September 2010 Grocery Challenge

kirsty822001

Firstly hugs to SPIGGLE hope you both feeling not so drained soon

Ok I went awol half way thru August !! Lost track of spends after we went off on hols camping,,but from reciepts i found I came in well under budget,,BUT we did eat out alot and that comes out of hubbys pocket :T
So please put me down for £350 :shocked: for Sept, I really am sure I can do this,,after a few months practising!! its time to get me out of my comfort zone will be needing help I would think when stocks are dwindling,,;-)
Have already taken advantage of sainsburys half price offers and bought 8 boxes of toothpaste and half price shower gels,,but they will all be used and we had finished up all the half empty and full bottles.

Everyone except my waistline enjoying my cakes and biscuits each week,,jams and chutneys too from foraging:T
Hoping to plant some veg for winter today and few bulbs for spring.

Now seem to have got into the habit of making 2 shopping lists,,thins for mealplan and things we need / half price offers that could be used for following meal plans.
Happy /frugal Shopping everyone

adelight

cw18 wrote: »

I get mine from Mr T- currently £1.63 for 375g (was £1.48 in Aug '09, which is when I last bought any!). I know OH's DS recently bought a larger bag, which looks like it came from a health food shop or asian store his GF frequents, but I've no idea what he paid.

Does it come in a bag dried and you add water? I really don't have a clue

cw18

adelight wrote: »

Does it come in a bag dried and you add water? I really don't have a clue

Yes it does, and yes you do

boultdj

Another $6.20 gone,on rubber chicken for the week,been a while since we had it.

Long_tall_sally

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Must top up on oats as my dd has a craze for them lately-another dieting fad! She bought the proper brand of course-she will learn the "difference"-just the price! Mind you-I think she was looking at the man in a kilt on the box!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Funnily enough all my life I have always eaten the porridge with the man with the kilt on the front of the packet and I actually was brave enough to try Co ops own a few weeks ago. Initially I thought I could tell the difference and for some reason it seems to take 5 minutes to cook properly in my microwave whereas the "kilted" version only took four but am now onto my second packet of it and will probably never buy my old version again. Not when there is such a price difference!

Spiggle

mongmoney wrote: »

I'm getting into this. Began my freezer stock up, gona make a big bolognese this pm. I'm strugging to get the portion size right though, how many ml do any of you lot store for one person?
Off to Iceland for frozen veg.
Good luck this month everyone.

Mongy

cw18 wrote: »

Same here.....

By the time I've added sauce and extra veg to the meat, I normally expect to get 1 portion for at least each 60g of mince that went into the pan - and if I've padded out beef mince with rehydrated soya mince, then it's at least 1 per 60g of the combined weight. So a 500g pack of mince (without any added soya mince) will hopefully make up 9 portions of something if I'm careful

Doesn't always work that way though - I'm cooking 500g of turkey mince up today, but into something that doesn't have a lot of extras added. So I don't expect to get more than 6 portions out of this.

adelight wrote: »

Where do you get your soya mince and how much is it generally? I've been looking for it recently but have only found frozen soya mince which cost a little more than frozen lamb and beef!

I generally guess my portions when freezing and I probably do portions too big... at least a big heaped ladel for chilli/curry, two ladels for stew and more for soup.
I cook 2-3 portions, eat one, freeze or refridgerate the rest. Depends how much tupperware I have knocking around

Hi All,

The thought just struck me (and forgive me as I don't do the cooking in our home ) that soya mince is not the only way to bulk out mince dishes such as bol sauce, chilli, shep pie, etc. Perfectly cheap alternatives for bulk include red lentils (scrummy taste too), pearl barley and oats. There are probably other things as well, not forgetting of course various veg, but these just came to mind.

Well done mongy and adelight for getting into the swing so thoroughly. :T

Take care all,
Spigs

wssla00

Yep! I'm a lentil stuffer for bolognese! A good handful will bulk it out grand

I am going to pop out today and maybe go up to the west end to look for yummy treats so expecting to spend a bit of money!

Have a good day all

nicola1303

Afternoon all, I hope I'm posting this on the right forum ( if not please move to appropriate...thank you ).

Until I get to grips with everything I am doing a weekly budget ( giving myself £70 this week for 2 adults, 3 children, 2 dogs and 1 baby corn snake ).
I have done an inventory of our cupboards, freezer and fridge and have quite a bit in ( thank to asda whoopsies yesterday ). So to cut a long story short I've done a virtual shop online ( we have never done an online shop ) and my order comes to £61.75, then I have a code for £10 off a £50 but can I also use a free delivery code?

I have listed everything am I'm now about to trawl through some recipes for the week ( I do menu plan but find we are having more or less the same stuff each week, so after some new meals ).

This shop as well as what we already have in will hopefully last 2 weeks, so not a weekly ' shop ' this week, ( I have wash powder, t. roll, toothpaste, shampoo etc galore, and in the freezer : 2x beef mince, 1x lamb mince 2x pork loins 800g of diced beef and a joint of rolled belly pork as well as odds and sods of mixed veg, sausage roll, a portion of HM chicken balti and various ice-cream/lollies ).

2 eldest children have packed lunches and are back at school on Tues, DF takes fruit, Leftovers for work and I'm trying to lose some chunk so ryvitas and cottage cheese for me lol.


Oops sorry I have gone on a bit, only wanted to ask about the delivery code.....sorry:D

adelight

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi All,

The thought just struck me (and forgive me as I don't do the cooking in our home ) that soya mince is not the only way to bulk out mince dishes such as bol sauce, chilli, shep pie, etc. Perfectly cheap alternatives for bulk include red lentils (scrummy taste too), pearl barley and oats. There are probably other things as well, not forgetting of course various veg, but these just came to mind.

Well done mongy and adelight for getting into the swing so thoroughly. :T

Take care all,
Spigs

I love lentils I'm an addict... I have a bag of every variety of dried bean and lentil my local waitrose sells. But pearl barley is something I've never tried!

Jevvers

Pearl barley is fantastic in chicken stew, mmmm. I just bought a new packet yesterday - a sure sign that autumn is on its way, suddenly one-pot rib sticking dishes are looking very appealing. Not tried it with mince myself (yet) but I'm sure it's lovely there too.