December 2025 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Suffolk_lass said:

I did buy a 12.5K sack of locally grown potatoes (too big/misshapen/damaged /green for the supermarkets. I bought local eggs and a piece of Jacob's ladder which I slow cooked for supper last night. The potatoes are fine for roasting or mash but not for jacket potatoes.

@Suffolk_lass what is a Jacob’s ladder in this context? Is it a particular piece of meat? 

Suffolk_lass

JingsMyBucket said:

Suffolk_lass said:

I did buy a 12.5K sack of locally grown potatoes (too big/misshapen/damaged /green for the supermarkets. I bought local eggs and a piece of Jacob's ladder which I slow cooked for supper last night. The potatoes are fine for roasting or mash but not for jacket potatoes.

@Suffolk_lass what is a Jacob’s ladder in this context? Is it a particular piece of meat? 

Yes, known as short ribs in USA, but the same thing. Here's a picture of where it is on the animal. It has a layer of fat (that I remove and don't eat) with really dense strands of meat above and below. Cooked really long and slow at low temperature, beyond where the bone lifts out, you render most of the fat into the cooking liquid (about 2cm of water in a small cast iron dish, meat in, lid on). I strained off the fat and made a gravy with the rest. Very deep, beefy flavour

WickedLady4

@JingsMyBucket @Suffolk_lass
Here in Bucks we know it as beef short rib but I've never seen it joined together like that. I cook it in the slow cooker and it's delicious.

diminua

£152 spent - including mince pies and fancy cheeses just because I was in the fancy deli, and a longish lunch with a friend. So easy to slip into buying treats in the run up to Christmas - I keep having to remind myself it's not Christmas yet. 

K9sandFelines

£17 odd spent between Sainsbos and Am@zon

weenancyinAmerica

I like to use the bread crusts for a sort of French toast-bread pudding, by tearing them up and cooking in eggs that I have stirred up completely and poured over the top. I caught one of my roommates trying to throw them away. Now I put them together and freeze them until I have enough.

Suffolk_lass

WickedLady4 said:

@JingsMyBucket @Suffolk_lass
Here in Bucks we know it as beef short rib but I've never seen it joined together like that. I cook it in the slow cooker and it's delicious.

Yes, we seem to have adopted the American description over the last thirty years. And absolutely, cooked long, slow and low, it is delicious.

Those reject potatoes were fantastic, roasted in the last of the goose fat (from the last goose I roasted, maybe two or even three years back)

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass oh I love short ribs. I haven’t had them in forever though. Oddly enough, a couple weeks ago, Mr. Jings was describing “boiling beef” to me and I told him that sounded like short ribs. I showed him a picture and he agreed. He’s Scottish and his dad would boil “boiling beef” with vegetables for a long time and then serve it as a brothy and meaty meal. Almost soup like. 

JingsMyBucket

Evening all. On Friday I did a round of shopping at the regular stores. 

£6.68 at Savers for toothpaste, Listerine, and cough drops. 

£9.75  at Iceland for ham offcuts, a giant Babybel wheel, big tub of Philly, and a French roule cheese. 

£35.22 at M & S for bananas, clementines, strawberries, lemon, YS hummus, YS pesto, various yoghurts, pâté, a couple boxes of (eating) crackers, butter, coffee beans, and baked beans. 

£282.01 / £500 spent. £217.99 remaining. 

whitecatcreamsofaDOH

Hi everyone - checking in at the halfway-ish point.

Currently spent £215.60 / £450, so on track. 

Been totally slack on the meal planning and not sure what to cook over Christmas but have been focussed on making cheaper choices, which is making a difference.