July 2009 Grocery Challenge

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  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,935
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    MrsMC, my total to date is now at £882.21

    :eek::eek::eek: I've spent almost 74% of my entire annual budget! I'm left with £12.89 per week and the extra £25 for Christmas week.
    NEVER GONNA HAPPEN! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: (But I'll carry on regardless.)

    Going back to my '100 things to do with eggs', as I have plenty of these whilst the hens are laying. :D
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024

    Spends to date: £632.45
  • DrFluffy
    DrFluffy Posts: 2,549 Forumite
    I did my last spend of the month yesterday in Mr A. I got lots of "Ooops" stuff, so did quite well.

    Spent £31, got washing liquid tabs, evening meals for every night until Saturday and introduced the concept of lunch to my budgeting (start work shadowing tomorrow in a job that involves being on my feet all day, so figured some form of calories at lunch time is now in order - to stop me going "Ooops" and ending up in a me shaped pile on the floor!)

    So - I went over by £21. Boo. My nan gave me £20 for graduating though, so I am semi tempted to remove my pizza binge as it's now a "present" ;)

    I have an amazing recipe for spag bol too - really quick (30 mins) and really tasty! It's quite cheap unless you add wine, but if you have it - yumm!

    Spaghetti bolognaise
    To feed 4:

    500g mince beef
    1-2 onions
    as many mushrooms as makes you happy
    1 clove garlic (two if you are garlic feinds!)
    Tom puree
    Tomato pesto (the key to the flavour!) - half a small jar (about 100g)
    Beef stock (to the consistency you like)
    Red wine - 1 glass

    Chop and fry the mushrooms, onion and garlic.
    Add mince, brown.
    Add the pesto and puree, coat mince etc.
    If using wine:
    Add wine and simmer to reduce. Add beef gravy granules directly to wine to thicken/taste.
    If not using wine:
    Make up about 400mL of beef gravy to the thickness you like - add to frying pan. If not thick enough, add more granules directly to the gravy.

    Simmer away until you're happy with it - between 15 and 20 minutes.

    Serve with pasta/spaghetti

    You can add what ever left over veg etc you have to the onions/mushrooms too - courgettes are lovely, peppers work too :D

    It also makes an amazing meat layer for lasagna :D

    The cheapest I've done this for is about £5.00 (with wine - cheap offer stuff from Tesco, the rest of which I used to make coc au vin and a red wine and onion gravy, so I've only included £1 of the cost here) using Lidl stuff and Asda value pesto, and I got 6 portions out of it.
    April Grocery Challenge £81/£120
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,613
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    DrFluffy wrote: »
    as many mushrooms as makes you happy
    1 clove garlic (two if you are garlic feinds!)
    love those ingredient measurements :rotfl:

    When I used to cook for 5 of us (2 adults, 3 children with 7.5 years between eldest and youngest) I used to use 500g mince and a whole 750g value tub of mushrooms in mine :eek: Mushrooms are the one thing I have to use or freeze immediately after purchase, as anyone and everyone who's here (even if only on a fleeting visit) will help themselves to a 'couple' for munching on - which is made worse by the fact everyone then feels obliged to give the dalmatian a couple, as that's one of a few veg types he goes all "puppy eyes" for :rolleyes2

    I always seem to add lots of garlic too -- I start with some, cook a while, taste, add some more, cook, taste, add........ I managed to go a bit overboard on a couple some years back :o
    Cheryl
  • Casperthefriendlyghost
    Casperthefriendlyghost Posts: 960 Forumite
    edited 26 July 2009 at 12:09PM
    Hi everyone

    I am declaring my grocery spend for July 2009 at £16.55

    MrsMc please could you put me down for £30 again for August thankyou.

    I've already started on my August money as my month runs from the 24th to the 24th. I've spent £3.70 so far and have updated my signature.

    Cheers
    Casper
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  • Moniker
    Moniker Posts: 626
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    Just spent 20 minutes writing a post and got thrown out and even though I copied and pasted my message it didn't work grr!

    Never mind. I won't be declaring until Thursday but have decided to stick with the same budget for August so can you put me down for £300 again please Mrs M?

    We have visitors in the second week and as I go back to work full time in September I hope to cook some extra meals for the freezer so I have something handy for when I come home too tired to cook.

    Have updated my sig - had to buy a bottle of milk for the local shop so a bit more expensive than the supermarket.

