January 2024 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Rummaging in the outdoor freezer & making a list sounds like an excellent idea, thank you, @Suffolk_lass ! Ours is gradually emptying of things I knew were in there but there are quite a few things I've lost track of. It may have to wait while I get rid of more debris from the garage, but I can do that quite swiftly. In fact there's something big in there I can jettison right now...

Suffolk_lass

London_1 said:

Good Morning all, ready made chicken curry out of the freezer for tonights dinner, with rice , lunch will be mushroom soup and cheese and crackers. and some trifle from the fridge,  breakfast was porridge. 

NSD number 20 today out of 22. Using up stuff in stock instead. 9 days left of January and roll on the spring I hate the bad weather ,but today after last nights very blowy storm although breezy the sun is shining at least

Only spent £31.29 so well under budget, handy having my cupboards too full this time of the year I'm glad I did all the batch baking a week or so ago as well

  JackieO xx

@London_1 JackieO you are an example to us all! However well I think I am doing, I need to remind myself how well you do, month after month!

elsiepac

I reckon one small veggie top up shop at the weekend and that'll be me done and under budget.  I must confess it's been a while since I properly saved receipts and checked my budgets, and I genuinely thought I was spending more than this. I think a lot of it has to do with my reclusiveness - I barely leave the house.  That was partly why I went back to Slimming World, because I felt ready to start trying to improve myself again, and it forces me out at least once a week and interacting with people. I'll also be doing a stall once a month at my town's Artisan Market so may recoup some small funds from that, though certainly not profits. But again, it's interaction. Anyway, pretty much all positives here which is nice

January Budget Summary so far: £229.13 / £300

Bulk Items - £61.46
28 Dec - Mr S - £17.10
29 Dec - Mr S - £22.57
31 Dec - Mr T - £55.70
2 Jan - Mr S - £1.67
10 Jan - Mr T - £23.88
17 Jan - Mr T - £4.61
19 Jan - Mr S - £9.82
21 Jan - Mr T - £32.32

karenccs67

I’ve got £59/£300 left for next weeks shop, the past couple of weeks have been expensive but we’ve needed a lot, I don’t think we need too much next week, so hopefully there will be some budget left for my £1 A Day Challenge.

London_1

Suffolk_lass said:

London_1 said:

Good Morning all, ready made chicken curry out of the freezer for tonights dinner, with rice , lunch will be mushroom soup and cheese and crackers. and some trifle from the fridge,  breakfast was porridge. 

NSD number 20 today out of 22. Using up stuff in stock instead. 9 days left of January and roll on the spring I hate the bad weather ,but today after last nights very blowy storm although breezy the sun is shining at least

Only spent £31.29 so well under budget, handy having my cupboards too full this time of the year I'm glad I did all the batch baking a week or so ago as well

  JackieO xx

@London_1 JackieO you are an example to us all! However well I think I am doing, I need to remind myself how well you do, month after month!

Oh bless you, its long standing practice I think Everybody is doing well, don't forget I only have myself to feed it probably would be a different story if I had a few children, or OH to feed as well. Plus I have been doing it for a long time .

 Most of my friends in similar situations to myself i.e. single ,not to fussed about what they eat, cook from scratch , and like me grew up with post war austerity and rationing, have frugality almost bred into us by our late Mums.

 My late Mum would love this sort of thread, as she was an amazing lady, who could conjure food almost out of nothing, and yet made it tasty and filling for her brood of two hollow legged lads and myself.
One thing I learned from an early age was that if you had a good stock of herbs and spices even the blandest food can taste nice.

Back in the 1970s when I was a Mum with two small children, but a very large mortgage and an extremely thin purse I had to rely on my late Mums lessons on how to streeetch food to feed my family. I always had oats and lentils in stock to help streetch the mince out, and veggies to make the soup, for a bowl of soup before the main meal helped the fact of the main meal not being as large as perhaps it might have been .

My late Mum always gave us either a HM soup to start with followed by main meal, or main meal followed by a pudding. To this day nothing is wasted in my kitchen, it gets turned into something to eat and its a rare day I've even binned anything.

 If I can't eat it then it will be frozen or turned into part of next days meal. I like veg, so plenty of veg (in season ) will help fill the gaps. Left-over sponge cake  will go into a trifle if starting to go a bit 'crisp'

 I enjoy HM rice pudding or semolina which is a good filler. I eat yogurt, but prefer old fashioned pud to be honest.

A tub of plain yogurt with some honey swirled into a portion will also make a easy pudding if I'm running short of things . I make my own cakes, biscuits and soups. I buy bread, but don't eat a great deal, so will portion up a loaf into four slice portions and freeze so nothing gets wasted.

Back in the 1940s/50s there were no supermarkets as such, so shopping was done every other day as my late Mum never owned a fridge or a freezer. but she looked after stuff she bought, and with three children and a husband she made sure we were all fed. Feeding a family on rations in those days was pretty hard work, but we ate three times a day and never had 'snacks or crisps' in between meals.

