Store cupboard challenge

jamiesmum2007

ok have been reading about os money saving and am especially interested in the food aspects i daily walk past asda and pop in for a few bits only to come out with £20 worth of rubbish... i do my shopping online but pass asda daily hence the popping in.
so this is going to be my personal challenge and this is from now till december i am not going to waste any money in asda... im going to use the foods i have in and just buy essentials like milk and veg fruit
i have in the freezer:
chicken pieces
whole chicken
mince
sausages
chicken nuggets
ice cream
3 tubs of homemade tomato soup
lasagne
and a few other odds and sods
in the cupboards i have millions of tinned things and crisps biscuits ect also flour
dont have much in fridge few tomatos some ham milk and yogurts for my son
i have apples pears and bananas

i have to feed me and my 2 year old son lunches all week and evening meals and my dh has lunch twice a week and tea about 5 days a week

tonight its just me and my son and we are having spaghetti bolognaise with grated cheese on top and homemade garlic bread with cheese

if anyone has any tips ideas please feel free to write them down... gonna keep this as my insperation to carry on and see how much i save each month!
thanks peepsx

slm6002

Hi good luck with your challenge. i think its one that we can all relate to. I have 2 freezers full to the brim and cupboards bursting but still find things to buy. I would suggest not taking your purse with you and then you cant spend money! good luck

Penelope_Penguin

jamiesmum2007 wrote: »

if anyone has any tips ideas please feel free to write them down... gonna keep this as my insperation to carry on and see how much i save each month!

How about listing the contents of your cupboards We can then help you with some recipes, and you can build up a meal plan :T

Take a look at this thread - Storecupbard Challenge I'm currently trying to run down the stocks in my freezer I'll add this thread to that one later.

Penny. x

jamiesmum2007

day 2
i have in tinned things... tomatos, beans, beans and sausage, ravioli, spaghetti, few odd tins of veg (prefer fresh)
also got noodles pasta and rice umm jellys angel delight mixes custard

went out while ds was in school for playgroup and brought a bottle of lemonade from aldi (69p strawberry lemonade to put aside for christmas buying one everytime i go past i dont drink alcohol) and a packet of peppers and tomatos so i can make a batch of tomato and pepper soup for next week...
oh also brought bread!
going to try not to buy anything tomorrow as didnt really need to buy these today hmmm not doing very well

jackieglasgow

Right, missy,

I'm hoping that by helping you, I'll help myself, too. Let's go through this bit by bit. Hope you don't mind, I've tidied it up a bit so I can use it more easily. ZIPPYCHICK!! Where are you? Zippy's very good at this sort of thing, she usually trawls the forum late at night, so hopefully she'll be along soon to help you. Also have a look at PrincessLou's thread, Have to make this last as long as possible, lots of good ideas on there.

jamiesmum2007 wrote: »

i have in the freezer:
chicken pieces
whole chicken
mince
sausages
chicken nuggets
ice cream
3 tubs of homemade tomato soup
lasagne
and a few other odds and sods

dont have much in fridge
few tomatos
some ham
milk and yogurts
i have apples
pears
bananas


in the cupboards
crisps
biscuits
flour
i have in tinned things...
tomatos,
beans,
beans and sausage,
ravioli,
spaghetti,
few odd tins of veg (prefer fresh)
noodles
pasta
rice
jellys
angel delight mixes
custard




tonight its just me and my son and we are having spaghetti bolognaise with grated cheese on top and homemade garlic bread with cheese


bottle of lemonade from aldi (69p strawberry lemonade to put aside for christmas buying one everytime i go past i dont drink alcohol)

packet of peppers and tomatos so i can make a batch of tomato and pepper soup for next week... Naughty, don't you already have three lots of soup? Why not turn this into pasta sauce or risotto of you have rice?
oh also brought bread!

i have to feed me and my 2 year old son lunches all week and evening meals and my dh has lunch twice a week and tea about 5 days a week

going to try not to buy anything tomorrow as didnt really need to buy these today hmmm not doing very well

I would suggest, as it's the first of the month, you join the Grocery Challenge, if only to help you keep an eye on your spends.
When you go out, if not for a specific item, or if you are just wandering past the shops on your way to/from somewhere, you take an empty purse or a very limited amount of cash and NO cards.
Keep a list on your fridge/freezer of what you have or what you've run out of, so that you know what to get at the shops if you're nipping out.
Have a looke at the menu planning threads, the weekly mealplans for other OSers give great inspiration, and are a great way of using up what you already have.

