December 2025 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

Suffolk_lass said:

joedenise said:

Aldi Christmas veg starts 18th @8p each.  Suspect the other SMs will be the same time.

Thank you @joedenise - I so nearly tagged you as I knew you would know. My mission is to wait until then with the exception of carrots

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to take advantage this year as we're off on holiday next week until after Christmas.

Have a lovely time away!

Quantaqa

Hi All, I have lost the plot this month so far.  So far I've spent £140.  A good chunk of that was on a meal for DH's parents and Aunt - Ingredients to make a three course meal plus wine, beers etc.  The rest has been spent on random bits as I've not done a food plan in a couple of weeks.  DH and I had a chat about it today so we did a list on items we want to stock up on and he is currently out shopping for that.  Only planned the next few nights food wise:
Today (Monday):  Quesadillas
Tuesday:  HM Quiche and HM potato salad
Wed:  HM Quiche for me and DH out with work
Thurs:  Beef Stroganoff
 Beyond that nothing planned but at least it's a start.  

I am in awe of the people on here who come on and write out exact amounts and what it was spent on.  In theory, I know I could do this too but it all seems to run away with me.  This may have to be a goal for me in the NY - Get on top of the food budget and where is goes

JingsMyBucket

May I have the money saving opinions of the crowd please? @Soontobeoap and @Nelliegrace you may be real experts in this. My Tesco delivery has arrived and I deliberately bought a big chicken and 3 other hunks of meat. Photo attached. 

With their weights, I’m wondering if I should split them in halves in order to stretch out the roast meat budgets? That means we would have 6 opportunities for a roast instead of 3. I got:

* Beef roasting joint 1.466kg (topside)
* Crackling pork shoulder 1.955kg
* Large pork leg joint 2.34kg

Maybe I should split the beef roast as 1kg and 460kg? The latter could be used for beef stew later? 

I’m asking because our normal habit is to (greedily) gnaw on the roast until we’re bored and turn it into soup or stir fry but maybe I should just make smaller amounts overall. I’m also concerned about shrinkage in the oven. Any thoughts are welcome. Please and thanks! 

Suffolk_lass

Personally @JingsMyBucket, I work on a generous half a kilo of roast between 2 of us with the leftovers doing cold meat with Jacket potato (pork), chopped and frozen then added to a chilli (beef) or chicken goes on to become pie, shreddings in a hearty soup, a curry and sometimes cold (plus stock from the carcass).

- I would be cutting two outside roasting joints off that pork shoulder then cutting at least 2 pork shoulder steaks off the middle piece before that became the 3rd roasting joint. The same with the leg, or presuming it is bone-in, you could dice some for sweet and sour or curry or strips for stir-fry. With the beef joint, I might cut into two and off enough off the bigger one (while raw), to add to a stirfry - topside is just fine in a stirfry if you cut it thin and add it last so it stays pink and doesn't overcook to become tough/rubbery

- so this way you get a decent number of portions from the bargains. I don't need to remind you that they stop being bargains if you eat more than you normally would.

Nelliegrace

I agree @Suffolk_lass. For the two of us I would cut the joints into roughly 500g portions for Sunday roasts, and cut any left for stewing.  I cook them as a covered pot roast over root vegetables, onion, celery and pearl barley with just enough water so the meat is above it. In that way the meat doesn’t shrink and is beautifully tender. I serve some of the roast with potatoes, steamed vegetables and gravy for Sunday dinner, and the pot roast veg make a couple of hot meals, full of meaty flavour, eked out with tinned beans for protein. The rest of the meat will make meals for several days. Mum used to say the meal was the vegetables and the meat was just the flavouring. 

I put some potatoes to bake at the same time to heat up in the microwave the next day. I fill the oven while it is on, a cake, followed by a large baked pudding, and then some flapjacks or rock cakes. 

