May 2024 Grocery Challenge

wishus

Joining again at £250 this month please!

weenancyinAmerica

@navelorange1 - when I was growing up we would have cooked rice with milk for breakfast several mornings a week. I liked to add a little sugar with cinnamon. 

SausageDogSandwich

Thanks @elsiepac for the new thread, please put me down for 

£385 for the month of May please.

As normal, this is for two adults and three kids who eat more than me! For all meals, snacks, cleaning, few packs of chicken for the dog and a couple bottles of wine. This is £350 plus the underspend for last month. Will need some salad and bread today and just about to book a delivery for Sunday.
Hope everyone has a good month.

Soontobeoap

@SausageDogSandwich you do really well for a family of 5!

We went to Sainsburys this morning mainly to get DH some pyjamas for his upcoming hospital stay. Whilst there i picked up a few bits we were running low on. When did bisto become £3.80 a tub! 🤯. Also bought flora buttery at full price (£4.80) for the first time in ages. Could kick myself that I didnt keep stocks up when offers were on. I can usually get it £1.00 cheaper but just havnt had time to search the websites this week. We came away with very little for £30.40. We have bread milk and juice, DH wont be here from next Wednesday for 5 days although DS is coming to stay on Saturday night. Hoping I can keep costs down for the next 12 days. Aldi is my best friend for the rest of the month 😊

weenancyinAmerica

Basmati rice should be tasty as a breakfast cereal. I also just make it up and throw in a batch of green or black olives (or both) (without the milk or sugar!). 

PipneyJane

Good morning All

Two shops to declare from yesterday, £43.24 in L!dl and £17.89 in MrT’s.  

We have a £5 voucher that runs out this month at MrT’s.  I was quite surprised that DH didn’t use it yesterday, but he insists that he was saving it for later in the month.  Items purchased:  1.5L quadruple strength squash 4x£2, 700g potato croquettes 2x£1.45, 450ml Yeo Valley Yoghurts 4x£1.50 (Clubcard price) and 1.105kg bananas at 90p/kg 99p.

In L!dl, we took advantage of some of the offers on the Plus app and stocked up on chorizo and muesli.  Full details of what we spent: Chorizo 4x£1.61, Muesli 3x£1.79, bran flakes 3x66p, wholemeal bread flour 2x£1.09, frozen peas 99p, beef stockpots 99p, 800g mature cheddar £4.89, 1kg cooking bacon £1.99, 250g Camembert 2x£2.49, marinated anchovies 2x£2.49, salmon en croute £4.49, and lactose free skimmed milk 4x99p.

The reason for buying the bread flour:  as you know, I usually buy 10kg sacks of chapatti flour and use that for everything +/- added baking powder, when “self raising flour” is specified in a recipe.  We don’t buy a particular brand, just whatever is cheapest on the day.  We have a bread machine and, normally, it makes decent bread.  We’re half way through the last sack we purchased (in November 2022*) and, while it makes good cakes, the bread it makes is not good.  It’s dense and doesn’t rise much, even when I add dough improver, (purchased from Lakeland), or an extra spoonful of yeast.  (I tested my yeast before making the most recent loaf and added the test mixture as well as the recipe specified quantity of yeast - no change.)  

My conclusion is that this batch of chapatti flour isn’t “strong” flour.  However, I need to test that the problem isn’t the bread machine, so my plan is make a loaf using my regular recipe but just using the flour purchased yesterday.  If it comes out well, then I’ll stir the new flour into the old and hopefully make it stronger.  If the problem is the bread machine, then we have an unused bread machine in the loft, so I’ll swap to using that.  It was purchased when the current machine’s bowl started leaking water, (which promptly stopped happening). 

Meal plans for the next few days.  All breakfasts are cereals; all lunches are leftovers unless otherwise specified:

Today:  Lunch:  bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese.  Dinner: broccoli and chorizo pasta.
Friday: Lunch:  steak & kidney pies from the local butcher.  Dinner:  roast pork, accompanied by roast potatoes, roast sweet potato, roasted garlic.
Saturday: Lunch: cheddar cheese toasties.  Dinner: “Pork & Beans” served on rice.
Sunday: Lunch: HM soup (to be decided).  Dinner:  “warm French lentil salad” made with the marinated anchovies.


- Pip


*Thanks to doing most of our shopping in L!dl these days, and getting the “free” loaf when we’ve spent £50 in a month, I don’t make bread as frequently as I once did.  We don’t eat a lot of sandwiches.

leftatthetrafficlights

First £5 spent today on fennel, pink onions, an aubergine and a leek. These are for dinner for tonight and tomorrow along with storecupboard stuff. 

GolfR

Can I rejoin please. I was doing really well and then my dad died suddenly mid January so it all went to the wayside. Myself and two kids aged 13 and 11. Can I be put down for 

£250 a month please.

My monthly pay is the 23rd to the 22nd of the following month, this is April’s pay but it’s easier to class it under the month of May I’ve spent around £110 so far, I have the exact amount downstairs. I’m eating out of the two very full freezers at the moment bar some fresh fruit and veg. I put all the kids freezer food in one drawer which needs to be topped up when it runs out as they very rarely eat the same thing as me, and I buy them lunchbox things every week or so so I think £250 is definitely doable! Excited to be back and making myself accountable.

scandimore

£500 for May please

£6 spent today on spring onions, bread, soya yoghurt and (upon husband sneaking it in) small bottle pepsi from expensive village shop.
£494 remaining

AnotherNewDay

I'm aiming for £80 this month please - 2 hungry cats, 1 woman 40ish - cover all toiletries, groceries and household