Use this month as your planning, learning month, and aim to reduce your shopping properly next month.

I will keep an eye on your post and see what help I can give you, this will hopefully help me, as I need to keep myself on a tight rein this month.

Jackie X

gizmomum

Hi all, a happy Friday to everyone! This is my third attempt at posting this so fingers crossed
Apologies if there is a specific thread for this and I am in the wrong place but I wondered if you'd be able to help me with using what I've got in the house most effectively to reduce the amount of food I have to buy over the next 12 days til payday
In my cupboards/fridge/freezer I have:
rice
pearl barley
green lentils
4 pkts savoury rice
baked beans
jar of stir fry sauce
flour
two packs of stuffing
pizza base mix
2 packs of bread mix
eggs
butter type spread
sausage meat
faggots (for tea tonight)
chips
onions
two asda meatloaves (reduced to 75p but trying to think of something creative to do!)


I think that's it. I was going to buy 3 packs of chicken from farmfoods for £10 and also get the pasta sauce deal from Morrissons but that was as far as I'd got and I wasn't even sure that was the best way

My only constraint is time, I have a 5 month old and an 18 month old and work full time so am pushed to say the least. There are myself and my hubby to feed and I try to give my 18 month old home cooked food as much as possible

any suggestions/encouragement welcome xx

mummysaver

Hi there! Rather than the chicken packs I'd suggest a large chicken and a large pack of mince - both are good for stretching! There is a rubber chicken thread, basically it suggests roasting the chicken, then turning the leftovers into a curry/stir fry/pie, dependent on the amount you have left, and boiling up the carcass to make stock and making soup from it (I add a cheap pack of noodles and some sweetcorn). Rubber mince is similar, you cook up your mince adding onion and extra veg (poss handful of lentils and oats to make it go a bit further) and make half into cottage pie, add tomatoes and garlic to the remaining half with some peppers and serve half of this as bolognese, to the remainder add some chilli powder and a can of kidney beans and dish up as chilli, any leftover chilli can be served in wraps/over a baked potato.

I'd avoid the ready made pasta sauce, a can of toms added to some fried onion and garlic and herbs and then blended will do the same job and be a lot cheaper, though does take a few minutes more than opening a jar! If you made up a big batch of the tom sauce in one go though it'd save time and it freezes well or keeps in the fridge for a few days.

As for your list, meals that spring to mind:

meatballs made from the sausagemeat
risotto from the rice (use the chicken stock from rubber chicken and a few chicken bits, with onion and any other veg you have lurking/buy)
pizza (add hm tom sauce and cheese/toppings)
egg fried rice
egg and chips
Mix stuff with meatloaf to make burgers

Sure someone will be along with lots more ideas soon! Perhaps as well as buying some meat, you could add cheese and a few veggies as well, as these would expand your options greatly, depends if you like them though really, if not it def wouldn't help you!

irisandalex

Make a soup for one day?

Fry the onions and chopped up meat loaf, then add some water (or stock) and then the rice, lentils and barley to the liquid according to how long each take to cook. Add some spices or spice mixes if you have any for extra flavour.

Stick the baked beans in near the end if you fancy a bit of extra richness.

Serve with fresh home-baked bread.

Perfect for autumn!

gizmomum

thankyou both of you, I wish I could think as creatively when it comes to food. Also mummy saver at last I know why it's called rubber chicken.I've seen it mentioned and wondered what it meant . Iris the soup sounds lovely, I think that will be tonight's tea!
I've just remembered I've got a big block of cheese as well so that will open even more options!

gizmomum

have found the rubber chicken thread and it looks fab!!! Off to a meeting now, back later for more inspiration
x