January 2024 Grocery Challenge

GolfR

keggie said:

When I read this thread before joining I noticed someone saying they made their own kefir and this intrigued me as store bought kefir is so expensive but I do like it and its benefits. I’m still educating myself on it but I know I need organic whole milk and luckily I found a YS 4pt there for 82p down from £2 so I put that in the freezer ready for the time I start.

That will probably have been me.

My dad has made it for years - think he got the original grains from someone at his yoga class. I just ‘borrowed’ some of his as they tend to get too big and then either get thrown or frozen.

it’s a bit of a faff and not sure if it works out cheaper or not but my feeling is that I know I’m using organic whole milk and feels like I’m being healthy 🤔

Do you think it’s worth doing? I’ve seen the grains on amazon for around £10 for 5g. I’m just afraid I’ll mess it up!

I’ve been a bit naughty the last few days and went to a few different shops that we didn’t really need to. I want to make a Japanese noodle soup recipe that I’ve seen on YouTube so I went to the large Tesco 15 miles away to get Japanese ingredients and ended up spending £37 - only a few quid was on the recipe ingredients 😆 had my asda delivery this morning which was £39 and popped into Morrisons to pick up stuff that wasn’t available in the order which was another £6! My daughter wanted sushi both days so got her meal deals, she’s starting to eat better now since having covid so I don’t mind too much but I’ve told the kids no McDonald’s at all this month. 

I got rid of my coffee table that was way too big for my living room and ended up with stuff dumped all over it (which drove me bonkers) and bought a nice small one in b&m today and also picked up a couple of food things from there for just a few quid. I also got two very soft loaves of braces extra thick bread at the till for 10p each! So we definitely don’t need bread for the next fortnight, hopefully just a top up of milk will be needed before the 23rd now.

Total - £198.44/£300

otb666

500/600 11 days left as i go from 23rd to 23rd.  Doable We tend now to go to farm shop weekly and use muslefood for monthly meat delivery and 1 large SM shop a month now Which has just been done.  My downfall is hubby little top up shops to pick up milk and bread but comes out spending £20 a time. Did anyone else see that new programme on Chanel 4 Michael Mosley: Secrets of Your Big Shop, quite entertaining. Will defo drink more water now as apparently half the time you are hungry means you are thirsty

Crazycatlady2

Adding £5 as DD went and got items and 18 I spent today..  will have to look for my last post to see where I was at though 😂

StickyTheStickInsect

I haven’t updated for a week or so, last Saturday went to the big Tesco’s to stock up on jasmine rice as our local one doesn’t do it, also got bits for chilli con carne (mince, cheese, crème fraiche and kidney beans). It came to £13.45.
One top up shop in the week of bread, cucumber and grapes £4.07.
Today as I was in M&S already to pick up a parcel, fabric conditioner, lactose free milk, grapes, apples, bananas, onions and peppers £13.68.
Filters for the fish tank arrived from Amazon on Wednesday £12.98.
Two days of school dinners for my oldest two children £9.64. 

£226.09/£7,200
(January : Groceries £168.25  School Dinners £57.84)

CoffeeSonata

@CMD79 I can eat a whole can of rice pudding to myself! It does keep in the fridge for a few days. So when I lived alone I would heat half, put half in a fridge in an airtight container for the next day or the day after. It also makes an excellent breakfast! Like porridge.  You can also make it in small amounts Asian style in a saucepan rather than oven, not needing cream etc and it’s a nice light rice pudding. 

RECIPE 

Add 60g pudding rice or arborio rice  to a saucepan (cold) and 400ml milk - full fat is better but I use semi skimmed mostly as it’s what I have and the rice makes it creamy. 

Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar (more if you like very sweet) and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. If I don’t have high quality vanilla I leave it out otherwise it can be artificial tasting. 

I’d you like cinnamon 1/2 stick of Cinnamon (best if it’s the sweet cinnamon not cassia bark ) or a small pinch of ground cinnamon.
Stir and bring to boil - about 5 mins . 

Watch it and stir lots so it doesn’t stick or burn. Did I mention non stick saucepan very good idea. 

As soon as starts to boil turn down to lowest heat and simmer with lid on for 30 mins. Stir quite a lot. (Stops sticking / catching and helps release the starch to make creamy) 
When rice is soft and creamy it’s done. 

It will get thicker as it cools - so go by is the rice soft to your liking rather than carrying on thinking it looks a bit thin at that point .

That makes 2 servings and if you cool the rice pudding quickly and put in fridge it can stay in fridge for 3 days. 

Makes a lovely breakfast with fruit or banana.

I have halved this in a very small
non stick pan successfully to just make one portion also, it’s doable but more stirring and watching as it does quicker.  

Ir is also amazing with vanilla and 4 slightly crushed cardamom pods for 60g rice in  the pan to make an Indian spiced rice pudding . Don’t forget to take them out though!  

This version is also really nice served chilled in the summer as a chilled dessert. 

My Mr Ms order was a bit of a disaster. Even though partner woke me up I fell back asleep. Woke up at 9:35am, my click and collect slot was 9-10am. Mr.M is 10 mins away. 

Cats were  a bit concerned at the fast moving human trying not to fall over them and not letting them out. 

Made it with a minute to spare.  Hadn’t had a chance to check the receipt until the collection bay.  Turned out they had none of the meat or fish ordered. Queried and no they genuinely had none and the delivery hadn’t come. 

Bit aggravated as the pending amount on my account is £55 ish - with the extra they allow for substitutions. But my order was only £35 and then obviously I had to buy the missing protien elsewhere but the money is tied up. Am assuming it will correct itself when they process and take the actual amount. 

