April 2023 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

diminua said:

Went into Kingston for a quick wander round the shops. Almost bought coffee at one point, but realised I was just doing it out of habit and didn't really want one. I did get some veg from the market though - stripy aubergine, long red chillies, courgettes and tiny variegated tomatoes (£3.50 total), and also a punnet of strawberries that weren't the big flavourless ones that are in the supermarkets (£1.80). Popped into Ts on the way back for greek style yogurt (£1.20), which will go both with the strawberries and the chilli I want to make later in the week. 
And I got my creme eggs yesterday (£1.68). 
£131.12 left.

Oh @diminua that has taken me back. That was the town closest to my childhood home (in Teddington) and I remember my Mum getting on her bicycle and cycling to the market for about 1-2pm on Christmas Eve and picking up the veg waste for free and some bargainous things by last minute chats with the market traders who were packing up. Then into M&S where all the food hall prices of the Christmas treats were having their prices slashed. We tried lots of foods that never normally entered our diets (grapes and pineapple from the market traders, prawns, pre-prepared in a fancy box from M&S, I particularly remember). Every scrap was used and we felt we had a really generous Christmas but Mum reminds me it was these things that meant she could afford other treats. She also used to stay up until about 2am making dolls clothes for our stockings. What a wonderful Mum she (still) is

Cocobeans

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. We ended up going to my sisters for Easter. A few spends - to add including an expensive service station stop on the way and some baking stuff to make Easter treats today. 

£49.91 / £250 spent 

Suffolk_lass

@number_23 just to add, when I cook rice (and chick peas & lentils) I batch cook and reuse the small takeaway boxes that stack really neatly in the bottom drawer of my freezer.

I cook basmati rice by absorption - a cup of rinsed basmati rice with a cup and more than half a second cup of water, and a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil, cover and simmer on the lowest heat possible for 5 minutes then turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 20 minutes. The rice will absorb the water and continue cooking in the steam and the residual heat. Just fork it through for perfect, separate grains. I just defrost then pour over boiling water to revive the frozen portions.

I also soak chick peas (and lentils) for a couple of hours, cooking a whole pack at a time they go in my pressure cooker for 30 minutes at pressure, then let the pressure come down naturally and again, store 3 portions out of the four it makes - these are about the same size as a can and I use them in chilli and curry all the time (we prefer a mix of borlotti, chick peas and tinned baked beans in chilli, to kidney beans). 4 packs for the price of one tin, plus some cooking, and just as easy as a tin, with no need to defrost.

My favourite lentils are red ones that require no pre-cooking and I regularly add to beef mince dishes (1/3rd lentils to 2/3rd meat) and nobody has ever noticed. A good protein source for a fraction of the cost.

BTW I'm also reactive to mushrooms (and most moulds, funghi and micro-proteins, blue cheese and leaf mould, and so on) - ranging from mouth ulcers through rhinitis to full blown epi-pen carrying allergic reactions.

Doom_and_Gloom

Thank you elsiepac for doing this thread.

As I keep saying this thread really does help keep us accountable, even if some of us blow the budget it would be worse if we weren't on here I'm sure.

I can't see March on the board for some reason 🤔 and I can't remember if I joined in the end but our March budget was £248 and we spent £265.97, so £17.97 over budget for March. Over all though for January too the end of March we are £9.41 in budget overall.

I know I'm late for April but it's is the following please.

Our April budget is going to be £240.
The month goes 1st to the 30th

This is for two adults, my OH and I, and a chinchilla. Includes all food and drink (except alcohol, that has a different budget), cleaning products, toiletries etc and all chinchilla items (food, hay, sand, treats etc.). 

So far we have spent £107.43 between A&C, Asian supermarkets (Korean, Chinese, Japanese etc) and Mr S.

£107.43/£240.

£132.57 left.

We have an O~box coming next week that is going to be £15.98. Will add it after it arrives.

Gettingmyshiztogether

Suffolk_lass said:

@number_23 just to add, when I cook rice (and chick peas & lentils) I batch cook and reuse the small takeaway boxes that stack really neatly in the bottom drawer of my freezer.