    I have already done an online order from Ocado for Thursday night to use the 15% off voucher ( does anyone know if this can be used more than once? If so I will use it again for September before it runs out on 31st!) and I have also done a Sainsbury's online order for the following week mainly for household stuff. These two came to approx £120 leaving me £180 for the rest of the month. I should be able to do it as it's normally just me and DH here.

    Further to the discussion about meal planning I find it easier to plan just one week ahead in detail. In my monthly big shop I include 4 pieces of meat for Sunday roasts, plus mince and chops or chicken pieces (whichever is on offer), and I shop weekly for the F&V and milk. This seems to suit me as it gives me a framework and some flexibility. For example I didn't fancy what I planned to cook on Friday so we had an omlette and salad and sauteed potatoes. The salad was mainly what I picked from the garden, but I did have to buy a lettuce as the first crop has run out an the new sowings aren't ready yet. I bought a Sainsbury's Basics lettuce for 52p and it was surprisingly good.

    Well off to make coffee now.

    Have a good day everyone.

    Moniker

    PS really pleased to hear the good news about your mum Mrs M.
  • rosieben
    rosieben Posts: 5,010
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    In one of my mad moments last week I ordered a sainsbug delivery £53, and also had an unplanned trip to lidl where I spent another £22 so I have now spent about £143 out of my £80 budget this month :rolleyes:

    however .... I have enough food in the freezer and cupboards to easily last till end of August so very little shopping for the next month :j (I hate shopping!)

    Great news about your mum MrsM
    ... don't throw the string away. You always need string! :D

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  • hi everyone

    have spent the morning blanching and freezing green beans and fresh peas. Have also stewed rhubarb and plan to freeze some of that as well.
    Can anyone tell me if it is o.k. to freeze ratatouille (sp) . Have made a large pot of it with courgettes, onions etc I have been given and I don't think it can possibly all be eaten over the next couple of days.

    with reference to ellemm post about her husband buying too many potatoes, perhaps you could make mashed potatoes and freeze them in muffin trays and then decant them into bags and take out and defrost as many as you need at any one meal. Would prevent potatoes going green and sprouting.
    I plan to do this with some of the garden potatoes I have been given.

    Made a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake the other day. Was given the raspberries and bought the chocolate from Aldi and everyone who tasted it said it was delicious. ;)

    Have had to buy very little fruit and veg recently as I am very lucky and I am receiving sooooo much from the allotment.:j
    It takes a long time to eat an elephant and I'm doing it a bite at a time!!!
  • ellemm
    ellemm Posts: 11,262
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    hi everyone


    with reference to ellemm post about her husband buying too many potatoes, perhaps you could make mashed potatoes and freeze them in muffin trays and then decant them into bags and take out and defrost as many as you need at any one meal. Would prevent potatoes going green and sprouting.
    I plan to do this with some of the garden potatoes I have been given.


    .

    Thanks highland fling, will give that a try, hate to see them wasted especially as I have homegrown potatoes just about ready to harvest!
  • sistercas
    sistercas Posts: 4,803
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    cw18 wrote: »
    sistercas - how old is DD1? Could you perhaps have a 'budget' for the shop slightly above what you expect to spend, and then anything left (after she helps get everything on the list and check for better bargains) she can have towards something she wants? I used to find my children would do a lot more for 'free' cash (even if it wasn't a lot) than they'd do for free - and it should work out cheaper than doubling your expected bill :rolleyes2


    thankyou CW18 / mrs McM

    DD1 is almost 16, she absolutely loves cooking , we sat down together yesterday to talk about budgeting and how to make things stretch , and now shes all fired up for cooking as frugally as possible - bless her we will see how it goes . she loves watching barefoot contessa and then wants to recreate her recipes which are on the rich side most of the time. i think its just gradual process. I have shown her the recipe thread on here and she is going to have a go at making some cookies and twink hobnobs this afternoon. DD2 is going to make a pizza for tea as she has a friend coming.

    all in all the GC for july has not been good and so I will just abandon it and start again for august

    Mrs M can I have £400 for august please - thankyou

    Mrs M so glad to hear your mum has the all clear :T
  • forgot to mention was also given some small white turnips. I usually buy large orange turnips so not sure how I should prepare the white ones. Does anyone have any recipe ideas for them. Will not allow them to go to waste even if I only chop them up and add to a casserole.
    It takes a long time to eat an elephant and I'm doing it a bite at a time!!!
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