August 2009 Grocery Challenge

[elizabunny]

I lost the plot well and truely during August. I will declare at £160 Whoops! as I think this is somewhere near the mark. However for my naughtiness can you put me down for £60 for September please MrsMc. Ridiculously low I know, but as I am working towards an annual total and I have to try and get back on track somehow. I suppose we could always eat Chutney and Jam -made loads this week
Good luck everyone for September!

[elizabunny]

Originally Posted by **Upsy Daisy**

I have been thinking about how I am going to cut my grocery bills.
What are your thoughts on buying meat from a butchers as opposed to a supermarket?

Sorry for the double post
**Upsy Daisy** I always try to buy from our local butcher. The quality is great and he sells homemade pies and lots of other different products. The service is very good as well. I think I get good value for money -even though I struggle to keep within -or anywhere near sometimesmy low budget. But my DH says we've eaten alot better this year since I have been doing the GC and buying local produce and also for alot less money than I would have spent in the past. So I must be doing something right.

[soupfan]

I have exactly £250 in cash ready for September.
I am hoping that spending notes rather than using a card will make things easier. Going to the Post Office later to get it turned into £5 notes for added incentive!

[cw18]

My parents always used to buy their meat from the butcher - half a lamb or pig, or a quarter of a cow at a time. But since it's become just the two of them (and supermarkets have moved in closer to where they live - the closest still being about a 5 mile round trip) they seem to have moved away from that.

For me it's supermarket all the way, and almost always has been. When I had my first house there was a butcher closer than the supermarket, but he opened after I left for work and closed before I got home. I sometimes walked it over to him on a Saturday morning, but not often as standing in his queue with 2 young children wasn't much of a fun way to spend the time.

Then moved back to by my parents, and had the same problem with opening times of 'their' butcher - less of a queue on a Saturday, but it meant a special run in the car so I didn't tend to if I needed the supermarket for other stuff anyway.

We had a butcher within easy walking distance of where I live now, but - although people liked his meat - I found his choice limited and prices a bit steep. He closed a few years back, and my closest now means using the car unless the weather's really nice and I have a couple of hours to walk there and back. Given I now have a Mr M less than a 5 min walk from home - plus an A!di less than as far again, and a L!dl a little bit further again - I rarely even think about the butcher. The few times I have considered it (when I've been in the next town for something else other than Mr T) I've always changed my mind - the place doesn't have much on display, the pricing chart seems vague, and I've yet to see a customer in there !!!!!

** Edited to add ** the exception was a pork joint when I lived at my first 2 houses. There's a smashing pork butcher in Preston, so I used to find an excuse to go into town once every 4-6 weeks - and always came home with a bee-oooo-tiful joint for the Sunday

[tessie bear]

hi...upsy (love that name)..i go to local butcher for special stuff like a joint for a birthday tea and for a turkey at Christmas sometimes but i find him to be expensive...lovely quality but too pricey for everyday use as it were....people on here do say that their butcher is cheaper than the supermarkets so it might be worth going in to your local and trying a small purchase to see how u get on...let us know what u find out

hope everyone is well..i am weary of summer hellidays (not a typo)
take care
tess

[jackiegibbo]

not had a good money at all unfortunately DECLARING AT £278.26 FOR AUGUST

But in my defence ive had my gall bladder taken out last week so the shoppings been got from sainsburys round the corner and only "things i fancy and lots of fruit"

Good luck to everyone and i hope you are doing well with your challenges and keeping well

[rosieben]

hope you recover quickly jackie you've done well even thinking of the GC after an op

[**Upsy Daisy**]

Thanks for your suggestions re the butcher - I think I'll do 2 weeks menu plans and then order 2 weeks worth of meat and see how it turns out.

I will also plan in at least 4 veggie meals during those 2 weeks - spinach pancakes (a real family favourite) sweet and sour mixed bean casserole (to use upsome of l those various tins of beans in the cupboard) for starters - I'll leaf through my Sainsburys veggie cookbook later for some more ideas.

