November 2010 Grocery Challenge

mummygems

Diflower wrote: »

I was really cross this morning, I had the car for a couple of hours and went to MrT with a list of bread flour and other baking bits and pieces as it's 3 for 2 - except it wasn't. Nothing at all in the whole section. I went to customer services, he called the dept manager, the manager came - except he was the bakery manager not the grocery one. Having been there about 15 mins, frozen food in my bags, and needed to get the car back, I couldn't wait any longer.

I have been told by our local MrT and MrA that when they advertise on the TV/in magazines it can take a month for it to filter to all the stores? How true this is I dont know but I have had this sort of thing happen on so many different ocassions and within a month-6 weeks we usually have the offer that was advertised!

Diflower

skilly wrote: »

DILFLOWER i have been a to mr t's a few times when they have there adds on tv only to find there is nothing in store its not very good when you make a round trip of 20 miles for me .

Exactly. It's about 12 for us round trip, and I only get the car in snatches. A lot of offers aren't what I would buy, but since I make all our bread, cakes & biscuits this one would have saved quite a bit, plus I wouldn't have to buy the stuff for a while. But if I get it delivered that eats up most of the saving - I was only going to get 3 bags each of 3 different flours, and some glace cherries.

katholicos

curlybap wrote: »

Hi Katholicos

Here's the recipe for Honey Crunch Bars:

Makes 12
Takes 40 minutes to make, plus cooling

Ingredients

• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 100g olive oil spread
• 50g clear honey
• 150g high-fibre cereal
• 50g mixed dried fruit, chopped
• 1 tbsp golden linseed

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan160C/gas 4. Grease the base and sides of a 18cm square x 2.5cm deep tin. Press the paper into the tin to line it.

2. Put the sugar, olive oil spread and honey into a large bowl and microwave on medium for 2 minutes. The mixture will be very hot, so take great care when removing the bowl. Stir well.
3. Stir the cereals and fruit into the sugar mixture. Spoon into the tin and flatten with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the linseed on. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes.
4. Cut into 12 bars. Wrap each one in baking paper and store in an airtight tin.


Recipe for Marshmallow Crunch Bars:


Makes 36
Ingredients

• 350g mini marshmallows
• 170g vegetable shortening or oil ( I only used a knob of butter!)
• ½ tsp salt
• 150g rice or corn cereal (rice, puffed cocoa crisps, or fruit crisps) (I'm going to add a few more next time as they were still a bit sticky)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g sweets of your choice (M&M's are good!)

Method: How to make marshmallow crunchy bar cut-outs


1. In a large pot over low heat, melt the butter, marshmallows, and salt. Stir in the cereal and the vanilla, making sure to coat each piece of cereal. Stir in candy pieces.
2. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Spread rice mixture onto waxed paper to the edges of the pan. Coat your hands with cooking spray and push down the mixture into an even, flat rectangle. Cool to room temperature.
3. Spray selected cookie cutters (like stars or teddy bears) with cooking oil and firmly cut out shapes from cooled cereal mixture. Remove with a spatula and place on a waxed paper–lined baking sheet. Decorate with frosting, melted chocolate, additional sweets, or biscuits sprinkles.





Enjoy

You're an :A

Do you know if i could use an alternative to linseed oil, as i don't have any but want to make your lovely cereal bars ?

katholicos

JackieO wrote: »

Good morning all you lovely frugal folk .well I have just got back from doing my 'big' shop for the month.I had managed to get quite a few whoopsies as well so I am really pleased meatwise, all reduced at 9.00 a.m. this morning I got
6 pork chops = £2.50
free range organic chicken = £.3.34 weighs about 3.5lb
4 organic lamb rump steaks =£2.79
1 fairly large piece of organic rib-eye steak =2.38
1 butter basted organic turkey breast =£1.25
1 good sized piece of best organic sirloin steak £1.91
250gms lean lamb stewing steak plus a kidney = £2.00
total 17.51 but should have been £32.17 so I have more than enough meat for me for the rest of the month.
I also managed to buy some fair trade bananas reduced at 5 for 40p
All told I have spent £33.75 out of my budget and have enough fruit and veg for around 10 days and nothing to buy for at least that time as well. I am really pleased at my trip this morning.I have just wrapped and frozen most of the stuff .I also had a result with a packet of thin sliced ham as for some reason it had been reduced to £1.34 from £2.00 but the sell by date is the 26th November so its probably been priced by mistake I bought two big packs of multi seeded wraps in Sainbobs at £1.00 a pack they are on special offer .So lunches will be my favourite, a wrap spread with mayo and a little grated cheese and some of the thin sliced ham and covered with chopped lettuce,sliced cucumber,tomato and chopped pepper and rolled up.Very filling and fairly healthy as well. I have frozen half of the sliced ham for next week and the wraps freeze beautifully as well. I think they are usually around £1.70 a pack so at a £1.00 a pack I have saved even more. All in all a very fruitfull morning .This afternoon I am peeling some apples I have been given and with some 'free' blackberries from the freezer I am going to make a crumble for puddings,it should last me several days.
Washing is blowing away on the line at the moment I'm hoping that it will be dry by this afternoon and I'll get it ironed tonight.Feeling very organised today for some reason
I hope everyone else has a good day,
Cheers chums
JackieO xx

Well done on getting all those delicious bargains JackieO.

