May 2009 Grocery Challenge

Hi everyone!

Well my mince/brown lentils/veg mixture pie worked well.
DS1 thought its had too many "peas" in it though, little did he know it was manily lentils . Daft thing thing he ate it all though and went for seconds!

Well out of the mince mixture and i made two very filling pies (four times more mix than a deep filled one out of a supermarket).

So we had one of the pies for tea another cooked and ready to eat. Then enough mixture for shepards pie i think. Also made loads of mash so going to use that to make shepard's pie and fish cakes.

Also used three very sad and pathetic looking bananas and turned them into fairy cakes.So going to freeze some for next weeks pack lunches.

Here's another recipe:-

Macaroni Cheese
Macaroni Cheese
250grams cups full of macaroni (or other pasta)
2 tbsps of plain flour
2 tbsps of butter
1 pt milk
75g grated cheese (whatever you like)

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6.
Cook pasta according to instructions.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in flour till bonded together.
Add some milk and whisk till blended gradually add more and more till all the milk is used up.
Remove from heat and add the cheese and stir.
Drain pasta, and pop in an ovenproof
Cook in the oven for about 30 mins on gas mark 6 or till top is crispy and golden brown.

Bought a few bits and pieces over the weekend, and have updated sig. Doing very badly, as I'm nearly halfway to limit! :eek:

I haven't included fish and chips and icecream from our day to the seaside, as they were the reason we went.
And I won't be including the food I'll be buying for DS 1st birthday party on Saturday as that is a special occasion. (Not that I have a budget for special occasions, but it will be a lot. :rolleyes:)

I think I'm going to struggle to keep under target, I can't believe how expensive everything is. Tins of tomatoes for 33p! :eek: What is that all about?!

Hello all

just done the Mr S online shop for the month, got pretty much everything I need except nappies and nappy bags for £134.75, will need a few top ups but not too many and that cost includes 6 bottles of wine. Yay.

Also bought some cheeses, breads and veggies at the farmer's market the other day. Not sure how much it cost in total but I put the coin change in the milkman tin and I spent £10 on M&S dine in for two on Friday as we were doing jobs round the house after work and I felt we needed a treat. Not very old style but still!

£30 has also gone out of the food budget to pay the babysitter but if we are struggling for food budget at the end of the month we will throw £15 each back into the kitty to make up for it. Doing quite well so far I feel. It feels good to have re-instated the grocery cash tin (we put the budget for the month in there and spend for food out of it rather than using debit card)

Managed a NSD yesterday but will definitely have to go out today for stuff.
Went to BBQ after work, came home and OH said he was hungry and started raiding the fridge and there was LOADS of food left at the BBQ:mad:
Must do some meal planning for the next few days. I think it's going to work better only doing a few days at a time as plans change frequently in our house and this way I can make sure that leftovers DO get used up.
Have a good BH everyone.

hi....welcome back gailey and congratulations....glad to hear u feel better...it can really wipe u out morning sickness imo anyway

we are off out for lunch very useful on the gc..i have just made scrambled egg from eggs from the local farm...once u get past the state of the outside of them they are great really fresh..some bright orange and some pale yellow yolks....i made some cakes with them last week and they were nice...£1.60 for a dozen...i didnt think that was bad

i love reading what people do to use up bits and pieces...i made mash 2 days running and saved the leftovers...next morning i mixed in a spoonful of flour rolled mixture out cut out rounds and fried in a drop of oil...potato cakes to go with bacon...they are great

have a nice bank holiday
tess