so tx for the warning. 

I just also tried a veggie sausage  GF Toad in the hole for a friend as he doesnt eat pork and he loved it

Potatoes with tuna, GF beans etc are all low cost GF meals. 

I also batch cook and freeze dal a lot - the dried mung beans I use is TRS - mung dal is very good for the digestive system and Indian friends of mine  with inflammation and allergies have been encouraged to only eat mung dal only for 2 days a week and then a bowl a day with other foods as mung beans are very good and restful for the system.  I pressure cook the beans and then do big batches  of dal and freeze in portions,
 (If you can eat dairy the Dishoom black dal recipe which has double cream is legendary)  https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/sep/07/four-classic-indian-recipes-dishoom-chaat-dal-salad-jackfruit-biyani-chicken-makhani-curry ) 

Grocery spend £32 today
Grocery Sep 22 GC £95.44 /£160  + £20.70 /55.50 bulk

I had a friend coming round today so went to Mr Lid and stocked up including some snacks/food  I wouldn't normally buy including some crackers  (for gravadlax) that did had gluten in as  I didn't have time to get any Nairns GF oatcakes or GF bread  and am running low on GF bread . They remain unopened for next time a non GF person comes around and will then get sent home with them once opened. It is rare I have Gluten food in the house and once opened I send excess home with the guests so it does not get stored,

Inspired by all the talk of squash on this thread I bought a butternut squash  as on specials at Mr L - I however have never cooked a squash in my life so any 'best recipes' with them appreciated - i can see mention of roasting and soup.

Beetroot 2 x bunches at 99p each so I will pressure cook tomorrow and then make beetroot soup as I have loads HM chicken stock in the freezer. I feel like I need more iron as well so.

I had 15% off deluxe bacon so bought 3 packets of that which I will divide up and freeze most - I have found if I just freeze  whole pack of 8 rashers I never cook with that amount in a day and  it goes off too quickly once defrosted.
Stocked up  on GF outdoor raised sausages as they were also reduced.

Plus loads veg, romaine lettuce, organic cucumber, mixed peppers, houmous and guac, some lentil crisps Mr L started doing, DF milk x 2,  smoked salmon gravadlax with sauce, 12 FR eggs, turkey mince to make meatballs . 
Also picked up some more tomato puree as last few times they had none. 

gill5blue

Hi All,
Loving this challenge. 
Did some baking from ingredients previously bought-so only needed to buy minimum this week.
week 3 £25.41(budget £50) total £125.91(budget £150)
Good luck all
Gill5blue

London_1

Good morning everyone only 8 days left util the end of the month  and this month seems to have flown by for some reason. I am away for 5 days in October so that will help with the budget hopefully

I have one more shop to do and I'll probably do it either tomorrow or Saturday. I have £28.32 left at the moment in my September food budget so I am hoping to be able to use that or less to get the stuff I need.

At the moment I have a rough idea it will be around the £19-20 mark if I can stick to my guns and just buy stuff needed and not get tempted  

Listening to the wireless this morning it was said that because of the cost of living, and rising prices people are definitely cutting back and down grading their food purchases, hopefully with less food waste.

I used my three leeks given to me by my friend to make a delicious large pot of leek and potato soup and have enough for at least 5-6 portions now.i have peeled the rest of my potatoes and they are in water in the fridge.There is enough to last me out for this month as I also have about half a dozen sweet potatoes that my eldest DD bought me when she was in Asda's. They seem to last for ages in my potato bag and I always like to use them once my ordinary spuds are finished.

Once I have got the last of my September shop I will be using up the freshest stuff first as I will be away from 12 October so I try to run the fridge down a bit the week before I go so there's nothing in there to get wasted.

I'm OK for fruit as I have some 6 plums, a couple of bananas, three orages and 6 apples the apples and plums are in the fridge so the bananas will get used first I think a banana custard is on the menu today as they do go off a bit quicker. I'm not keen on banana bread as I can never seem to get it to taste right, but I don't mind them with custard. I keep mine in the conservatory now its cooler and they last a few days longer..

Today is a pottering day so after a walk around the park I shall be at  home just pottering around and doing some to-do jobs on my list . So far I have had 19/22 nsds and got my to-do list down quite a bit

I know I have a busy week next week so a day pottering is just what's needed to recharge my batteries  

Hope everyone is getting on OK, and keeping a sharp eye on the prices as I do.

