September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

kymbogs

Hard to believe I'm saying this on September 18th but today is the end of my September Grocery month and the beginning of my October!

Am very pleased to declare at £260.33 for September from a budget of £330. Will trim budget down to £300 for October, I don't want to reduce too far too fast as at the beginning of September's budget we did have quite a few things in the freezer to begin with (pack of 6 chicken breasts etc).

I picked up some bargains in Tesco in town today, at least I think they were bargains lol - 4 large chicken breasts for £1.99 reduced from £4.99, 2 salmon fillets for £1.05 and two x 1lb punnets of strawberries for 99p each which I am going to make jam with and if it works out some of the jam will be included in my christmas-gift food parcels.

I was going to make the jam this afternoon actually but I had not one wink of sleep last night and I don't feel entirely with it so thought I'd better leave it till I am awake!

will update my sig for October stuff tomorrow after my Mr T and Mr O (yes, both of them to take advantage of various money off coupons) deliveries come tonight - hope they don't both turn up at the same time lol!

Good luck to everyone for the rest of your September GC's

Kimberley x

sashanut

Afternoon all
Haven't posted for a while but came on to update sig after a Mr Ms shop today. Got some decent whoopsies though; 2 head of broccoli for 29p, 4 pears 27p, sliced beef 49p, special sausages £1.49.

Whilst I was there I noticed that all the Asian foods: such as rice, chickpeas (tinned & dried), spices, chutney etc etc which are normally good value anyway are reduced by 20% till 5th Oct - this is in the special section, not on the general shelves though. Thought it might b useful to some this month or maybe take a note to stock up for Oct GC?

Have spent £182.14 of GC (£220) so getting on OK as I don't really need anything else; however am going for a free eye test in a large Mr T's tomorrow so have to be strong....

BTW tried the Mr Ts value turkey leg recommended on another thread, it was yummy for sandwich meat & can also make a meal or two from it, plus soup & the skin for the dogs....I am sure so good value for £1.28.

Haven't been to the shops in a week so am like a fiend when let out...grinning like a lunatic at people, I must have spooked some of them! That's what cabin fever does for you, saves you cash but sends you nuts!!

OrkneyStar

mummygems wrote: »

Next thing is cabbage, I have some (again from veg box). I dont mind a little of cabbage but wouldnt want it every day. Can I blanch and feeeze it or does anyone have a recipe that I can use it in (preferably not cabbage soup lol).

Mummygems here are some ideas:
- use it in a stir fry with some chicken, sweetcorn and mushrooms
- make coleslaw with cabbage, carrot, onion
- put it in minestrone soup (make batch for freezer) or veg soup but not cabbage soup lol
- blanch and freeze.
HTH.

Am also on to declare week 3 as £39.25/£40 (so far £117.71/£160)
Last week of Sep for us starts on Friday- have a budget of £40 for that week- hoping to be under as not needing a big shop really, and also have plenty yogs, cheese etc in. Will need milk, bread, maybe some fresh veggies and fruit for DH- see edited part below for how it went!
Next month its back to a monthy budget on here (but trying to set myself weekly limits).
Finally just to say thanks again to Penny, Pink, Angelnikki, MrsM :T for all their help with this thread, everyone who contributes useful GC stuff, and good luck to Rosieben :T (sorry if sp wrong) who I understand is taking over the recipes from nikki.
xx OS
(PS Scottish Coop is doing Auntie Bessies Crinkle Cut Chips BOGOF @ £2, also Clover light @ 99p, and Elmlea double 2 for £1 - normally 95p, hope this helps anyone who, like me, is not in the middle of shopville .)

Edited to say, I did a shop on Friday 19th, the main one of the last week of September for us- spent less than £20 in Tesco . Have updated sig accordingly.

scotsaver

Afternoon everyone - had another NSD today but will have to hit the shops tomorrow for some F&V and some milk.

