Vegan Storecupboard Challenge 2024

leftatthetrafficlights

Had lentil bolognese, wholewheat pasta and salad for dinner last night - enough left for lunch probably 😁 

Did my first shop of the month yesterday- came in at £7.84. I'll put the storecupboard stuff on the inventory. 

Fresh stuff was a pack of tomatoes. 

June week 1:
Fruit & veg: £1.19/£25 weekly
Storecupboard: £6.65/£20 monthly 
Household: £0/£20 monthly 

leftatthetrafficlights

Had leftovers and bits from the fridge for food yesterday 😁 

Tonight I'm planning on doing roasted tomatoes, polenta made with almond milk and lemon, chickpeas with thyme and a salad. I'm going to dehydrate a load of herbs today too so will be adding them to my storecupboard 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

Dinner was lush - slight change as I decided against lemon in the polenta 😉 So, almond polenta; roasted tomatoes with basil; chickpeas cooked in stock, lemon and thyme; salad of rocket, alfalfa and broccoli sprouts, pomegranate, strawberries, blueberries, hemp seeds and balsamic. All topped off with zested lemon

leftatthetrafficlights

£10.42 spent on fruit and veg:
Carrots
RTC Swede x2
Baby potatoes 
Apples
Raspberries 
Flat peaches
Strawberries 
Tomatoes 

£12.28 spent on storecupboard:
Tofoo XL tofu x2
Tempeh x2
Greek style 'cheese'
Sugar

£11.05 spent on toiletries
Interdental toothbrushes 
Toothbrushes 


June week 1:
Fruit & veg: £11.61/£25 weekly
Storecupboard: £18.93/£20 monthly 
Household: £11.05/£20 monthly 

Storecupboard spend is much higher than I expected it to be but tesco has the 3 for 2 offer on at the moment so it is worth getting a few bits for the freezer- despite making my own tofu normally (and preferring it!), it's good to have a stash in the freezer for emergencies. I haven't mastered making tempeh yet (although I intend to try to make a red lentil one tomorrow) so it's worth getting a couple of those for the freezer too - it's not something we eat very often but I like it occasionally and there are a couple of recipes for it that I fancy trying. 

The toiletries were not planned for but dh had a dental appointment and has been advised to use interdental toothbrushes as opposed to floss so purchases were made 😁 

Tuesday night i had a very large and lovely salad for dinner with an avocado and dh did his own thing, last night I had a sandwich as dh was out.

We're finishing up leftovers tonight (the polenta etc) and I'm making soup tomorrow with the stock that I cooked the chickpeas in - very mse!! 😁

ETA: Saturday we have a family celebration dinner which I have bought food for -  I'm not adding that to the grocery budget though as it comes from the birthday budget 😉

leftatthetrafficlights

Family celebration was lovely and the food was lovely - we had Mediterranean tarts with Jersey Royal potatoes, sprouting broccoli, carrots, green beans and garlic 'butter'. I was going to take a piccie but totally forgot! 🤦‍♀️ 

This week I'm only feeding myself as dh is away. Fresh food wise I have a purple sweet potato, some tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, rocket, salad leaves and various herbs (in the garden), watermelon, blood oranges and apples so they will be a priority to use up. I'll make a small batch of beans to incorporate into whatever meals I make - probably cannellini with tarragon 🤔

Tonight is definitely going to be a big salad 😁

tooldle

We’ve just eaten sweet potato and spinach Dahl with leftover cabbage and potato from yesterday. Enough Dahl left for a portion each tomorrow. One of my favourites and so easy to cook.

Jacs205

Agreed, dhal is easy, cheap and wonderful.

leftatthetrafficlights

@tooldle - I agree with @Jacs205!

Tonight's dinner was purple sweet potatoes; cannellini beans with tarragon; rocket, watermelon, strawberry and hemp seed salad and balsamic vinegar  - very lovely 😁 

leftatthetrafficlights

I've been away for a while and then picked up a bug when I returned so no food eaten at home for almost two weeks (other than fruit!)

Tonight we had harissa roasted cauliflower, mixed grains, butter beans cooked in ground coriander and 'chicken' stock, green beans, roasted red cabbage and apple, broccoli sprouts and a coriander, garlic and red wine vinegar dressing. Forgot to take a piccie 🤦‍♀️

We have leftovers of everything other than the cauliflower (dh went through that pretty rapidly! 😂) so will have some with salad for lunch. 

The broccoli sprouts are homegrown and I've got loads!! I invested in some seeds recently (organic) and was a bit wobbly about the initial outlay at £20 for a kilo...however, I grew a large jar full from only 2 tbs of seeds! I love them and they will save me a fortune in the long run - the boxes I used to buy from the health food shop cost around £2.40 each - my jar has yielded at least 2 boxes worth for 2% of my seeds so a cost of 40p instead of the £4.80 I would have paid!! 😁🙌 They are such a mega healthy food too so it's a win-win all round! 🥳

Jacs205

Sorry you've been peaky but your dinner sounds lush.  Yesterday I threw every last bit of sorry looking veg from the fridge into the wok with leftover cooked rice and a meat free Oxo cube and have lunches for the whole week at work.  Much happier than having spent money on bagels and Quorn vegan ham for last week's lunches.