September 2010 Grocery Challenge

LisaP24

Newbie here!

I've got to cut right back, so I have been trawling MSE for meals etc on a budget. Have recently lost my job, so need to spend as little as possible at the moment.

Did a shop at the weekend, which I need to total up, so my budget for the month will be £200. This includes me, dd (age 17) 2 cats and a dog and budget running from 28th Aug to 30th Sept.

Will update signiture as soon as I know how much I've spent so far on store cupboard/cleaning/fresh etc.

LisaP24

Have just had a heart attack! £73 gone already on shopping. only have 120 left for month. This is going to be tough, but I'm going to try my best.

A lot of the things I have bought won't need to be replaced for a good couple of weeks, so hopefully I can stick to it. Now to go and meal plan!

EllieA_3

Winged_one wrote: »

EllieA, any hints on what "weird and wonderful" things you have to use up? I had a tin of crab for about 3 years, and I eventually bit the bullet and made crab cakes with this, a bowl of mashed potato, some sweetcorn (from a tin, about 1/3 of a small one), and a couple of spring onions chopped up. Mixed all together, dipped in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and then fried until golden. DD hasn't stopped asking for me to do them again!!

I used up a similarly old tin of chickpeas at the weekend, to make hummus for nibbles. OK, I had to buy the tahini paste, but otherwise I had everything and it is quite tasty if I say so myself. I have some for my lunch tomorrow with some crackers.

I am sure there are loads of great ideas from others, once we know what you have to make use of.

Oh weird and wonderful things

4 tins of Coconut Milk.

Pinenuts??

Massive Bag of Cooking Apples (i have made tons into pies/crumble and apple filling but still have loads left and the freezer is full)

couscous i know i should be able to use this but tbh i find it abit boring and tastless but refuse to bin it.

Green beans and cherry toms from the garden, getting abit sick of them now tbh, frozen loads but need some good recipes rather than sidedish/butty's/salad because if i serve them again i thing im gonna have it thrown at me.

Cracker bread thats been there for at least a year

Banana Chips?

Oh and a serious amount of mixed seeds (things like pumpkin, sunflower etc) i occasionally have some as a snack but i have so many i really could do with getting rid of some.

Rice and balsamix vinegar i bought for a recipe at some point and have never needed again.

Herbyme

Thanks Hippeechiq, I appreciate what you wrote. And I agree with it, it all sounds sensible. I just wish I could get it down lower though. Still not quite done so will be even more over budget for August. But Sept 1st is almost here and feels like a fresh start. And did have a lovely and low cost day today out cycling with OH and DS in the sunshine! Like a proper summer's day, amazing!

Herbyme

Well done all on your good intentions and menu planning! An idea re odd ingredients - bbc website has a recipe database that you can search by ingredient to find something with that quirky thing in it. Maybe bbc good food too which has nicer recipes imo. And am feeling inspired food wise having got 2 library books out on thrifty cooking which make it seem less like a punishment and more like the mood of the moment

Right, slow cooker is on making chicken stock, DW and WM set to come on overnight on cheap elec, off to bed!

claire1234

newbie!
could i join in also please?

id like to aim for £180

i love this old style section, each month i do my soa so i thought this month would be ideal to try the grocery challenge.

theres me, my oh and our dog,
we are trying to eat well - more fruit and veg than usual,
ive stocked up on dog food at tesco - from the double up & she goes though 2 bags of mixer per month ( 3kg per bag),
i will include tolitries also,

we go though a lot of hovis bread as its one we really like so im going to try to get to farm foods to stock up & freeze,

im going to aim for £40 per week shop at mrT and £5 per week for a top-up of milk/bread or things we run out of,
also do take into account a budget for stocking up?
how do you guys work it out? im quite tempted to withdraw £180 out of the bank and put into a seperate purse or do you just collect recipets and at the end of the month see how you`ve done?

rosieben

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Thanks a lot Rosieben & Hippichiq for the recipes to use my lemons etc.

a few non-cheesecake suggestions

- magic lemon pudding recipes in the front page index;
- lemon squash recipe on the front page recipe index

and if you google 'microwave lemon curd' you'll find some nice quick and easy recipes

Hippeechiq's Lemon Flan recipe now added to the recipe index

elf06

claire1234 wrote: »

im going to aim for £40 per week shop at mrT and £5 per week for a top-up of milk/bread or things we run out of,
also do take into account a budget for stocking up?
how do you guys work it out? im quite tempted to withdraw £180 out of the bank and put into a seperate purse or do you just collect recipets and at the end of the month see how you`ve done?

Personally I take out just under the amount I plan to use so this months target is £120 so I prob take out £100 and I put it on my clubcard plus and only use this to shop. The other £20 I keep seperate and use if I see/need anything from a diff shop. I keep all my receipts just incase I forget about something and tally up every week or so. Just try something and see if it works for you - I am sure there are many of us doing it different ways

I had a NSD for groceries yesterday but did manage to get a brand new £25 dress for £1 :T Had seen it a few times at work and finally managed to look at it yesterday but it wasnt meant to be on sale and was to be damaged and thrown out (not a think wrong with it:mad:) so the clothing manager said I could have it if I gave £1 to our charity of the year It may not fit (as its a size too small and doesnt look like it will stretch around the boobs ) but for £1 I am rather happy :D:D

come_on_get_happy

£200 for me please... Official this month;)

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Did our first "top up shop" yesterday -all my shops seem to be "top ups" now as I never dare run low on much . The freezers are still stuffed full -mainly with meat :j -so it was pretty much fruit, veg, eggs milk yesterday.
I spent €26 -so thats me off to a start....

I also got another lovely kitchen item -it really is an illness -my obsession with kitchen goodies :rotfl: Anyway this one is a bit like a raclette (yes I have one of those too ) -this one sits on the table if you want and has 6 little dips in to make pancakes and then it has 6 individual woks that sit in there so you can cook your own food at the table -Im easily pleased -oohh but hubby won €60 on a machine and gave me half -so that paid for my new toy :T
enough waffle from me.... hope everyone is having a good week