April 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • £3.15 spend to report. Milk and some woopsied sausage rolls down to 15p! Now in freezer all ready for OH pack lunch on a day when I can't be bothered to make sandwiches.

    I made some carrot and coriander soup today, carrots were looking a bit sad in the fridge and I remembered I had some coriander in the freezer.

    New receipe for tea tonight. Basque style Salmon Stew with peppers, baby potatoes, paprika, garlic, thyme and tomatoes. It all cooks in one pot so nice and easy.

    I hope you all have a good day.

    Mothership - Thinking of you x
    GC Mar 11 £437.08Apr 11 £459.26 May 11 £485.52 June 11 £423.79July 11 £409.22 Aug 11 £250.10Sept 11 £396.14Oct 11 £382.37Nov 11 £372.55Dec 11 £332.29 Jan 12 £375.19:Feb 12 £349.58Mar 12 £279.66Apr 12 £249.12May 12 £337.66/Jun 12 £362.58/Jul 12 £317.03/Aug 12 £354.02/Sept £439.72/Oct 12 £210.16
  • Rosieben - You might like this recipe, it has beans and sausages!!

    Pack of Sausages
    1 Onion Chopped
    2 or 3 Carrots chopped quite small
    1 Tin baked beans
    1 Tin tomatoes
    Couple of Rashers of bacon
    Chilli powder
    Small amount of stock (about enough to fill the empty bean can).

    Cook sausages and bacon and chop into bite size pieces

    Add to a casserole dish with beans, tomatoes, carrots, onion, chilli powder (1 to 2 teaspoons depending on how spicy you like things). Give it a good mix and add a little stock.

    Cover and Cook in the oven at about 180 for about 45mins - 1 hour (basically until the onion and carrot are cooked).

    This is really nice with rice or jacket potatoes and it freezes well. Quite economical too, especially if you get the sausages/bacon on special offer and use value beans and tomatoes.
    GC Mar 11 £437.08Apr 11 £459.26 May 11 £485.52 June 11 £423.79July 11 £409.22 Aug 11 £250.10Sept 11 £396.14Oct 11 £382.37Nov 11 £372.55Dec 11 £332.29 Jan 12 £375.19:Feb 12 £349.58Mar 12 £279.66Apr 12 £249.12May 12 £337.66/Jun 12 £362.58/Jul 12 £317.03/Aug 12 £354.02/Sept £439.72/Oct 12 £210.16
  • Kittikins
    Kittikins Posts: 5,335
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    £1.10 - naughty Kittikins, got a leeetle bit tipsy last night and couldn't be bothered to make any lunch for myself this morning, so have had a reduced packet of crisps and a reduced bread roll and a very restorative can of diet coke.......eek! Did buy a reduced loaf of bread that I will stick in the freezer.

    So I've now got £77.20 left for the month and friends coming for the weekend and off work most of next week.
  • rosieben
    rosieben Posts: 5,010
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    edited 6 April 2011 at 11:58AM
    2 great recipes, exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for! thank you WelshWoofer :beer: and tiger :beer:

    I'll add both recipes to the index in a mo ;)

    TheThriftyScrumpers, thanks that sounds good too :beer: another for the index as well as my recipe book :D
    ... don't throw the string away. You always need string! :D

    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Head Sharpener
  • Hippeechiq
    Hippeechiq Posts: 1,103 Forumite
    edited 6 April 2011 at 12:03PM
    Big hugs Mothership :grouphug:
    rosieben wrote: »
    I hope things are improving for you and your dd, I've been sending lots of positive vibes your way
    Thanks Rosie We're having a rough time sadly. :(
    She's been weaning of one anti depressant to go onto another, so she's been having awful withdrawal symptoms physically and mentally - what with that, and trying to get all the necessary paperwork ready for an appeal from the appropriate people, I am completely and utterly exhausted and very low - which is why I've not been posting.

    That said, I've felt a bit more "together" the last couple of days - so please keep sending the positive vibes - I need all the help I can get :)
    rosieben wrote: »
    does anyone have any fairly simple bean recipes please? I'm off meat a bit and have assorted tinned beans from AF (canneloni, broad etc); I found a few ideas on the 5kg tin of broad beans thread but any other suggestions greatly appreciated :D
    Not sure how simple you mean, but I also make a Sausage & Bean Cassoulet - which is quite easy.

    SAUSAGE CASSOULET

    Serves 2
    4 SAUSAGES
    OIL
    1 ONION - finely chopped
    200G (½ TIN) CHOPPED TOMATOES
    400G TINNED MIXED BEANS (or any combination of mixed beans)
    150ML RED WINE
    75ML BEEF STOCK (made from ½ an 0x0)
    ½ TSP CORNFLOUR (mixed with a little cold water)
    PINCH OF DRIED THYME
    BLACK PEPPER (to taste)
    1 TSP LAZY GARLIC

    Grill Sausages to Brown
    While sausages are being grilled, fry onion until lightly caramelised.
    Slice grilled sausages diagonally into 5 pieces per sausage
    Add to frying pan with Tomatoes, Wine, Stock, Beans, Garlic & Black Pepper

    Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.
    Add Thyme, check consistency, and if not thick enough, add the Cornflour mix (I don't find this necessary as a rule) and cook for a further 5 minutes.

    Before serving, check flavour and add additional garlic and a little sugar and salt if required.

    Serve with New Potatoes, Sweetcorn & Chunky Bread to mop up the sauce.

