January 2009 Grocery Challenge

Cat_Addict

Could someone clarify is Mr A Asda or Aldi LOL?

Rainbow_Butterfly

Thanks Weezl those are some really good ideas.

Im a bit fussy with eggs.. made the mistake of watching battery chicken tv programme. I get the tesco free range ones at the mo... are there cheaper ones out there where the chickens have alright welfare?

The green bean idea is good.. I have a bag of those in my freezer actually, so might give that a try next week when all my salad things have run out. I suppose if I cooked it in the oven it would go a bit brown on top?

Im trying to have salad without expensive meat.. just had for my tea, romaine, iceberg, half pepper, half tomato, half onion, with a bit of wenslydale crumbled and dressing.

Any other menu ideas would be fab?

Rowan9

Thinkit's Asda Cat Addict.
\i've come on here for inspiration tonight as I have managed to have a few NSD and then got the leaflet in from Somerfield and thought - oooh half price salmon steaks, half price fruit, blah blah. BUT...I've only got a few £ left in kitty for this month and I am determined to try my best so I am avoiding shopping. I am sure that there will always be another offer as good. Anyway, I have frozen salmon steaks from MrT's last offer and I've decided to have a microwaved banana every evening from my over ripe lot in the freezer rather than buy any more fruit. Still have quite a bit of veg to use up and have milk but running low on bread. I've started using the reduced price pittas in the freezer so I am doing all I can to stay in budget!
Off to read through and see what you have all been up to

miss_keep_counting

angelnikki wrote: »

Bean stews are nice and easy to make. Just saute some onion, add some chopped root veg and cook for a few minutes. Then add a couple of tins of beans (I use pinto beans / kidney beans) and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add enough stock to cover and then simmer until cooked. Serve with rice / mash / jacket potato. yummy recipe here

MrT does chilled value orange juice / longlife value OJ for 56p/litre

You know I have an onion some carrots and some turnips left over from ym bulk soup making which would love to be made into that before they go completely soggy!! I’m going to spend a little on some kidney beans to see how many portions of that I can get, I’m thinking with a few cheap jacket potatoes that may see me till the end of the month with the rest of my frozen meals, thank you!

And you know I’ve never looked at the longlife section sounds miles cheaper!

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Beans of all descriptions are protein-not just your "baked beans" so if you get into a little bulk cooking and you use things like chickpeas this will help. They are cheap and tasty and can be grown sprouted for salads,cooked and made into burgers or used to make veggy curries. I also make a veggy pate from red kidney beans(tinned ones)all good protein without the fat you would get from meat. Both of these beans are good storecupboard items as they keep well and can be bought dried or tinned. Both are cupboard "must-haves" for most of us.

I’d heard of chickpeas but never tried them, are they the type you get dried and soak in water first, they’re sort of off white and round? I’d be interested in making them into burgers, I’m going to google some recipes so thank you for that suggestion, I need to keep myself interested and I’m sick of making soups due to my cooking skills… what do you mean by grown sprouted?

Hmm… not had a good day today, my colleague owed me a coffee so I agreed to go to a caf! only to be told for the second time he’d forgotten his cash :rolleyes: …so £2.30 spent that before I wouldn’t have blinked and eyelid at but seems silly now. At least that’s two owed coffees I may see a return on one day though haha.

Going to pick up some kidney beans tomorrow, raided the freezer and don’t have many days of food left. Decided to write a loose meal plan for next month which is a first!

Free_in_Three

Hello Everyone

Went to Mr T this evening and spent £42 on fruit, veg, milk and gravy powder and 3 packs for a tenner meat for OH. I don't eat meat and we eat veggie probably 4 or 5 meals a week. It's cheaper and I only have to cook one meal. I have also reduced OH meat portions as he is going to W.Watchers and needs to cut back. The meat will do OH about 16 meals if I can manage to get him to eat half a chicken breast at a time.

I hadn't budgeted to buy the meat so it will have to come out of the money I had allocated for Feb. This should be ok as I have lots of stuff in the cupboards and freezer and should not need to buy meat until mid march!

I usually by my dog food tins at Aldi but since I was going to Mr T I thought I would just get enough tins to last until 30th Jan as we used to buy their dog food before I became an MSE'r. I was so shocked at the price 42p/tin :eek: compared to Aldi's 31p tin I didn't buy any and will make a special trip to Aldi on saturday afternoon to get some. That's yet another thing that has gone up in price:mad:

Sorry for the long post.

