October 2023 Grocery Challenge

Pennypincin

I managed to get to the food pantry and was offered some fresh fruit and vegetables, plus a tin of chickpeas, a loaf of bread and a carton of chopped tomatoes.
I managed to make 4 portions of lentil and vegetable soup. 1 eaten as part of lunch and 3 in the fridge. I may give a friend a portion as she often enjoys some of the soups I make.
I've some treats for after weighing in tomorrow night, so has saved me some money.
Back at my college course next week, so won't be able to access it until the next time the college breaks up on holiday.
I will have to double down on shopping more effectively.

goldfinches

Suffolk_lass said:

Ooh! @goldfinches, you are famous, with the picture of your dish covered in cheesy dumplings!

Thanks, I was thrilled and have really enjoyed my 15 minutes.

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass and @goldfinches is this in the newsletter or on the front page of the site? I just realized that I never actually visit the home page at all! I also don't get the newsletter. 

lilly81

I had my shopping delivered today so need to update my total spent £56.96 at Tesco on food which includes £7 on crispy duck as a treat for Saturday night since I had enough left in the budget. I also spent £4.62 on chocolate from Amazon 😋
I think I have done all my shopping for the month and still have £8.74 left, which is great as I've reduced my food budget by £14 this month as I cancelled my community larder subscription.

Budget update £241.46/£250 

Suffolk_lass

JingsMyBucket said:

@Suffolk_lass and @goldfinches is this in the newsletter or on the front page of the site? I just realized that I never actually visit the home page at all! I also don't get the newsletter. 

I can't see it now as it was in last week's bit about highlights from the forum. I feel sure @goldfinches could post a link to it as it looked like a good autumn recipe we could all try. I changed my bookmark and see some of this on my desktop but I think I was on my phone and chose forum from sections and there it was. I was happy to see them highlighting someone I know from here. @Florenceem was there a few weeks ago with some crafty stuffed items for the C word that must not be said in October 

LotsOfTea

I spent an extra £18.22 today at the eco refill shop restocking porridge, several types of lentils and various dried fruits. It also included some jelly sweets as a gift and some utterly delicious brownies which we had with lunch today. 

I had such a nice tea last night using the cheese sauce I'd made at the weekend. I gently sauteed a couple of leeks really slowly with half a diced veggie black pudding and added that to my macaroni cheese. OMG it was delicious! I'm definitely going to do that again. 

I'm up to £242.53/£250 now so I need to stay away from the shops and be happy with what I've got ( which is very much enough).

goldfinches

Suffolk_lass said:

JingsMyBucket said:

@Suffolk_lass and @goldfinches is this in the newsletter or on the front page of the site? I just realized that I never actually visit the home page at all! I also don't get the newsletter. 

I can't see it now as it was in last week's bit about highlights from the forum. I feel sure @goldfinches could post a link to it as it looked like a good autumn recipe we could all try. I changed my bookmark and see some of this on my desktop but I think I was on my phone and chose forum from sections and there it was. I was happy to see them highlighting someone I know from here. @Florenceem was there a few weeks ago with some crafty stuffed items for the C word that must not be said in October 

Ahem, I found it on the top right of the home page under the More arrow and headed Team Blog Stew, savings & side hustles – this week's MSE Forum highlights (moneysavingexpert.com) and here is @Florenceem's fifteen minutes of fame too Neighbours, nuptials & knitting needles – this week's MSE Forum highlights (moneysavingexpert.com).

I'm pleased to say that I can claim two more NSDs for Monday and Tuesday this week and that I managed to keep pretty much to my list while shopping this afternoon. I spent £8.45 at Mr T's on leeks, sauerkraut, spring onions, 2 x sweetheart cabbage, a pear, tomato puree and gochujang paste and then £10.65 at M*rks on 4x milk, a pink grapefruit, a loaf of rye bread, tomatoes and roquefort.

That makes my new monthly figure £118.84/£170 and my average daily spend is now £4.57.

PS On Tuesday I tried a preview recipe from Philip Khoury's A New Way To Bake published on the EatYourBooks website. I made the Anzac biscuits which did taste very good but I wasn't entirely happy with the portion sizes or the oven times given in the recipe so I haven't added a photo or a link. If you're interested in vegan, gluten-free or other special diet recipes it might be worth your while to have a look at the book here to see what you think.

LadyWithAPlan

goldfinches said:

Ahem, I found it on the top right of the home page under the More arrow and headed Team Blog Stew, savings & side hustles – this week's MSE Forum highlights (moneysavingexpert.com) and here is @Florenceem's fifteen minutes of fame too Neighbours, nuptials & knitting needles – this week's MSE Forum highlights (moneysavingexpert.com).

PS On Tuesday I tried a preview recipe from Philip Khoury's A New Way To Bake published on the EatYourBooks website. I made the Anzac biscuits which did taste very good but I wasn't entirely happy with the portion sizes or the oven times given in the recipe so I haven't added a photo or a link. If you're interested in vegan, gluten-free or other special diet recipes it might be worth your while to have a look at the book here to see what you think.

That dish looks delicious Goldfinches - well done!  Great pic too.

The A new way to bake looks interesting  - are you just trialling it or have you bought it? - I have largely given up GF DF baking - I do some protein pancakes and the odd GF DF blueberry muffin or oatmeal raisin cookies.. beyond that I dont bother - the gf pastry is a pain .. though maybe a Lemon Polenta cake could work..

NSD days are an impossible feat for me at present it seems...  I nearly had one today but then slipped and got 2 theatre tix on offer for myself and a friend..

£169/£200  grocery    + £17.50/74.51 bulk 
Spent £9.02 in sains ... but should get £2 cashback via shopmiu*\  - inc YS pork mince and that lovely'I cant believe its not mil* DF stuff - expensive but nice as a treat 
I also spent £3 at parents local s/mkt on food  - inc YS pak choi YS GF bread and a GF cake for family

Food  With the  YS free range pork mince  I made some heavily herbed, paprika'ed, onion powder, garlic powder, meatballs with egg, red onion etc - quite delicious  fried Served with fried pak choi and garlic -( I am on a mission to  eat lots more greens daily)  and HG tomatoes (by my family) with GF buns and dijon mayo bought in Europe last week. Delicious Love the fact i can cook well with healthy food I did go to loads of cookery classes 20 years ago which helped.

Further snacks included frozen berries and crisps... I am pleased I did a freezer shop Saturday before I left - I have 4 more days here at home before being off again so I will grab some food inc kale etc tomorrow - hopefully get to the gym as well. I will need to bake my infamous GF DF protein oat blueberry pancake for travel - as planes GF food either goes missing or is awful  ...

joedenise

Another shop done and now standing at £137.48/£200 leaving £62.52.  Will need a top up shop on Tuesday out of this but should still be some to move into another budget.

thriftwizard

Sigh - I am well & truly bust now for October and I didn't even make it to the market! Things went very bonkers on the wider family front; sadly, a death & a diagnosis. Various relatives are hurtling about the countryside & stopping off here for meals so extra food has had to be bought, and at the same time we've somehow ended up without any working vehicles - hopefully a temporary situation but there are no guarantees - which means I couldn't seek out cheaper supplies than are available in our posh little town. Next week will also be difficult because I'll be away until Friday evening, so will miss the market. It's also difficult, on the special needs diet front, to actually find the things we need from the supermarkets.

Well, I'll just do the best I can...