March 2009 Grocery Challenge

sabs10

Evening All,
An update so far - Sun & Mon were NSDs. There is still plenty of food in the storecupboard & freezer that with a little imagination and planning could be my saving grace - hopefully!

Had to visit MrA today and spent £28.11 from the budget, but that did include the joint of Ham that I plan to cook for Sunday lunch - with what is in the fridge/storecupboard I will turn it into Ham cooked in cherry coke (Nigella Lawson's recipe that I have had for years), and thanks to MrA free magazine in Feb will do another 2 recipes - Ham Frittata and Ham pancakes.

Have just sliced leftover pork from sunday to put in freezer - 2 portions that will do pork in gravy with pots & veg and a pork & veg curry later this month. 1 portion is going into slow cooker for pork casserole for tomorrow when my DDs and I return from their ballet lesson.

Sorry its a bit long, but am feeling positive that I can feed my family well with out breaking the bank.

Sabs10

PS forgot to include the 65p on a pack of doughnuts for me & girls at work - It was a BAD day !!!

AuntieH

Just did my grocery shop at Asda tonight and they have meal deals for 2 for £3, I thought that was really good. We got chicken korma, chicken madras, 2 pilau rice and two nan breads for £3. Saved a bundle on the indian take away we usually have.

elizabunny

Evening everyone. Ooooh I've only just finished reading all the posts since Saturday. We've had 2 extra mouths to feed for the last 4 days and it's been pretty hectic. All quiet now though.......perhaps a little too quiet.

Congratulations rachelmk

All is still going according to plan. The stock-piling is paying off and I'm staying out of the shops. 3 NSDs We seem to have got through a frightening amount of Bread, Milk, Juice and HM dinners over the past few days, so I was glad of my freezer stocks. I will definately have to make some more HM meals now though, as there's is only one left in the freezer:eek: . I made 5 smallish fruit cakes tonight -4 of these will go in the freezer for another time -there's enough in each for DH and me to have 2 slices each with a cuppa and my breadmaker is back in action again after 4 days -I use this most days and freeze any extra loaves for the days when I am busy. I have checked my stock cupboard lists tonight and despite the extra mouths we've fed and the goody bags we've sent them home with(DS2 and OH) things look reasonably healthy. I just need to get cooking again!

The veggies are starting to come through in the GH so all is well.

Hope everyone is ok and doing well on their March Challenge.

elly2

Evening all another nsd here thats 5 i think i am sticking to my meal plan and tonights tea was chicken curry and rice, the curry was a little hot for the lo's but the older girls like it made that way am i right in thinking that cream cools curry down and does anyone know when to add it,what sort to use? also found some nann bread in the freezer so tea was much better than last nights :j .I must go shopping tomorrow for veg for tea.cat food and milk but will be taking a list and i'm hoping to keep spends to a minimum :rolleyes: .

Cleosmum

Bit late signing up, sorry! Can you put me down for £250 for March? Cheers!

KITTY_2-2

Late checking in again but could you put me down for £200 this month please?
I came in £50 under budget last month so figure I should be able to do it again. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Good luck for March, K x

Coolmum66

Hi All

Had MrA delivery tonight - hoping all of dry, tinned and frozen for the month.
Spent £94.83 - so left with £85.17 for the rest of the month.

At the weekend ! will need to buy bread as they didn't send any - even though I said yes to substitutes!!! Hmm - puzzled by that one

So - will update after the weekend and see how we are doing

Good luck all

Take care

Coolmum. xx

bluetimone97

I love Sainburys, they are certainly no more expensive than Tesco, swings an roundabouts, some things are cheaper, some are not.
What scared me last was that M&S were comparable to Tesco a few months back on milk and bread and stuff!

Sylvan

elly2 wrote: »

the curry was a little hot for the lo's but the older girls like it made that way am i right in thinking that cream cools curry down and does anyone know when to add it,what sort to use?

I don't know about cream but yogurt cools curry. You could add it to the curry or just give the los yogurt with theirs (on the side). You could also make a side dish called raita by chopping cucumber (and mint if you like) and mixing it with yogurt.
When we were little we were given a slice of plain bread if we complained about curry being too hot. It does help. Or you could add extra potatoes.

Mr T didn't have pineapple juice when DH went yesterday so he had to go in again today. He spent another £7.71 and DS4 has taken another £2 from the lunch money box so I'll have to update my signature yet again.

JillD_2

Have just added up spends so far and it stand at £69.69/£100

I'm quite pleased as £35 of this was a shop I did at the start before I got my act together and committed to this month's challenge. If I'd been focussed there is at least a tenner of stuff on that receipt that I wouldnt have bought.

I will need to buy more milk, fruit (apples, bananas, melon), 10p noodles, cheese and ham for kids lunch sandwiches, and probably flour (smart price) for making bread. Oh and baps for DS lunch, he refuses point blank to eat HM bread, vv annoying.

I have tons in the freezer etc so I reckon until the 23rd ie 3 weeks I will only need:
9 x 4pts ff milk = £13.77
6 x 4pts sk milk = £9.18
2 pks ham = £1.00
3 bags flour = £1.29
10 x 10p noodles = £1.00
3 x baps = £1.00
apples £1.00
bananas £2.00
grapes £3.00
cheese £2.00

I have to have the milk and fruit as that is the main oart of the baby's diet, she's a right fusspot LOL

This will push me over the budget of £100 by a few quid, which is fine, so providing DH doesn't srping something on me we might actually do it!

Oh just realised we will need nappies. Bummer that will push me way over Oh well, needs must etc. Must go through my coupn envelope and see what I can use.