[poohbear59]

Thanks Mrs M. I would like to be put down for £180 for three adults here full time plus 2 who are here weekends. This will be the first time in 21 years that I haven't been cooking for at least four of us so I have to now try to get my quantities sized down or we will become very much fatter! I know we should save some for another day but I remember when DD1 started at uni we all seemed to just eat more until I got down to smaller quantities.

Also declaring at 249.60 for August

[Fire Fox]

Can I add a recipe to the list? I have previously made Mexican-style Mince very successfully, Mr. Fire Fox said it was the best thing I'd ever cooked!

One pack pork or turkey mince
One large onion, chopped
One large carrot, grated
Approx 50g red lentils
One tin of sweetcorn, or equivalent frozen
As much garlic as you can handle!
One sachet Discovery fajita spice mix
Red chilli to taste
Juice of one lime

Fry off the onion in a little oil for a couple of minutes, add the mince and fry off. Chuck in the lentils, garlic, spice mix, carrot and a little water if required. Cook covered for half an hour or until the lentils and carrot are indistinguishable! Add the sweetcorn and chilli to taste, heat through before stirring through lime juice. Serve immediately in pitta bread and/ or with rice: very nice with a little sour cream or plain yoghurt.

Mr. Fire Fox will not eat most pulses, hence the lack of kidney beans: no reason why these couldn't be used instead of red lentils. Similarly no reason why lemon couldn't substitute for the lime. I specified Discovery spice mix as I found this MUCH nicer than Asdas, and you can sometimes get Discovery cheap at Home Bargains.

[rosieben]

recipes always welcome here Firefox and its on the list!

Thanks for this one, quite by coincidence I have a few pieces of cooked turkey cooling in the kitchen and been wondering what to do with it - I dont have the spice mix but I'm sure I can find something else in the cupboard

[ifonlyitwaseasier]

Originally Posted by **Upsy Daisy**

Thanks for your suggestions re the butcher - I think I'll do 2 weeks menu plans and then order 2 weeks worth of meat and see how it turns out.

I will also plan in at least 4 veggie meals during those 2 weeks - spinach pancakes (a real family favourite) sweet and sour mixed bean casserole (to use upsome of l those various tins of beans in the cupboard) for starters - I'll leaf through my Sainsburys veggie cookbook later for some more ideas.

Recipe please!!!!!


and firefox, that looks yummy!!!

[**Upsy Daisy**]

Spinach pancakes recipe

Pancakes

8 ounces flour
2 eggs
1 pint milk
Salt and pepper

Makes around 10 pancakes


Spinach sauce


1 pint milk
1.5 ounces butter
1.5 ounces flour
1 lb frozen spinach
Salt and pepper
2 (or as many ounces as you can spare) cheese (it can be old, yellow etc as it's going to get chucked in the pan

Oil for frying pancakes

Pancakes
mix the ingredients together and give a good whisking - alow to stand for an hour then give another good mix before making pancakes

Heat the oil in the pan - when hot tip out the excess so the surface of the pan is coated.
Tip in 1 ladle of the mix (about half a cup) of the pancake mix and tilt the pan so it is spread evenly over the surface.
When cooked on one side - 30- - 60 secs then flip or turn over using a fish slice (I use a fish slice) and cook the other side.
Put the oil back in the pan - coat the surface and tip out excess - do this between each pancake
Pile onto a plate until you have made all 10 -12

Spinach sauce

Mix the flour and butter over a low heat until blended together
Gradually add the pint of milk stirring so it doesn't go lumpy

When you have around a pint of smooth sauce then chuck in the spinach - it can either be frozen or defrosted

Mix it all together so it makes a smoth sauce

Once it it all blended together add the cheese and mix along with the salt and pepper.

