September 2010 Grocery Challenge

hex2

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

I think next month I'm going to have a separate entertainment budget, and put alcohol and takeaways in that instead of the GC, and reduce my target a little.

I do that too, works for me. In a tight month I reduce that budget rather than the food one.

I am to £210 now against a target of £450. The freezer was nearly empty from a meals point of view - even the dodgy unidentifiable lumps from the bottom of the meat drawer had been eaten and I am down to my last chicken :eek:.

I went to the good butchers so £45 spent but 7 lots of quality steak mince, 6 lots of sausages and the rare treat of decent ham, bacon and pork scratchings.

Salty ham - modern ham shouldn't be salty but if you bring it to the boil once, then replace the water and start again then it should be better. I think you can soak it in water overnight to draw some salt out as well.

Spiggle

wssla00 wrote: »

Can anyone help me with this? I can get them no bother but when I tried to cook them I HATED them! They were so salty and usually I love ham,gammon etc. If anyone tell me a good way of using them, I will start to incorporate them into my meal plans!

Thank you!

Hi wssla00,

I asked OH how he does it and here it is:

First wash them, soak them for about 10 hours in cold water, then rinse off, put into cold water with no salt added, bring to boil, cook for two hours then leave in the pan covered until completely cold (probably overnight), then next day should be able to carve etc and shouldn't be salty.

OH also agreed with hex2 that they shouldn't be too salty these days, years ago they were definitely more salty!

~moneysavingnovice~ we always separate entertainment and booze for our own consumption we each buy for ourselves out of our pocket money. We don't have takeaways but I wouldn't include them if we did. And as for the £10 on C-word goodies, I'm keeping a separate record of these and will only include the food elements in our GC e.g. veg, turkey, meats, etc.

Welcome back TheBees. :wave:

adelight I'm so envious of you having access to a market, wonderful bargains to be had and possibly little more seasonal?

We don't have a market but do have a BM so thank you mummyyof5 for the tip on sugar.:T

Hippeechiq glad you're feeling a bit better if not all the way there yet.

For all of you close to or over your budget please don't despair or give up. When we started in March we were spending £600+ per month :eek: and very few meals were in that. We'd just shop for stuff with no plan, limit or list and it showed. So it may take a couple of months to get to your budget but you can guarantee your spend will be considerably lower for trying to achieve your budget. Keep posting and reading as we're all here to help each other through.

So, got a few things from the butchers and greengrocer yesterday so another £9.06 added to the sig.

Got to go and try to get shoes (different budget) for OH soon as he hopes to return to work this week. The doctor wanted him to take another week after Wednesday but he really does want to get back. Whether he will be up to it by then is another matter. We'll see.

OK, I'll probably pop back later to catch up. Keep strong all.

Take care and have a great Sunday,
Spigs

Morganarla

Spent £8.21 at Mr S over the last few days. DH has kindly replenished quite a few items in the store cupboard so that'll help a bit.

Total spend for the month so far : £76.38.

Money left to spend: £8.62... Oh carp.

jintyb

hello everyone -

I'm looking for help!

I'm going to make chutney tomorrow and I have all the ingredients that the recipe calls for except ground allspice. I only need a teaspoon but Im loathe to spend £1.50 on a jar when I doubt if I'll ever use it again.:mad: I've got quite a lot of the usual spices.
Does anyone know of a suitable substitute? I, and my purse, will be very grateful!:)

Spiggle

jintyb wrote: »

hello everyone -

I'm looking for help!

I'm going to make chutney tomorrow and I have all the ingredients that the recipe calls for except ground allspice. I only need a teaspoon but Im loathe to spend £1.50 on a jar when I doubt if I'll ever use it again.:mad: I've got quite a lot of the usual spices.
Does anyone know of a suitable substitute? I, and my purse, will be very grateful!:)

Hi jintyb,

OH used mixed spice the other day. He also suggest checking the ingredients in allspice and making your own from what you have in store. According to a google search "Allspice has the flavor and taste similar to a combination of equal parts of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper (which could also be use as a substitute)"

Hope that helps,
Spigs

jintyb

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi jintyb,

OH used mixed spice the other day. He also suggest checking the ingredients in allspice and making your own from what you have in store. According to a google search "Allspice has the flavor and taste similar to a combination of equal parts of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper (which could also be use as a substitute)"

Hope that helps,
Spigs

Hey Spigs - I just knew you would be the one with the answer:T - have got all of the above, will just use a bit of each and hope for the best, I really hate when you read through a recipe and find one bloomin thing you aint got!! Thanks a lot for that!:T

adelight

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

I think next month I'm going to have a separate entertainment budget, and put alcohol and takeaways in that instead of the GC, and reduce my target a little.

*tries to make herself feel better* lol

That's what I do Well I include alcohol bought at the shops to drink at home/in a house in my GC.

adelight

Spiggle wrote: »

adelight I'm so envious of you having access to a market, wonderful bargains to be had and possibly little more seasonal?

well, it's seasonal-ish! Atm it's all cheap plums, 10p sweetcorn and 5 for £1 avocados.

sofababe

Just been to Mr A for beans, milk, pots, pizzas and a bit of cheese. £7.79 spent and only the 19th:eek:

I think next month I'm going to shop weekly rather than a whole months worth in one go. I feel it'll be more manageable and controllable that way. Here's hoping!

Spiggle

Glad we could help jintyb.

Making me drool adelight! :drool: And such fantastic prices. I musn't let OH see that price for the avocados.

sofababe everybody is different and it takes a bit of time to work out which is the best way for you and your circumstances/habits. Personally, I couldn't cope with one big shop a month as I'm sure we'd run out of bits and bobs and start spending more. So, you've tried one method and hopefully you'll feel happier with a different method next month.

Well, we went and got shoes and a new coat for OH. Quite quick too considering we have to get him size 12 shoes and XXL coat! :eek: Unfortunately, he forgot black pud yesterday from the butcher (we're having fry up today, a lovely treat on a Sunday ) and so he popped into MrS to get it. Bought me a tartlet as I strained my wrist yesterday in the garden, said black pud and a brilliantly whoopsied salmon taramasalata at 10p (I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole mind so it's his treat). Blew my planned NSD though. So another £2.86 added to the total and sig.

At least it's now a round figure so I know we have £62 until a week Thursday. I also have over £50 worth of Nectar points to use at MrS so I may go there for anything we need in the meantime to use them up. :think:

Ok, see you all later.

Take care,
Spigs