May 2018 Grocery Challenge

pipkin71 · 12 May 2018 at 9:33AM

thriftwizard wrote: »

£50 spent at this morning's market; more than I'd hoped, but who could resist fresh Poole Bay crab? Delicious crab with lemon mayo sandwiches for lunch, on fresh sourdough with a handful of rocket & vine tomatoes... because I'm worth it!

Well, I suppose, as extravagant treats go, it's pretty moderate, and two other people also had some, and there's a little left for tomorrow, but if I go over budget this month, it'll all be the crab's fault! Can you tell I'm feeling a little bit guilty...?

Sounds lovely, though and I bet you will really enjoy it

pipkin71 · 12 May 2018 at 9:36AM

I need to sort out a meal plan for next week so that we can hopefully make some space in the freezers. Pretty stocked up on fruit and veg for now. DD might need to pick up a loaf of bread but we shouldn't need to do another shop for a while.

K9sandFelines · 12 May 2018 at 2:47PM

£1.09 spent on the 7th on Branston beans in B and M and £1.27 last night on choc chips and chopped tomatoes.
Also, £5.43 last night on dairy free ice cream, YS burger buns, bread, bananas and crisps. Aswell as £0.89 (?) for Bramwells Mayo in Aldi that my Dad got for me.

Need a stock up of chickpeas at some point, but doing okay so far really :T. Two weeks in almost, and i have spent the amount on food which i hoped we could spend all the time. Who knows, maybe it's the start of something!

£8.68 to add to sig anyway

turtlemonkey · 12 May 2018 at 3:42PM

Did a shop at Aldi today and just noticed they've charged me twice for one tub of ice cream! I guess that's impossible to prove in retrospect, so I'm going to tell myself that the ice cream was £3.78 instead of £1.89 - it's still cheaper than a tub of Ben & Jerry's... Shop came to £27.97, again lots of snacks (must get a grip on my sugar cravings!) but also several meals in there, including three pizzas, 4 cans of beans, two packs of penne, 1 pack of buckwheat fusilli and a cheeky bottle of Pinot Grigio Blush!

Total spend on groceries so far in May: £42.66. Left in budget: £67.34

Edit: I've also had 7 NSDs so far in May.
Edit 2: I contacted Aldi on Twitter and they have confirmed that they will refund the £1.89 on my next visit to the store. I didn't want to go back today as I don't need anything there anymore and the petrol cost would outweigh the refund!

JingsMyBucket · 12 May 2018 at 7:19PM

thriftwizard wrote: »

£50 spent at this morning's market; more than I'd hoped, but who could resist fresh Poole Bay crab? Delicious crab with lemon mayo sandwiches for lunch, on fresh sourdough with a handful of rocket & vine tomatoes... because I'm worth it!

Well, I suppose, as extravagant treats go, it's pretty moderate, and two other people also had some, and there's a little left for tomorrow, but if I go over budget this month, it'll all be the crab's fault! Can you tell I'm feeling a little bit guilty...?

Don’t you dare feel guilty about something so delicious and occasional. If it’s something you do only once or twice a year, embrace it with both hands! (And your mouth.)

Highland_Fling wrote: »

Good morning everyone
have had a couple of trips to the shops this week for bread, milk, fruit etc. Spent another £21+. Total so far about £70+.
Have plenty of food in freezer but just have to be more disciplined in using it up before I buy fresh. Need to complete another meal plan and stick to it.
Really beautiful morning here so spirits are up. Time to get busy in the kitchen I think.:)
Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

I feel you on this. There’s some cauliflower in freezer I’ve been meaning to make into a warm garlic salad for the last week but I’ve feeling rather meh about doing anything. I also have frozen spinach I want to turn into smoothies with my bounty of 2 for 1 blueberries and some avocado. Again, feeling meh. The good thing at least is that I haven’t really been shopping. I need to start working on my cupboards though. I think I might make a lentil and spinach curry for OH.

supersaver1000 wrote: »

Made a Thai Curry on Thursday which I had planned to last Thurs and Friday but there was literally nothing left Thurs eve! Got to stop cooking so well (seriously though, I know its not very MSE but it is a great feeling when your creations go down so well they disappear - its a new thing for me, I've always been very much about cooking being as easy as poss ). So I was all poised to pop back out to the shops yesterday but I was pretty tired so decided it was going to be a meal from the freezer/cupboard evening - so it was another NSD yay!

