January 2025 Grocery Challenge

carboot_karaoke

@determined_new_ms I brought it from my local Asda. They have a lot of offers on lentils, rice, tinned toms, for Eid.

I intend to take advantage over the coming weeks. 

I like the Lalia extra long basmati, but others were reduced too.

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom said:

£213.41/£248.
£34.59 left.

£24.50 spent since last post. 

We're having home made Chinese dishes tonight to welcome the year of the snake 🐍. I think we have everything in that we need for todays meals. Just over £10 left for the month which is close to ending now. Hoping to ekk it out and not go over.

£247.91/£248.
£10.09 left.

carboot_karaoke

Hi All,

I am posting to ask some advice. from my fellow MS. 

I have been preparing Feb's meal plan along with some costings and realised that the cost of some of our staple meals has increased massively.  For example I estimate that the lasagne we're having tonight is about £10 !!😮 for 6 good portions.  My eldest, thinks it would be cheaper buying a ready made one.  Little wonder, l normally spend £400-£550 on food.  Excluding takeaways, or alcohol. 

The cost is due to 5% fat beef @£3.79 for 500g about £1.50 worth of grated mozzarella, then pasta sheets @75p l cheat and buy a white sauce for 89p and then use tinned tomatoes,  passata and loads of vegetables, like peppers, onions, courgettes and mushrooms easily £3 worth. 

I'm sure l can adapt the recipe, ie reduce the meat and add lentils. I regularly use red split lentils for soup. But I've never cooked green lentils which I've heard would be better for this type of meal. This made me question other meals.

I am thinking that adding beans to meals would make the food filling and healthy.  I normally use tinned , although l have brought dried black beans and kidney beans.  I recall reading something about freezing them.  Is that before or after soaking? How do you know the dry weight amount of grams equivalent to a regular 400g tin.

I don't want to compromise on healthy food and like to incorporate plenty of fresh veg, but maybe I'm going about it wrong. We can afford the amount we spend but that doesn't mean l want to 😂. 

I would welcome any suggestions of good value meals for 6. We eat:

All meat apart from liver, kidney.

Pasta, rice, potato, sweet potato, butternut squash 

Carrots,  brocoli,  cauliflower,  onions,  courgettes, mushrooms,  peppers,  kale, spinach,  leeks, cabbage,  red cabbage, sweetcorn,  peas,  tomatoes, salad, cucumber, avocado and others l can't think of right now 

Kidney beans,  chick peas,  black beans, - in the tin and red lentils. (But l do have dried ones and green lentils) 

CK x 

determined_new_ms

carboot_karaoke said:

Hi All,

I am posting to ask some advice. from my fellow MS. 

I have been preparing Feb's meal plan along with some costings and realised that the cost of some of our staple meals has increased massively.  For example I estimate that the lasagne we're having tonight is about £10 !!😮 for 6 good portions.  My eldest, thinks it would be cheaper buying a ready made one.  Little wonder, l normally spend £400-£550 on food.  Excluding takeaways, or alcohol. 

The cost is due to 5% fat beef @£3.79 for 500g about £1.50 worth of grated mozzarella, then pasta sheets @75p l cheat and buy a white sauce for 89p and then use tinned tomatoes,  passata and loads of vegetables, like peppers, onions, courgettes and mushrooms easily £3 worth. 

I'm sure l can adapt the recipe, ie reduce the meat and add lentils. I regularly use red split lentils for soup. But I've never cooked green lentils which I've heard would be better for this type of meal. This made me question other meals.

I am thinking that adding beans to meals would make the food filling and healthy.  I normally use tinned , although l have brought dried black beans and kidney beans.  I recall reading something about freezing them.  Is that before or after soaking? How do you know the dry weight amount of grams equivalent to a regular 400g tin.

I don't want to compromise on healthy food and like to incorporate plenty of fresh veg, but maybe I'm going about it wrong. We can afford the amount we spend but that doesn't mean l want to 😂. 

I would welcome any suggestions of good value meals for 6. We eat:

All meat apart from liver, kidney.

