November 2008 Grocery Challenge

Hawthorn

It helps if you have access to a range of different stores too....I do most of my shop at ASDA, but there are certain items that I buy from tesco and Lidl too - loo rolls for instance...Lidl do (I think it's a 20 pack) for less than £1.50. This is by far the cheapest I have found. I go and get a fivers worth when we get down to the last pack.
If you have a home bargains nearby, you can get cheap toiletries and toothbrushes etc if you aren't bothered what brand they are. I got my 13 yo a can of deodorant (same size as lynx) for, I think it was 30p! You can cut down on your sweet pudding cost easily - bake it! Much nicer, and in my experience if you follow the recipe it's difficult to go wrong. Baking cakes/buns/puddings is more of a science than an art LOL. You could make a big sponge pudding, seperate it up into single portions, and freeze the rest. I love sponge pudding - takes a few minutes to whip up, then five minutes in the microwave and it's done.
Soups are hearty and filling - serve with crusty bread rolls (buy part baked, they are quite good if you are no good at bread making). You can make them with a variety of stuff, they are tasty, and healthy.
Last nights tea for example was a 'use up' meal. I had veg that was beginning to age a little, and a leftover chicken carcass from the night before. I removed the meat from legs/wings/back, boiled carcass up, then added the meat and veg. In it went two leeks, a few sticks of celery, a few carrots, three or four potatoes, a couple of sweet potatoes, a few small parsnips and a third of a swede. Season, add a little cream and serve with a crispy dumpling. I served six of us, totally on leftovers that a few months ago would have been wasted

edited to add - you can do this I feed six of us on a budget of £250 per month (which includes ingredients for cleaners, laundry and basic toiletries), and we have a dog too.

TheBees

Popped into the Co-op for some basics including milk, fruit and cat food. Picked up some reduced gammon steaks (2 for 45p) :j and some reduced bread rolls. We now have £8 to last until the 30th and I think for the first time in months we may just come in on target. Hooray!

Also got two tins of Quality Street for £8 which will be used for pressies or a raffle prize.

mummy2mygirls

cuddlymarm wrote: »

Hi everyone

Well the freezer (only a small one) is now full and the xmas cake, pud etc are all bought so now I'm going to concentrate on topping up my tins and working at getting cheaper meals. The turkey is ordered from local butcher and I pick that up on Xmas eve and my 2 grownup boys are only home for a few days over Xmas so I'm buying bread, cheese, veg etc as I need it. Hopefully this will mean less waste. My aim is to use things that I have paid for rather than run up bills (so I use the wood burner rather than the CH and the tumble dryer is strictly for emergencies) and use leftovers and try not to waste anything at all (so soup from veg peels etc, thank goodness for slow cookers)

Have a good week frugallers
Cuddles:rotfl:

sorry to ask a dumb q for some im sure, but can you use veg peels to make soup?? i didnt realise this (new to all this money saving!!!) any good recepies for these soups?? I have read about the chicken carcus, so could you potentialy do a soup from all your left over roast bits??? like i said sorry if its a obvious question....
thanks for any replies??
xx

msb5262

Hi Mummy2mygirls,
This is my first post on this thread - I'm so impressed with everyone's ideas and determination! You ask about soup: yes you can use veg peels but make sure you scrub the veg well before peeling, and cut off any muddy/dodgy bits. Likewise chicken carcasses etc. I always save all bones/skin/jellied juices/leftover gravy from roast chicken, then bung it all in a big pot with cold water, a pinch of salt, a bay leaf, and if possible some bits of carrot, celery, parsley and onion (including the golden skin of the onion - great for colour). Cook for at least an hour, ideally longer, on a very low light or in slow cooker. Same method for vegetable stock using peel. You would need to add more vegetables or maybe some lentils or other pulses, then whizz if you like, to make a soup as opposed to a stock. HTH.

Olliebeak

Hello and welcome blondy24 - the Grocery Challenge is a great place to start and a very supportive thread. I don't take part in it very strictly, but I do read it and use many of the tips that people offer up. I've greatly reduced our food bill (2 adults and a fussy cat!) - in fact this month I'm doing the Storecupboard Challenge because my cupboards/freezers are so full that there's no space for Christmas goodies . 18mths ago, when I first joined the board, that would never have happened - there just wouldn't have been any food left at the end of any month.

We are now eating much healthier than we did and for far less money. If only I could wean the cat off his Whiskas 'Oh So Meaty' - but he's just not having any of it .

mardatha

WHat can you add cream to ? I find that weird, to add cream to a savoury meal. What does it do ? When do you add it ? What can't you add it to ?

gazza975526570

cream - sauces, curries etc

Olliebeak

Good in soups too .

Hawthorn

You add it right before serving
I add it to soups, sauces, curries, pasta sauces, mashed potatoes. It's very nice and adds a richness.

Just as a quick example, in the days we could afford steak (lol) I used to lightly fry mushrooms and onions in butter, add garlic puree, add cream, thicken with cornflour, then season and serve. You could do it by making a roux as well, I would have thought, but that was my 'quick easy' way of doing it.

mardatha

Can you add it to any soup ? Even carrot ?? Cheap white sauce mix ? TY all who answered !