 She thought crisps were a waste of a potato  admittedly we had a large garden and a lot of stuff we ate came from there, plus we had some chickens as well. But it must still have been a struggle for her at times and she refused to buy off the 'black market' she thought it dishonoured the sailors who had struggled to get food to our shores.

There were no 'yellow stickered ' food in those days. Housewives knew the shops to go to, and on rations you often could only shop where registered.

Fish was bought from the fishmonger on the day you wanted to cook it, and we had very few tins of things ,apart from perhaps corned beef.
If she bought fish to eat on Fridays then if she managed to get a little more, the extra would be turned into fishcakes for Saturdays meal.

6 sausages could be stripped of their skins and with the addition of boiled eggs (from our chickens ) turned into scotch eggs which when coated with flour, egg, and breadcrumbs  (she preferred as do I stuffing mix to coat them with and add a bit of flavour as bread crumbs are a bit bland) those 6 sausages could make a really filling meal for five of us as she cooked her scotch eggs in the oven with some jacket potatoes .

The oven only went on when it had all the shelves in use she would never just cook one thing in it.

We also had a range in the kitchen which was in use 9 months of the year it was a very cold Edwardian house, so the kettle was always on the hob, or a pan of soup or stew, she never wasted a resource of any kind. You can see where I get my frugality from . To her, to see the way food is thrown away would horrify her I think.

But times are so different today to what they were 70 years ago. I don't think those days with rose tinted specs/ I just admire how she managed to feed us all on very restricted amounts of food. 

.Even today I still grate cheese and don't slice it, as it goes further,  I think she would find it weird to see people going to food banks, sadly when we live in a country that no longer has rationing.

 Today people are rationed by the amount of money they have to buy stuff, often perhaps not knowing how with a little thought they could streetch it a bit further

Many young Mums unfortunately never had a Mum like mine, and when your growing up you tend to copy what your Mums does .

My late Mum never went out to work after she married in 1935, as she had to give up her job because married women were expected to. Today many young Mums have no choice but to work to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

 I did the same back in  the 1970s when the mortgage rate hit 16.5% I didn't like it, but needs must

 I'd like to see instead of all these fancy programmes on TV showing chefs cooking stuff I wouldn't feed my cat (if I had one ) changed to show people how you can eat without spending a fortune.

I know there has been a few programmes, but there should be more, it would help a lot more people with the CoL crisis than just tutting and saying 'Oh dear things are bad' .

Well things were pretty awful in the 1940s/50s, but we survived. I've lived long enough to pass on to my two daughters what my late Mum passed on to me bless her. Worth its weight in gold her advice I think

R.I.P Mum. (1900-1962) I wish I could thank you for all you taught me 

   JackieO xx

boultdj

My last shop delivered today, so all 3 for this done and dusted, total spend this month £195.89 but will hold off declaring till the 27th.

LadyWithAPlan

If anyone has CO-OP money in the app/on your card  you need to use it by the end Jan as then they stopping that and going only  to members reduced  prices so you will lose any money on there 

@London_1 What wonderful recollections and we all here also feel like we are learning from your mum - her wisdom is permeating through you to us.
In your honour I had a bit of a beef lentil sweet potato stew left from cooking it Saturday - and was bored of it - so I have frozen it - labelled tiny portion - so it be perfect for with a jacket potato filling at some point.
I also grew up in a house where there is always HM soup every day  - my dad makes it - - even though main meal portions are huge - so as you say we learn from our parents - so Autumn thru spring I have soup  on the go..  I love buying a whole chicken for the meals, fry up and stock I can get out of it - probably 5 - I also live alone so it stretches. however other members of my family do not use the bones which I always find a waste.

I need to find a way to make HM stock cubes - I make stock in the PC so always a lot of water  but I guess I can then boil it down and freeze in ice cubes ? I normally  freeze it in soup size if that makes sense.  Any ideas?

I do get bored with food I cook and do batch freeze but I think I should just automatically freeze all but a second portion as I often ending up leaving 2 or 3 portions to eat and then am bored and risk it going off.


@Amateurretiree I also, as Suffolk lass does,  buy my expensive coffee in bulk from Big River - I have an aeropress so I use lavazza  - but I can get it for £2.50 or lower if I buy in packs of 10 vs £3.75 or £4 if I buy it in the SM
It is the only food stuff I buy online but it also saves me going to the SM when I run out.. cos then I spend even more  

@Angelica123 You asked re meal planning and any ideas as  you said you hate it..
Maybe take a couple hours to make a food list of meals/recipes  you know you like  - say for a 2 week period  and then write the detailed grocery list for those. Maybe get the bulk items in for those - so any spices/tins etc needed are always in and kept stocked up 
 Then you have a 2 week menu you can rotate and shop for. Treat each week's recipes  as a whole plan and  dont deviate initially. 
You could then add  another week of meals to that every month  or so so soon you could have a month planned . 
Maybe add to this  you could separate recipes into weeks so for example
Wk 1 you eat  roast chicken with potatoes,  burritos  (the rice cooked is useful for the curry next day and chicken used from whats left) ,  chicken curry, beef burgers,  frilled fish, toad in the hole, veggie pasta, 
 Week 2 you have thai green curry, fish n chips, pasta,  fish cakes, pizza, , jacket potato and soup night..
Week 3  passanda curry, japanese chicken and rice, roast beef, lasagna, nut roast etc 
Wk 4 ...  you get the idea ...
and if you have the detailed grocery list for each week  pre written and set then its easy to pick up  which week  food  you on and no more  thinking.  So you have built your own weekly HF.   This way you have done some  serious meal planning  but it never has to happen again..

