August 2008 Grocery Challenge

gunsandbanjos

cammumof3 wrote: »

Morning all

I have a bm, so even though I use now and again I think I may start using it a lot more.
Saves buying the bread and then it goes bad. I have 1 loaf in the kitchen that has gone bad, I have no clue why it wasnt put in to the freezer.

I find my home made bread lasts a lot longer than shop bought bread too, doesnt go hard at the corners and takes ages to go mouldy(if it lasts that long!)

cammumof3

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

I find my home made bread lasts a lot longer than shop bought bread too, doesnt go hard at the corners and takes ages to go mouldy(if it lasts that long!)

Your right on that one, when I have made my own bread it dont last long at all lol

I dont know if its my portions or what but my bread comes out as a little square loaf, not very big at all, does yours come out like that ?

Astonished_2

Morning All

Thought I would share this recipe with you...if you grow your own courgettes this can be made for the price of a stock cube!

I've never made it before as I didn't think it sounded too appealing, I mean, not very 'sexy' is it 'Courgette Soup' but I am completely converted after making it yesterday!

Courgette Soup (tastes like 'summer in a bowl')

Chop about 1lb of courgettes (can be roughly chopped as the whole lot is 'blitzed' later anyway!)

Bring 1 pint of water to the boil, crumble in a stock cube or use a pint of home made veg stock if you have some handy! (if you use a gluten-free stock cube this recipe is suitable for coeliacs, gluten intolerants etc).

Drop the courgettes into the water and cook for about 7 minutes (or until soft).

'Blitz' with a blender and your soup is ready for scoffing!

It is delish served like this but can also be 'jazzed' up a bit by adding a 'dollop' of creme fraiche (stir in just before serving).

Cheap as chips but very tasty and with the added bonus that it can be frozen!

WelshWoofer

Morning!
I'm declaring at £100.88p for August - just 88p over budget!

My September budget will be a trial budget of £160 as OH has now moved in.
This will start on Saturday 30th August and end on Saturday 27th Sept - 4 weeks at £40 a week. I'm not sure whether this will be too much or not enough as I'm going to be shopping for the two of us and he's a meatie and I'm a veggie - we'll see?

I have enough food and toiletries to see us through this week and probably into next week but I'll do a shop on Saturday and see how it goes.

The move went quite well - all tidied away apart from a few bits still in boxes but not too bad so far.

Tonight will be a giant pot of veggie 5 bean chilli (he's playing footie so won't need feeding) that will hopefully last for a few evening meals and a lunch for work.

Back on the diet in earnest yesterday - the weekend went a bit haywire with the move, some celebratory drinks on Sunday and a Sunday lunch in the pub - weighed today and appear to have stayed the same so hopefully not too much damage done! Have lost 10lbs now so only 5 or so more to go......

Have a great day,
R

*BigBird*

Morning all

It's my birthday today I've done very well on GC prezzies. Apart from the patio-gro thingy, OH also got me a fancy Jamie Oliver silicone muffin tin so I can now have a go at making them. My friend came over yesterday and had bought me a chilli plant, which has loads of little chili peppers on it. So many that I am thinking I might have a go at making something like chilli olive oil with them to give as Xmas presents.

Today we are going to Zizzi's for lunch, with a 2-for-1 voucher and then to the cinema as we have 2 vouchers for £1.50 off a ticket. So a very MSE birthday

Not quite at the end of my August budget yet, but it's blown already and I still have a few more things to buy later this week, so will work out exactly how much over budget I am at the end of the week. We'll need beers for watching the rugby league cup final on Saturday (come on Saints!!!!:T), and I have also promised myself a M&S pizza for while we're watching that. Then footie on Saturday. OH is a Spurs fan and friends are coming over who are Chelsea fans - OH says he will need LOTS of beer to get through that one! Think food for that afternoon will be a chilli using some of the chillis off my new plant

I need to go through the freezers sometime this week and start making my September meal plan. It's a 5 week month for me as I normally shop on a Monday. I also need cat food, which I buy in bulk on t'internet. Can I go for £350 for September, please Mrs M

gunsandbanjos

cammumof3 wrote: »

Your right on that one, when I have made my own bread it dont last long at all lol

I dont know if its my portions or what but my bread comes out as a little square loaf, not very big at all, does yours come out like that ?

I only make the dough in my BM, then i cook it in the oven. I have a humongous 3lb loaf tin which makes proper big loaves:D Lasts about 2/3 days in here, depending who needs sandwiches/toast etc.

sashanut

*BigBird* wrote: »

Not quite at the end of my August budget yet, but it's blown already and I still have a few more things to buy later this week, so will work out exactly how much over budget I am at the end of the week. We'll need beers for watching the rugby league cup final on Saturday (come on Saints!!!!:T), and I have also promised myself a M&S pizza for while we're watching that.

Many happy returns of the day BB......we will also be rooting for Saints at the weekend, not Saints fans but since our team has no hope of getting to the CCFinal or GFinal we adopt them as our second team LOL.:rotfl:

7 no-spend days - a record for me! But it has come to an end with a visit to the local shop for milk (£1.40:eek: ) - did get the last bottle of whole milk to water down tho, so a bit MSE. Later on will be visiting Lidl for F&V as DD keeps nagging, will just have to watch it. Still within budget - if I do one month with ome left over - it's a miracle:T Not sure yet when month will end, probably try to go another week till Sept 1st if poss....

Herewegoagain

echelon101 wrote: »

Hi,

I am only going to be starting to lower my shopping bill from £24 per sunday to £15 for September, so can I be down for £60 for September 2008. Pretty please. Going to try to hit the magic £10 in October.

5 - F+V a day
20g+ protein per meal.

Echelon, how do you do it? I thought I was doing very well on £100.00 per month!
well done:D
HWGA x

Sian_the_Green

cammumof3 wrote: »

But I have in my freezer loads of chicken breasts and 1 lot of beef mince.
Can any one help me in making something different from cottage pie and chicken casserole, as I am board of these now lol

I have potatoes, tomatoes, onions, celery, eggs, cheese, various veg.

Hi Cam, have you seen the recipe index that Angelnikki has put on the first page of the challenge? It has loads of things that could be made with chicken and mince. >One that has come to me was moussaka with the ingredients you have, using layers of potatoes and mince with cinammon and herbs and the really light moussaka topping you make with egg.
>What about fajitas with the chicken? Really easy and Mrs M's tortilla recipe is great for homemade ones.
>Or a curry with the tomatoes and onions and some spices.
>There is a great chinese chicken that you can make by mixing up equal amounts of honey and soy sauce with a little chinese 5 spice, just chop chicken into small pieces and marinade in the sauce for an hour then stir fry with some veggies.
>I like the recipe finder on the sainsbury's website where you can put in your ingredients and it suggests things you can do with them
HTH

gillaman

Herewegoagain - sorry to hear of your bereavement. Hope you're OK
Cammumof3 - no idea why your carrot leaves have turned red, but it might just be the variety. Some carrots have green cores for the same reason. Do the carrots look OK?
BB - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Lost track of my nsd's but Sunday was one, yesterday another and no reason why today shouldn't be one as well. Might have to buy milk before my first big shop of September.