September 2010 Grocery Challenge

toddles*

morning

spent £39 for my weekly shop yesterday which was brill as I usually spend about £60-70. I didnt buy any sweets, chocs or biscuits but instead made twinks hobnobs in the afternoon. OMG they are delish. Im using them today for OH packed lunch rather than a choccie bar.

I did my shopping from Mr A online but please check your paper invoice to your online invoice when you get it. It was £5 different as they had mispriced my teabags from £3 to £7.98??!!! I rang the customer services line (got the number from "say no to 0870" website.) and they refunded me the whole £7.98. Free tea yeah!!!

Flat_Eric

Morning all :wave:

My first shop of the month today in Mr T. Will update totals later. Bought a bottle of brandy because I had a £10 off £30 spend and thus as I am not able to carry £30 plus of shopping or indeed find £30 of things to buy (its a metro store and thus they don't have full range) or have the patience to walk round with my calculator adding everything up as I go along so I don't spend a penny over the required £30 ! then I added a bottle of wine and brandy to my basket. I guess this is the point of these vouchers - to encourage you to spend money when you otherwise wouldn't have done particularly in my case as the brandy wasn't on offer :mad: oh well. I will have to hide it away until Christmas !

In last month's delicious food magazine, there is a recipe for beef wellington. Two of the ingredients they use, I wondered if I could omit ??which are 5g dried wild mushrooms and chicken live pate ???

Also do you think you could use filo pastry instead of puff pastry (to make it healthier). The recipe doesn't mention about cooking the beef first and the picture shows the meat as being rather rare so if you wanted it well done, would you cook the meat first and then wrap it in pastry or just put the meat in raw and cook for longer. I qutie fancy adding cherry tomatoes, and spinach to my mix and chestnut and normal mushrooms. If anyone has a tried and tested (easy) recipe for beef wellington then I would be very grateful :j I would also be interested if anyone has a recipe for a roasted vegetable filo pastry parcel ? What would be the best cheese to use ?

I still haven't got round to planning my menu for the month :wall: although I have been browsing both good food and delicious (both of which I get on subscription - one a birthday gift and one used tesco vouchers :j) and this has been giving me ideas so I am thinking of getting a folder where I can write out my plan and include the relevant recipes. Im intending on making bonfire chilli at the weekend so am looking forward to that and I am pleased because I have all the ingredients (apart from nachos and sour cream) so very little expense

Have a good day all

elf06

Well I have now been for milk and paper and my total spend for today (hopefully that will be all I need) is...............£1.84

Will update sig

jintyb

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Morning all :wave:

My first shop of the month today in Mr T. Will update totals later. Bought a bottle of brandy because I had a £10 off £30 spend and thus as I am not able to carry £30 plus of shopping or indeed find £30 of things to buy (its a metro store and thus they don't have full range) or have the patience to walk round with my calculator adding everything up as I go along so I don't spend a penny over the required £30 ! then I added a bottle of wine and brandy to my basket. I guess this is the point of these vouchers - to encourage you to spend money when you otherwise wouldn't have done particularly in my case as the brandy wasn't on offer :mad: oh well. I will have to hide it away until Christmas !

In last month's delicious food magazine, there is a recipe for beef wellington. Two of the ingredients they use, I wondered if I could omit ??which are 5g dried wild mushrooms and chicken live pate ???

Also do you think you could use filo pastry instead of puff pastry (to make it healthier). The recipe doesn't mention about cooking the beef first and the picture shows the meat as being rather rare so if you wanted it well done, would you cook the meat first and then wrap it in pastry or just put the meat in raw and cook for longer. I qutie fancy adding cherry tomatoes, and spinach to my mix and chestnut and normal mushrooms. If anyone has a tried and tested (easy) recipe for beef wellington then I would be very grateful :j I would also be interested if anyone has a recipe for a roasted vegetable filo pastry parcel ? What would be the best cheese to use ?