If you're really flush you can add some eggs as well (particularly egg yolks) this will make a nice rich sauce

Now lay one pancake on a flat surfece.
Add a large tablespoon of the sauce into the centre of the pancake and fold over in half
The fold in the two sides and roll over so you have a sort of sausage shaped envelope

Put into a baking dish which will be used for serving (I use a long oblong dish and can get around 5 or 6 in each dish

Repeat with the other pancakes

Once all the pancakes are used up cover the pancakes with any excess sauce and bake in the over at around 160C for about 20 minutes.
You can also put grated chees over the top if you have any left although I don't really bother

I usualy serve them on their own or with a salad

They are really filling

Any made up pancakes can be frozen. Alternatively the pancakes themselves can be piled up and rolled up and frozen or the sauce on it's own can be put in a plastic container and frozen

Most people can only manage 2. Children can generally only manage 1

Hope that helps

UD

[ifonlyitwaseasier]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom

[Moniker]

Originally Posted by tessie bear

hi...upsy (love that name)..i go to local butcher for special stuff like a joint for a birthday tea and for a turkey at Christmas sometimes but i find him to be expensive...lovely quality but too pricey for everyday use as it were....people on here do say that their butcher is cheaper than the supermarkets so it might be worth going in to your local and trying a small purchase to see how u get on...let us know what u find out

hope everyone is well..i am weary of summer hellidays (not a typo)
take care
tess

My DD1 who was living in Oxford as a student swore by the butchers in the covered market there because as a single person she could buy one chop or two rashers or whatever and not waste anything. She said it was better quality and cheaper than Tesco! She didn't have much in the way of space and a tiny freezer so buying in bulk was not economical for her. I guess if you are a big family with lots of freezer space the supermarket makes more sense.

HTH

Moniker

[ktpie]

Went to Tescos today and my total spend for this month is £302.29 so a little bit over my budget of £300 but I'm still pleased!

Upsy Daisy - We started going to local farm shops / butchers as we couldn't find any free range pork in our local supermarkets. It's more expensive but we now tend to only buy meat for the weekends and have the leftovers / veggie stuff during the week. We've been a bit spoilt now by the quality of the meat and if we go somewhere and have supermarket stuff the difference in taste and quality is obvious.
Hope it works out with the butcher!

[Moniker]

I was hoping the September thread would be up and running but I will post here for now. Did my first shop of the new month at Sainsbury's and it came in a bit higher than I had hoped at £138.79(I costed it on Mysupermarket first), leaving £156.21 for the next 4 weeks' shopping. It did include a lot of meat and fish, but I did succumb and buy some shampoo and conditioner on special offer, which wasn't on my list! However, we are well stocked up now and as I am back to work next week I won't be able to pop to the shops for anything and will have to be well organised and stick to my meal plans.

Off to visit DD2 in Brum tomorrow so will catch up on Sunday.

Hope everyone is ok - hugs to all who need them!

Moniker

[Curlytop40]

I'm fairly chuffed with myself and declaring august as 387.62/380. Slightly over but I've included petrol, catfood, cat litter, all household stuff and groceries, and had days out with my dd and two birthdays to buy for-one at £12 ish and one at £33ish. Before I would have bugeted around £480 for the month and put some stuff on the cc. So I've reduced by about £100. I shall be trying for a smaller spend next month as have no birthdays and less days out as dd starts school.
As a newbie I'd like to thank everyone on this board for the inspiration they have given me and the welcome and advice.
CT.

[Notjusta Mum]

Hi MrsM,

Can you please put me down for £300 for September, I seem to be down for £80 and don't think I can do that yet!!

Thanks

[fedupandskint]

Declaring at £143.32/£150 coming in £6.68 under budget a bit close run in the end and only achieved by aiming for some NSD in the end.

Taking the plunge and knocking £20 of September budget and increasing the number of NSD too

Can you put me down for £130 for September please Mrs M?

Thanks to Mrs M and Rosie for the thread and everyone's helpful advice PS How could I forget Pink too!