December 2009 Grocery Challenge

elizabunny

Evening all,

Had a smallish shop tonight of around £8.00, needed to stock up on milk and orange juice and a couple of other bits. Freezer in house now FULL, Freezer in Garage FULL, Fridge fairly FULL, Various cupboards FULL.

Can't help wondering why I keep needing to shop. I WILL try to control myself now until just before Xmas:D

Ooooooooooooooooooooh NO..............I forgot the Ham:rolleyes:

poppy-glos

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Im very pleased to report a NSD today :j. Didn't manage to itemise freezer contents yesterday but hope to do next weekend. Not going to be buying much foodwise for christmas other than the basics (spuds/milk/eggs etc) as invites now received to relatives for both Christmas day and Boxing day now and I am sure an invite for the 27th will soon follow..... Also need to pencil other invites I have received into the food planner (including my work christmas meal and an early family meal) as all days when food is being cooked for me mean little or no spending

So as mentioned. hope to itemise contents of freezer next week and then plan menu for the rest of the month, possibly until the end of next month ??:eek:

would mention that I bought the Good Food Meal Planner Book (Thrifty recipes and 7-day meal plans to help you save money and time). I got it off amaz0n so didnt pay full price

Athough I love the Economy Gastronomy Book, this book is great because it has lots of simply easy recipes. Some have very few ingredients. For most (if not all??) it comments on how to double up (to save time in the future) when time might be short but you want a decent home cooked meal.

I was also after fellow posters help ? Having itemised my food cupboards, i do have rather a lot of loose rice. I typically buy the boil in bag rice but it seems silly and not very mse to buy more of this when I have plenty of the stuff albeit loose. Is there any foolproof way to cook it ? I know you should allow about 65g ? per person but how much water should I add ?? the instructions on the box are not very clear

rice cooking, i boil 2 1/2 times the volume of water to rice. so for me and my daughter i cook one ramakin (about half a coffee mug) of rice and 2 1/2 ramakins of water for ten minutes. i salt the water at the beginning.
good luck

helen_jelly

Evening everyone

I had a NSD - go me!!!

Budgets done up to Cheapskate

Who was asking about rice [sorry can't remember] we freeze it when we make too much, defrost it, reheat in the microwave, job done, that way it doesn't matter if we make too much cos we've always got it for next time.

Helen x

Flat_Eric

Asked the OH tonight what things he wanted bought for xmas.... big mistake.... its only random things like onion rings, battered fish, oven chips / white sliced bread ??!! etc (which I don't normally buy). I can't make up my mind whether to have these bits delivered or whether to buy them in dribs and drabs..... (as there are other things i need - cat to feed / loo roll etc...)

I also had family round yesterday so my box of wine for xmas got opened and its very tasty so I poured myself another glass tonight ! better be careful as it was meant for christmas.:rolleyes:

all slots for christmas week are filled up where I am and Im at work anyway but I could have a delivery on the saturday before xmas but for things like cream /bacon / sausages, would be concerned about dates....

also given my past history, i dont want to find myself buying the whole shop :rotfl:

will ponder away and perhaps set up my computer to give me an electric shock if I try to spend too much ...

mark55man

£40.30 at Mr S this evening, and £5 in Mr T for kids lunchbox stuff

not too bad 25% return in bogofs/woopsies so reasonably economical.

bought everyone a freddo chocolate frog as a treat - its a sign of how mean I am now that everyone was delighted - should I be pleased or upset??

poppy-glos

spends today all eating out, but counting eats out and snacks too in this challenge so i don't hide food purchases by labelling them 'treats' or 'socialising...'. Hopefully this way i'll train myself that whatever i 'save' at home gives me the option of 'treats out' if i don't overspend that month.......:rolleyes:

so bacon butties and drinks deal in greggs x 2 = £5, and lunch deals at wetherspoon spent £8.50. already added to my spends list below.

rosieben

Cheapskate wrote: »

.. Everythnig's gone to pot since new baby arrived 7 weeks ago & only just starting to feel like I'm making a dent in washing, cleaning, etc.
...

on the new babe! sorry if I missed you telling us before

I've had a few NDS's but having a sainsbugs delivery tomorrow; that should be it till Friday.

rosieben

Great recipe skintbint, Irish Soda Bread now in the recipe list :T

Synonymous

Hello eveyone, this is my first December post, my budget runs from 7th to 4th and as I came in under last month I'd like to reduce my budget this month to £70.

That's just for l'il old me Now need to make a weeks worth of meal plans, I've got a portion of chilli and 6 portions of lasagne in the freezer from a double cook last week so just filling in the gaps.

Might be too late now but I noticed lots of people talking about Lidl £5 vouchers, where are these coming from as I have one locally?

Thanks!

SunnyGirl

skintbint wrote: »

jackiew - if you run out of bread try making irish soda bread, recipe i have is
500gr plain flour (or half wholemeal) 300ml sour milk (add dash lemon juice to milk) 1/2tspsalt and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sieve all dry ingredients,make a well pour in soured milk knead lightly shape into smooth flat ball make cross on top and bung in oven 200' for 30 mins - delicious mmmmmm!

Thanks for that I'm definitely going to give it a go. DS3 loves soda bread but I keep looking for a simple recipe and haven't found one untl now :T

mark88man wrote: »

bought everyone a freddo chocolate frog as a treat - its a sign of how mean I am now that everyone was delighted - should I be pleased or upset??

Be thrilled that they are pleased at small things :j :T:D