I still haven't got round to planning my menu for the month :wall: although I have been browsing both good food and delicious (both of which I get on subscription - one a birthday gift and one used tesco vouchers :j) and this has been giving me ideas so I am thinking of getting a folder where I can write out my plan and include the relevant recipes. Im intending on making bonfire chilli at the weekend so am looking forward to that and I am pleased because I have all the ingredients (apart from nachos and sour cream) so very little expense

Have a good day all

Hi there, I wouldnt use filo for beef wellington as I dont think its robust enough to hold the beef plus whatever you use ie pate, mushrooms etc and withstand the cooking. Puff is best!
Your mix idea sounds fine,although tomatoes might make the pastry soggy, ordinary mushrooms will be absolutely ok!
For the roasted veg parcels, riccotta or finely sliced mozzarella would work.
Enjoy your meal whatever you decide - sounds yummy!:)

cheerfulness4

First spend of the month for me at Tesco/Morrisons and it came in totally £38.76. :eek: Bit more than I would have liked but the freezer/cupboards are nicely filled up and we have fruit in again.

Fortunately the plum tree is loaded and I'm turning deaf ears to the whinges about hating the skins. (and thats DH!)
Have marrows in the garden so they'll get hidden in moussakas, spag bog, etc so there's money to be saved this month!

Can't believe my luck that I've found a small Sainsburys 'local' just a mile away. How did I miss that? Only lived here 27years!

Would anyone know if these little Sainsburys have different prices from the large ones and if they stock some of the same offers ie the half price cereal and quorn thats on at the moment?

SherlockFan85

Morning All

A grand spend of 42p yesterday on a little triangle of Brie from M&S as had a cheese craving at the train station. I looked a bit bizarre eating cheese on the platform!

Nearly a NSD then but not quite!

Bread and milk needed today, plus my beloved garlic and onion bagels for brekkies. Will update sig with my purchases tomorrow.

Have a lovely day to all :beer:

jackieglasgow

Spent £3.39 on milk and loo rolls. I am feeling a bit disenchanted today but onwards and upwards.

yummymummy85

Hi could I join in please? I have a budget of £120 for the month and havespent £31.87 for this weeks shopping. Next week's will probably be a bit more as I'll need nappies and formula however it looks like my eldest son is starting to e dry at night (he's been dry during the day for a couple of months now) so hopefully we'll only need nappies for the little one which will save us about £10 a month!! We also bought a load of dog food last month as it was on offer in asda so we shouldn't need to buy any this month!

majjak

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Well done :T



You're welcome and I forgot to say, that when I make cookies/brownies/rice krispie/cornflake cakes I use Te$co Value Chocolate (usually plain, but that's personal preference) 'cos it's only 30p!!
I don't mean the value cooking chocolate, I mean the value eating chocolate that's with other bars of chocolate in the confectionery part of the store

I've also been reading on another part of the forum that people have been trying Te$co Value Cocoa Powder and that it's not half bad, so I might give that a shot.
I've already downbranded to Te$co own brand from C@dbury Bournville and found that fine. Slighty different colour and perhaps not quite as much depth of flavour, but nothing to write home about, but a big difference in price, and I get through a lot of cocoa.

Cheers again Hippee :beer:, I did buy the Mr A smart price choc, that's 30p too and it tastes really good ! (There was a spare square or 3 left over from the recipe ).

I'll have to try downgrading to the basic ranges of cocoa powder, I had been buying Green and Blacks :eek: (I can see all your chins dropping to the floor :rotfl:). But that's finished now so next time I'll go for a lower brand - might even pop it in the G&Bs pot so that the kids don't realise .

Right, off to pick some runner beans from the garden for tea tonight - I may be a while, it's a jungle out there :rotfl:.

cheerfulness4

Thanks for reply goodgirl80.
It'll be strictly used only for the offers (if indeed they stock some) that I would have normally bought.

On holiday I used a little Tescos but annoyingly I can't remember if the prices were more expensive than the main stores. I usually avoid the corner shops because they can be so expensive.