October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

philsmum

Dont know if it has been advertised on tele, but in Mr Ms the have a Sunday lunch for £4.00
Fresh Chicken £2.50
McCains Home Roasts 40p
Birdseye frozen peas 400g 40p
4 large yorkshire puds 30p
Fresh Carrots 40p.

They only allow you to have 2 per transaction.
Wish I had a big freezer if only for the peas.

Mrs. Mac,
Have you made a sponge cake in R.E.M.E. yet?
I have tried a few times but no matter how much I grease the tin or silicone
dish they always stick. Any advice please.

I havent used my oven since I had my Remoska, I also bought an induction hob and it is really efficient.
Anyone who is thinking of getting one they are all they say and more about them, there does not seem to be anything you cant cook. Everything tastes so much better. I did lamb steaks yesterday on a bed of sliced potatoes, the lamb tasted like lamb (unusual nowadays) and the spuds were delish.

Sorry for the long post.

ifonlyitwaseasier

thanks for that philsmum, i have a MrM's really close to work now so might get some peas!

spent waaay too much in lidls this evening, well £35 ish, i need to deduct my mum's stuff from the total and then i'll add it to the very high total i have currently. i'm not too worried tho as a lot of this stuff is Xmas related and won't be used for at least another.....month? ihope.

the marzipan in choc is fab for 89p.

hope you're all going well,

ioiwe x

cw18

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

the marzipan in choc is fab for 89p.

Arrrghhhh! I need to stay out of Lidl if they've got that!! Our semi-local B&M Bargains used to sell blocks of this (substantial blocks for about 49p), and I'd regularly make myself feel sick by chomping through 2 or 3 of them in a day -- I didn't get there very often and stocked up when I did, just couldn't leave them on a shelf once they came home

I spent very little on food today (2 boxes of Weetos in Netto - 375g + 60% free, making 600g for £1.98) :T However, I think this was only because my parents gave me over 40lb of cooking apples last night and I know I've no fridge or freezer space for them once I stew them :eek:

I may have to try making some apple jam and/or chutney -- if only I can find some jars (and lids) that have escaped DH's love of throwing them now we have a home collection for these. (When it was recycle at the tip only I managed to horde them, but no such luck for the last 6-8 months !)

I'm also wondering whether I can use the 'baked potato' setting on my combi-microwave to make a baked apple It's something I've not had in years and am getting more of a fancy for the more I think about it. I can't justify running the oven for just one apple (no-one else will eat them) but the baked potato setting doesn't take long for 1 potato -- think it's about 12 mins, but I know it's only 22 mins for 3

*~*Pinky*~*

Hi, I'm new to this thread and grocery budgeting/meal planning. Really want to cut down on our grocery bill and the amount of times that I nip into the Tesco Express around the corner! There are 5 of us (2 adults, 3 boys 8-12) and I estimate that I spend around £500 per month.

The list of recipes on the first page of the thread looks very impressive, I'll take my time looking at them tomorrow.

angelatgraceland

Welcome Pinky! Do keep a spending diary and have some no-spend days(NSDs). Always make sure you cannot run out of bread milk and loo roll as its this little trip that you end up spending £30 or so and wonder why???
Try to use a slowcooker and a breadmaker if you have one and experiment with adding lentils oats and soya mince to suitable meals such as chilli or spag bol. You will cut down enormously. Do visit every day if you can-it keeps you inspired I promise you. There is no competition on here-we are all friendly and helpful so good luck-and if you want to ask any questions there are loads of people here to answer them-even things you may think are silly-just ask away!

CherryPie

Ooh Thanks angelatgraceland for the recipe sounds lovely. :T I may even go and bung it in the SC overnight. But I'll need to miss out the garlic as i'm allergic to it, which is ridiculous cos it's in just about everything. It looks like one of those recipes that turned out different than when it started but even nicer!

And thanks cw18 for the Lidl advice, as a newbie there too I was out of my comfort zone, it not being Tesco. But I'll give it another go soon.

And welcome *~*Pinky*~*, I too am a newbie but after a couple of weeks on here, it doesn't feel like it. Although there are just not enough hours in the day for work, sleep and all the advice on here, but I'm giving it a good try!

gillaman

Spent £3.48 on two packs of Tescos meat-free bacon slices on Saturday but I should only need fruit, veg, milk, Flora and bread flour now so have high hopes of coming in on budget.

I made up a batch of tofu burger mix yesterday, made 10 burgers, had two with sauteed potatoes, peas and some garlic roasted tomatoes and put the rest into the freezer. My previous batch I made with porridge oats, this one with grated potato, celery, leeks and onion so a different texture and taste. Flavoured it with herbs rather than spices. Also have 4 different types of soup (one of which is the carrot, lentil and orange - yummy), a couple of pots of chilli bean spread and lots of frozen roasted tomatoes.

I've been trying to make sure I use my fan oven more efficiently so today I made a loaf of bread, a pizza for dinner and cooked some apples (sadly not from the garden - no tree!) all at the same time. I've left some of the pizza for lunch tomorrow.

Also made some yoghurt last Friday. I find a whole pint of milk makes too much for me so decided to try to make some soft cheese. My recipe said to leave it for about 4 days somewhere warm, e.g. airing cupboard. The result was yuk! Tasted very sour so I threw it down the sink - not very MS I'm afraid but I'll try again. This time I'll just leave it a couple of days. Has anyone else tried to make soft cheese? Advice would be welcome.

eveie189

Morning

I am dead chuffed. I thought this month was going down the pan but it looks like we may be in budget (for the groceries at least) and thats even counting the cost of my new chickens and feed.
Had a NSD on sunday. TBH I wanted to spend money but DH (who would usually say ok then) said "but i thought we were having a NSD"! I think I might finally be getting him trained.
I have also done my weekly menun plan and worked out we only need milk and bread and that's only if I can't be bothered to make any.

Have a nice day
Katie

gtx

having quite an easy time of it this month - only 8 days left for us - i've finally been able to keep dh out of mr m's at lunchtime (promised match tickets with what we save) and even he's impressed at how much we've saved. i've just checked bank statements online and this time last month we were £122 overdrawn and this month we're £75 in credit:T - it's been a combination of gc, no takeaways(they come from diff budget), £60 birthday money and no 'days out' at the metrocentre!

Karb

Some really good progress being made by the sound of it. Well done everybody.

I'm just about on course - I'm budgeting £90 per week then £40 for the last three days of the month & on the last day of week 2 I'm pretty much bang on budget. Would have liked to have been a bit under, but it's certainly better than being way over :-)

No spend on petrol yet but will need to get some either today or tomorrow as I'm running on fumes at the minute.

Otherwise, hoping for a NSD today.