Dug up the last of my potatoes today so having Cottage Pie tonight which I have bulked out with some Soya Mince - had half a bag left lurking at the back of the cupboard, hoping that the family won't notice as I've also used "normal" mince.;)

Picked some more apples off the tree and made yet another Crumble for Pudding tonight and used the remainder of the apple slices to make those Spiced Apple Bars I was talking about - they have come out really yummy so here is the recipe if anyone wants to give it a go:-

6oz Plain Flour
Half Tsp Salt
3oz Margarine
3oz Brown Sugar

Topping:-

1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Large Cooking Apple
1oz Butter

Sift Flour & Salt & rub in marg to make breadcrumb consistency. Stir in brown sugar and spread mixture over an 8" square, shallow baking tin.

Now mix sugar & cinnamon together. Peel, core & slice the apple and lay over the mixture, sprinkle over the sugar & cinnamon and dot with the butter. Bake for 35 to 40 mins at 200 degrees.

Remove from the oven and cut into 8 bars and allow to cool before removing.

Hope you all have a good evening.:D

scotsaver

Sorry for posting again but forgot to say thanks to BigMummaF for the "crisps" idea, don't know why I've never thought to do that before so shall definitely save my peelings from now on - also never thought of using them in Stock either.

leebarton

Went to Aldi yesterday and bought lots of fruit to try in the dehydrator - spent £8.10. Mr T delivery is due on Saturday - I have just added milk to it, and I hope it will last to the end of the month. Depending on how much it gets reduced with multibuys etc I may just squeeze in under budget, otherwise I might be about £4 over. I have bought lots of baby stuff as well though!

rosieben

mummygems wrote: »

...
Next thing is cabbage, I have some (again from veg box). I dont mind a little of cabbage but wouldnt want it every day. Can I blanch and feeeze it or does anyone have a recipe that I can use it in (preferably not cabbage soup lol). ...

How about Cabbage Gallette - a great recipe - Gingham Ribbon gave the link in one of her menu threads

fertyskids

Hi everyone,

Ive not posted for a while. Just been busy and too tired to go through my reciepts. the 5 students have gone now so im back to feeding the family (5)

IM OVER BUDGET!!!! i need help!!!

Two days before the end of last months budget i did a huge shop £100ish, as the cuboards were not quite full. this is how i shop, i have a fear of empty cuboards.!! So i have included it in this months budget, as ive used the stuff this month. Yesterday i did the same thing, i had enough food until the end of the challenge excpet for F7V, milk. Now i have 2 Freezers full to capacity, all cuboards full and floor to ceiling shelves overflowing in the garage. i didnt need all this food, most of it will be for next month as i have 6 days left of this challenge. The problem is im not meal planning, i find it difficult to think of ideas other than casseroles, spag bol or roasts. If i could work out a menu i would probably be £80 under budget, as i spent £100 yesterday.

how do i meal plean from the cupboards/ freezer. i look and just feeel overwhelmed.

sorry to waffle, if i need to post this somewhere else please can someone direct me. Any help gratefully recieved. thanks karen

rosieben

fertyskids wrote: »

...
how do i meal plean from the cupboards/ freezer. i look and just feeel overwhelmed.
...

How about starting with a list of the meals you know all the family will eat? maybe list what's in your freezer/cupboards and that might give you some ideas? Or you could list the contents (probably best to start a new thread) and ask for ideas for meals - I'm sure you'd get lots of help

I sometimes have just a loose meal plan, like

1 x Roast
1 x sausages
1 x pasta
1 x rice
1 eggs or cheese
1 vegetarian

then I have choices for each day - sausages could be toad in the hole, cowboy hotpot, sausage casserole; the pasta day could be spag bol, lasagne, pasta bake,
and so on through the week. you can adapt each day making the most of what you have in stock.

hth

angelnikki

fertyskids wrote: »

how do i meal plean from the cupboards/ freezer. i look and just feeel overwhelmed.

I do similar to rosieben, each week I always try to have
1 or 2 x fish
1 or 2 x veggie
2 x chicken / turkey
1 x beef
1 x pork / lamb

This thread has lots of ideas on how to organise meal planning: My monthly grocery organisation...

Or you could look at this week's mealplanning thread for more inspiration HTH

Pink-winged wrote: »

Just to let you know that I have added the Guidelines for posting in the Grocery Challenge to the start of the thread.

Thanks Pink :beer: everyone that's just joining the thread will know to try to keep on topic now Good to see SFT's post undeleted too :cool:

Nikki x