With the freezer, I can keep the meat budget to £5 a week. A serving of meat is just enough to cover the palm of your hand.  We used supermarket meat deals during lockdown when we had to rely on grocery orders. I looked for plain meats, to freeze in portions, with which I could make the most meals, so we had a lot of mince and stewing beef, pork shoulder steaks, small meat joints, or a medium chicken. 

mandco

@JingsMyBucket depends on how many you’re feeding but I’d probably cut it into smaller pieces and use for multiple meals rather than cooking it whole. I usually find over Xmas with all the extra veg & trimmings we don’t need as big a portion of meat as we’d usually have either.
I brought a bigger joint of beef than usual and cut it into 3 so that’ll do Xmas plus 2 other roasts - I find the bigger joints tend to be chunkier with less fat layer so better value than buying 3 small joints individually.

Well the budget took a bit of hit over the weekend with spends totalling £238.32 regular budget plus £133.05 Xmas budget bringing me to £376.68/650 & £161.31/£250 
The Xmas budget is gonna be tight I do have all the meat brought & frozen plus pigs in blankets and a few other frozen party food bits for the buffet sorted but tbh I’m fully expecting to go over with where I’m at already however do have a bit of a contingency budget as I reduced my standard budget this month. 

Soontobeoap

@jingsmybucket, with Beek I would usually cut into 500g mk  if just roasting for 2 people. That will give us 3 meals. Eg one roast dinner and then 2 cold beef days either in sandwiches or chopped into cubes and frozen in 2 separate portions for casseroles on different days. It's amazing how much you can bulk these up with vegetables. Mushrooms being one of our favourites. If you have any over because you miscalculate you can always freeze a portion to use later. I do sometimes though cook the whole joint and then have a day making up steak pies and Cornish pastes. ( Pasties are great because they need such a little amount of meat but are very filling, and they satisfy DH that he is not becoming a vegetarian! With the large gammon joints I would cut in half. I did that this week with one that I bought for a£10.00 ( a third off) half weighed in at 2lbs old money. We had it last night with baby boiled pots, peas and sweet corn, will have cold tonight with egg and chips and tomorrow will have cold with baked potatoes and bubble and squeak from the freezer. If there are any little pieces left I will freeze until I have enough to go with a small bit of left over chicken to make a batch of chicken and ham pies. Again with pork I cut to 500g peices for a roast and then we get 2 days of lovely pork and apple sauce sandwiches. With the half price lamb. I roast the whole leg and have with roast veg for first meal  and then freeze in about 3 or 4 separate portions to make up hot pots every now and then. I am always looking for new recipes.

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass @Nelliegrace @mandco @Soontobeoap thank you so much for your input and advice! I'll divvy up the roasts accordingly later this evening with special care to leave some beef aside for stew / stir fry. I'll also chunk some of the pork shoulder roast as an option for a pork chile stew (Chile verde). Some of the pork will get cut into strips for stir fry as well. Thank you again!

Soontobeoap

I cook the beef and then cube up the beef afterwards to freeze or make stew straight away for the next day. Tht way you use up all of the left overs and dont waste any. I spent years not realizing that you could make hot pot and stews/ pies with previously cookedd meat. It has been a real game changer for me.

TravelCrystal

Bit late for my input @JingsMyBucket. Regarding the topside we had a 1.2kg roasted on Sunday. I find I get more pinkish slices which I like, cooking in one piece. I have frozen half of it in one piece and on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year it will come out. I am going to slice and reheat in gravy along with roasted potatoes that by then will also be in the freezer and reheat beautifully in the microwave, which will save putting on the oven. There will be enough left to have the following day with jacket potatoes and baked beans.
 Find meat cuts much thinner when it’s cold.

On to shopping 

Visited the Iceland wannabe and spent £5 on 5 utterly butterly’s and £2.50 on frozen fruit.

Farm Foods Butter by 3 and biscuits £7.74

Lidl’s £2 box of f and v, free leeks, discounted citrus, rolls and mince pies.
Other fruit and veggies, fresh coffee, ham, baked beans and pasta £15.95

Total so far £118.86/£200

Think I may blow the budget this month as I have an Ocado order pending for next week.
Not too much else to buy otherwise 

T.C