September 2009 Grocery Challenge

Hi folks, just updated my sig, having done my main shop this evening. Managed to spend just £23-53 in Sainsbury's which included a bottle of wine! Noticed that they are selling natural vegetable soap with antibacterial qualities for just 38p a bar - less than half the cost of the Dettol antibac soap I have been buying!

The only 'extra' which crept into my trolley was a punnet of strawberries for a £1, which I have split in two so we will get another pud out of them tomorrow.

We had my cheap and cheerful Friday night pasta and tomato sauce tonight which goes down well with my pasta-averse DH! Here's the recipe:

Pasta with tomato sauce
1 450g tin of tomatoes
Half-1 onion
4 med closed cup mushrooms
tsp dried mixed herbs
salt and pepper
tblsp tomato puree

Chop the onion and sweat in a little olive oil. Add the mushrooms, wiped and thinly sliced. When soft tip in the tinned tomatoes, herbs and seasoning. Bring to boil and simmer gently for upto 25 mins. Add tomato puree to thicken the sauce.

When sauce is nearly done put about 2oz (50-75grms) of pasta per person on to boil. Drain pasta when 'al dente' and put on plates(I usuall use big soup plates). Spoon sauce over the top and then add about a handful of grated cheese. Put in microwave for 30-60 seconds to melt cheese. Enjoy with a big glass of red wine!

This is plenty for two but you can easily double up on quantities, or cook more pasta and make the sauce stretch further. I actually cooked the sauce last night and just reheated it today. It freezes ok too. You can use other veg instead of /as well as mushrooms: chopped courgettes, peppers also work well.
If you are using basic tomatoes then adding a small tsp of sugar takes off the acidity which cheap toms sometimes have.

Hope this is useful to someone.

Off to catch up with the posts.

Moniker

Evening all, 7 days in and spent as per signature on groceries, am very pleased. Have spent my spending money on some treats last weekend, and £20 the other day on more treats and petrol but that comes out of my money.

NSD today as havent gone out, pretty much havent done anything actually! Am desperately trying to avoid the allure of a takeaway as have discovered online takeaway ordering with a debit card, dangerous!

So with that in mind i may go and reheat the last of the mound of mash i did days ago and find something out of the freezer to pop in the oven seeing as its just me and baby tonight who is happily tucked up in bed, hopefully untill at least 7am.

Night all

Congratulations to all the people who are expecting

Lauhen - (Not meaning to sound patronising, sorry!) Well done you on resisting temptation (twice!) and making yummy food from what you have instead :j

Spent £1.25 on a can of drink and a chocolate bar at work today. Actually had another free lunch as got there just as the sandwich machine had been restocked and there was a sticky toffee pudding in the fridge. However, I did have to throw away a portion of soup last night - I *always* forget to use fresh milk when I make soup, so it ends up going off after a couple of days :doh: Must do better!

Breafast: Woke up late, so did not have any again :rolleyes:
Lunch: Sandwich (free), sticky toffee pudding (free), can of drink and a chocolate bar
Dinner: Leftover sausage and bean casserole

Spend so far: £1.90/£100

Friday night is Curry Night, so we splashed out £17.50 on a H-U-G-E takeaway this evening. And yes, that is coming out of the grocery budget. :rolleyes:

Apart from that, though, total spend is a mere 20p - I bought a pepper from The Lady Who Sells Produce From Her Front Garden In The Village while I was out walking the dog. OK, I bought it because it was purple and 20p but it will be nice roasted and I can save the seeds to plant my own purple peppers next year. Woohoo! :T

Bit late but I've only really just found this thread:)
If it's ok, please can I put down £60 for the (3 week) month?
Have very little money this term for uni so need to be extra extra careful. Got loads of great-looking recipes off this site and am planning to cook from scratch and save anything left-over either by giving it to housemates (unlikely, they are very fussy - however, if I actually improve my cooking skills they might take it:P), popping it in the fridge or freezing it.
Great website:)