April 2009 Grocery Challenge

tessie_bear

good evening....i have been to the local market today and got a few bargains...all £1....loads of plums (enough for 4 crumbles)..mixed veg(cauli,carrots,onions,potatoes,swede,cabbage).....salad(6toms cucumber iceberg red onion box of cress).....loads of new potatoes...it was fab all seems really fresh and nice...i now have a full to the brim fridge...dr gillian would be proud of me....we have a market sat and wednesday so i think ill visit again

we had a chicken curry for tea using the last tin of 4p curry sauce....ill have to get some more now and i think it has gone up to 11p:eek: blimey....i got some pak chou sp? from asda and put it in the curry...it was nice...i am always looking for ways to sneak veg past my kids...i do manage it mostly but sometimes i get found out and called to account:rolleyes: by the veg police

i made a batch of choc cakes with icing and mini eggs on them....went down well...i am getting in to home baking...its just finding the time but the results are well worth the effort...i think ill branch out into biscuits nextor maybe cookies

take care
tess

MRSMCAWBER

Tessie -
If you like pak choi and can get it past the kids -its really easy to grow ...

Julimk

Spent £2 in Mt T on a ‘Sloppy Guiseppe’ pizza (RTC). Not strictly necessary, but I felt I deserved it, as at work I was told I have been regraded & will therefore get a 3% pay rise this year.

Sorry to hear your news Toonie, I do appreciate that I am very lucky in the current climate.

DD is going to her Dad’s on Saturday & will now not be home again until Easter Sunday or Monday, and I will be happy to eat out of the cupboards & freezers. So it should be a cheap week in that respect.

I was thinking of doing some more batch cooking while DD is away, with the whoopsied meat that I have stocked up in the freezer. Though at the moment there are still 45 HM meal portions in the freezer still. So I think I will leave it until later next week to decide & maybe just do a bit to top it up.

The week after Easter DD will be home & she will undoubtedly scoff her way through anything I have in!

tessie_bear

i cant spell it but yes i like it ...think its great...can u grow it in tubs on the patio? if so i might give it a go.....so far iv only got herbs and rhubarb on the go

MRSMCAWBER

tessie_bear wrote: »

i cant spell it but yes i like it ...think its great...can u grow it in tubs on the patio? if so i might give it a go.....so far iv only got herbs and rhubarb on the go

Yep, I grow everything in tubs n troughs and pak choi grows just fine just like salad leaves-you can either pick the leaves small as they grow -like cut + come again salad or leave so the heart up like you buy in supermarkets

tessie_bear

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Yep, I grow everything in tubs n troughs and pak choi grows just fine just like salad leaves-you can either pick the leaves small as they grow -like cut + come again salad or leave so the heart up like you buy in supermarkets

thankyou...im going to try growing salad leaves ...iv seen pak plants for sale(last year)ill get some when i see them this year and give them a go...u make it sound easy but i have a nasty habit of killing off plants esp ones i get as presents and people come to my house and ask about(mil mainly)....im sure growing stuff must save loads of money...and be fun if u can do it

thanx again tess

TheBees

Still sticking to the menu plan but I had a disappointing meal out of the freezer last night - I thought it was a portion of sausage casserolethat I'd defrosted but it turned out to be savoury mince with some broccoli, carrots and pathetic looking potatoes:rotfl: . The trouble was I had to watch the children eat home made pizzas (using some pizza dough from the freezer) which looked delicious but there was only enough for 2 !!:mad: So I ate my slops with envy but thought about how much money I was saving by using up leftovers!!!

Today I cooked savoury mince (again:rotfl: ) in the slow cooker. I just threw the mince, carrots, onion, courgette , swede, dried herbs, porridge oats and stock in at 8.30am and it was cooked by 3.30pm. This time I made some of it into a pastry topped pie which we had with roast pots and veg and it was much nice than yesterdays! The remaining savoury mince has been frozen for another two meals.

Have managed two NSD's this week:j . completely out of washing up liquid but determined not to shop again until the weekend!

thriftmonster

NSD here - I was tempted at lunchtime by the sandwich shop but resisted and ate up some leftovers at home. Cant remember when I had a NSD last - shopping in general doesnt appeal - but I can food shop as an Olympic sport (and my larder looks like it:eek:) - so Im counting that as a result:D. :DMight need milk tomorrow but that should be it.

Toonie - sorry to hear about your job - hope you find something soon.

Toonie

Thanks for the good wishes, they are much appreciated. Just updated with yesterdays spends which included oil, fruit squash and a bag of parsnips reduced to 15p! Tonight had a lovely dinner of roasted veggies, including said parsnips and turkey. Was lovely and we didn't even notice we only had half the amount of turkey we'd normally have.

angelflower_2

despite being absolutely starving as spent too long digging a new trench for my fruit bushes and having a dd almost crying as I was depriving her of food, I managed to keep away from the chip shop and maintain my nsd and use up a batched cook recipe of wiltshire pork with some chops had in freezer since November. Was really very nice. Just tryng to decide what to have for tomorrow. I still have a chicken and rice soup in fridge (from weekends rubber chicken) so might just have that.