March 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • Chloris
    Chloris Posts: 712
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
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    Another NSD here. Dh will do the weeks shop after the children are in bed tonight, but as none of it is going to be eaten today I shall count it as tomorrow. I will be checking I have written down everything I need, everything. I don't want to have to pop to the shops until the weekend or early next week.

    Pastry: 8oz plain flour, 4oz butter, pinch of salt, splash of cold water. I roll it to fit in quiche tin, cover and rest in fridge 30mins then chuck fillings in and bake. I cba baking blind. With my leftover pastry trimmings I add some grated cheese and dried sage, roll out, cut into cute rounds, brush with milk and bake. Very nice. DD loves them in her packed lunch box. HTH
  • kittypimms
    kittypimms Posts: 91
    Debt-free and Proud!
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    Hello all,

    NSD yesterday (woop!) but today we're off the mark at the House of Pimms. £3.53 in Al*i, and £13.10 in The As*a. More than I wanted to spend, but needed loo roll (£5), and some of the £2 cheese.
    Crikey - why is it so difficult to buy cheap loo roll... they really need to price per sheet, rather than per roll!! I look like a very odd person indeed, manhandling various squishy packages in order to ascertain paperthickness vs tubeiness. Eeep.

    And while I'm having a bit of a moan, there were no SP loose apples in the As*a, so bought 2 (2!!) Golden Delish for 60p (60p!!!). Blimey. Should have gone back and bought them from the Al*i, but by then was loaded down with bags and all confused about loo roll... :rotfl:

    Lesson learned for next time though! Will poddle off and update sig now... and try not to complain as much next time!
  • MRSMCAWBER
    MRSMCAWBER Posts: 5,442 Forumite
    Good afternoon all

    Thought I would pop in with my first spend of the month -€39, although that includes 54lt sparkling water (and the deposits I will get back)... so not too bad for 5 days in ....so 4nsds so far:j
    Whilst I have a few minutes I will pop some more of the recipes I have concocted or adapted to make them SW friendly ;) -hope they might be of use to someone....
    Well hubby will be back at work on friday after 2 weeks off, so I will hopefully get back into my routine then.

    I made a lovely frittata/tortilla yesterday using up:-
    • 2 sad leeks
    • an onion
    • a pointy red pepper
    • some very sorry asparagus
    • a pack of feta
    • and 7 eggs
    it made 6 nice servings and wow is it yummy.. I had it today with avocado and some cold tomatoes/onions I roasted in the remoska yesterday... was a little plate of yumminess :j. and hubby likes it too :T
    tonight is layered potatoes and onions in a lamb stock cube -sounds a bit plain -but it is one of my fave things (hubby has cornedbeef in his)... anyway -enough waffle I will get off and retrieve some recipes...
    Have a lovely day everyone...


    -6 -8 -3 -1.5 -2.5 -3 -1.5-3.5
  • MRSMCAWBER
    MRSMCAWBER Posts: 5,442 Forumite
    swmeatlayer.th.jpg
    I made it up as I went along , so some of this might be a little vague redface.gif-so you can adjust it to suit - but here goes....
    Cheese topped minced beef and potato layer
    serves 4 -generously



    free on EE if using cheese as HealthyA
    • 450g minced steak
    • 2 large onions chopped
    • 1 red pepper chopped
    • frozen mushrooms defrosted and squeezed out
    • 1tsp dried mixed herbs
    • 2 stock cubes -I use 1 beef/1 lamb
    • 1/2 carton passata
    • seasoning
    • sliced potatoes -I leave the skins on
    topping
    • 150g ff fromage frais
    • 150g quark -I used one with herbs in
    • 2 eggs
    • seasoning
    • 84g low fat cheddar -2 healthy As (1 for me n 1 for hubby wink.gif)
    Now I made mine in the remoska -but you can just do it in a pan/oven so i will "do" it that way biggrin.gif
    1. Seal the meat in a dry non stick pan
    2. add the onions and cook until translucent
    3. throw in the peppers and mushrooms and cook for approx 10 mins
    4. add the herbs and stock cubes and cook over a gentle heat for a couple of mins
    5. add the passata, stir well and leave to bubble away for about 10-15 mins -stiring occasionaly
    6. transfer into an oven proof dishe/dishes
    7. thinly slice the potatoes and arrange in layers on top of the mince -seaseon
    8. cover with foil and bake in a medium oven until the potatoes are tender
    9. remove the foil
    10. beat the quark, fromage frais, eggs and plenty of seasoning together
    11. pour over the potatoes
    12. bake for 10 mins
    13. add the grated cheese and bake until golden
    I made it sound quite long winded -but its really not... I just waffle 8855.gif
    We had ours with salad, so really it only uses 1/2 a HealthyA per serving-it is soooooooo tasty and filling, and of course you can make variations on it too biggrin.gif -I mean when I think about it..you could swap the potatoes for cooked pasta mmm
    -6 -8 -3 -1.5 -2.5 -3 -1.5-3.5
  • Gorgeestwo
    Gorgeestwo Posts: 537
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    another nsd today :j

