January 2009 Grocery Challenge

princess_leia_3

Elizabunny - the icon choice is below the box where you type your message so you may have clicked it without realising!


I am going well so far, with only one big Mr T shop so far :j I have another £6 to add for milk and F&V and will need more for sunday too but should be a nsd tomorrow :T

Good tip about using marg tubs for freezing...I am always running out of plastic tubs so thanks Allegra

mummy2mygirls

Also just wanted to say a thank you for the marg tubs idea!! Hadnt even thought about it but had finished a big one this morning and was think what i could use it for.....

rosieben

princess_leia wrote: »

Elizabunny - the icon choice is below the box where you type your message so you may have clicked it without realising!

and you can delete it, just press the edit button at the bottom of your post

meanmarie

Spent €4.50 on bacon this morning, will cook with bokchoi and onions for dinner this evening.

Marie

elizabunny

princess leia and rosieben -thank you very much for that. I have now changed it. I was beginning to think someone was giving me the thumbs down for having dipped into my grocery budget so much this month. Now there's an idea to keep us all on track:rotfl: :rotfl:

cw18

Allegra wrote: »

CW18 - in answer to your question, I am a bit useless at working out what amount of food I would get simply from the weight of food involved (especially since I tend to just chuck random stuff in and then forget all about it when it all slow-cooks down) - but of it helps, I freeze food in empty 500g margarine tubs (leaving about 1/2 inch empty at the top) - this, when thawed and reheated, will do for a meal for me and t'other half - so, it makes two portions. We will have this with half a cup of rice per person (dried weight), 125g pasta per person (dried weight), or two medium potatoes per person.

Probably not so far off you then. As I was freezing in individual portions I put bags in each of 8 such marge tubs, and ended up using 7 of them (so 9 portions in total). But I didn't have space in the freezer for 7 tubs (been freezing mammoth quantities of carrots, mushrooms and bacon this last couple of weeks), so have ended up with two bags in each of 3 tubs (which would easily take the tub lids despite having two bags, so probably about the same volume of food as you'd put in), and one tub with just one. I used to use this quantity to feed 2 adults, one young teen, and two boys under 10 for just one meal :eek:

Allegra wrote: »

Incidentally, it's good to see you about again - I was getting a bit worried about you as I hadn't seen you on here for a while - but again, I hadn't been on that much myself as real life has been too exhausting to even contemplate cyberspace lately...

Thanks for the concern Haven't been on this thread as much as I'd hoped for a few reasons -- been busy with GDs now they're back at school, plus still have some legal paperwork I'm fighting with (hopefully all done and dusted next week). Elder DS finally went back to barracks last Sunday, so that's made life a little quieter this week :rolleyes2 On top of that I'm having to have a major sort out ready for a new bed coming tomorrow. As a result my 'keeping accounts' has suffered a little, but I still have all my notes and receipts so hope to get my s/sheet up to date (and signature totals updated) at the weekend.

elizabunny wrote: »

cw18 - I think this would probably do us for 12 adult good sized portions. As I would probably cook this with the veggies i.e carrots, swede etc., all in, I would not be adding anything else to it apart from a few potatoes. If you're adding all your extra veggies and mash after, you would probably be able to stretch the quanities you've given even further.

If I'd cooked the carrots (or peas and sweetcorn) in it like I considered, then I know for a fact DS wouldn't have eaten them -- as they'd have tasted too much of the kidney. I get away with adding veg into mince (for mince and mash) or sausage casserole or lamb stew, but that's just about it !! Would never add brocolli or cauli or sprouts into anything though (nor swede/turnip as neither of us can stand the taste or texture of them)

According to my Dad, we only "need" 2oz of red meat a day (or 4 oz poultry or fish) in order to get our requirements from them -- so in theory what I cooked should have made around 23 portions No way I'm ever going to get it to stretch that far, but think (by using a 'level ladle' rather than a 'rounded ladle') I could possibly have managed 10 instead of the 9 I did.

elizabunny

cw18 wrote: »

If I'd cooked the carrots (or peas and sweetcorn) in it like I considered, then I know for a fact DS wouldn't have eaten them -- as they'd have tasted too much of the kidney. I get away with adding veg into mince (for mince and mash) or sausage casserole or lamb stew, but that's just about it !! Would never add brocolli or cauli or sprouts into anything though (nor swede/turnip as neither of us can stand the taste or texture of them)
.

cw18 -I can see your point. You can only stretch things as far as the added extra's will allow you to and when I suggested 12 portions this is because I do stretch things endlessly because DH doesn't mind what I put in -within reason of course. I think over the years we have become used to less meat and I even considered for a brief time becoming a vegetarian, but I think that was just a bit too drastic for us because although we do have issues with animal welfare, we do also like meat/poultry. Sorry, getting on to a whole new subject here.

Anyway just to update, I've just made two quiches from the leftover bacon and the frozen leftover pastry. Just cooking these now, so that will be one for tonight and one for the freezer. Trying to rebuild my freezer stocks now after the battering at Xmas.

Jaycee1972

Hiya

Not doing so well this month with the much reduced grocery budget!

I think 150 a month is more realistic but I look like blowing that too if I am not careful! Still I have stocked up on soap powder which was on offer and some hair care stuff (dye and serum) which I hadn't accounted for. Also baby fruit pots which my boy likes were on offer and I got extra cat food which I won't need until next month.

Tesco have sent me codes for extra points and I have had a delivery today shared with my mum which makes my spend less. I was very good and when I had filled my trolley I went back through it saying no I don't need this or that and deleting them

Every little helps!

On a brighter note, I am on target for spending less fuel than planned as I had just filled up at the end of December.

orchid-96

Just back from MrT's £19.30 lighter, pretty pleased that I stuck to my list today (bar a bag of value bananas but I had forgotten to put them on anyway).. It seemed very quiet in there today, which I thought was unusual as Thursdays are normally quite a busy day..

Going to cook a chilli today for dinner and then freeze some for dinner next week, thanks for the tip about the marge tubs, I can't believe I was just throwing these in the recycling!!

Just need to go to Aldi now tomorrow or saturday for some of their great f&v on offer and a couple of bits like vino :beer: so need to meal plan later to make sure I can keep out of the shops for as long as possible...I am aiming for several nsd's next week...

off to update sig and cook that chilli....

fatcattaff

Just updated my signature for the day. Spent a whopping £54.96 at Mr S BUT in my defense, this week it's my daughter's 8th birthday, so I had to buy pizza, special bread, chocolate digestives (o.k. I didn't have to buy those) and cake baking ingredients.

I also bought 12 boxes of cereal. I know that's excessive, but we use it so quickly and it's half price right now, so that's £12.24 spent, £12.24 saved. Hopefully, that'll help with next months grocery bills. I also bought the fab Cif cleaners (2 of) at 98p each, less than half price. Plus a huge vat of Sainsbury's gold coffee for £5.99. which is £1.20 per 100gs, so much cheaper than anything else out there and just as good imo.

They also had 1% milk for £1 for 4 pints or 2.27 litres. That's the best value I've seen anywhere. Mind you, their Cucumbers have gone up to £1 :eek: I didn't buy one. I figured my girl could do without and I'll try again elsewhere.

Somerfields have Charmin on at half price, so that's where the toilet roll's coming from this week. So I'll be shopping again tomorrow. I also need sunflower oil to bake the cake with. No-one knows where I can get this cheaper do they? It's an arm and a leg job at Sainsbury's, but I suspect I'll end up buying it from Somerfields tomorrow and paying even more, unless someone's got any smart ideas.

Right...off to collect the girl.