October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

OrkneyStar

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi all

Just a quick one... Mum says that when she was in asda today..princess extra lean cornedbeef was on at £1.08 -which she says is cheaper than the "cheap" stuff now :T thought it might b of use -especially as its cornedbeef hash weather

Wow, we have to pay £1.69 for the 340g tin in the Coop- this said it is Princes stuff and its pretty good is it not ?
I am paying slightly more for some things these days- but its mainly cos the l want to support the local shops a bit, also the diesel for the trip to Tesco (approx 26 round mile) weighs out the cheaper prices unless its a big shop!
We had a lovely walk down the town today with DS in the buggy and DH too (off work this week)- a nice OS way of keeping DS amused too . We have no Asda here .
(Yet another example of why GC is harder in rural areas- yet I would not chose to live anywhere else!).

BigMummaF

On the lentils & oats debate, I tried a little experiment this week when I made up a cottage pie. I always dry-fry the mince first while the water is warming in the pan--think my nan used to say putting hot meat into cold water made it tough but some things are just 'habit' to me now

Anyhoo. This time I put the red lentils into the pan too & when they'd started bubbling, crumbled in a beef stock cube....carried on as normal with all manner of veg going in the pot with the beef, then put in the 'ahh' gravy powder & let it bubble a bit. The oats were last in the pot & I just added enough to thicken the mix.

No2 is my 'difficult' eater & has declared that "there's not a lot of meat in this" before now, but thoroughly enjoyed this dinner, asked for seconds :eek: & said it was the best one I've ever made.

Moral of the story for me is...take a bit of time to think sideways & approach ingredients from a new angle

MRSMCAWBER

angelnikki wrote: »

Its the 200g lean corned beef that are £1.08 not the normal size ones which are 340g £1.54

Mum got the big tins for £1.08 :T
Just double checked with mum -made her get her receipt and check :rotfl: and IT IS the BIG tins that she got for £1.08 -go on ladies -get stocked up

curly_cabbage

Afternoon all

I've strayed 2 days in a row (Hangs head in shame) and spent £28.30 never mind all stuff for frezzer so it wont go to waste. Off to update signature and hunt for a choclate cheese cake recipes for tomorrow night when friends are over for dinner.

CC

phizzimum

cazspatch wrote: »

right gotta keep going

yup, keep going and keep posting too! let us know how you're doing and don't worry about trying to change everything at once. better to make small changes that you can stick to.

Allegra

fizzel81 wrote: »

i have no idea what were going to do till its fixed, im so cheesed off as i cannot even keep milk cold

Do you live in a house or a flat ? House - shed, back garden - even when it gets sunny, it's still cold in the shade. Flat - put it in a carrier bag and hang it out of the window.

angelnikki

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Mum got the big tins for £1.08 :T
Just double checked with mum -made her get her receipt and check :rotfl: and IT IS the BIG tins that she got for £1.08 -go on ladies -get stocked up

Its not showing on asda.com or mysupermarket.com which is where I checked. might just be a regional thing or just not showing online yet.

I stocked up on corned beef in the summer when they were BOGOF @ £1.19 (I only ever buy corned beef / tuna on BOGOF)

meanmarie

Various 'bitty' shops have left me with a total spent of €249.23...so just over €50 to keep us going for the rest of the month...will need eggs, milk and other stuff but will be doing a meal plan from the freezer and cupboards first so might just make it...

Marie

Allegra

cazspatch wrote: »

i have just done a massive calendar for November to Meal Plan for the month - putting in all busy nights.

That's what I have started doing a couple of months' back, and I can't believe the difference it's made. I cook when I have the time - which isn't all that often, but between the slow cooker, the breadmaker and the freezer those few occasions are sufficient to feed us all the rest of the time. And it means that we only have beans on toast or something with chips if we want them, not because I have no time/energy to cook something a bit more complicated....

belfastgirl23

Hi everyone

Just popping in to declare another spend of £35.32. This included a big Lidl shop - I had to drive past it today for work so decided to pop in when I was there. And got enough oatcakes and tinned tomatos to last at least a month. Anyway this leaves me with a total spend for October so far of £124.19 out of £160. I will have to spend a little more tomorrow probably - I'm cooking dinner for some friends and suspect I'm going to need a few bits and bobs more although I have almost everything (I hope). but only one more weekend after this one in October so hopefully should make it. My cupboards are also full to groaning - in fact I could do with doing an inventory in the next week or so - so I might manage a superfrugal November in preperation for December!

Hope you're all doing well too!