The wrap idea is really good. I have loads of packets of El Paso wraps to use up and at the moment i have been putting cheese on a wrap and nuking it in the mike for 1 minute then rolling it up and eating it hot...but that's a great idea about having them cold with a lovely filling like the cheese, ham, may and salad. I might try one with seafood sauce and tuna maybe...hmmm the endless possibilities!

katholicos

Heck i feel like a spammer posting 3 posts in a row...sorry all!

Just wanted to say that I have 7 buns in the oven (and i don't mean i'm expecting lots of babies!) and I have just baked a homemade pizza and some vegetarian sausage rolls...the latter of which i am currently munching....they're very nice :-)

Also, decided that it's time to address the food mountain other wise known as my surplus food supply. I am hoping that the Salvation Army can make some use of the 5 black bin liners full of clearance food that i am going to be giving them. I love using the discount food sites but sometimes they give 100% free food or even 200%. Well i just don't need that much of any one item so i am going to be taking all the bags of food and about 5 more bin bags full of clothes, books, DVD's and shoes etc.

Rightio, off to sample another veggie sausage roll.....

curlybap

Hi Katholicos

Yeah - I didn't have linseed either but I had some flaxseed that I'd got free at some stage! If you don't have anything like that I'd just leave it out.

My hubbie loved these but I found them slightly sweet - next time I might reduce the amount of sugar. Another wee tip - I did add a bit more cereal (Sainsbug's cheapo version of Alpen) than they suggest. Totally up to your own personal taste tho!

katholicos

curlybap wrote: »

Hi Katholicos

Yeah - I didn't have linseed either but I had some flaxseed that I'd got free at some stage! If you don't have anything like that I'd just leave it out.

My hubbie loved these but I found them slightly sweet - next time I might reduce the amount of sugar. Another wee tip - I did add a bit more cereal (Sainsbug's cheapo version of Alpen) than they suggest. Totally up to your own personal taste tho!

Brill, thank you!

I have the oven on at the moment so i think i will give these a go now i know i can omit the linseed/flaxseed...actually i have some organic nut spread with a nutty flavoured oil on top so i will try that as an alternative.

Will let you know how they turn out

jintyb

Diflower wrote: »

I was really cross this morning, I had the car for a couple of hours and went to MrT with a list of bread flour and other baking bits and pieces as it's 3 for 2 - except it wasn't. Nothing at all in the whole section. I went to customer services, he called the dept manager, the manager came - except he was the bakery manager not the grocery one. Having been there about 15 mins, frozen food in my bags, and needed to get the car back, I couldn't wait any longer.

Phoned when I got home and got nowhere! They said 'maybe' the offers were online only. It doesn't say that on the website, and I was sure other people had bought them instore. Really useless and vague, 'not all shops have all offers'. I asked how were we to know where the offers are, according to website it's 1-23rd November...she said I should call the shop and speak to customer services:rotfl:
OH kindly called in at another big branch but they haven't got any of the flour on offer either.

Rant over. Updated sig, 1st spends (at least I got the cheese BOG2F).

I was in our Mr T this morning and all the baking items were on 3for2. There were banners attached to the shelves advertising it. I can understand you being :mad: I would have been too. That offer is showing on MySuprmkt too.
I've only recently started shopping at Mr T cos they sent me vchrs, but each time there has been a mistake on my receipt, usually to do with linked savings.You've got to watch them like a hawk and check your receipts.;)

brodie1_2

Diflower wrote: »

I've been a bit pushed for time at the moment but wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the help and motivation this thread gives.

Some simple things had never really occurred to me, like looking for more alternatives to packet ham etc for sandwiches. I have often bought bacon joints etc, but had never thought of buying raw turkey or chicken just to cook for sandwiches, I don't know why!

I was really cross this morning, I had the car for a couple of hours and went to MrT with a list of bread flour and other baking bits and pieces as it's 3 for 2 - except it wasn't. Nothing at all in the whole section. I went to customer services, he called the dept manager, the manager came - except he was the bakery manager not the grocery one. Having been there about 15 mins, frozen food in my bags, and needed to get the car back, I couldn't wait any longer.

Phoned when I got home and got nowhere! They said 'maybe' the offers were online only. It doesn't say that on the website, and I was sure other people had bought them instore. Really useless and vague, 'not all shops have all offers'. I asked how were we to know where the offers are, according to website it's 1-23rd November...she said I should call the shop and speak to customer services:rotfl:
OH kindly called in at another big branch but they haven't got any of the flour on offer either.

Rant over. Updated sig, 1st spends (at least I got the cheese BOG2F).

Ps, partly pushed for time as I'm doing a thing called NaNoWriMo which is a challenge to write the draft of a novel, 50,000 words in November. I'm using the idea of OS and budgeting for inspiration:)

Hi,
we have had the same prob sort of with MRT last week .

DH went in to get 2 shower cleaners for a pound and they cost him1.80. We had only just had the leaflet through the door and we only have one MRT in our town. Glad I very rarely use it. MRT seems often not to have certain offers on

karmachilovething

Hello all,

Now I know I'm a little late - it's been a crazy busy week already - but can I join you in the challenge?

I'm complete newbie to this board, and have been planning to join for a month so have kept notes of all my spends from last month - grand total of £115 :eek: I was quite shocked because its only me :eek::eek: but then I did a big store cupboard shop last month (at least half of that total) and had 6 guests to stay last weekend, so I think (hope) its very skewed. It almost twice what I budget for every month, so I clearly have that all wrong!

So I'm going to try and beat that £115 for a start, and then see where I am next month. No spends to declare so far either.

Thanks,
Karmachi