October 2010 Grocery Challenge

Hippeechiq · 14 October 2010 at 1:29PM

NickJW wrote: »

Mmm - that looks lovely! Perfect excuse to buy some wine! :rotfl:
On a negative note, I had a moment of weakness last night and had some fish and chips from the chip shop - £5 spent <hangs head in shame>.
I really didn't NEED it since I have tons of food in - I just WANTED it. And I very rarely have takeaways anyway so I fancied having a treat....

I freeze pretty much everything, and I freeze both red and white wine for cooking - that way I always have some if a recipe calls for it.

When I can afford a bottle, I have special little pots that hold up to 150ml - some recipes I use call for 60ml of wine, some for 150ml, so when I have a bottle of red or white, I pour (depending what I already have in the freezer) either 60 or 150ml into my little pots and freeze it.

That way, if I'm having a week when I can't afford a bottle of wine (which is most weeks nowadays) and I'm cooking a dish that requires it, I always have some on hand

And re your splurge on Fish N Chips - what the hell, eh? We all have to have some little treat, no matter how small, to break the drudgery of trying to making ends meet sometimes, otherwise, really, what's the point?!

Am looking at a NSD today - off to update siggy

Sunnyday · 14 October 2010 at 2:39PM

:eek: I`m back, have updated siggy yet again

I`ve spent just under £30, i got eggs from iceland, sainsbug for bacon, smoked salmon and a nice big cauliflower for soup, then i went to MrM to see if the hobgoblin beer was on offer. It was but only the cans not the bottles so i only bought 4 - that wouldn`t normally be included in the GC but i`ve added it to see if i can manage. If not i`ll take it away again. They also had the Persil bio offer on so i`m afraid that i fed my addiction to it and bought 2, they were mixed up on the shelf with some slightly smaller sizes so do check if you are going to get some as the smaller ones wouldn`t go through the till with the offer

I called in the pound shop for the tetleys teabags and sugar and came out with some new tupperware pots for soup - again i`ve added them just to see

I now have 4 large soap powders underneath my sink and some in plastic containers that i empty the boxes into once they are opened

I can only just close the door so i really need to stop buying it.

Sistercas - the pate is really nice and very tasty, i`ve recently stopped adding butter to it and adding a tin of chopped tomatoes before whizzing it all up so its even more economical. The consistency is slighly different but both DH & i prefer it - bit healthier too

I`m off for a browse before i make the soup.

SD

LannyLee · 14 October 2010 at 2:46PM

Sunnyday wrote: »

Sistercas - the pate is really nice and very tasty, i`ve recently stopped adding butter to it and adding a tin of chopped tomatoes before whizzing it all up so its even more economical. The consistency is slighly different but both DH & i prefer it - bit healthier too

I`m off for a browse before i make the soup.

SD

Can you post the recipe? As I've always fancied making pate & it will be perfect for snacks over Xmas (Eeeekkk :eek: only 72 days, how the hell did that happen!?!)

mrsbowie · 14 October 2010 at 2:54PM

well this morning I made use of some over ripe bananas and made smoothies, which then made me decide to try and lose few pounds, so far so good, not sure if I'm actually saving money at the mo, but it's making me think about my shopping more and trynig to stretch out meals more so it's a good things, thanks

Sunnyday · 14 October 2010 at 3:04PM

LannyLee wrote: »

Can you post the recipe? As I've always fancied making pate & it will be perfect for snacks over Xmas (Eeeekkk :eek: only 72 days, how the hell did that happen!?!)

Lol yup its definitely creeping up on us!

Liver and bacon pate

two packs of lambs liver (about £1.60)

small amount of smoked bacon - about 4 pieces but you can add more if you like as it dosen`t make much difference.

Chopped garlic, tin of tomatoes and salt and pepper. I throw a couple of bayleaves in too and a couple of onions.

I throw it all in the slowcooker on low overnight and in the morning once its cooled just throw it in the food processor until smooth. Reserve the liquid and add afterwards to reach the consistency that you prefer I used to add a whole pack of room temperature butter cut into chunks at the blending stage but its easily left out by keeping the juice from the tomatoes in the mix.

I freeze it in ramekins and defrost it in the fridge - very tasty.

SD

Moniker · 14 October 2010 at 3:32PM

Hello folks - have just stopped by to update my signature. I really don't know where the last week has gone! I have got £87.35 to last till the end of the month which is 28th for me. I ought to be able to do it (hope those aren't famous last words!)

Went to Mr S this morning and bought a few extras which weren't on my list (slap, slap!). They were selling prepared leeks for £1.99 a pack on BOGOF so I got some as we love leeks and I can feel some soup coming on! A friend who is moving was clearing stuff out and donated a huge slow cooker to me - much bigger than the one I have got so I am looking forward to trying it out at the weekend. I can cook a whole chicken in this one.

Have only managed 7 NSDs so far this month which is not good enough! It's down to poor planning I am afraid and being back at work so I pass the Co-op on the way home!

Off to try and catch up a bit on all the posts I have missed before leaving for my evening shift at work! Have a good rest of the day folks.

Moniker

Moniker · 14 October 2010 at 3:42PM

Phoolgrrrl It's not the acutal touching of the garlic that bothers me, it's how it makes your breath smell. Garlic is divine, but extremely anti social if you've had it and someone else hasn't, and vice versa

[/QUOTE]

I agree with you - the smell is vile - I can tell if food has it in it even if it's only a tiny bit and I cannot for the life of me see how it improves the taste of most recipes. I always leave it out and never have a problem with producing full-flavoured food. It's terrible if your partner eats something unknowingly containing the evil bulb and then comes home reeking. The trouble is you can't really smell how bad it is when you have eaten it - it's the effect it has on other people! I can see why it would put a vampire off!

Moniker

adelight · 14 October 2010 at 3:48PM

Doing dinner for me & OH so spent £3.49 on free range chicken, chillis and some spices. Quite excited to have good meat from a butcher, not iceland, and found out I can get lambs heart there too

Chloris · 14 October 2010 at 3:59PM

C**p spend £16.65, free range chicken, large box of chocolates for my DD's birthday party at the end of the month and other bits. Disappointed that I have tipped over into the £200+ now, but it was going to happen sooner or later. Ho hum.

wssla00 · 14 October 2010 at 4:36PM

A £27.00 spend in Marks and Spencer this afternoon. I got their dine in for a tenner plus some steak for next month and a choccy desert for my desert tonight!

Anyway I am cooking the large chicken I got today in the dine in with some garlic oil (sorry- I love the stuff!!) for some lovely chicken sarnies for dinner. Have a good evening all

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October 2010 Grocery Challenge

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