July 2010 Grocery Challenge

muffin_man_7

Recovering spendaholic why don't you get your dd1 to go to shop after all she is the reason you need a few things that way you keep your nsd and she might stop her early morning munching cos every time she raids the kitchen without asking you could say she got to replace stuf if she asks first and you say its ok then she might get the message my older ones never brought friends round cos their d d would moan he not here now just me youngest of boys and youngest girl im used to hectic i only asked mine i time they came back and i politely said thank you for getting the bread milk cereal i hadn't budgeted for .......funny never asked for money and always asked before getting something it might help hope so

Kitchenbunny

Just popped to Mr T for some veggies (red peppers & a pack of mushrooms) and some multivitamins, and spent £6.19, taking my total so far to £11.72. So far I'm spending more than I'd hoped I'd have to, but in truth if I can get below £200 I won't be too disappointed. I'll update my signature now.

Tea tonight will be a jar of Chinese hoi sin sauce that I found in the cupboard with some prawns bought on offer last month and some noodles. Which will be a nice and quick tea and one I'm looking forward to a lot.

Highland Fling - I make a sweet potato and red pepper soup in the slow cooker by cooking some peeled and chopped sweet potatoes, a chopped red pepper or two, some garlic and herbs with some vegetable stock for 4-6 hours on low. It can then be blended to make a smooth soup or left chunky.

HTH

KB xx

freakyogre

muffin_man_7 wrote: »

Recovering spendaholic why don't you get your dd1 to go to shop after all she is the reason you need a few things

I have to agree. I'd have kindly woken her up nice and early and sent her to the shop

When I lived at home I never took advantage as knew we weren't made of money. My dad used to get coke (own brand ) etc with the weekly shop, but I knew it had to last until the next time.
When I started working full time at around 18/19 I acquired my own cupboard in the kitchen and shelf in the fridge and anything extra that I wanted, I bought and it went in there.
It worked well as I generally worked late, so I wouldn't eat meals with my dad and stepmum anyway, so I could just sort myself out when I got in and they weren't paying for my food.

Er, to keep this on topic. Officially I haven't spent anything in July (the £5 was earlier in the week, but counted in July). I can highly recommend living on your own and being on crutches for a while for moneysaving! :money:
I'm off to the hospital for my foot to be re-dressed tomorrow and am hoping we can pop to a shop afterwards as I need a couple of bits.

[Deleted User]

Please put me down for £200 for the month of July please. I withdrew £200 in cash for the whole month - for the first time I have done a "monthly" shop and will stock up each week on milk, bread, fruit and vegetables. I thought that by taking the cash out I can physically see how I am doing. After the big shop which included everything including cleaning products, loo rolls, toothpastes etc I have £65 so I am fairly positive I can stick to it.

~moneysavingnovice~

First time I've posted in this section- can I join in the GC??

Me, OH and our dog spend £350ish a month (includes cleaning, toiletries and my lunches to take to work). We do a big shop once a week at Mr S. If we pop to the shop at the end of the road for alcohol/snacky bits it goes in another budget called 'other food/drinks&sundries' which normally gets up to £100 a month.

Determined to get Mr S monthly budget down to £300 and other/sundries budget down to £50.

Me and OH are in the process of buying our 1st house so we really must watch the pennies! Plus he works on commission so income is really variable.

We both work full time and long hours so rely a lot on ready meals and packaged foods- any tips for how to prep at the weekend for quick and easy meals to eat in the week??

Thanks!

cw18

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

any tips for how to prep at the weekend for quick and easy meals to eat in the week??

I batch cook quite a lot of stuff - especially mince based meals.

