June 2024 Grocery Challenge

goldfinches

I made a quick trip to Mr T's to buy deglet nour dates for vegan millionaire's shortbread and managed to find a packet that was just over the weight I needed rather than buying 500g of medjools so that was all to the good. I also bought some strawberries from Kent for lunch which were very nice but like everyone could do with a bit more sun.

I spent £2.90 on the dates and £2.20 on the strawbs which makes my new GC total £26.13/£150 and my average daily spend is now £6.53.
The Baking Budget new figure is £2.90/£20. 
Here is the shortbread after I'd added the date layer which I ended up heating so that it would spread more easily. I've just finished adding the chocolate topping and it's now chilling in the fridge so I'll report back on the verdict tomorrow evening.

PipneyJane

That looks yummy @goldfinches.  

I have a small shop to declare from last night.  For the first time since i got my diagnosis* in January, we joined our pub quiz team for our regular, Tuesday evening quiz.  The drive home took us past MrT’s.  To take advantage of one of their Clubcard-extra-points bribes, DH popped in and purchased 4 of our regular quad-strength 1.5L bottles of squash.  £8 paid and 50 extra points received.  We’ve probably restocked a month before we’d need to, but that’s an extra 50p we can spend later, when the vouchers come in.

Naturally, DH received a £2 coin in his change, so that’s gone to the Running Away Fund Moneybox.

The above brings our total spend to £52/£162.30 leaving £110.30 for the rest of the month.

- Pip


* Chemo finished on May 13th.  I guess I’m now in remission from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Blackcats

I shopped at Lidls yesterday after preparing a meal plan followed by a shopping list - so obvious but it really does make a big difference.  Sending DH off to do a chore in town helped too and with perfect timing he arrived back to help me at the checkout!
We spent £58.08, however, my Chase account has a round up function so luckily for my maths it gets recorded as a neat rounded up number of £59.00.  It's also quite nice when the monthly total round up is transferred to my holiday savings pot.

£299.00 remaining (feeling hopeful that we can keep within budget this month)

scandimore

£400 budget for June please

2 adults, one child not including cat food or milk man.

goldfinches

@PipneyJane - firstly congratulations on finishing your chemo and moving into remission, how nice that you're able to join your friends again.

Secondly - the vegan millionaires shortbread was a disaster, the shortbread layer simply wasn't cooked and didn't stick together either. I ended up scraping that layer off this morning, adding more oats, ground almonds and coconut oil to it and then some sugar and rebaking it for half an hour and then popping the caramel and chocolate back on top and hoping it would stick.
Needless to say it didn't and the shortbread still tasted not very nice so I had to dash to Mr T's for emergency biscuits on the way to meet my walking group.
I tried going to the instagram page using the link given at the bottom of the recipe thinking that there might be more information about cooking times etc. there and it turns out to have no content at all.
I'm really fed up at the waste of ingredients and time, not to mention letting my friends down so I'm thinking of complaining to Hamlyns and asking whether they tested the recipe before awarding it a prize and publishing it on their site, what do you think I should do?

crazybunnylady4

Forgive my ignorance @goldfinches but there doesn't seem to be a binding ingredient in that recipe. Is there any type of vegan milk you could use - likely why it didn't hold together. 

PipneyJane

goldfinches said:

@PipneyJane - firstly congratulations on finishing your chemo and moving into remission, how nice that you're able to join your friends again.

Secondly - the vegan millionaires shortbread was a disaster, the shortbread layer simply wasn't cooked and didn't stick together either. I ended up scraping that layer off this morning, adding more oats, ground almonds and coconut oil to it and then some sugar and rebaking it for half an hour and then popping the caramel and chocolate back on top and hoping it would stick.
Needless to say it didn't and the shortbread still tasted not very nice so I had to dash to Mr T's for emergency biscuits on the way to meet my walking group.
I tried going to the instagram page using the link given at the bottom of the recipe thinking that there might be more information about cooking times etc. there and it turns out to have no content at all.
I'm really fed up at the waste of ingredients and time, not to mention letting my friends down so I'm thinking of complaining to Hamlyns and asking whether they tested the recipe before awarding it a prize and publishing it on their site, what do you think I should do?

  Thank you @goldfinches.  Yes, it was lovely to see people.

So sorry to hear about the shortbread.  I would complain to Hamlyns.

crazybunnylady4 said:

Forgive my ignorance @goldfinches but there doesn't seem to be a binding ingredient in that recipe. Is there any type of vegan milk you could use - likely why it didn't hold together. 

@crazybunnylady4 that doesn’t sound like ignorance to me.  More the voice of experience.  My only supposition is that the coconut oil is meant to be the binding ingredient, since it solidifies in cold environments, but 40g isn’t enough for that to happen in a tray full of shortbread.

- Pip

leftatthetrafficlights

£33.75 spent - more than expected on storecupboard items and some unexpected toiletries needed. 

£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

Total June spend to date is now £41.59! 

I don't think I'll need anything else for the storecupboard this month so hopefully I'll still hit the target!! 

goldfinches

@crazybunnylady4 and @PipneyJane thankyou for your comments which were very helpful. I have decided to ask Hamlyns about how they decided to award the recipe a prize and tell them about the difficulties I found when trying to bake it to see what they say. I'll keep you posted.

I went shopping armed with a very detailed list this morning having first looked carefully at what was in the freezer and larder and decided upon various substitutions which meant I was able to shorten the list somewhat.

I spent £9.75 in Mr T's on 1kg frozen fruit, 6 large eggs, gherkins, jarred roasted peppers and lettuce.
Then I went on to Sainsby's where I spent £1.35 on soap which has miraculously reappeared on the shelf, very odd since I only mentioned its disappearance here the other day.
The treat fund also bought a bottle each of Aperol and Bombay Sapphire which were both on offer and that I hope to make last the whole summer. 
Then I went across the road to M&S where I spent £5.32 on organic milk, carrots, tomatoes and ys padron peppers.

That makes my new GC total £42.55/£150 and my average daily spend is now £7.09. 

crazybunnylady4

@goldfinches - I had a little google search for vegan millionaire shortbread and this recipe popped up: janespatisserie.com/2019/08/03/vegan-millionaires-shortbread/

After scrolling through the blurb the ingredients include vegan condensed milk, so very odd as to there not being a binding ingredient in the recipe you had. Of course I cant suggest egg as a binder with the recipe being vegan which is why I went with milk. It's just something DMum always says; you need a binding ingredient for a cake recipe to work....

I would be interested to know what Hamlyns have to say for themselves!!