January 2010 Grocery Challenge

BigMummaF

Is it just me...or are prices rising every time you walk thru the door of the bluddin shops again :mad: The packs of value loo roll have gone up twice in 26 days & the toothpaste jumped 5p in a week altho the 3L milk is currently £1 :j
We've got visitors today so I actually remembered to put some pinto beans in to soak last night, to help s-t-r-e-t-c-h the cottage pie along with the usual hidden extras. This place is doing me good; at one time I would have thrown away the "too soft" apples & pears that made a pudding with a bit of sponge mixture on top, or despaired at feeding three hungry mouths with four sausages Last night's meal was a tin of toms, half roughly chopped onion, two grated carrots, two chopped celery stalks, diced peppers & a splash of water that could have been left out. Left to bubble for about 30mins & served over pasta, with thinly sliced [cooked] sausages & a handful of grated cheese, the only 'complaint' was the sauce being a bit runny :T
I did it to prove to myself that I could do it if push came to shove, without panicking because I 'had nothing in' & resorting to the dreaded take-away.

Winged_one

Have had 5 NSD's this week!!
I am thinking of heading in to M&S at lunchtime though, as the Dine In offer is on and that's good value. If you have the budget for it, in Ireland anyway, there is great value to be had by buying 6 meals at a go - as they then knock off the 10% that they normally do for buying 6 wines at once (and there's a further 10% off the price of all wines here anyway due to VAT and excise changes in last budget - so buying the dearest wines works out best as greatest discount off the standard €12.50 cost). On top of the voucher for buying food in Jan (I think it is for €7 off a €45 spend). I'll be investigating later anyway - just reporting from other friends.

Unfortunately, I got a lot for freezer in past few weeks so I can't freeze spare dinners this week - I'll get the rotisserie chicken if they have it for Sunday dinner.

Should be a small grocery shop otherwise this week though as we need very little and I want to use up some of those freezer stocks.

loopychriss

sashanut wrote: »

Hi Loopy
Don't know about the d/w tabs but I think the Nouvelle TRs orig price was £5.69 as DH even commented - what a great saving!! HTH

OK, thank you for that sashanut.... I can put that in my spreadsheet now. Even better, as I thought they were £4.79. It certainly is a big saving isn't it?:D

loopychriss

Mrs_Money_Penny wrote: »

Hi All

Had a MrT delivery last night £89.17 so have updated my signature. Was very impressed the man carried the boxes into the kitchen for me. That's never happened before.

I hope he wiped his feet first LOL!

sistercas

KCSunshine wrote: »

I was watching the C4 diet programme on Sky+ this morning and Matt Dawson did homemade oven chips – has anyone tried this? Are they any good? Could I par boil, coat with oil then freeze them, hence producing homemade frozen oven chips? Well as I will have a sack of tatties………

.

I agree with Keiss I always make my own oven chips , toss them in a little oil ( i sometimes add a few chilli flakes too ) and bung them in a hot oven 20-30 mins depending on the thickness ,I dont parboil them either my kids think they are much nicer than bought frozen oven chips.


NSD today I just dont want to go out
made a lentil soup for lunch and a macaroni cheese for tea ( added chopped bacon , peas and sweetcorn and put tomato on the top

have a good day everyone x

Ayeshalush

Only spent another £6 this week on two huge Lenor fabric conditioners (2 for £5) and some biscuits.

poppy-glos

lidls £2.53 today for 5 mangos (mango chutney making later..), carrots and bananas.

need to get my head in the freezers soon as need a list of the contents to meal plan, but to get out today if nothing obvious on the surface is to make macarroni cheese, it is the weather for it!

the thaw is taking hold here so everything is wet and cold rather than just cold..

yummyhoney

spent €5.65 today on chees and water,,forgot to get salt as i used it all yesterday on the foot path:)) didnt make it taste any nicer mind you:)

taka

KCSunshine wrote: »

I was watching the C4 diet programme on Sky+ this morning and Matt Dawson did homemade oven chips – has anyone tried this? Are they any good? Could I par boil, coat with oil then freeze them, hence producing homemade frozen oven chips? Well as I will have a sack of tatties………

I don't bother parboiling either - I just chop (enough for 1 person) and give mine 1 spray of oil and add some herbs (chinese 5 spice is good) and wack it in the oven for ~25-30 mins.

RuthG

I shall be eating out all weekend at someone else's expense - is that cheating??

Ruth