November 2009 Grocery Challenge

helen_jelly

Afternoon all

Thanks for the Aldi's info - popping over to there soon

DH had to go to MrT today so will update siggy later
Hope you are all ok

Helen x

huston_kw

Just popped on to update spend - 106.86 so far oh dear is it really only the 11th :eek:.

On a better note, I did buy bulk stuff at coscos and bulk buy cleaning / washing stuff .. so won't need any more until next year.

Need to start on Christmas haven't got a thing... I always leave it to the last minute....

Fivenations

nykmedia wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can freeze chard and if so do I need to prepare it in any special way first?

Chard freezes well but has to be blanched first. Clean, and if the stems are big cut them off and prepare sepa, ratelythen blanch in a large pan of boiling water. You will probably have to do it in batches as you want it all to come back to the boil as quickly as possible - then quickly cool. When cool enough to handle squeeze out excess water and freeze in portion sizes.


MM. I love chard but it doesn't love me!

elizabunny

Evening all,

Firstly a confession, I had to buy foil trays and kitchen roll yesterday, so it was only actually only 3 NSDs days in a row, but at least I had a NSD today:j.

Today I put Stewing Beef and loads of veg in my slow cooker and about an hour before the end of cooking I popped in some 'cobblers'. DH's favourite, so he was really happy. There was enough for dinner tonight and extra portions for the freezer. We had the rest of yesterday's apple and blackberry crumble for pud. I also made a huge quick and easy fruit cake (in a saucepan) and when cooked this cut into 3 bars -so a bit more for the freezer. Also turned out a loaf of HM bread from the BM.

I always cook Swiss Chard first before freezing. We have loads at the moment in the garden though and we can't get through it quick enough.

So I think that's about it for today, Have a good evening everyone!

PS. Hope the move when well rosieben

SarahNeedle1872

Spent anoth £1 on a loaf of bread, but therwise nothing so far. My freezer is rammed full at the minute, so need to plan some meals around that - I am terrible at meal planning because I always forget to get the stuff out the freezer!

Had a good root in there this afternoon and have got out some sausages out for breakfast/sandwiches, a cottage pie for DS for lunch, and four stuffed chicken breasts, as well as the mince that is now slow cooking as a chilli! Unfortunately I have had to put two more portions of chcken breast in , so I actually haven't made that much space! I will get the hang of this eventually!

Sx

fedupandskint

GC is going ok this month as I am working on clearing the freezer out before Christmas.

Haven't totted up spends yet but it's not much out of the budget so far as have been good so far!

Keep thinking about going to the farm shop to buy some more meat then remember to take some out of the freezer to use this first!

Tomorrow or Friday night will make some onion bhajis and chapatis to go with a portion of chickpea curry so no need to buy anything else so far.

Better go and tot up the spends then!

Jevvers

Just updated my signature, now at 118 /250 - hopefully on target, although I've not bought a thing for Christmas yet...

Had a good week on the meal planning front. We had Lancashire hotpot today as planned and I doubled up on the veg so that we could freeze half. It was still very meaty so I could probably have stretched it even further but at least it's cheap meat.

Earlier on I did homemade chicken nuggets for my and DS's lunch instead of buying fish fingers which I had been going to do. He gobbled them up in a flash so I'll be doing that again.

Yesterday was HM roasted red pepper soup and Lidl crusty rolls (DH thought they were posh ones ) and the day before was left over chicken stew. Sandwiches tomorrow as we are driving to see relatives.

XSpender

Spent £7.64 today. £6.15 on potatoes, lurpak spread, 2 x mushy peas and 4 x baked beans. The rest was on lunch for me:o

tessasmum

Have done a couple of shopping trips already this month so I am relieved to find that one third of the way through the month, I have used just less than one third of the budget!

cookiedough38

NSD for me here, Mr T is coming tomorrow and even added a treat for me, galaxy mistletoe kisses, my guilty pleasure at the moment yummy!

So you guys count nsd days as food shopping or in general?