NSD 10/13 not including today as I have spent on office stuff today

I have been ill the last few days but had plenty of food in freezer - so comforting to just grab it especially when its ready made of frozen fruits which I love as a dessert replacement. 



Grocery January   £121.03   + £19.49 bulk  + £8.25 home stuff + £24 for the HF
Grocery  £23.68 Mr Lid 
plus £9 Co*p including my £2.65 of points i used.  YS chicken thighs and veg...

I have pushed back my free HF box (well credit) til February to stretch budget there.

Bulk white wine vinegar from Poundland   £1.25  plus cleaning stuff  and a drain rack - total P/L £9.50

Kale had ran out in Lid so lots of organic spinach, mange tout, beans, sweet potatoes, some YS pork chops I have divided into 2 and froze, almonds and cashews, frozen peas and raspberries. 

My freezer is again full  of proteins and veg plus some HM ready meals including the lentil mushroom  cottage pie extra in a freezer to oven dish. I am under budget  but will need some more green veg in the next week but will try to limit the shop at that. Mr Lid has a  salmon tin BOGOF  offer to use before Wed so I may grab that. 

I also have the ingredients for a free HF meal as a neighbour gave me 2 meals for 4 (both veggie)  - the lentil and mushroom  cottage pie  is  v good - I mixed it with YS beef mince but I am sure its good even without the beef.
Recipe here 


FOOD 
I still have  the end of my migraine - a headache and feel sick but been eating nutritious food. I did pick up some YS veg and chicken thighs yesterday in Co-op  so I just have in my Pressure cooker a derivation of a chicken thigh and rice dish with oranges in it. First time I have tried in PC but normal recipe below

Basically saute the chicken thighs, then veg (onion, peppers,) then add rice so rice gets covered in oil - then add tomato puree, passata, garlic, a large sliced up  (unskinned) orange  and stock and leave to cook with lid til the rice is cooked. I also often add chorizo, sundried tomatoes and olives but had none in the house today.  Spices include paprika but I used the Chermoula spice as that has paprika in plus mixed herbs and salt/pepper

So I also unusually  added the YS veg  I bought yesterday (was a stew mix which included potato) but I still added the brown rice. So it is another La Plan unplanned dish   - it worked well  - I loved cooked orange with chicken - though having so much carrot and swede in the YS veg  for me wasnt great for the balance...  so I dont suggest you add carrot or swede in if you want to try it
I served with organic spinach as no kale in Lid* yesterday.

Pennypincin

Evening everyone.
I was over budget by £20 last week, was full of cold and just lost the plot.
Back on track hopefully.
£7.98 spend in Lidl on some fruit and butter.
I will need to have a good look at what I need and write a list, although I'm still in the process of trying to get the freezer run  down so I can defrost it and clean it.

StickyTheStickInsect

@London_1 what a lovely post about your Mum xx

A bit of catching up to do, we did a Lidl shop at the weekend but didn’t bulk buy like we usually do as we just don’t have the money to do so which will mean a greater spend in the end as I’ll have to get Morrisons deliveries when DH is away as I’m still pretty poorly. So, £181.77 but we’ll need to go again in a fortnight with top up shops in between.

Top up shops of £13.95 and £7.20 in the Co-Op we are back to using a loaf almost every day, the same for cucumber and grapes. £2.50 in our local bakery for bread.

I’ve reduced the number of days my DS1 and DD have school dinners to Monday and Friday, so that was £9.64 for the week. DS2 still gets his for free.

£441.05/£7,200
(January : Groceries £ 373.57  School Dinners £67.48)

CMD79

Good morning Responsible Grocery Shoppers!!

Since joining this Challenge, what have a learned?? Actually I can be left in charge of money and not be a danger to myself or others!

I was faced with the dilemma of finding a £15 voucher in husband's Sainsbury's account. Not a problem in itself, but the min spend was £100, meaning I had to spend £85 to avail. I was given some solid advice here, thank you everyone, but someone did make the point about whether I need stuff or am going to fill a trolley with items I don't need. I thought I'd use the savings to get ahead for later months, and use it!

BUT - on reviewing my trolley as I was about it hit the pay now button, I realised, this old me. Old me thinks about what I might need in the future. New me is just getting through one month at a time a making myself rigidly stick to spending within my means so I can reduce my debt. My means are £168 per month.

OUTCOME - My month finishes today. I have spent...

£ 111.16 / £168.

So, thanks again for the challenge, I for one have had a good result.