I had to post a letter yesterday and had a quick look around ,but never bought anything in my local Tesco's, and spotted that McVities HobNobs had risen in price from £1.10p a packet to £1.70p.within a week, needless to say I wasn't tempted

 I came home and made some oaty bicuits myself for a lot less cash. I also filled my oven as it was on with an apple crumble and a semolina pudding, and two jacket spuds which once cold were wrapped tightly and frozen for another day. the crumble was portioned up and frozen as well 

Have a good and frugal weekend chums 

JackieO xx

FrugalThymes

@London_1 regarding bananas - I had a load of black ones last week, I blend them up with a stick blender, add enough flour to make a firm batter and then fry them (in about 10cm rounds) in a little oil. They come out sort of half banana fritter half pancake, and they're amazing with a little chocolate spread or just on their own

No spends on groceries yesterday or today, though we did pick up a few bits from Oli0; sausage rolls, ham, chicken and sweetcorn sandwich filling and some coleslaw so that's lots of lunch stuff for today! 

A friend from a couple of hundred miles away stayed over last night to get to a job site quicker this morning and had a hankering for something sweet so I grabbed an oli0 freebie carton of almond milk from the pantry, some salted caramel hot chocolate powder I bought years ago and made us all a nice drink instead of popping out to the shops for something!

Going to attempt to use the pressure cooker for the first time tonight - risotto I think. I have never used one before so fingers crossed! The big slow cooker I've decided to let go is being given away to a local lady tonight. I'm very privileged to have a) a wonderful DH who is always happy to do marketplace. TGTG and Oli0 errands and b) his company car with fixed fuel costs each month! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs!

Hopefully I'm ducking in with my "final" (ha!) spend of the month...........  😉  I went to MrL today and spent £21.30.  

I thought it was too good to be true to have a run of weeks where my 'normal' purchases stayed the same price.  Milk today was up 10p to £1.55 for 4 pints 🙁I paid £1.65 for 15 fish fingers - which is 10p more than I paid in MrAl last week for the same/similar product, so not too sure if that is a price hike, or price differential - I didn't go to MrAl today, so can't compare.  Thankfully the paper-bagged porridge oats for 75p were back in stock (YAY!), so I bought a bag.  

Very few bargains/YS's available.  There were some £1.50 boxes today, but mostly full of tatties and bendy courgettes. At a push, our household could have used the contents, but it felt like £1.50 for a box of hassle today.  I was lucky enough to get several useful bits of fruit and veg from the waste divert this week, so will be better employed incorporating those into a meal plan.  

£197.54/200 - getting very close to the wire, but this month's shopping has seen quite a bit of 'storecupboard' type items being bought, so it's a fair reflection of what I've spent/what we've eaten or consumed and that we have at least reasonably stocked cupboards.  Also, I may yet get a little money back off DH as I picked up some throat lozenges for him today, so I may have slightly nearer £5 left in my budget kitty until the end of September.  I don't know yet whether October will see us having to make changes to our GC timescale - at the moment it is 1st - 30th/31st, but paydates will be changing, so it may make sense to change in line with that.  We'll see what next week brings.  There is, of course, always the argument to have wages 'in hand' before you start spending, so it may well 'pay' to keep the grocery month the same.  I'm pretty sure we'll have stuff to eat up until the 30th of this month anyway.

Greying X

elsiepac

October GC Now Live!

Hi everyone!

Firstly, has anyone noticed the price of a head of broccoli going up drastically? I'm assuming it's because of the weather earlier in the year - I'm sure I read somewhere that broccoli crops were affected but maybe I have that wrong - 85p for a broccoli in Mr L on 17 Sep vs 56p in Mr T on 2 Sep!! I bought it because broccoli is a staple for me and I was shopping in Mr L that day but WOW that's nearly double what I'd usually expect to pay!

Made one of my favourite curries the other day - it's the Creamy Vegetable Curry from the Oh She Glows cookbook by Angela Liddon - it's so simple and delicious!  I have a few favourites from that book including the African Peanut Stew, "detox" soup (sorry about the title of the recipe, i hate the word detox - it makes you feel so warm and lovely lol especially if you have a cold), curried cauliflower soup, red lentil and kale soup and a nourish bowl.  I'll try and see if any are online as they are usually everyday ingredients and nothing too fancy but so delicious and wholesome.

EDIT - found online links so I've added them

otb666

680/600 finished this month Gone over again by 80 last month 75 month before that 45 I will try smaller portions next month hubby is over 17 stone and needs to loose weight anyway I am just under 11 stone so could loose a little weight as well.  Also it will help symptoms of covid if we get that again this winter