January 2009 Grocery Challenge

weezl74

Rainbow_Butterfly wrote: »

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?

Hi RB,

Some of the old-stylers on here find that local farm eggs are sometimes as cheap as the 'value' supermarket eggs (or nearly!). If you take along your own cardboard egg tray, they might also knock off a few more pence!;)

Growing rocket is according to Jamie Oliver do-able all year round, so another idea would be a rocket salad with a can of smartprice tuna and a dollop of mayonnaise, that would be a meal under 40p...:money:

Cheese can be pricey, but making homemade paneer (indian cheese) out of UHT wholemilk is quite easy (it's a bit like unsalted feta!) and is very nice stir-fried with spinach, garlic and onion, in the dish 'Saag paneer'. If you search this forum for 'homemade cheese' you get to an excellent post by Sarahsaver explaining how to make paneer!:T

Hope those ideas are useful, we'll all keep our thinking caps on for you!

Love Weezl x

ethansmum

How are you cooking the Liver please?

maltesers_2

The best way to cook liver is quickly. I slice up onions and fry them until coloured then add the thinly sliced liver turning frequently. It cooks in a few minutes. I usually add gravy to the pan and serve with green veg and mash (for hubby).

Another way, one which I was taught at school in the 60s, put slices of liver (we used pigs liver then but I find it a bit strong)in a roasting pan, put some sage and onion stuffing on top and cover with streaky bacon, pour a little water in so it comes nearly up to top of liver, and bake for about 30 mins.

Moniker

Hello everyone - just updated my signature. I have been to Sainsbury's this morning and they are still doing the 1% milk for £1 for 4 litres. They are also doing offers on Sanex bath and shower stuff - a big 750ml bottle for just £1.31. Have managed to stay in budget so far - partly helped by the fact that DH has been under the weather and off his food. Just a bad cold which took about a week to come out - but it's not like him not to want to eat - so I know he wasn't just currying sympathy! Anyway, I am optimistic about coming in under budget this month. A week or so ago the Times had a booklet which gave info about Ocado - they say they match Tesco prices. There is a code for getting £15 off your first shop (min £60 spend) which I am going to try and use for my first 'bulk' shop of February (which will be on 30th Jan for me). This is the code if anyone else wants to try it: VOU9104705 Off to work shortly, but at least I finish by 7 tonight and I have a shepherd's pie ready to wack in the oven when I get in. Good luck everyone. Love Moniker

Kiwisaver_2

Stretching the last of my few dollars out before I will admit defeat. $1.99 spent today on a bunch of spring onions.

Just bread, milk, rolls and some fruit to get now.

Spent most of day mulling over bank statements and wondering how I can make this easier for myself, because have two heavy months coming up with visitors staying for a whole MONTH mid February til mid March. The downside of being an expat is everyone wants to come for very long FREE holidays and expect you to be in holiday mode too, eating out, entertaining, alcohol, BBQs etc.

They go home having had a lovely cheap break and I end up run ragged, waiting on hand and foot, whacked and poor! :eek:

Moniker

redmel1621 wrote: »

Hi All

Since Tuesday I have spent another £29.59, almost £10 of that was on complete rubbish...ds1 has guitar lessons on Tuesday at 4pm, which doesn't give us enough time to go home and back again after school, so we end up just roaming over the road to the shop and buying pasties, sweets, pop etc...I will have to come up with a plan to combat this!!! although it won't be so bad in the warm/dry weather because we can just hang outside on the grass and play are until he goes in.

I have updated sig and have almost spent the budget already, I still have 15 days to go till the next month starts for me. I really need to try and adjust the way I have shopped for next month. I do feel like I have wasted a fair bit of money on stuff we haven't actually needed, or could have got cheaper.

Mel x

Have you thought about going to your local Library instead? It's free, and warm and they could do their homework while they wait - or is it too far away from the guitar lessons?

Just a thought - I write as a Librarian!

Moniker

sashanut

Well I have officially gone over budget since yesterday; though instead of giving up as per usual I will keep counting & posting so at least I know how much I've spent. This overspend is mainly due to a visit to MrTs yesterday (£23.25) to stock up on stuff we don't sell at work (M&S) - I too was quite shocked at the price increases I could see - the large tins of dog food we normally get (the cheapest) were up from 78p to 90p per tin, cat food 12 tins for £5 (was £3.78 not so long ago), dried milk £1.99 etc etc. On the plus side got 5 energy-saving bulbs for 40p, value toothpaste 17p & have gone back to loose-leaf tea for 67p a pkt (messy but much nicer), still have a few tbags for single cups.

then went into work & spent a further £13.56 in staff shop, stuff is now half price instead of quarter price, no-one knows why Will be going in to stock up next week most days as it could be my last week there - also no info on that although the rumour says they will keep some people on but only till end Feb & that's it :eek: I will need to really reorganise the freezers to make some room & of course the GC will be totally bust :rotfl:

Good luck to all you GCers & hang on in there we are all doing great :T

OrkneyStar

ethansmum wrote: »

How are you cooking the Liver please?

I suggested liver but don't eat it myself, although maltesers seems to know exactly how to do it :rolleyes:.
I don't think you can freeze liver when you buy it as it often says not too (think it has been frozen already in the process of packing maybe).

maltesers_2

You can freeze liver if it is fresh. I always buy it from the butcher's counter because the prepacked liver comes in larger sizes. Just check with the butcher whether you can freeze it. Liver is something else that doesn't sell well and is often found on the reduced counter. I often buy little bags of liver for 10 or 20p in Tesco, divide into portions and freeze them.

Galaxy863

Hmm not sure if I'm going to make my target this month ( and I REALLY need to as I've just booked a weekend away in June which I need to find the money for )

Have spent £71.09 in Tesco's since my last update and £37 on petrol which brings my total to £204.27 for the month so far. Good news is I have done a meal plan and have enough food in for 21 evening meals! Probably more is I didn't go through the freezer properly. We tend to just have sandwichs etc for lunches when at work so I made need to top up on sandwich fillers but really I shouldn't need much at all until mid February hopefully. Also I don't think we'll need any more petrol this month, a tank tends to last 2 - 3 weeks and we only filled up at the weekend. Anything left over from the budget is going towards paying for the holiday ( It's only £300 so not too bad, I just really needed a break! )