August 2009 Grocery Challenge

pixie1

Oh im not doing very well this month but i have brought a few housey things and had to start re-stocking my store cupboard. Im $300 into my $600 budget and i only have a few meals that i can make with what i have Must meal plan better!!!

Pix

Money_Fritter

Morning everyone,

Spent £18 on shopping yesterday, taking my total to £80.52. So I am 31p under my monthly budget.

I should not need anything else now, as I get paid next tuesday. However, I will not declare yet.

Money Fritter

rosieben

kezlou wrote: »

... As of yesterday i'm officially assisting my mother with her food bills, she is feeding 2 adults, a dog + paying bills on £30 a week:eek:.
...
the boys have decided to make a meal plan of they own for this weekend to my surprise this is what they decided upon for main meals
...
I swear i nearly choked on my tea, so this is what were having up to now, with on demand salad, yes you heard right, salad, omelettes and sandwiches!!!
I think i should call the police and say my kids have been adducted:rotfl:.

Brilliant meal plan :T OS is obviously contagious :rotfl:

Its great that you're helping your mum, but without being nosy, can I ask if she's able to get more to live on than £30 a week? sorry, not sure if she's claiming any benefits or whatever, but depending on her age and circumstances she might be entitled to a little help?

poohbear59

I have four days to go until payday and I am becoming very mean!

I have put up a spreadsheet showing all the meals between now and payday and beyond, that includes lunches. And woe betide anyone who uses something from cupboard, fridge or freezer that is allocated to a meal.
DH made sausage sandwiches for all the sons and himself on Saturday and as a result I was short of food for Tuesday!!

kezlou You must be so relieved about your mum but still a swollen gland can be painfull.
elly2 I bought a cheap bread maker about 10 years ago and it is still going.

ForeverHopeful_3

I'm loving this thread. Lots of ideas.

I get paid tomorrow, so can I join the Sept Grocery Challenge please? I would like to aim for £250.00. Feeding 2 adults and 2 children (4 & 2).

I'm going to do my menu plan tonight so will post it on here later

Thanks X

earthmother

Just added up the last few days (including an Asda trip) - I have £34.48 left, and 12 days to go.

I know I'll need at least £10 worth of milk, the cheese won't make it either (£5), bread is going to be tight as the freezer is almost empty (£5), and the fruit bowl is almost empty too (£10) - so that leaves me around £5 for anything I've forgotten - which should be do-able if I can control the plague of locusts that keeps attacking my pantry :rolleyes:



At least the start of packed lunches falls into next months budget - that'll be a big shop that week as they all need new lunchboxes too - 2 eldest have them 5 days a week, and the littlest's new playgroup does a lunch club to get them used to handling lunchboxes etc and the overall experience ready for next September, so he'll be packed up once a week too. Coming up to the end of an era *sniffle*

I know this isn't really the right place, but has anyone seen any cheap Ben10 or Cars lunchbags around?

ktpie

Just been to Tescos so now we have spent £254.02 out of our £300 budget. Hoping we will be able to do it!

Ninno820

Hi - my payday is this friday - can I declare a target of £200 for September?

Ninno

lambanana

Spent another £4.46 yesterday but got whoopsied free range eggs, milk, bread, pie ingredients and baked beans. Think I need to mealplan in earnest to ensure I don't over-spend for the last 2 weeks of this month and to try use up some of what I've got. Unfortunately I do seem to be lacking in protien sources for meals so will have to buy some meat and quorn type stuff to make that up. Didn't buy any food today though, not a NSD technically as I bought some stuff which my mum is paying me back for (does that count?!) but I went straight in the supermarket and came out with only what I went for, didn't even browse!! Have pork steaks, tomatoes, peppers, corn and kidney beans in the slow cooker for tonight which is all stuff I had in anyway.

scotsaver

Curlytop40 wrote: »

Hi, does anyone know what I can do with rhubarb as well as stewing it for crumble etc? I've just been given some.

Hi Curlytop40 - we had some Rhubarb from the Garden last night but we just stewed it and stirred in some Natural Yoghurt, the kids love it like that, otherwise I just make a Crumble or an Eve's style pud but instead of apples I use Rhubarb.

I've also made this before Rhubarb and Orange Jelly with Cardamom from Sophie Grigson's Feasts for a Fiver book:-

650g Rhubarb
Juice of 2 Oranges
340g Caster Sugar
4 sheets of Gelatine
3 Cardamom Pods

Cut the Rhubarb into 1 inch lengths and put into an Ovenproof dish with the orange juice and sugar. Cover with foil and leave in Oven for 25-30 mins at 180 degrees until just tender. Drain off the liquid into a measuring jug so that you have 1 pint, if you don't have enough top it up with more Orange Juice. (Keep the cooked Rhubarb as I will list another Recipe below).

Half fill a roasting tin with cold water and lay the sheets of gelatine in it to soak for a few mins. Slit open the Cardamoms and extract the seeds and crush with a pestle and mortar or a rolling pin. Put the reserved Juice in a pan with the crushed cardamoms, bring to just under the boil, turn the heat down to low and let the mixture infuse for 10 mins. Take the gelatine sheets out of the cold water and stir into the hot juice until dissolved. Pour into a Jelly mould or individual dishes and leave in the Fridge to set.

To use up the cooked Rhubarb from above try this Feisty Rhubarb Relish which is from the same book:-

225g of Cooked Rhuarb
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 spring onions thinly sliced
2 tbsps chopped fresh coriander

Just mix all the ingredients together and season to taste.

Both of these Recipes are delicious and very Summery, in fact I'm now going to put them on my Menu plan for the Weekend.:p

Dinner tonight is going to be Spag Bol, using up some Mince from the Freezer as I must try and get my little Chest Freezer defrosted soon. Have been trying to use up what is in there and it's helped to keep costs of GC down this month.:D