February 2009 Grocery Challenge

SunnyGirl

Mrs M Please could you rejig my spending budget to £300 as dd's bf has moved in with us on 1st Feb? TIA

sazzledazzle

£4.40 for me yesterday on mushrooms, chillis etc to make the food that I have left more exciting, plus brought 6 eggs from friend at work for £1 from her garden, so omelette time as well. Still think I have enough food for the next two weeks with just little bits of food to go with it.

greent

Argh!! We're only on the 4th and I have spent £86.55 from the budget although I think a 1/4 of that was in respect of having friends around for dinner (still cheaper than a takeaway (just)/ going out)
I have also got a large order being delivered from Mr S tomorrow night - basically to take advantage of a £15 off £75 voucher they sent me. I then made it up to over £100 in order to get free delivery I have mainly offer shopped on some bits (toilet rolls, pork, chicken and some other stuff) with some normal shopping thrown in. We're still 'suffering' from losing meat last month with a self-defrosting freezer, so I've ordered some to stock up and try and get back on track again. Hopefully this will follow with smaller shopping bills for rest of month....:o

This does mean, however, that I'll need to put stuff in my freezer (and I only have one now after getting rid of the other) which doesn't have that much room in atm. Today I've therefore taken out 2 tubs of ratatouille and some 'lumps' of roast chicken from several roast carcasses. I've mixed them together with a glass of red wine, another can of toms, some chilli and a bit of courgette (which I grated) that was on it's last legs in the fridge, some more garlic & tom puree and that's tea sorted - sitting in the slow oven in the range at this moment. DH won't normally eat left over roast chicken, so I'm hoping to fool him with this (it's a dish we have regularly but usually made with breast fillets - cheaper this way :rotfl: ) There's enough for probably tomorrow too..... Will have with rice and a bit of bread to mop up the juices !

Have also taken some frozen bananas out (would have thrown them in compost pre GC as I froze them when over ripe and squishy) and made a banana and walnut loaf - although only DS1 and I like it, so part of that will get sliced and frozen :rolleyes:

Still need to pop to Mr T today for ham for DDs packed luches - we've ran out apart from a couple of slices in freezer - which she said tasted funny when she ate one (well, attempted to) yesterday - I do actually believe her on this - so that's a couple of slices which will need throwing She only likes certain ham (and can tell the difference) and Mr S order is arriving after lunch, so need to get it today. Will get that, more teabags (cheaper than in Mr S and we're getting through lots with builders here) and check out the whoopsies - and that's it! Honest........;)


greent

jackie_w

Weill went my first shop of February today and spent the grand total of £68.67. Decided for once to go to Sainsburys, and was quite surprised actually. most of it was spent on fruit and veg, and treats for the kids (will defo need to get baking). I did ger fish fingers, haddock fillets, and 4 pkts of Taste the Difference Sausages. They were doing 2 for £4.50, but, i also found a couple that were "woopsied", down to £1.29, so, I picked up 2 of those.

Hopefully I wont need to go shopping again until the middle of next week (fingers crossed).

I have some Shortcrust pastry in the fridge which I was going to use to make a quiche. Now I have asked this question before, but, I need to ask it again. Do I roll the pastry into the size I need then blind bake it, then let it cook and add in the filling? I dont actually have alot of ideas for filling for the quiche. I was going to do cheese & onion becuse we do like this, so, would I then just cut up the onion, fry it in some oil to soften it, then add that to some beaten eggs and cheese . How many eggs would I use.

I also wanted to do one with sausage. I have a couple of Hertz smoked sausages (the mini ones) that will need using up, so, could I add these, or would it be better if I added the sausages I got from sainsburys .

Sorry for all these questions, Im really determined this year to do as much cooking myself as I can.

Off now to try to catch up on the thread. Im still reading through the January thread (I like to do this to get as much inspiration from you all as I possibly can). Then will try to catch up on the Feb thread.

