January 2009 Grocery Challenge

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  • OH has taken the normal £300 out of the bank and have placed in our new grocery/diesel purse. I still havent used any thing month as I realised I had £30 left from last month, so will adjust my signature in a minute.

    I really am aiming for £100 on groceries this month for the 3 of us and intend to to use up frozen veg we have in and only buy what we need.

    OH went to Lidl last week and they had their 1.5ltrs of 100% OJ juice...not concentrate 69p which is great value so bought 4 of those and 2 apple juices the same size at 89p. Think I will get OH to buy another 5 each of these as we have alot and counts towards our 5 each day.

    Hope everyone is doing ok. HUgs to all

    PP
    xx
    To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it,
    requires brains!
    FEB GC/DIESEL £200/4 WEEKS
  • gillst_2
    gillst_2 Posts: 98 Forumite
    Just to say a big thanks for all the support. Feeling a lot more positive today - yesterday was a bad day all round (struggling with a leg injury from a recent car accident and feeling pretty down).
    Have been right through our stocks today (DH helped) and with what we have in we reckon we can make it with what is left, or maybe just over. We will need veg and fruit but other than those can probably get through with what we have in the freezer and cupboards.
    Have a lot in stock, just not a lot of meat (which DH and DSs insist upon). Will be incluing the cauliflower cheese quiche, tuna pasta bake, toad-in-the-hole, roast chicken (tomorrow), and something with the leftover chicken. Have got 2 lots of mince, 4 frozen salmon steaks, 2 lots of stewing steak, 3 chicken breasts,gammon joint and some bacon, also turkey legs from Christmas. Plenty of potatos, rice and pasta, tinned baked beans, tinned tomatoes and ok for bread flour so can make my own in the BM. 20 odd meals to do to end of month for DH, DSx2 and me), and believe I can do it - I KNOW I CAN DO IT. Lunches may be a problem but have some tinned soups and some lentils in so can make some lentil soup. Have ingredients in to make some muffins - Have just read over what I have written and cannot believe I was so defeatist yesterday. Thanks again for the support - I definitely would not be able to do this without the support here.
  • I typed a big long list of what I'd got in fridge, cupboards etc, hit preview and lost it! Just as well, turned out I've got quite a lot in, so really I should get by loads under budget if I put my mind to it and use some of the tips & recipes on here.

    Soaking cannellini beans at moment - gonna try weezl's baked beans, tho should be haricot. Years ago used to soak a few beans and add to a can, same with spaghetti and lentils / oats, but that was when I was feeding six of us on next to nowt.

    Used to use Flylady's pal's Saving Dinner site so thank goodness got used to store cupboard, and Shirley Goode's books years ago got me obsessed with making bread & yoghurt etc, so I need to get organised and back to that.
    Today bought eggs, bacon (offer), skimmed milk, Cathedral city reduced fat cheddar (offer), @£6 for lot - but then spent £3 on reduced tablemats !

    Reduced price onion bhajees & tomatoes for lunch.
    Had some white choc drops (reduced) & choc chip cookies no-one likes. Melted choc, topped cookies. Yum.

    Anyway, beans soaking, slo cooker braising beef & bargain sausages, soaking broth mix. Feels hopeful ! :D
    Finally Debt Free (£8k to zero) yay! :j :j

    Saving for Xmas 2020 £1 a day challenge #54 £18/366
    £2 Savers Club 2020 #49 (£6)
  • I went out today to take some shoes back that I had bought in the n£xt sale, and just had to nip in to m&s, I was a very good girl and only spent 99p on a pack of 8 sausages, some will be used for sausage, mash and beans and some will go in to a quich along with some toms.

    Shelley x
    Back on MSE again! to take control of my finances and not let it control me. :T May grocery challenge £41.96/140
  • OrkneyStar
    OrkneyStar Posts: 7,025
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    Another small shop at MrT, purchasing 2L local milk, turkey breast steaks (discovered a new liking for turkey after Christmas and got that to have instead of chicken, we don't really need meat but its something a bit different :)), Felix (on-offer so wee treat for puss), tomato ketchup, energy drink (don't ask!) and two weight watchers cheese cakes (for after tea, feeling ill today, as sore back and upset tummy combined with no sleep!).
    Signature updated.
    Bye for now
    :wave:
    Ermutigung wirkt immer besser als Verurteilung.
    Encouragement always works better than judgement.

  • I have just made these and they were gorgeous. recipe serves 4 and will be a brilliant way to use up all the little tiny bits of things that get left behind.

    for the dough

    300g (11oz) "00" flour (sauce flour)
    15g (1/2oz) baking powder
    15g(1/2oz) caster sugar
    1tbsp vegetable oil


    sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, sir in the veg oil and 175ml(6fl oz) warm water. Form into a ball and then knead gently for 3-4 mins on a floured surface. return to the bowl, cover with a cloth and leave for 10-15 mins.

    they suggest 450g of shitake mushrooms fried in sesame oil with garlic then mixed with 1/2oz sugar, 65g (21/2oz) peanut butter, 1 tbsp hoisin sauce and cooked until thick and sticky and cooled slightly for the filling.