    Love that 4 wk meal plan, I wish I could be so organised, I struggle to do one for a week :o but I think I'm going to set aside an evening and go through the recipies at the beginning of this thread as there are some yummy sounding ones there, even if I only start off with 2 weeks at a time, it'll be a great way for me to get organised and for us to venture away for our usual things :T

    Thanks to everyone on this thread for their great tips, I know I'm not great with the tips lol but reading all the things you are all doing is inspiring me to stick at trying to cut our grocery spending down, so a massive thankyou :)
  • mfwin2019
    mfwin2019 Posts: 150
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    Did big monthly shop yesterday in L*dl, 9*p shop,& Mr A so ended up spending £118 out of £185 monthly budget but I am well stocked up & it will just be milk & fruit & veg as I bought lots of meat to make slow cooker batches & flour etc for bread making. Also DH away with work for 2 weeks so that will be a lot less than normal needed.
    Declutter 2023  110/520
    Jan grocery challenge 324.44/350 25.56 spare
    Feb grocery challenge 204.45/280
    March gc 0/310

    23 minutes a day self care, decluttering, tidying or cleaning 
  • Gorgeestwo
    Gorgeestwo Posts: 537
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    Thats looks great Mrsmcawber, that'll definately be on my meal plan :)
  • rachbc
    rachbc Posts: 4,461 Forumite
    Today was planned to be a NSD but walked past the chinese supermarket and remembered we had no sweet chillis sauce -tomorrow is beef stir fry and dh addicted to sweet chilli sauce. Got a huge bottle for £1.65 - much cheaper (and nicer) than s'market stuff - also got cheap garlic, ginger and a jar of tom yum paste for noodle soups.
    People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • MRSMCAWBER
    MRSMCAWBER Posts: 5,442 Forumite
    Luxury cauliflower cheese
    serves 4
    1heA and 1.5 syns per serving


    cheese sauce was:-
    • 375ml semi (1.5x A) -warmed in a pan
    • 5tsp cornflour (5)let down with a drop of the cold milk
    • 1tsp English mustard (0.5)
    • 105g cathederal city lighter-or 70g full fat cheddar (2.5xA)
    • 4 spring onions -cut in chunks-optional
    • seasoning
    1. warm the milk
    2. stir in the cornflour and stir over the heat until thickened (don't try and do it to quickly as it may go gloopy)
    3. stir in the mustard, cheese and onions and stir to combine
    4. season to taste
    Then I lightly steamed (but you can adjust to suit):-
    • chunks of carrot
    • chunks of leek
    • cauliflower
    • broccoli
    let them go cold -gives them time to give off any liquid so your sauce doesn't go runny in the oven wink.gif.
    Tip all the veg into an ovenproof dish, pour over the cheese sauce and bake until golden nomnomnom




    -6 -8 -3 -1.5 -2.5 -3 -1.5-3.5
  • MRSMCAWBER
    MRSMCAWBER Posts: 5,442 Forumite
    Black pepper and lemon chicken goujons
    serves 2 @ 2.5 syns each -on red/EE
    • 2 chicken breasts - cut into strips
    • 1 beaten egg - for dipping
    • 28g dried breadcrumbs (5)
    • grated zest 1 lemon
    • plenty of ground black pepper
    • salt
    just mix the last 4 together and then dunk the chicken into the egg and then the crumb mix and bake -it sereved 2 of us at 2.5syns each -although there were leftover that hubby ate coldwink.gif
    You can make loads of variations on therse by adding parmesan, or using dried herbs, paprika etc
    -6 -8 -3 -1.5 -2.5 -3 -1.5-3.5
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