March 2024 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Well, I did add the non-perishables (and Oriental goodies) total but for some reason was unable to comment. And have since had to run up to the butchers & spend another £18.41 (will be added in a mo) acquiring more "softer" options for OH, whose throat is still very sore. So there'll be just under £100 per week left, which seems quite do-able. In fact it'll have to be, after the hammering our accounts have taken this winter, replacing the kitchen roof, the fuse box, two vehicles and a large boiler - time to recoup, circumstances allowing!

PipneyJane

Good afternoon All

I have one small shop to declare.  DH popped int L!dl on his way home from signing on at the Job Centre (he’s been made redundant).   £6.97 spent on a dozen large free-range eggs (£2.69), 2 bottles of lemon juice (35p each) and 2 packets of cooking bacon (£1.79 each).  

DH’s reasoning for buying this particular package of eggs instead of our usual pack of 15 mixed sized free-range eggs (£2.79) was that the mixed pack were in packed in plastic, while the big eggs are packed in cardboard.  Since I have, on occasion, used 3 eggs instead of 2 for a recipe, when the mixed pack ones were tiny, I have no complaints.  Also, we’re trying to avoid buying things in plastic, where possible.  

The rationale behind buying 2 lots of cooking bacon is simple: one package consists of 3 large lumps of bacon - perfect for some of the stews I make - while I need bacon slices for tonight’s lasagne.

thriftwizard said:

Well, I did add the non-perishables (and Oriental goodies) total but for some reason was unable to comment.

The forum has been very buggie this week @Thriftwizard.  I kept getting “gateway timed out” messages.  I believe, last night, that they were doing maintenance to fix it,

The above brings our total GC spend to £90.85/£145.80 leaving £54.95 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

kayannie

The pack of 15 free range mixed sized eggs that I bought from L!DL yesterday were in a cardboard box. I haven't noticed any being sold in plastic for ages, but I suppose it depends on the supplier. 
KA

PipneyJane

kayannie said:

The pack of 15 free range mixed sized eggs that I bought from L!DL yesterday were in a cardboard box. I haven't noticed any being sold in plastic for ages, but I suppose it depends on the supplier. 
KA

They are usually in cardboard @kayannie.  I was surprised when DH phoned to say that these were only available in plastic, but I have a vague memory of this happening before.  (Months ago; not recently.)

- Pip

thriftwizard

Thanks, @PipneyJane, so it wasn't anything I'd done! Sorry to hear about your DH's redundancy; not the best timing, really.

number_23

Good morning

Pay day and I’ve spent £12.63 in Mrs S this morning. Fresh baguette, two packs of ham for DS school lunches, chicken and sausages for tomorrow morning treat breakfast after a morning watching DS playing football. 

£287.37 remaining for March, though hoping to come in much lower. 

Off to work out just how much we spent last month (on everything) and work out an informed budget to start from April. Deffo savings to be had. 

Tomorrow I will be looking into setting up my own little grown your own area (already have everything bought except soil) and also how to cook my own bread / rolls / wraps as I feel that I spend far too much on these items alone (plus less ingredients in homemade, and the house will smell amazing! Win Win!)

im certainly hitting my slower, more intentional living era 😀

have a great day everyone x

thriftwizard

Today's combined market & supermarket spend was £67.54; I'm a tad over-committed this weekend (and probably should be committed, according to my offspring!) so have had to skip the butchers & buy supermarket meat. I'm hoping to get through the week with just a little top-up shop (sliced bread, maybe yogurt & cheese) which would mean I could potentially stay well within my budget this month! But it's too early to say for sure; if it does come to pass (which I'm really not sure I can quite believe) I'll look at reducing the budget in future (less mouths to feed! For now, anyway...) and adding any leftovers into the next month's allowance, as others do.

LotsOfTea

I'm up to £144.67/£250 now for the month which is ok. I've got everything I need now and am going to hold out buying anything until the end of next week when I'll need stuff to cover Easter holidays. 

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Thanks, @PipneyJane, so it wasn't anything I'd done! Sorry to hear about your DH's redundancy; not the best timing, really.