Pasta, rice, potato, sweet potato, butternut squash 

Carrots,  brocoli,  cauliflower,  onions,  courgettes, mushrooms,  peppers,  kale, spinach,  leeks, cabbage,  red cabbage, sweetcorn,  peas,  tomatoes, salad, cucumber, avocado and others l can't think of right now 

Kidney beans,  chick peas,  black beans, - in the tin and red lentils. (But l do have dried ones and green lentils) 

We purchased 750gms aldi 5% mince for £5.19 and it has made 6 night's meals for 2 of us, so 12 portions. In it was 3 tins toms (39p each), onions and garlic, stock cubes, maybe some herbs. I'm guessing it was about £7.50. We tend to be flexible with vegetables and have them on the side, so whatever is in the fridge/reduced rather than having specific veg. Often will be peppers if I can get a good price/olio/reduced or on offer. I always have onions and recently have started going to the community kitchen. They are tiny ones, but pence for a kilo. Do you have anything similar near you?

Erm I guess I would probably use less cheese, make my own sauce and use 1/2-1 tsp of mustard in the white sauce as it enhances the cheesy flavour.

I use dried beans and lentils. 125-150 grms dried for the equivariant of a tin. 

I try to have several days of meat free meals, soup and toasties. I've recently started making a big batch of something and then we eat it for 3/4/5 days. 

So far we have had: chilli, bolognaise, roasted cauliflower soup, roasted red pepper soup, a white bean and parmesan soup, Brazillian black bean stew, a Mediterranean veggie stew that I blended up so it seemed like a rich veggie ragu sauce. When it's been a veggie soup I've cooked some meat in the pressure cooker and had shredded meat in the fridge to go in sandwiches. I'll also cook up some carbs, and a sheet of roasted veggies and make a cake/dessert while that's baking.

Appreciate it's not for everyone but we have loved taking this approach. There was one thing my lg got a bit sick of the last day but other than that it's been fine.

Tends to be I'll be prepping for 20 mins, chuck it all in the pan and we eat most of the week with it. Definitely has reduced costs as well as time/cleaning up.

Other than that keep on top of zero waste, throw a load of veggies, and any leftovers in a pot and make a soup out of it. Make sure you're using up what you've already purchased and is lurking in your fridge/freezer/pantry.

Also I make my own cleaning products. We make bread and cakes/biscuits (I'm on a drive to reduce plastic use and try to reduce/eliminate eating UPFs).

TravelCrystal

Just a quickie @carboot_karaoke don’t know if it’s relevant but I cook my spag Bol/lasagne mix in the slow cooker, I put lentils and oats in mine to thicken it up. I only use one pack of 500 gm mince. I also put in whatever veg I have about. Tomato purée might be cheaper if you thin it out and add just one tin of tomatoes. I think cooking it this way in the slow cooker keeps a lot more of the sauce, therefore making it go further.There are only two of us but the mixture I make would do possibly 3 lasagnes serving 4 each time. I do make the cheese sauce myself. I haven’t exactly worked out the cost but I am sure it would certainly be less than £10. I do 95% of my shopping at Lidl’s and buy my meat in bulk.
Sadly everything now seems to cost more than we would like to pay, I  hope that may have helped 😊
T.C

otb666

I have been using red lentils instead of mince for chilli con carne if that helps It was very nice I am gonna try red lentils instead of mince for a spag bol next.

Soontobeoap

Hi  @carboot_karaoke I agree with others  and would add that I buy large roasting joints at Christmas and Easter when they are on offer and get as many in my freezer as I can fit.  There are only 2 of us but meat is always juicier from a large joint. After that ai challenge myself to see how many meals I can get from that one roast. For example. A leg of lamb makes 10-12 meals for us. I take off all of the rest of the meat and then remove enough from the freezer each time I want to make a lamb hotpot using up odd veg and potatoes from the fridge. It is always good to have meat  ready to use with your last odd bits of veg . When we have roast chicken it easily lasts us at least 4 days. We have it roast, then with jacket potatoes and bubble and squeak, then with chips and salad and then the last small bits I will make into chicken pies or chicken noodles/ fried rice. Every last little bits count. With roast beef I buy big enough so that the leftover bits can be made into stew or stir fry. Stir Fry's need much less meat. I make a shepherds pie that has tinned baked beans in I also always add some oats to bulk it out a bit. With Lasagna I have cut down on our portion size and we now have it with salad and sweet corn which cuts the price down a bit. Fish cakes are quite easy and cheap to make yourself. They are much better than shop bought ones . I am lucky and have the luxury of not working so have plenty of time to prep and create. Having said that I am not doing to well this month! Hope this helps.

carboot_karaoke

Thank you @determined_new_ms @TravelCrystal @otb666 and @Soontobeoap l knew you would have good ideas 😊
 
I have taken notes, but the general feedback I'm getting is to add lentils, and vegetables as much as possible. Do you add presoaked / cooked lentils? Or add them dry?

