February 2010 Grocery Challenge

lou1981

Went to Mr M's and Mr A's today and spent £38.68. I went straight to the reduced Aisles and managed to pick up Sausages, Sausage rolls, stir fry veg, a chicken and a joint of pork. Then I just got the few bits I needed on my list and I came straight home so I have done well, looking at the receipt for a few weeks ago I wasted so much money.
I have adjusted my meal plan and I have enough stuff for at least the next 10 days and more if I am clever with left overs which I will be.
Louise x

HowlinWolf

10.58 spent in l*dl on Saturday for apples and beer. Their apples are much nicer than the ones available in Mr S at the moment and S*ella it 8 pounds for 18 bottles. Not an essential I know but sometimes you just want a beer/glass of wine and we never have nights out so it's not like we spend money on booze/entertainment otherwise.

Purpleclutterbuck

Well it's time for another gc and the month has flown by! I managed a whole wopping one pound under budget last month (I can see you lot are soooo impressed!!!!)
My dd has promised to keep all the receipts if she picks up any shopping and I've allocated a special teensy drawer to keep them in.
I’m just about to make some microwave flapjack to store away for a week as it improves with keeping and the spending so far is £8 on bread, milk and not much else!
The fridge will be raided for tonight’s tea as a general use up is in progress before I go out and shop again – I’m having a food expedition round the house as it’s a very tiny place and everything needs putting together so I can stop buying 5 tins of the same thing!
I have now got a sort of larder cupboard which hubby has built from 2 kitchen cupboards from B&Q put on top of each other and covered in old pine –it looks lovely and I’m just about to start using it - I’ve got more dried fruit and flour than you can imagine and I’m finding pasta in every nook and cranny!

greent

Just popping in to ask for £450 budget please :-)

Off to start at the beginning of the thread now!!

greent x

Long_tall_sally

Purpleclutterbuck wrote: »

I’m just about to make some microwave flapjack to store away for a week as it improves with keeping and the spending so far is £8 on bread, milk and not much else!

Purpleclutterbuck - Do you just use a normal flapjack recipe but then microwave them instead of baking them? What sort of dish do you put them in?
Thanks Longtall sally

Angelfeathers

Did quite well at the Co-op - spent £34 and got £3 off and picked up a couple of whoopies at 1/4 price (Aberdeen Angus pie for £1.01 and low fat cottage pie for 58p - should help with the diet!)

Plus they had loads of offers on. 50p each for mushrooms and savoy cabbage, half-price grapes, £1 each for Hellman's mayo, Shreddies and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, 8 rolls of quilted toilet roll for £3.50 (saving £1.30), Muller corner 6 packs 2 for £5 (saving 98p), and their own low fat yoghurts 3 for £1.20 (saving 45p).

Feeling pretty good about that, and shouldn't need to do more than top-up shops until big Tesco delivery next week. :-)

Purpleclutterbuck

Hiya Longtallsally! recipe as follows-
3oz margarine/butter
2 tbs golden syrup/black treacle
3oz sugar (any type)
5oz porridge oats
Grease a 7 or 8 inch container (I use a silicon one) Put marg and syrup into 1 ltre jug (large jug) Cook uncovered on full power for 3 mins or until fat melted
Stir in sugar and oats Mix well
Spread mixture evenly in container
Cook uncoverd for 3and half or 4 mins on full power Turn halfway and level mixture again be careful as mix is very hot!!!!
leave to cool in container for 5 mins and mark into squares
When cold break into pieces - this is very chewy to start with but improves with age in an airtight tin for up to 4 weeks!!!
Hope you try it! just alter times for your microwave as required
Pcb x

newlywed

Just make sure your container will turn in the microwave - or was it just me that thought an oblong casserole dish was a good idea to try making microwave flapjack in

I use a round glass pyrex casserole lid as it's nice and shallow.


Edit:I must try and make a black treacle and raisin one... have the stuff in the cupboard already

poppy-glos

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

I know that you can apparently freeze bananas but having never done this before, I don't know if you freeze them with the skin on or off! Also can you just eat them as normal after they have defrosted or are they then only good for banana cake etc?
Also got 2 huge bags of tomatoes for a pound at the market. I'm guessing that they can't be frozen or can they? If not, better make some tomato soup with them soon.

Sorry to quote myself but still looking for the answers to my queries about freezing bananas and tomatoes - anyone know? (Sorry for being a pain!)

Long tall sally

hi, i'm not sure about freezing raw bananas, but have baked banana bread then frozen that ok.
tomatoes i don't know either :rotfl:, but i would happily freeze them as they are then make to make soup or to go into casseroles or stews. then when used i would put them in the cooking liquid, cook for a bit, then fish out the skins.

poppy-glos

£8.45 today in mr t, milk, yogurts, carrots, whoopsied satsumas (15p), 9p noodles and half price cheese (equiv 4.85 cathedral city i think).
Last month i started off really well, then got caught up with at the end! so going to try to spend very slowly this month.. so there is a bit of capacity left later.

oh, i made soft flour tortillas yesterday, i knew about it with aching wrists afterwards from the rolling, but they were delish.. at about 40p for 8 when making them myself i'm happy to put up with the short-term discomfort.

Good luck then all, my intention this month is to keep my eye on it all and not go over, but at the same time if i see bargains that i will use offered cheaply to stock up on a few.

I was laughing at the stockcupboard and finding pasta everywhere quote, i stopped buying pasta in october and still have bags stashed in two places and opened bags in the cupboard .