August 2009 Grocery Challenge

Sunnyday

Hi all,

Lollyfin - Iceland do frozen plain cod which is lovely and usually nice and chunky which i cook in the oven inside a foil parcel with butter and tarragon, they also do nice frozen tuna steaks which i marinade in soy sauce and corriander, again lovely for a treat. if you find out anything about your fridge then please let me know as mine has been leaking water for ages now, still works though

Flat Eric - I would grind the cumin seeds with the end of a rolling pin and use them - should be fine.

Off to MrA`s website now to see if there are any bargains.

SD

Allegra

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Morning all :wave:

Im intending to make a chick pea curry tomorrow. The recipe calls for 2 tsp whole cumin? I have cumin seeds - is that the same thing???

Yes.

I have all of the ingredients for my curry apart from some fresh chillies and fresh corriander

Have you got anything you can substitute ? Dried chillies, chilly flakes, cayenne pepper, chilli powder, madras strength curry powder, an extra tsp of garam masala + a fair bit of ground black pepper - all would add necessary heat without you having to go shopping. For coriander - parsley and a squeeze of lemon is a decent substitute, or just leave out altogether. Curries are flexible - be imaginative

Cheapskate

Hello all

Keep reading now & again, but not getting chance to post often! MrsM, please can you put me down for £400 again for August? Just about did it for July, but now have to make a real effort as I'm going on maternity leave in about 6 weeks and really won't have much money once it gets near Christmas.
Teenage son now got his staff discount card for supermarket where he works, so we're saving a little every time we shop there.
Got to update sig & July spend - see you later.
A xo

highland_fling_2

good morning everyone

now have many items ready to go to charity shop after big cupboard clear out although think I will ask my neice if she needs any of it for her flat when she returns to university. Many of the items have either not been used or I have doubles e.g. kitchen scales, hand held mixers, ( I know, don't ask me)

Anyway feel a lot more in control of my kitchen working space now :jand I am just building up the energy and inclination to tackle the other rooms.

Having hm soup for lunch (which was in freezer) and baked potatoes with coronation chicken and salad for dinner.

Will need to go to shop tomorrow for a few items but I am determined to have a nsd today.

Hope you all have a good day.

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Reporting in for 10 NSDs out of 11 ....
Both sets of neighbours have gone on leave -so Im keeping an eye on houses and fish :rotfl:-As they were going away I have ended up with cherries (gone ), extra potatoes, a huge tub of salsa (the stuff I helped one make for her dinner party -there was masses) -My hubby loves salsa -so I will be making some tortills chips for him to snack on over the weekend with it


I was planning on picking up a few bits on Friday -but after sticking my head in the fridge etc I have worked out that I will do the following meals

• Dinner tonight is special fried rice - hubby has requested it, and asked for extras to have cold for lunch at work tomorrow
• Hubby is on duty tomorrow so just me to feed -no problem there
• Friday will be jackets with cottage cheese and salad
• Saturday will be salad sandwiches on HM bread(a fave) for lunch and chicken, courgette pasta for dinner
• Sunday lunch-pork steaks with HM stuffing, steamed potatoes, carrots, peas, sweetcorn -and beans from the garden and dinner will be Hm tortillas with ham salad

Which means I can leave the shopping until at least Monday :j
I have plenty of stuff in to make a couple of batches of courgette tea bread/cakes -and some for the freezer -so thats the sweet things sorted too
Im going back to my cunning plan to keep the spends to minimum-getting hubby to pick up the bits we need on his way back from work or the golf course (he breaks up for 2 weeks on friday ) -Hubby will go into a supermarket and do a "smash n grab" mission -straight in, pick up what is on the list, to the checkout and out in record time..... it saves us a fortune in me spotting bits n bobs that "will come in" ........

The beans are still doing well -I have just fetched enough off for another 2 meals -so that is 20 melas worth in the freezer now :j

ooooohh whilst I think, I "think" it was elf -or flat eric... well someone asked about the special fried rice -when I do it later I will make note of rough quantities(I normally just lob things in :rotfl:) and then post the "recipe" on here for you -the main thing is to use cold rice..anyway -enough waffle -I will get off and get some x-stitch done -and pop back later whan I have the recipe...
Hope everyone is well and having a good month

annelouise_2

August already.I am 2 1/2 weeks into my 4 week $120 budget whilst OH is away training.This is for 4 of us for all food spends.

Have spent $72.00 up to now with 3/4 of a kilo block of cheese chunked up and frozen.

Packed lunches have been supplemented by frozen pinwheels,sausage rolls,wraps and HM cakes and biscuits esp Twinks....I only buy fruit a few pieces at a time and keep pineapple and peaches in tins in fridge.

I have made my crazy friend a fruit basket from my fridge with a punnet of strawbs,mandarin,apple,pear,orange,cherries and melon and a card saying from one fruit basket to another.Only had to buy ther strawbs and a handful of cherries tonight.

Have plenty of frozen breads and wraps to be going on with.

Had shepherds pie and cauli cheese tonight ,enough leftovers for the kids to have with a jkt potato next week.Spag bol and crusty bread tomorrow,pie and peas,fish fillets,chips and peas,pasta and pesto with ham without giving shopping a second thought.

Do need oats for Twinks.

MrsM you'd be proud of me.Living in the Northern Territory of Australia all the seed packts state you can sow all year around.So I have a successful 7 x cherry tomato plants,1 chili plant,box of parsley and basil,6 courgette,6 cucumber 3 inch seedlings and newly sown leek and pepper.

They are all lined up and strung up between my aircon units on the back wall which gets the less harsh afternoon sun but do they grow quickly.My cuc and courgette gernimated and stood 2 inches tall on day 3!!!!!!!!!!
So thankyou MrsM I would never have ventured into the green fingered unknown had it not been for you and a practise run in Spain last year.

annelouise

tinks_77_2

Hello
Could I join this challenge please?
My monthly spend will be £80(£20 pweek)

thanks

XSpender

Phew:eek: I haven't been on since Monday and there is pages and pages to catch up on!

Barneydee I will post the lemon curd cake recipe when i get home tonight. It is from either Wheezels thread or this thread but I can't remember where so I will post it so you don't have to search for it.

I was a bit naughty last night and spent £7.70 on a take away last night as I got in late and was too tired to cook.

I have also spent £14.40 and £5.99 in Sains since the weekend but will need to check the receipts as it was not all GC spends. Will update exact figures tonight.

Sausages and HM wedges with peas for tea tonight.

XS

tinkerbellsmum_2

try again just wrote this already but window closed
very proud of myself this week
yesterday i froze mushrooms and spag bolo (how do i cook though from frozen?)
also making quiche today with bacon that needs using and pasty mix thats been sat in the cupboard
going shopping tommorow i've done my meal plans so hopefully will come to less but with more meals.
has anyone any ideas of snacks my family can take with them. no cakes as i will eat them
my husband is buying far to many single packets of crisps but i'm on a diet so don't want any in house. might be tempted to buy a pack and ask him to hide them
thanks

tinkerbellsmum_2

oceanspirit wrote: »

Thanks to the Leftovers thread I have changed the way I make decisions on what to eat each day i

wheres the left over thread