    I also make this
    SPICY MUSHROOM & BEAN CHILLI
    And I've got this for tea tomorrow night
    VEGETARIAN BEAN CURRY
    Aug11 £193.29/£240

    Oct10 £266.72 /£275 Nov10 £276.71/£275 Dec10 £311.33 / £275 Jan11 £242.25/ £250 Feb11 £243.14/ £250 Mar11 £221.99/ £230
    Apr11 £237.39 /£240 May11 £237.71/£240 Jun11 £244.03/ £240 July11 £244.89/ £240
    Xmas 2011 Fund £220
  • First shop of Aoril a disaster went to town to get milk bread salad for daughter and something for tea we've agreed it makes more sense to go to town even for a few things it still works out cheaper but as usual i forgot my list then when i see an item we only get when on offer into the trolley they went when i got to the till i suddenly realised i'd got a lot more than i should of so i asked the till girl to sub total for me £25 and that was before she put the frozen on so i said can i pay for those card declined so tried again thinking i'd done wrong pin nope in end she froze the transactoin and a nice lady took me to customer services where i ended up putting £10 worth of stuff back before my card worked

    In all my years that must be the worst shop day ever never had to put that much back tthen when i got home sat down my daughter put the small shop away and asked why i'd been gone so long i explained then realised it was Tuesday i don't shop on a tuesday which is why not enough money available WON'T make that mistake again

    I've always shopped in town on a mon wed or friday and in holidays sometimes a saturday it hard to believe just 1 day can make so much difference the worst bit is i will still need to go to town to get the items i put back but before i do i wiill check the bank draw out the cash and take my calculator to keep tabs on cost might even split the shop up into a couple of baskets what we need and other at this rate i will be over budget before week 3 and the fridge is practically empty freezer not far behind and havn't paid all the bills yet just topped up leccy meter yesterday cos we were on friendly credit monday night so that took more than usual can't reduce anything else and food budget on £90 is not going to work when the cupboards run down
    going to update my sig
    2nd purse challenge no040£0 Sealed pot challenge ???? £2 trolley find not counting small coins till end year
  • NickJW
    NickJW Posts: 680
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    rosieben wrote: »
    does anyone have any fairly simple bean recipes please? I'm off meat a bit and have assorted tinned beans from AF (canneloni, broad etc); I found a few ideas on the 5kg tin of broad beans thread but any other suggestions greatly appreciated :D
    [/LEFT]
    [/CENTER]

    Hi Roseiben

    If you like fish and chorizo then THIS is a nice recipe :)
    Grocery Challenge Jan 24 0/300

    Grocery Challenge 13 -spent £1453.06
    Grocery Challenge 12 -spent £1565.51
  • Rachel021967
    Rachel021967 Posts: 1,015 Forumite
    £4.50 on cr*p (sweets and fizzy drink. Plus magazine which I'm not including in my grocery spend). £32.03 spent on luxury items for daughters cookery which she intends to give away to her friends. I've told her she is to bring it home for her dad whose going to be made redundant in a couple of weeks.
    £107.95 spent at Asda online. Mainly food for the 1st week of the food plan on love food hate waste website.
    Frivolous grocery spends are Branded tissues, diet cola (can no longer afford the habit) and sparkling water. Will have to get used to tap water. How do you cut back?
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179
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    Forumite
    edited 6 April 2011 at 1:16PM
    First shop of Aoril a disaster went to town to get milk bread salad for daughter and something for tea we've agreed it makes more sense to go to town even for a few things it still works out cheaper but as usual i forgot my list then when i see an item we only get when on offer into the trolley they went when i got to the till i suddenly realised i'd got a lot more than i should of so i asked the till girl to sub total for me £25 and that was before she put the frozen on so i said can i pay for those card declined so tried again thinking i'd done wrong pin nope in end she froze the transactoin and a nice lady took me to customer services where i ended up putting £10 worth of stuff back before my card worked

    In all my years that must be the worst shop day ever never had to put that much back tthen when i got home sat down my daughter put the small shop away and asked why i'd been gone so long i explained then realised it was Tuesday i don't shop on a tuesday which is why not enough money available WON'T make that mistake again

    I've always shopped in town on a mon wed or friday and in holidays sometimes a saturday it hard to believe just 1 day can make so much difference the worst bit is i will still need to go to town to get the items i put back but before i do i wiill check the bank draw out the cash and take my calculator to keep tabs on cost might even split the shop up into a couple of baskets what we need and other at this rate i will be over budget before week 3 and the fridge is practically empty freezer not far behind and havn't paid all the bills yet just topped up leccy meter yesterday cos we were on friendly credit monday night so that took more than usual can't reduce anything else and food budget on £90 is not going to work when the cupboards run down
    going to update my sig

    i can remeber doing this and i just wanted the ground to swallow me up, if your worried about running stocks down could you maybe do an AP order?
    £4.50 on cr*p (sweets and fizzy drink. Plus magazine which I'm not including in my grocery spend). £32.03 spent on luxury items for daughters cookery which she intends to give away to her friends. I've told her she is to bring it home for her dad whose going to be made redundant in a couple of weeks.
    £107.95 spent at Asda online. Mainly food for the 1st week of the food plan on love food hate waste website.
    Frivolous grocery spends are Branded tissues, diet cola (can no longer afford the habit) and sparkling water. Will have to get used to tap water. How do you cut back?

    you could buy a sodastream and make it fizzy tap water :p seriously don't there really expensive:eek:, it might help to list what you bought then we can suggest subsitutes

    btw i only buy branded tissues and real coke/pepsi
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • diet cola (can no longer afford the habit)... How do you cut back?

    I am so with you on this one! Costs me and OH about £30 a month :( As for cutting down, will power I suppose.. not that I have much of that!
    MayGC:£118/£360 April:£283
    CrazyClothesChallenge:£117
    Piggybank:£1,850
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