August 2009 Grocery Challenge

highland_fling_2 · 2 August 2009 at 9:01AM

morning everyone
visited M&S yesterday afternoon and it would appear that the credit crunch is even evident within their hallowed halls. There were more "whoopsies" and reduced goods than I have ever seen on their shelves before.

I picked up two packets of six irish pancakes for 50p a packet and a chocolate profitterole pyriamid reduced to £2. Have frozen the pancakes in packs of two, the profitteroles we ate.

There were also plenty of other good buys, but as I have promised myself to stop buying too much I was good and resisted temptation.

wilf55 · 2 August 2009 at 9:30AM

there are 4 adults and a 12 year old adult here

grandaughter often stays

2 dogs

1 car

i desperatly need to organize my shopping and cooking though

have kept a record of what i spent yesterday and am doing an inventory of freezer and cupboards later

will keep you posted

thanks

mooomin · 2 August 2009 at 9:41AM

Morning all,

Just whacking some venison in the slow cooker (Safe in the knowledge that it's the last day of £10 a pizza at Dominos if I mess up!) then doing my competitions for the day and off to Aldi for last of July's cheap veg.

Can anyone with a spare 5 minutes pop onto my own thread on the DFW diaries board. I inventoried my cupboards/freezer last night to prepare for the weeks ahead and didn't want to clog up this board! I have asked anyone reading to advise on things I should have but am missing to have a good OS storecupboard. Any general advice would also be great! Link is below, it's the last 2/3 entries.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1386037&page=35

Thanks in advance!

cuddlymarm · 2 August 2009 at 10:05AM

Hi

This month could you put me down for £50 per week. Last month wasn't exactly a disaster but I didn't feel in control of my budget. I shopped at odd times and my store cupboard is starting to look a little naked. If money gets tight I need to know that we can cope.

Anyway on that note I better get to Sainsburys
Have a lovely day everyone
Cuddles:rotfl:

sexymouse · 2 August 2009 at 10:49AM

MrsM I would like to join again this month with a budget of £110 for the month. hopefully I'll come under budget this month, but setting at that amount as I've been over £100 since March. This is for 2 adults (one veggie and the other meat-eating).

lollyfin · 2 August 2009 at 11:13AM

hi all
kirsten could you let me know how you get on with bbq sauce for the pizza bases, had a pizza once (can,t remember where it was from) and the sauce was kind of bbqy and it was lovely but have been too scared to try it myself in case I ruin dinner......again
Having roast chicken, roasted veg, yp and mash tonight got to bulk out the plates with stuff other than chicken as I need leftovers for another meal and want to make chicken soup as well so if anyone has any suggestions of other stuff I can add to the plates please share
Hoping for a NSD today

kirstenc · 2 August 2009 at 11:29AM

lollyfin, not sure if you have any stuffing/or mix that you can use...this always goes down well here and bulks out the plate (and the tummies!) I mash up swede/turnip too along with the potatoes.

I will let you know how the bbq sauce goes (bit nerve wracking) and i think it was dominos you have had it before, they do texas bbq, with bbq sauce instead of tomato base. its one of our faves and if i can recreate even a little bit, i will reduce the take out bill sooooo much!

BigMummaF · 2 August 2009 at 11:54AM

helen_jelly wrote: »

Lollyfin - Did you manage to make the mince stretch that far and did it taste nice - really interested in your answer as we tried to do the same on a smaller scale and it felt like we had no meat at all!
Helen x

My lot are a bit picky with their food, but they really enjoy my 'added ingredients' in mince--probably because they don't know about them if I'm honest :shhh:[STRIKE]If[/STRIKE]When I remember I soak & cook up some dried pinto beans because they have the taste & consistency of meat & yes! I know I should cook up the bagful & freeze in portions but room dictates

What I do now is put a fair glug of water in the saucepan & add a couple of handfuls of both red lentils & pearl barley. Bring it up to the boil, skim off the frothy stuff & leave it to bubble quite quickly while I chop up the onion, peppers, celery etc. Dry fry the mince, add to the saucepan with everything else & carry on cooking as usual. One of the offspring asked for a lasagne without added veg for their birthday dinner, so it was literally just mince, onion, garlic & tom puree but they didn't like it

The beans are a bit harder to disguise in things like cottage pie but can always be passed off as grated carrot or sweetcorn :whistle: Me? Lie to my kids? NEVER :rotfl:

Someone else was asking about roast dinners & what to do to help fill the plate. The MrT value sage & onion stuffing has a really nice taste, & a pack of the value sausages chopped up into fours also adds another bit of 'shape' but I guess the best way would be to make a dessert of some description. A milky pud can go in the bottom of the oven--well it can with gas but can't vouch for other types

--while the dinner's cooking, or a steamed pud is easy enough to mix up & at a push can be dome in the microwave. A tin of fruit with custard is also quite filling or a cuppa with a slice of cake helps too, especially if that's the 'prize' for washing up

HTH.

fallen_angel_shelley · 2 August 2009 at 12:01PM

Hi. I lost track of my July GC spending, so I can't declare. I did a shop at MrT's yesterday and it came to £57.41p which seems alot out of my budget but I needed to stock up on loads of stuff, so I'm hoping that my budget will even out for the rest of August:cool:.

Shelley x

ifonlyitwaseasier · 2 August 2009 at 12:51PM

hello all!!! welcome to all the newbies

so far this month (yes we start ont he 23rd as it's my payday!!) we've spent about £20 but thats including a couple of bits i got for my mum, so may yet go down further.

To all the slowcookers question people, they are fab, i poached a gammon joint and it was scrummy, mince dishes all come outtasting delish, soups, and i did see a recipe on the board somewhere for chicken lasagne in it i'll try and find that for everyone

*cheat's chicken lasagne in the slow cooker.

One layer of chopped tomatoes and oions and garlic

one layer of lasagne

one layer of chopped chicken and Campbells cream of chicken or mushroom or asparagus soup - mixed with a little milk

Keep repeating layers and finish with a little grated cheese on top.

Cook on high for about 4 hours or medium for 6 hours approx.*

ioiwe x

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August 2009 Grocery Challenge

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