Going to have to shop later today for dinner tonight and I'm undecided whether to try and shop for the week at the same time and cancel the recurring delivery - as its just the two of us next week. Might be a bit cheaper than having to do a £40 delivery - right meal plan to do.

Well done on cooking a dish loved by everyone in the family! Plus, good job on getting another NSD racked up and pulling from your resources. I’d cancel the delivery if I were you and make a £20 top up list.

JingsMyBucket · 12 May 2018 at 7:47PM

Yesterday was a NSD day for me and this morning I went to the halal store for several items.

€5.50 for 30 eggs, a small tin of tomato paste, and some ramen for OH. I wanted to make banana bread but realized we were out of eggs. Paste is for the keema curry I’m going to make tomorrow.

€5.37 at the meat counter for 600g of ground beef and a nice looking steak. Instead of lamb for the keema, I decided to get ground beef since I didn’t feel up to grinding my own meat today. Also, the lamb cuts they had today very bone centric so I wouldn’t be able to get too much meat off them.

TOTALS SO FAR:
€104.95 / €400.00
6 / 10 NSD

I think I may try to limit this month to €250 instead of €400. Let’s see though. Next week there are some sales at Lidl I’d like to get. This includes buy 3, get 3 free on pasta. I’ll probably just buy a f**k ton and that’ll be us for pasta for the summer. Then again, that whole cupboard thing I mentioned earlier...hrmmm.

ROUGH MENU PLAN OF THINGS TO COOK THIS WEEK:
Keema curry
Lentil and spinach curry
Fried or stewed eggplant
Banana bread
Warm cauliflower salad - https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/coliflor-con-ajos-vinagre-y-alcaparras-cauliflower-with-garlic-vinegar-and-capers

thriftwizard · 12 May 2018 at 9:21PM

Adding a sneaky £1 spent on a large bag of tasty little vine tomatoes at the market this morning whilst hunting for stock for my stall. I saw them & remembered that I'd dry-fried the last of the fresh toms with some eggs & bacon this morning - must eat more eggs, the "girls" have been laying like the clappers!

Suffolk_lass · 13 May 2018 at 8:21AM

turtlemonkey wrote: »

Did a shop at Aldi today and just noticed they've charged me twice for one tub of ice cream! I guess that's impossible to prove in retrospect, so I'm going to tell myself that the ice cream was £3.78 instead of £1.89 - it's still cheaper than a tub of Ben & Jerry's... Shop came to £27.97, again lots of snacks (must get a grip on my sugar cravings!) but also several meals in there, including three pizzas, 4 cans of beans, two packs of penne, 1 pack of buckwheat fusilli and a cheeky bottle of Pinot Grigio Blush!

If you are serious about getting a grip on your sugar cravings - try reading the 8-week low blood-sugar diet by Dr Michael Moseley (he of "Trust me, I'm a Doctor" on BBC). It took four days and lots of water and then everything improves and the achievement incentive kicked in for me. Not diabetic but my word I feel better

pipkin71 · 13 May 2018 at 8:33AM

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Warm cauliflower salad - https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/coliflor-con-ajos-vinagre-y-alcaparras-cauliflower-with-garlic-vinegar-and-capers

Thank you for posting this. Looks lovely

pamsdish · 13 May 2018 at 8:55AM

I have also printed the warm cauli salad, thanks JingsMyBucket,

Turtlemonkey, I always scan my receipt before I leave the shop, been over charged too many times at Aldi, in fact I was on Friday, only 44p much to the annoyance of the cashier, but less chat between operative on next till it may not have happened. I live less than a mile away but still saves my ire.

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May 2018 Grocery Challenge

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