Thanks @thriftwizard.  Fortunately we have savings so can cope and they will be paying him “Shut up and go away” money at the end of the month.  One agency has already put DH’s CV forward to a client.  Fingers crossed he gets interviewed.

 Today we did a quick wiz around the shops, starting with the butcher’s. The Meat Fund spent £37.76 on 1kg extra lean minced beef (£12.50), 4 chicken leg quarters (£4.56) and 2 large sirloin steak (£20.70), the latter purchased In the blind hope that I will be able to taste it tomorrow.  (The chemo is messing with my taste buds.).

The mince is now in the freezer in 250g bags, which have been packed into a tray to create rectangular lumps.  Also currently freezing is the contents of one of the 1kg packs of cooking bacon purchased from L!dl yesterday.  That yielded 5 reasonably sized medallions of bacon plus some trimmings. (I’ve already started using the other pack and plan to use more in meals over the next few days.)  I’ll freeze the chicken legs later, once I have space to lay them flat and as far apart as possible,

After the butcher’s, we went to L!dl (£14.49 spent) and then onto Sainsbugs (£11.44 spent on fresh veg and 2 large pots of Yeo Valley yoghurt at £2.25 each).  Major components of the L!dl shop were £4.49 spent on 1kg of frozen pollock fillets and another £2.99 on 250g of fresh smoked haddock trimmings, each about 2 inches long.  (Yes, there is a fish pie in my future, since we already have salmon fillets in the freezer.)

The above brings our total GC spend to £116.90/£145.80 leaving £28.90 for the rest of the month.

On the meal planning front, this is my plan for the next few days.  Unless otherwise stated, all breakfasts are cereal:

Tonight  Dinner “Sophie Dahl’s Dhal” (from the BBC TV series,”The Divine Miss Dahl”) served with rice.  I’m going to cook extra rice, to go in the banana bread which I’ll cook on Sunday.
Saturday  Brunch: HM bacon-and-egg-MacMuffins.  Dinner:  steak served with broccoli, roasted veg (onion, peppers, mushrooms) and HM potato wedges.
Sunday Brunch: HM bacon-and-egg-MacMuffins.  Dinner:  liver cobbler, made with pork liver from the freezer and cooking bacon,  served with broccoli and roasted sweet potato.  Since the big oven* will be on, I’ll make 3 banana bread loaves, too, clearing out all the stray bananas from the freezer.
Monday. Lunch:  leftover HM Lasagne from last night.  Dinner:  Chicken Kyivs that I found lurking in the freezer, served with HM potato wedges and broccoli.
Tuesday Lunch: leftover cobbler. Dinner:  fish pie with a mashed potato top.  I’ll make extra mash to use on Thursday. 
Wednesday:  Lunch:  Leftovers from the freezer.  Dinner:  tortillas filled with HM refried beans
Thursday:  Lunch:  Leftovers from the freezer.  Dinner:  Mexican Pilchard Pudding served with peas (mix together 500g mashed potato, 1x450g can pilchards - or mackerel - in tomato sauce, 2 teaspoons baking powder and a well beaten egg. Tip into a greased dish and bake at 180c for 3/4 hour).

- Pip


* ETA:  When it comes to ovens, I normally use my combi-microwave-convection oven which has an element at the top.  It’s the most efficient oven energy-wise but, after 24 years of regular use, the turntable no longer rotates when there’s anything heavy on it, and it won’t take the weight of the cobbler.  I might as well bung a load of stuff into the big oven instead.  It’s on the list to be replaced, eventually, once we’re both back at work.  Largest thing I’ve ever cooked in it was a duck.

diminua

I had to get some more flatbread and chop up some carrots and cucumbers for sticks but olives and houmous did me three lunches as planned, and the veg curry did three dinners - but with a break on Wednesday, as the same thing for three consecutive days would have been a bit dreary. I froze half the yogurt I bought to tone down the curry and will eat the small amount left over with fruit. Also bought some apricots, orange soda, self raising flour and sodastream syrups.  96.15 spent so far, which is OK for halfway through the month.