I cook a huge pot of bolognese sauce, or chille con carne, or 'cottage pie base' and freeze in portion size. I don't make the cottage pies up with the potato as (1) we sometimes have it over a jacket potato, and (2) it takes more space in the freezer

Then when we next want one of these meals I pull the appropriate number of portions out in the morning, turn out into a pan to defrost, and heat up in the evening while the spaghetti/rice/potato is cooking (we like the jacket potato option with any, but I have a combi microwave so can do 2 'proper' jackets in about 18 minutes )

~moneysavingnovice~

cw18 wrote: »

I batch cook quite a lot of stuff - especially mince based meals.

I cook a huge pot of bolognese sauce, or chille con carne, or 'cottage pie base' and freeze in portion size. I don't make the cottage pies up with the potato as (1) we sometimes have it over a jacket potato, and (2) it takes more space in the freezer

Then when we next want one of these meals I pull the appropriate number of portions out in the morning, turn out into a pan to defrost, and heat up in the evening while the spaghetti/rice/potato is cooking (we like the jacket potato option with any, but I have a combi microwave so can do 2 'proper' jackets in about 18 minutes )

Fab- will try batch cooking next weekend. I am a bit clueless though- have you got any recipes for the spag bol or chilli sauce? We love those meals but normally buy read meals

Also when you freeze them, do you put them in sandwich bags or do I need to buy a few containers?

Cheers!

cw18

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

Fab- will try batch cooking next weekend. I am a bit clueless though- have you got any recipes for the spag bol or chilli sauce? We love those meals but normally buy read meals

Also when you freeze them, do you put them in sandwich bags or do I need to buy a few containers?

Cheers!

My 'recipes' are a bit hit and miss, depending on what I have in. I always add loads more mushrooms to bolognese than any recipe I've seen says (we love them), and more often than not use a packet mix for the chille (adding extra chille powder if it's too mild for us). But there are loads on the Internet. Grated carrot works well in bolognese too - and boosts f&v count as well as padding out the mince. A lot of people add oats to stretch the number of portions, but that's not something I've personally tried (yet).

I use whatever mince I have to hand/manage to pick up on clearance - so it could be beef or pork or turkey. I often also mix this (especially beef mince, less so turkey) with some rehydrated dried soya mince -- but would advise getting used to cooking the meals before you try 'tampering' that way, as you do need to get the balance right for taste preference.

I normally freeze in (empty) 500g marge tubs, but once frozen I turn out into freezer bags as they take less space (and it also frees up the tubs for the next batch cooking session).



ETA: Spaghetti Carbonara is another meal that doesn't take long to cook from scratch, and neither does omelette (I add mushrooms, cheese and ham to ours) with salad. Both are really nice with warm baguette type bread (which doesn't take long to warm through either, but again I use my smaller combi oven for this as it costs a fortune to run the main oven just for a couple of small baguettes)

poppy-glos

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

Fab- will try batch cooking next weekend. I am a bit clueless though- have you got any recipes for the spag bol or chilli sauce? We love those meals but normally buy read meals

Also when you freeze them, do you put them in sandwich bags or do I need to buy a few containers?

Cheers!

hi, i do a mixture, depending on how many containers i have! i wash out and reuse old spread containers, have a few lock and lock boxes (bit like tupperware), and use sandwich bags when i've run out of the above (and make them into a block shape by putting two individual meal bagged portions into the plastic mushroom tray to set into a useful shape.

if you go to page one of any of the grocery challenge threads the recipes are all listed, sorry , i don't know how to do the link you can click on to get them.

good luck

poppy x

missy_dee_2

Hi all

Quick update. Spent £17 this weekend - £5 f&v at market, £6 at mr t on washing up liquid, milk, reduced chicken ready meal, squash and cat food, and about £6 at m&s on a few nice bit's!!

Having roast pork dinner tonight - defrosted from freezer. Tomorrow having chicken ready meal as we will both be in really late from work. Tuesday I'll do a spaghetti boll and Wed HM fish pie(from freezer). So don't plan to go anyway near a shop until Thursday!!

I don't post often but do read all the posts so just want to give a big thanks to Mrs M for organising this GC and everyone else for all your tips and support etc.

Have a good evening




Dee
Dee