I cook basmati rice by absorption - a cup of rinsed basmati rice with a cup and more than half a second cup of water, and a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil, cover and simmer on the lowest heat possible for 5 minutes then turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 20 minutes. The rice will absorb the water and continue cooking in the steam and the residual heat. Just fork it through for perfect, separate grains. I just defrost then pour over boiling water to revive the frozen portions.

I also soak chick peas (and lentils) for a couple of hours, cooking a whole pack at a time they go in my pressure cooker for 30 minutes at pressure, then let the pressure come down naturally and again, store 3 portions out of the four it makes - these are about the same size as a can and I use them in chilli and curry all the time (we prefer a mix of borlotti, chick peas and tinned baked beans in chilli, to kidney beans). 4 packs for the price of one tin, plus some cooking, and just as easy as a tin, with no need to defrost.

My favourite lentils are red ones that require no pre-cooking and I regularly add to beef mince dishes (1/3rd lentils to 2/3rd meat) and nobody has ever noticed. A good protein source for a fraction of the cost.

BTW I'm also reactive to mushrooms (and most moulds, funghi and micro-proteins, blue cheese and leaf mould, and so on) - ranging from mouth ulcers through rhinitis to full blown epi-pen carrying allergic reactions.

Thank you for these tips! Super helpful. I also add red lentils to my daughters red meat meals dishes. 

Where do you buy your dried chickpeas from please? We use a lot of beans and I still buy Tins at present. Thank you 😊

Suffolk_lass

@Gettingmyshiztogether usually from Morries in 500g bags but I just went to check the price and not on-line but definitely near the red lentils. While checking I see Sainsbugs has KTC, the other brand I buy on offer for £2 a kilo (I would cook half or my freezer would be too full of them!). I also noticed a recipe for cooking them in a slow cooker (possibly cheaper for the energy). I will stick with what I do for the time-being though. It's great, learning things from each other, it is why I am still here, about 15 years after I started

PipneyJane

Hi All

Yesterday’s laziness came back to bite me this morning.  Since I was meeting friends in the afternoon, I decided not to go to L!dl in the morning, thinking that I could go today.  I forgot that virtually everything is closed on Easter Sunday, including all full sized supermarkets.  

Luckily, I checked this morning before heading out.  As a result, I walked down to the C0-0p (a petrol station) to buy the newspaper plus the orange and the orange juice that I need for the stuffing for today’s roast goose.  £1.89 spent on the latter two items.  (We have a voucher for the paper.)

They had onions, but I didn’t like the look of them for the price so wandered to the only open Asian grocers, who had big, net bags of onions out that front.  £4.49 paid for 4kg of onions.  That’s £1.50 more than I’d have paid for the same quantity at the nearby greengrocers, if they’d been open. < sigh >

Anyway, the above brings our April spend to £44.46/£152.70 leaving £108.24 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Nelliegrace

I watched a few YouTube videos, sterilised some string, removed the thigh bone from the leg of lamb, and tied the joint of meat.  I did a pot roast with the bone, root vegetables and barley, and roasted the top half of the leg, I have frozen the lower half.
That is the nearest I can get to our £5 a week meat ration and have an Easter roast. 
Would people have insisted on boned joints if they  had just one shilling and tuppence per person?

Phew! The butcher makes it look so easy.
I did a simple bread and butter pudding  to use the space in the oven. 

Blackcats

@diminua and @Suffolk_lass I grew up near to Kingston and it was "the" place to go on a Saturday.  I remember queuing round the block outside the cinema (which was near the bus station) to see Grease.  As an adult I came to appreciate the wonderful market - haven't been there for years and I'm feeling very nostalgic.

I'm glad I caught up on the thread today - it's given me lots of motivation to try hard to stick to budget this month.  I've already spent £113 and was talking myself into giving up but the great posts from regular and new members have really uplifted me.

BUDGET FOR APRIL £300 : SPENT £113 : REMAINING BUDGET £187

otb666

400/600 half way through month so overspent a bit but bought air fresheners refills lightbulbs white vinegar grass seeds and garden lawn aerator (grass never really recovered from dry spell we had) We has leek and potato soup today as we both need to loose some weight. Will have just enough I hope as dont want to go 70 over like last month.