July 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,041
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    Soworried wrote: »
    Hi
    Would you post the recipe please. x

    Nigerian red kidney bean stew with a peanut sauce

    I didn't follow the recipe from Madhur Jaffrey exactly, as she used dried kidney beans and I used cans, plus her recipe is for 4-6 servings. The recipe below is what I used and it served me and OH plus leftovers for lunch, so double it will serve 5 easily. Served with a side salad, mint & onion raita and HM bread but she also recommends rice and cooked greens with it. Think it would freeze well and is also nice for lunch the next day!

    1 1/2 cans red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
    1/2 medium onion, chopped
    1 big clove garlic, crushed
    1/2 yellow pepper you're supposed to use green but didn't have one
    1/2 tsp ground cumin
    1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
    250ml passata
    juice of half a lemon
    1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
    Couple of big handfuls frozen sweetcorn
    Soy sauce to taste

    Heat some vegetable oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion, pepper and garlic. Add the passata once softened, and a little bit of water to thin down. Add the spices. Let cook for 10 minutes, then add the sweetcorn and kidney beans and cook for another 5 minutes until warmed through. Mix the peanut butter with a couple of spoonfuls of water in a cup or bowl until thinned, then add to the tomato mix and stir through. Add the lemon juice, a few dashes of soy sauce to taste, then serve. I cut up some coriander on the top to garnish, too.

    Mint and onion raita

    Season a few tablespoons of Greek yoghurt with salt and pepper, add finely chopped fresh mint to taste (I used three big leaves) and a quarter of a small onion, very finely chopped.

    Didn't take a picture today sadly!! We munched our way through it far too fast :rotfl:
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018 | Allegedly attempting to be mortgage free - diary here
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    Thanks Bluegreen, that's one to file away into my 'to try' file!!

    NSD today - didn't need anything, so didn't go shopping! Feel like I should do this more often... (Der!!) I mean, how hard can it be?!

    Went to friend's house for dinner. She provided the dinner, I did pudding. Cue one slightly ood angel delight, some milk that's bb today and some choc covered biscuit drops. Lush! I also had to do the sweets and popcorn for the film we watched, so cue the lo sweets and popcorm from a school movie day! Nice!

    Hoping tomorrow will be as cheap a day as this (except for the car, of course! Thank goodness the MOT is only once a year!). Could do with a few nsds under my belt, as I haven't updated my sig yet, and I know it's prob quite bad.

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • spongy
    spongy Posts: 22 Forumite
    Perhaps I was a little ambitious. I aimed to reduce my £300 monthly spend to £150. That's for me and DD and DS. I'm declaring I came in at £259.11. Way over target!

    Still I've shaved £40 off my grocery bill and have decided to just try and shave off £20 each month.

    Top tips picked up:

    Cheap recipes from this site and others on internet - red lentil pate (yum yum) salmon pasta and HM pizza. All went down well.

    Veg soup made out of anything left over in the fridge - threw mild curry powder in to give it a lift - tasty.

    Cutting expensive washing powder to make it go further - Equal amounts of ariel and any no frills brand and a bag of soda cystals.

    Menu planning/stock taking

    Lessons learned:

    Dont go shopping and forget that you've left all the fresh juice in the car boot when it's 30 degrees outside! Discovered it a few days later :mad: Actually i threw the kids juice out and bought new for them but with mine I took the risk, chilled it and drank it and still here to tell the tale. (Checked it smelt and tasted ok obviously!)

    August:

    New grocery challenge will be a more realistic £240. Will try shopping in Mr L.

    August will be a month of picnics so any picnic food ideas and recipes gratefully received.
    1 single mum, 1 DS, 1 DD.
  • Soworried
    Soworried Posts: 2,369 Forumite
    Thankyou bluegreen, it sounds lovely. x
    £36/£240
    £5522
    One step must start each journey
    One word must start each prayer
    One hope will raise our spirits
    One touch can show you care
  • rosieben
    rosieben Posts: 5,010
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    Bluegreen, I've added your Nigerian red kidney bean stew with a peanut sauce to the list on the August GC (in post #7 for the moment) :beer:
    ... don't throw the string away. You always need string! :D

    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Head Sharpener
  • ikkle87
    ikkle87 Posts: 8,449
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    I'm not sure how much we spent on food in the end as due to a few other things and me miscalculating for how long we needed food for I've got lost lol. Roll on the 10th when I can start again.

    I have however managed to try and stick to a budget and I've managed to do Rubber Chicken for the first time ever. Roast chicken on Sunday, Garlic Chicken pasta yesterday and chicken soup today (left it in the slow cooker over night, was a bit nervous as have never used the carcass before but it's worked and OH said it's really tasty!!)
    You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

    xx Mama to a gorgeous Cranio Baby xx
  • cattysmum
    cattysmum Posts: 1,263
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    My grocery budget for July ended up at £220 which is £20 over budget:o Will try harder next month!!!!
    SPC No. 295 - SPC No10 target £350
    #1603:staradmin/
    SPC 2014 £150/SPC 2015 £256SPC 2016 £324
    Saving for Florida 2018 :j
    Matched betting toe dipper.
  • NickJW
    NickJW Posts: 680
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    edited 31 July 2012 at 3:35PM
    Feel a bit bad

    Mr W accidently came to deliver my food yesterday because they got my day wrong. They called me at work to say that they were outside my house, but neither I nor my housemate were in. They took it back to the store and came to deliver it today because my housemate is off.

    Anyway - my housemate called me to ask me why I had ordered so much (I hadn't). Turns out that they doubled up all the meat and dairy products. The veg and storecupboard items were okay but they delivered:

    4 packs of chicken thighs instead of 2
    4 packs of bacon lardons instead of 2
    2 pork joints instead of 1
    2 packs of stewing beef instead of 1
    2 packs of frying steak instead of 1
    2 packs of diced turkey instead of 1
    4 packs of kings prawns instead of 2
    4 packs of pro-biotic yoghurts instead of 2
    2 4 pints of milk instead of 1
    2 moussakas instead of 1
    6 ready meals (for lunches) instead of 3

    Called up customer services to find out how much I was charged and it's the right amount. Explained to them what happened and they apologized for the inconvenice - asked them if they wanted to collect and they said that it's okay, I can keep it.

    Do feel guilty though - they must have taken a big loss on this mistake! But oh well - I'll be sorted though August at least!!! :D
    Grocery Challenge Jan 24 0/300

    Grocery Challenge 13 -spent £1453.06
    Grocery Challenge 12 -spent £1565.51
  • Soworried
    Soworried Posts: 2,369 Forumite
    That is fantastic Nick. :) Don't feel guilty they throw out thousands of pounds worth of food a day and still make a profit. Enjoy it, I think it will taste even nicer knowing it is free.
    £36/£240
    £5522
    One step must start each journey
    One word must start each prayer
    One hope will raise our spirits
    One touch can show you care
  • meg72
    meg72 Posts: 5,164
    First Anniversary First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    Wow Nick, dont feel guilty you offered to let them collect it and they gave it you, enjoy it.
    Slimming World at target
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