This week I could manage that as I have enough in my account to not need to worry, and nothing else due until Tuesday and housekeeping/ bill money goes into my account Monday. I also have my new - and clearly needed £50 bigger account. But other weeks that could have been a bit disastrous for us. 

So glad I’ve fixed some of the cash flow issues. 

I had a clothes order (super nice and warm body warmer from M&S) to pick up at the M&S foodhall Which iwas very near,  so had to persuade self to just go do that on the way home despite no breakfast just to get it done and not have to go back out again.  Decided I couldn’t face attempting a sains visit on the way back for missing items as I was also really hungry having run out without breakfast .
m&s had some yellow stickered meat so I got the missing things there : 

iamb shanks x 2 for Sunday - slow cooker lamb shanks planned.  6 pack of bone in chicken thighs. 2 large honey and maple smoked mackerel fillets.  Cooked rotisserie whole chicken for us but mainly the cats - who were incredibly pleased when I got back! Some quick cook green beans and a really delicious cinnamon bun for my breakfast. Latter not really necessary but I’d been planning that for my birthday then partner was ill and I’d forgotten the oven was entirely tanked & the old freestanding  we have is glitchy and just does not cook baked goods.  

I regret nothing. 

M&S shop came to £29.30. Which given what I bought was primarily meat and fish doesn’t seem too bad for current prices. 

I am now on £137.65/£360

adjusted overall total as forgot I have a cat food budget now on a separate line for wet cat food also, so deducted that from totals.

The mackerel was delicious, we had that tonight with some boiled potatoes and the beans and erm… mayonnaise! 

Muller corners for dessert.

Weekend plan is:
sat - croissants and coffee
         Morrocan chicken soup (bought) and part bake rolls
         Roast  Chicken and blood orange and fennel (with some of the thighs) , roast potato and roast carrots/ veg . 

Sun - breakfast yoghurt and fruit
         Lunch time main meal :  Starter : very small leek and poato soup that’s left over from today (homemade )  and Slow cooker lamb shanks in wine and redcurrant with roast veg and roast potatoes 
         Cheese and crackers and olives and tomatoes or rice pudding (i don’t think we will be very hungry after dinner!) 

cheese and crackers  I came back with from parents after new year , olives came from partners mum.  If crackers is still to much for partners sore throat or doesn’t fancy it we wil probably just have rice pudding! 

Monday’s plan is either a tray bake of root veg and the chicken thighs or butter chicken with  the chicken thighs in the slow cooker and rice  - I think I have a butter chicken sauce packet in the cupboard. 

Lunch for Monday for both of us - no idea yet. Likely homemade soup  and sliced chicken assuming I’m not entirely fed up of cooking and the kitchen at that point.  

Also need to find time to pickle the red cabbage and make orange marmalade either this weekend or early next week on the grocery front!.
how much pickled cabbage is too much for two people?! My farm box red cabbages are absolutely huge. 

      

Sorry this was really long! It’s the rice pudding’s fault.  

Auti

@CoffeeSonata - liked your long post and have saved the rice pudding recipe

pastmysellby

Total spent so far £145.60.  Have just done a bulk order of coffee from Amazon for £24.75 as fresh coffee is definitely my guilty pleasure. I bought six jars of Bold Beans from Waitrose for £22 but got £12 of that back through the Green Jinn app. Not a shop I normally go to but I had been to the nearby continental supermarket for fresh herbs and knew the offer for BB was on.  I did end up getting a few more items from there but all were comparable to where I would normally shop.   Feeling confident I will have money to roll over to next month.  We've really cut back on eating meat this last few months and I definitely think it's suiting both me and my purse.  

Suffolk_lass

Just popping in to confirm a couple of pop-in shops for carrots, pepper and milk, and for Seville Oranges (8 jars of marmalade made). I am still hoping to last the month without a big shop but running out of onions and citrus fruit in the snacks fruit bowl. It won't be this weekend though, I have enough for now. My annual budget comes into its own at times like these. It averages £250 a month but I intend being £150-ish this month, with only weekly milk(man) (£7.50) as a known quantity. It keeps me out of the shops, so worth a little extra, as that is my weakness!

Couldsavemore

Hi

Second weekly shop

109/300

thriftwizard

Well, I've come a little adrift from my masterplan - unexpected guests for Sunday lunch, though delightful, meant buying a bigger joint at the butcher's, and the market fishmonger wasn't here on Friday again, and the town fishmonger had run out of mackerel, hence I ended up spending £15 on an admittedly-beautiful chunk of home-smoked haddock to make a kedgeree for the 3 of us. (There wasn't a scrap left for the chickens this morning.) I spent just over £90 when I'd hoped to get the week's shopping all in under £70.

So this morning I've rounded up all the bendy fruit from the fruit bowl (2 Pink Ladies & a large Ashmead's Kernel, 3 easy-peelers, 2 elderly limes and a slightly-sad lemon - it's a big fruit bowl!) plus the last few quinces from the garden & some foraged blackberries from the freezer and am stewing them up for tomorrow's crumble, and to eat with yogurt throughout the week, alternated with frozen raspberries, redcurrants & jostaberries from the garden & allotment. I've added the last chunks of the Boxing Day ham (from the freezer) to tonight's slow-cooked Chicken Chasseur, in the hope that there'll be enough left to fill a pie on Thursday, which is always eat-it-up night. I very much doubt that I'll manage to keep the last two week's of January's grocery spends under £50 a week without some major compromises on the assorted dietary requirements, but let's see how close I can get.