    I think tbh you could use anything, needs to be strongly flavoured and thick and sticky, I used a tiny bit of left over lamb, a fried onion, some fried mushrooms and a tbsp hoisin, which was yum.

    Roll out the rested dough and use a 3inch cutter to cut 16 rounds, flatten each round to 2mm thick with your palms. place a small amount of filling in the centre of each round gather up the edges and twist firmly to seal. I found it easier to flatten one then fill it, its a very elastic dough and theyre trying to shrink back as youre flattening!!

    put the buns on a paper lined steamer(elec or bamboo) and steam for 15 mins or til firm.

    serve with sweet chilli dip if liked.

    Very quick and simple to do, be a good one for kids to do. The flour is more than normal flour but will try them with normal flour next time I think. But a great way to use up tiny bits of left overs.

    hope that helps someone.
    Eat food, not edible food-like items. Mostly plants.
  • rumncoke
    rumncoke Posts: 224
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    rumncoke wrote: »
    1st shop of the month for me today. Not too bad £56.15 in total for Lidl & Mr T. Will have to get a joint for Sunday dinner at butchers on Friday but hopefully that will be it until next Wenesday.

    Well so much for that idea. Managed to pick up a few yellow stickered items at Mr S for £1.50 on Thursday, & joint on Friday but then DH goes shopping today & spends £20 on some swordfish steaks & a few other bits.

    I suppose I am still in budget as we are a third of the way through the month. Can't complain really as he does work extremely hard & has a very stressful job, but I am trying to find ways to reduce essential spending to plough as much as we can into the mortgage.
  • :T Feel pleased cos now have mung beans hopefully started, and took quick recipe from Goode blog :A for ultra quick 'butterscotch Cheesecake' - took about ten minutes. Usually like to cook from scratch but this was sooo quick and simple - biscuit base, angel delight (stores - bought on offer for son) top. I adapted and stirred in leftover Xmas choc & topped banana - looks good.

    I get great satisfaction from making 'something' out of an unlikely pile of bits and pieces - luvvitt !! :j
    Finally Debt Free (£8k to zero) yay! :j :j

    Saving for Xmas 2020 £1 a day challenge #54 £18/366
    £2 Savers Club 2020 #49 (£6)
  • elizabunny
    elizabunny Posts: 1,030 Forumite
    I really don't know what is wrong with me :confused: , I seem to be becoming obsessed with food shopping since I started the grocery challenge. I just HAVE to keep popping in everywhere, just to see what's on offer. I promised myself after yesterday's detour to Lidl, I really didn't need to go shopping today and must start cooking again. Nevertheless, I really couldn't miss out on those Branston Beans from Mr M. so off I went, compelled to take in 2 re-usable carrier bags just in case. .......So..ooo to cut a long story short, I've spent another £30.02p (signature updated):eek: . Consolled myself by stopping DH from buying bread for his pate on toast, by promising to make a fresh loaf when we got home. I have now done this -but to be honest, not really a great achievement, as we hardly ever buy bread unless it's greatly reduced, as I always make mine in the breadmaker -so much cheaper and nicer. Can't help the worrying glance at my spent total and what I have left for the month. On the bright side if I menu plan properly now, it might not be as bad as it looks.

    On the other hand, I can't help wondering if the pheasant that keeps wandering into my garden would taste nice.......... Only kidding, I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. I think it only comes in to terrify the dog and I'm talking BIG dog here:rotfl: :rotfl: Happy cooking everyone (and shopping). Hopefully a NSD tomorrow.:eek:
    Sealed Pot Challenge 7 Member 022 :staradmin:staradmin:staradmin
    5:2 Diet started 28/1/2013 only 13lbs lost due to Xmas 2013 blip.
  • Butterscotch cheesecake sounds AMAZING!!

    Ok, so the OH just comes RUNNING into the kitchen in a flurry of excitement while I was in there a min ago putting cottage pie in the oven. He's like 'LAURA! LAURA!! Guess what!!? I've had an AMAZING idea..'. So I'm like 'What's up?'... and he goes - and I quote 'wouldn't it be a good idea to make one big meal a couple of times a week and use leftovers for the rest of the week???'. [Last time I checked I'd been feeding him jazzed up leftovers 5 days a week for the past 2 years lol...!!].

    So anyway I just smiled and told him what a great plan that was. If he thinks it was his idea that'll make my life all the easier... :j xx
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