July 2010 Grocery Challenge

Zend

First shop of the month today. Spent £62.79 in Mr M's but used one of the £5 off vouchers from the Sun so came to £57.79. I will use the £5 saved to buy food stamps for Christmas.

lynne1307

A small breathrough for me yesterday but I am quite proud of myself so thought i'd share.

Had some leftover mash so made potato cakes with bacon that needed using up and a bit of cheese.

fried them up and had them with beans. delicious!.
I would normally have binned the mash :eek:

but am being very frugal (or trying) as have gone to part time low paid from full time well paid - lifestyle changes are needed!.

Will be having a close look at the recipes thread.

JayJay14

Lynne - don't forget you can freeze mash. I sometimes cook a whole 2.5 kg bag of spuds (especially if it has been whoopsied) and freeze it in dolops on a tray then bag when frozen Microwave and add a little extra milk when hot and it is eally handy.

Another use for leftover mash is a potato pizza.

mix mash with enough plain flour to make a scone like dough and roll out into a circle.

dry fry gently then turn over and top with some tomato puree, cooked peppers and mushrooms and anything else you have handy. Top with cheese and either put uner the grill to brown or just put a lid on the fry pan for a minute or two if you don't mind just melted cheese (also saves the electric of the grill)

I can't remember if it was originaly a slimming world or scotish slimmers recipe (I've done them all:rotfl:) but it makes a nice lunch.

Have spent nearly half my GC allowance so nead to reign myself in a bit. Cupboards and freezer are really full so no excuse.

Off to update sig.

Downsizing__for_sanity

Hi everyone,

Thanks for running this Mrs McM, and please could you put Downsizing down for £280 in July please?

On the back of success in May and June,:j I'd really like it to be less, but my inlaws are coming for a few days this month and I usually like to cook at least two courses for dinners! Also, my FIL can be a little fussy with food so I'll stick to what I know they like to eat. He's on a low cholesterol diet too so I won't be able to make use of our eggs much for quiches and omelettes as I usually would do. We've also had friends staying the first weekend so that was £95-odd and another friend is staying on Sat/Sun.

If things go to plan this month, I should be able to get August down to £200 - at least for one month (famous last words!)

Good luck everyone, looking forward to the challenge!

DFS

highland_fling_2

guccigoo: congratulations on the job.
I watched the programme last night, which featured Martin, about the recession and how it has effected us all. Was really concerning to see how quickly peoples circumstances could change. It emphasised how difficult it was to find work so well done you to have found a job in the present climate.

Spent £38+ yesterday but have meal planned well to use up storecupboard stocks, as some of them are either out of date or very near to it.

kezlou

:beer: great news on the new job guccigoo!
ally18! fantastic and welcome!
longtall sally glad you enjoyed your holiday
mrs m :- hugs

Just an update managed to have 2 nsd's in a row, as i persuaded OH not to go and buy buns, saying i'll do some tomorrow instead. So we had some pasta and tomato sauce (i.e mince/lentil mix), ot which he asked how i made it. Now this could have been a serious mistake as i've doing this mix for a while now with lentils etc to bulk it out. So i told him and guess what shockingly he said hmm its really nice you'll have to make some more :eek:. Good job theres another two lots in the freezer .
So made up the rest of the cooked pasta into pasta salad for us all today for lunch.

So far the plan is:
Tues: - spag bol (D) sandwiches (L)
wed:- burgers + salad (d) pasta salad(l)
thurs:-curry + rice(D) sandwiches (L)
fri:- scampi, chips, + peas (D) sandwiches (L)

All has to be fairly simple for me or OH to cook, due to me being out of action. Luckily i have all of the above in. The curry is already cooked and in the freezer.

doelani

Went to MrA this morning to get a " few " things and spent £20.56 !!! ok £4.83 of it was for steak pieces for casserole tomorrow night and bought mince to make lasagne for friday so that should be it until Saturday :j

Have decided to go to Makro today as want to get some washing powder and always buy the big ones there when on offer. I may try frozen mince as they have it on offer as well. Never used it before so wish me luck lol

Doe

Moniker

Just realised that I set my budget at £350 this month not £300 - so it's not as bad as I thought! Still have to be careful though. Should be a NSD today and tomorrow (for groceries at least) and will do a main shop on Friday.

Got up really early today and went swimming with DH at 7am! It was a 'free' swim though as our leisure centre gives you loyalty points and knowing that it wasn't costing me anything made up for the early start!

Am about to start the painting of the bedside cabinets for DD1's room and when they are done I will put my paintbrushes away and start to get straight again - can't wait! At least it's not so hot today.

Have a good one everyone.

Moniker

CupOfChai

Adding £2.43 today. Sodding noodles.

yummymummy05

nsd yesterday, but ran out of mayo so went into co-op and only bought mayo:A

although i did get a call from school saying ds has put playdoh in his ear?!

just updating my sig!