Meat is definitely a big percentage of our spend. My lot are carnivores, especially, Mr CK we did trial "meat free Mondays" for a while but he moaned if he couldn't see meat on his plate 😂

Id already thought of swapping from mince beef @£3.79 to pork mince @£2.25 or buying the larger beef 750g pack @£5.49 and splitting in two. I've found a lentil and veg curry I'm going to try and a three bean chilli. If l de-bone and de-skin chicken thighs (tedious task) the meat will cost £2.50 each meal.

I often make soups with lunches in mind but l could turn it into a dinner once a month. I also tried making sourdough bread this month which went down well. l find if you have a pudding even a cheap one like bananas and custard a less hearty meal will be overlooked 🤣

I do still have half price salmon and lamb in the freezer from Xmas. When the kids we're younger l could make it stretch but with 6 good appetites, leftovers are rare. Plus, l would rather we eat a proper dinner than filling up on snacks afterwards.

Apart from half a lemon l have had zero food waste this month 😇 oh and bread crusts🙄 . Does anyone have a tip to use them up? @Soontobeoap how do you make your fish cakes? Do you need bread crusts for those?

I've nearly finished my meal plan incorporating the adjustments. Looking forward to a Frugal February

CKx  

Soontobeoap

@carboot_karaoke I basically use potato, chives and egg and fish. Quite often it's left over potato when I have cooked too much. I have even used a tin of tuna on occasions rather than flaked fish.. There are lots of recipes I try. On one occasion I used left over fish from fish and chips from the chippy. Last time I made them I coated in shop bought breadcrumbs. I still have them for my next batch. My husband loves his meat too but as I have progressed in this challenge I have discovered that I can use less and he is still happy as long as he can see some.🤣 Also we go out to play crib once a week and like to eat when we get home. We need something quick as it is about 9.30 before we eat. DH often suggests beans on toast and I go along with it. A nice cheap meal. Also jacket potatoes with a filling that you like and salad is a good cheap one.

K9sandFelines

carboot_karaoke said:

Hi All,

I am posting to ask some advice. from my fellow MS. 

I have been preparing Feb's meal plan along with some costings and realised that the cost of some of our staple meals has increased massively.  For example I estimate that the lasagne we're having tonight is about £10 !!😮 for 6 good portions.  My eldest, thinks it would be cheaper buying a ready made one.  Little wonder, l normally spend £400-£550 on food.  Excluding takeaways, or alcohol. 

The cost is due to 5% fat beef @£3.79 for 500g about £1.50 worth of grated mozzarella, then pasta sheets @75p l cheat and buy a white sauce for 89p and then use tinned tomatoes,  passata and loads of vegetables, like peppers, onions, courgettes and mushrooms easily £3 worth. 

I'm sure l can adapt the recipe, ie reduce the meat and add lentils. I regularly use red split lentils for soup. But I've never cooked green lentils which I've heard would be better for this type of meal. This made me question other meals.

I am thinking that adding beans to meals would make the food filling and healthy.  I normally use tinned , although l have brought dried black beans and kidney beans.  I recall reading something about freezing them.  Is that before or after soaking? How do you know the dry weight amount of grams equivalent to a regular 400g tin.

I don't want to compromise on healthy food and like to incorporate plenty of fresh veg, but maybe I'm going about it wrong. We can afford the amount we spend but that doesn't mean l want to 😂. 

I would welcome any suggestions of good value meals for 6. We eat:

All meat apart from liver, kidney.

Pasta, rice, potato, sweet potato, butternut squash 

Carrots,  brocoli,  cauliflower,  onions,  courgettes, mushrooms,  peppers,  kale, spinach,  leeks, cabbage,  red cabbage, sweetcorn,  peas,  tomatoes, salad, cucumber, avocado and others l can't think of right now 

Kidney beans,  chick peas,  black beans, - in the tin and red lentils. (But l do have dried ones and green lentils) 

CK x 

I'm sure it's 80g is equivalent to a 400g tin. I could never remember so it's been wrote down permanently in my kitchen; but I'm currently in bed so can't check.I cook beans in the instant pot; but you would soak before freezing  - cook,cool off then freeze. if you have an instant pot, then the soaking won't be necessary 

Bread crusts - cut them up and make into croutons for on top of your soup. Or blitz to make breadcrumbs to stretch out meals. Also the basis of a treacle tart; which would make a cheap, but not necessarily healthy dessert.