Free x

Queen_of_NO_MATTER_WHAT

Hiya,

I don't do atkins but I do eat a high protein very low carb diet (no potatoes, flour, wheat, pulses, sugar also no dairy as I have allergies) all of which is very specifically weighed and measured (I eat 16oz cooked vegetables and 24oz raw vegetables per day as well as 14oz protein and 24oz fruit over 3 meals) and I've found it is hugly expensive to maintain but it's made a massive difference to my health (I can't tell you!) and some weight has come off as a bonus. Anyway like you I was finding it very expensive to maintain. Here are a few of the things I've done to cut back and save money, there are only me and my partner in our house and we spend between £50 - £60 a week, which includes all the things he eats that I don't. Hope it helps but please take what you like and leave the rest...

I plan the meals for the week before I shop, breakfast, lunch and dinner, being so specific means I only buy what I need, so instead of just planning what meat for dinner I plan the vegetables also so I know how many courgettes or leeks or turnips (whatever) I need for the week

Instead of doing all my shopping in one place I tend to go to several different places - I get most of my vegetables and fruit from the greengrocers, I usually get enough for the week between £10 and £13, with occassional few pound spent on top up if I'm running low but doesn't often happen.

I make my own salads instead of buying bags, I was suprised how far a white cabbage, red cabbage, a bag of carrots, a lettuce, a cucumber and a bag of spinach would stretch, also grated beetroot (grated myself) onions, salad tomatoes. Much nicer too than bag bought stuff.

I'm starting to use cheaper cuts of meat cooked in slow cooker, I had a pork shank (hock) from morrisons for £1.76, cooked it in the slowcooker and there was loads of meat on there. I'm planning to do the same with lamb shanks next week.

Instead of chicken breasts I buy a whole chicken, roast it for dinner and then strip it, have some for lunch the next day and freeze portions for another time.

I often go to asda, lidl, morrisons, tesco and the butchers for my meat, I don't tend to go to morrisons or tesco often, so I'll buy 3 or 4 of something and put them in the freezer.

I buy asda value eggs £1.50 for 15 and often have eggs for breakfast, another breakfast fave of mine is tinned sardines in oil or brine (32p each)

We eat liver pretty much on a weekly basis for dinner, it's cheap and delish.

Greenbeans roasted in olive oil are delish, I buy them frozen from lidl for 72p a bag

We have a roast every week - beef, lamb, pork or chicken, I'll have a look about for a good deal and the leftovers are always used for lunches and other meals through the week - using leftovers has been a huge money saver

I'm sure there is so much more but I can't think right now, my head is racing with contract exclusion clauses. I'll post more as I think of it.

Good luck though, we've really managed to reduce our shopping bill and don't feel like we're missing out

Keeping_Positive

Hello :wave:

Up to £240 due to some naughty takeaways but only four days to go to my payday so should make it this month:j .

xxvickixx

I love atkins but sadly it is expensive. I would suggest growing some veg and salad if you can, that will save you loads of cash, runner beans and salad worked well for me last summer and I am a total beginner.

Look out for yellow stickers on meat and cook meals straight away for the freezer or portion them up and freeze.

From memory I think you can have soya and tofu on atkins, that might be worth looking at for a protein source.

My last word of wisdom lol! is when I did atkins I loved a gherkin or small bit of pickled red cabbage for a snack and stopped me wanting a huge meal. Probably not good for your stomache lining though!

TheBees

Hi everyone -

Orckney Star - I'm also making an effort to use the local shops. I used the butcher and f&veg shop last weekend and hope to do the same this weekend. Our town is going to turn into a ghost town if we're not careful - woolworths has gone and the holiday camp closed down which means hundreds less people in the town spending. Local businesses are really struggling.

Miss-Keep-Counting - We tried chickpeas for the first time earlier this month when we made Jamie Oliver's chicken curry from his new book. We used tinned chickpeas and they were really nice.

We've got about £17 to last to the end of the month :eek: . The cupboards and fruit bowl are looking really bare and we desperately need things for packed lunches! :eek:

Not long to the end of the month! Keep strong everyone!

furndire

redmel1621 wrote: »

would any of you have used it today regardless of it not being in the fridge??? I know my mum used to make stew or chilli in a massive pressure cooker and just leave it on the cooker and reheat it for a good few days, as did/does FIL...

Mel x

Certainly would not have thrown it away, If in doubt, I would have put it in a pan, and brought to boiling point (if too thick add a drop of water)