January 2009 Grocery Challenge

MRSMCAWBER

Evening all

Orkney - I now use similar quantities of meat to you... I did sausages today and did us 2 good quality ones each with carrots n onions in the remoska, and served it with yorkshire, a bit of mashed potato/swede and brussels and hubby said 1 1/2 each would be plenty ..then if thats still too much we will then go onto 1 sausage each :rotfl: ..
It works well for us -because it means hubby still gets meat most days , but in smaller amounts -so its better for our health as well as our purse strings
I have noticed that if I do meals without meat in -hubby gets hungry again in the evening ..even if I use pulses etc... so this is a good way of working :T

I did extra potato/swede and vegies with dinner -to bubble n squeak in the remosk tomorrow with some of the joint I roast and froze in slices at the wekend
The snow is still keeping us in we have about 6" and it snowed again earlier ..and -15 temperatures make me soooooo glad I have a well stocked kitchen..if this weather keeps up I won't be spending much more before February comes around :j
hope everyone is well

clareybabble

WOW! Thanks everyone you've all been a real help! To comment on a few things...

I want to try grocery challenge but am too scared I will go loads over and look stupid! I have made a list of all our food (including some out of date (best before) dried herbs and spices, some left over marzipan, golden syrup and loads of mincemeat...not sure how I can make those into dinner but it's my mission to find out!) so I'm going to try and use everything up before buying new. Will also try to freeze as many extra meals as I can and use up the 3kg froz chicken I have taking up valuable space!

Nappies - yes my 3 year old is still in them! He has been a slow developer (whole other story!) so we have just started to train with a little bit of success (first wee in the toilet a couple of days ago!). Although thanks to mummysaver we sent back the pampers nappies for ds in our online shop and are going to buy value until he's trained! I'm going to try downshifting nappies for dd and see about reusables in the long term.

Unfortunately not enough room to squeeze in another freezer but I am going to freeze some meals for ds. We used to do it, I'm not sure why we stopped!!

My son goes to playgroup every day for 2.5 hrs and there are a few toddler groups around which I sometimes go to. Great idea about going to the library, we should go more often!

I think I thanked everyone...I am going to try everything suggested and get through the next couple of months!:T

fedupandskint

elizabunny wrote: »

Anyway in my Minced Beef with Cobbler Topping today is:-

400gm steak beef minced
Half a Celeriac diced
Half a Swede diced (I've run out of carrots)
10 small potatoes halved
4 Sticks of celery chopped
2 Red Onions Sliced
1 Red Pepper Sliced
1 Tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tin of Red Kidney Beans
6 Cloves of Garlic (quite alot I know but supposed to be good for us)
1 tsp. each Oregano, Basil, Marjoram (All I had to hand)
Quarter Tsp. each Cayenne Pepper, Crushed Chilli, Cumin Seeds
Half tsp. Ground Ginger
A good few dashes of Worcester Sauce
About Half Pint of water
Salt & Pepper to taste

I cook everything together in a pot on the hob until the meat is cooked and the veg. has softened and has reduced. I shall probably thicken the whole lot with oats and then taste it first just to make quite sure it doesn't taste rubbish, before dividing it into portions and then adding the Cobbler Topping.

Thanks elizabunny!!!:T I just made this and it was scrummy!

The only difference was I put a half cup of red lentils in instead of oats. I had mine with dumplings made from the recipe on the side of the atora packet and had a massive portion for tea!

I can't believe how much I've got out of one pack of mince with the addition of lentils and 3 grated carrots! I've just split the rest into 5 portions for freezing!

Not bad to say I had everything in the cupboard and fridge already:rotfl:

Chell

clareybabble wrote: »

WOW! Thanks everyone you've all been a real help! To comment on a few things...

I want to try grocery challenge but am too scared I will go loads over and look stupid! I have made a list of all our food (including some out of date (best before) dried herbs and spices, some left over marzipan, golden syrup and loads of mincemeat...

Use rhe syrup to make Twinks Hobnobs recipe that you'll find on here or to make gingerbread men. The out of date herbs will be fine, perhaps just not as strong a flavour if they've been lying a while.

Maisie_M

Big shop today

Mr T's - £30.72
Asda - £3.21
Aldi - £16.71

total - £50.64

Thats 60% of my grocery budget gone for this month but am fairly well stocked now. As its my first month I am hoping to come in on budget but if I am £20-30 out I will be happy.

Steel_2

Cat_Addict wrote: »

Steel - that mobile butcher seems a bit expensive (or am I out of touch LOL?)

What will you make with the meat you bought? I was wondering how I would make seven meals out of it but can't think, and I am trying to make stuff stretch these days.

I think the sausages definitely are - I guess the equivalent is Mr T's finest sausages for 2.99, although they are sold in sixes rather than the eight I've got. But we had some tonight and they were really tasty and very high in meat content - there wasn't much gristle at all and not much fat in the pan (but still, cost a bit too much)

The chicken breasts are absolutely huge and don't shrink when cooked either. I can use one of these for a meal for both of us, like risotto or fajitas, so that's 3 meals from three breasts. One pork steak each is meal 4. I use the third pork steak as a base for a curry padded out with interesting pulses or veg so that's 5. The 8 sausages are split into two meals, one set of four between us with tons of mash and beans. The other 4 do toad in the hole, made in cake tins and piled up inside with veg and gravy.

If things get really tough, I sneak about a quarter off the end of each chicken breast and squeeze a chunky soup out of it to, so that's meal 8.

mothershipton

hi, just had first shop of the year! not bad total so far this month is £98 as we owed the milkman loads of money. Husband is enjoying being banned from Tescos but still managing to buy food....

Toonie

Well, I forgot to update yesterday, but I spent £12.99 on toiletries, including getting some corsodyl for BF, as his GP recommended he use it to help get rid of his sore throat. Didn't spent a penny today (as it were) so have done well, though will be getting milk and bread tomorrow.

Today had a simple supper of a toasted bagel and a slice of cheese with some grapes. The bagels were a whoopsie which were brought home, cut in half and chucked in the freezer, great for when you want a quick toasted something or other!

rosieben

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

Must admit I felt a bit 'uncomfortable' about something on another thread somewhere. It was about people buying things when they are BOGOF etc etc - one person was saying how they bought (what seemed to me) to be huge amounts of stuff. I can't help thinking oh god that's so greedy. Talked to OH & he says I have unclear vision of modern life! I agree wholeheartedly re keeping a 'larder' of things, but just seems to me that some people are so greedy?? (Please don't shoot me down - I'm not talking about anyone on here - it was an observation).

I live a long way from a decent supermarket and have no car so I rely on getting (infrequent) lifts to any supermarket. When I see bogofs on items that I use regularly I buy as much as I can afford. The most recent was some weeks ago, Clover at half price, I bought loads and stacked it in the freezer. I don't feel in the least bit guilty about this; I don't get to see yellow stickered items but I'm always pleased for others when I read about their great bargains.

JennyBee_2

since we started buying out meat from the local wholesale butcher we only have 1 chicken breast between us for things like curries, chicken supreme etc. Not only does it save some money but it also means that we don't get in the situation of looking at it in the pan and thinking "well, we might as well eat that little bit..."

The only time that I use one chicken breast each (and even then it's had the ends cut off for something else ) is if I do chicken and stuffing or chicken and asparagus wrapped in bacon...but that's a big treat!

We had sausages and mash tonight....again from the butchers. They were £2.20 for 8 big sausages. Normally OH has 3, I have 2 and then leftovers but I have to admit to having had 3 tonight. and they were YUM!

I promise I'll start the diet again when the baby's born!