Jackie x

Casperthefriendlyghost

Good afternoon to everyone

After my baking session yesterday I decided more baking was needed, so I went into "Sainsbugs" (sorry copied from someone else on this thread lol - love it) to buy vanilla essence and ginger. Well I left with vanilla essence and ground ginger and lazy ginger, as I couldn't remember which I needed. So £3.49 to add to my total.

I went for a wander around our local Tescos (I don't shop there anymore, it's dirty, pricy and they never have what I want) just to see if things had improved and it hasn't.

There was broken egg smashed over the floor, trolleys everywhere, could hardly move, apparently all the stock arrived at the same time today, due to the bad weather Mon and Tues, fair enough, but I think they could at least have tried not to block practically every aisle.

It simply confirmed my decision not to shop there and every time I go there I'm more convinced. I had time to kill while waiting to go to the doctor. As for the prices, they're not much better than Sainsbugs, pretty much the same.

I also noticed in Sainsbugs their packs of 6 "value" eggs have gone from 80p on Saturday to 82p today and they no longer sell the 15 value packs. So am already looking for a new place to buy bigger free range eggs, as per my new resolution to be more green "aware" lol.

Anyway guys, have a good evening.
Cheers
Casper
x x

penguin83

Afternoon everyone - have done my first shop of the month and have hopefully got enough to last a while (forgot to take my list though - bad penguin!).

11.19 in butchers - got 8 sausages and a massive piece of ham for soup.
4.30 in fruit and veg - loads of veg and 12 eggs from local farm
135.81 in Sainsburys

Total so far = 151.30/450.00

Now to figure out how to turn the ham and veg into soup in the new slow cooker! x x

elizabunny

jackie_w wrote: »

I have some Shortcrust pastry in the fridge which I was going to use to make a quiche. Now I have asked this question before, but, I need to ask it again. Do I roll the pastry into the size I need then blind bake it, then let it cook and add in the filling? I dont actually have alot of ideas for filling for the quiche. I was going to do cheese & onion becuse we do like this, so, would I then just cut up the onion, fry it in some oil to soften it, then add that to some beaten eggs and cheese . How many eggs would I use.

I also wanted to do one with sausage. I have a couple of Hertz smoked sausages (the mini ones) that will need using up, so, could I add these, or would it be better if I added the sausages I got from sainsburys .
Jackie x

Hi jackie -I roll out my pastry to fit the tin/dish, then pop it carefully in the tin/dish and gently fork the pastry all over. Then I blind bake it, not letting it get too brown. Meanwhile I mix up my filling -usually I use a couple of eggs and about the same quantity of milk, because my dish is around 7" diameter and quite shallow. If I'm using onion or bacon I usually brown these first before mixing all the filling ingredients together and putting them in the baked pastry case. Finally I bake the whole thing until the egg mixture is golden brown and set. Yesterday I used mushrooms and cheese, but you could use sausage as well -not sure about the Hertz ones though -sorry. HTH

mrs-moneypenny

thank you to the lind person who told me how to make butter milk yesterday on this thread. the muffins turned out brilliantly. So much so that ill have ot make some more today;)

wyrdsister

jackie_w (I have no idea how to quote things )

Hi! I usually blind bake my pastry too, just a little bit until it's cooked enough then add the filling. I use 2 eggs for every half pint of cream, nice and easy to adjust the sizes, and always tastes good! A small-ish quiche shouldn't need much more than that. Whether I soften the onions first depends on how lazy I feel Cheese and brocolli is one of my favourite fillings and also mozzarella and tomato, just need to make sure the tomatos and mozzarella aren't too soggy before going in! Hope this helps a bit.

Boodle

We have decided that any dairy we buy in future will be organic. I have always bought free range eggs and meat, but from now on we want to make sure the lot is fully organic. Veg and fruit doesn't bother us too much, just want to make sure the animals who provide us with our products were kept in best possible conditions. I will still be trying to stick within our budget and am hoping it won't be too different, mostly the difference is pence. As for meat, we rarely eat it anyway (maybe once a week, and each meal contains little meat itself ) so the jump from free-range to oragnic shouldn't be too much in the long-run. I have done some of my menu plan and online list already and it is still within budget so far, but we'll see...