November 06 Grocery Challenge

Miss_Money

i have a budget each week of £35 pounds. I nearly always manage to salsh this by half at the checkout by bogof's and coupon usage think im doing alright

kiwi88_2

Hi Pigpen

Can already read the changes happening and the determination strengthening :T I know what you mean about the planning it's a pain at first but makes it easier in the long run.

I have PM'd you again :rotfl:

beetrootjuicer

You can make excellent ice cream with an ice cream maker (can you tell I like kitchen gadgets? :rotfl: ). We make ice cream with fruit, soyamilk, sugar, etc and it's fabulous. Healthy to boot! You may want to consider that too.

HTH...[/QUOTE]

Pandora. Could you post the recipe for your soya milk icecream. Been looking for one for ages - tried adapting the ususal cow's milk recipe and it was a disaster - complete waste of ingredients and as they were all organic doubly expensive!:mad: Thanks in advance.

shell2001

I have got about £25 left until the 26th, have got all the expensive ingredients already so just milk, fruit and veg. Oh! and must get tray of stewing steak from market butcher tomorrow to feed the [STRIKE]vultures[/STRIKE] inlaws on saturday night.:D

I will come in on the 350 target again but not under, but then in my defence I have paid for prescriptions, lunch club and other non-food related/cleaning or toiletries. So I guess this has helped because usually the money for these things would have come out of the current account.

Another good thing is there is no waste anymore:j .

pigpen

tonights dinner is easy.. freezer scrapings with roasties!!

How is best to do roasties?? Par boiled (how long for?) or not?? I'm not very good at them and tend to cremate them when I do them. TIA

We are having them with fish cakes or chicken dippers or whatever I can find in the freezer! I'll go look in a minute to stop me from going out and buying something when I do the next school run!

My husband has already commented on the fact dinner is always on the table as he walks in and the house is lokoing marginally tidier thanks to the flylady challenge (off to clean the bathroom in a mo!!) so at least he is being a little bit supportive even if it is by accident!

I even resisted the urge to buy a takeaway and chocolate bars last night!

The most bizarre thing is.. I have lost 2lb this week.. probably just from not eating processed crap and sweets and junk food! ... only another 2.5 stone to go!! lol

Pandora123_2

pigpen wrote:

How is best to do roasties?? Par boiled (how long for?) or not?? I'm not very good at them and tend to cremate them when I do them. TIA

Here's the technique I use:

Roast Potatoes

[I've used potatoes other than Maris Piper... any potato suitable for roasting will be fine.]

pigpen

par boiled it is then!!

thank you! I'll get them prepared now

Does it matter if they are not peeled? I hate peeling spuds it takes me ages due to arthritis and RSI.

FTB83

Right, I have been watching over these challenges each month for a while, each time thinking I could never manage it, but things are getting worse and worse money-wise with our grocery spending and this time I am determined to cut costs and be strict!

I need to check our receipts, but I think we are spending around £200 per month on food, we can really only comfortably afford £100-150. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables (bought from the supermarket usually, though I do get to the market as much as possible), our meat is from the local butcher and I bulk buy to cut costs (freezing portions), I do bulk make soup and stew, but no where near as often as I should.

Looking at our spending, I think most of the money goes on the three bits listed previously (we never have convenience meals, everything is freshly cooked), but the problem is because we don't use ingredients well enough and we don't meal plan (which leads to spontaneous visits to Tesco to get that 'vital' ingredient in what either myself or OH have decided to cook).

I have enough money to supply us with bread, fruit and veg until the end of December, so I'll be going through the store cupboard and freezer until I start December's grocery challenge. I'll also spend the time going through receipts and looking at non-essential impulse buys so we can try to cut down there too. I also want to get more fish into our diet, so I'll have to get the balance right.

Sorry for the long-winded post - this forum is such an inspiration to me, and I never thought I could be as good or as disciplined as you guys, but I am determined to get this sorted and to get us living as frugally as possible. Not sure whether to :T or :eek: !

pigpen

ftb83 .. hello and welcome!!

I am fairly new.. ok so this is my very first week of meal planning.. my life is so much more organised for it!! As cheesy as that sounds. I am useless at cooking most stuff but I am determined to learn before we all turn into chicken portions!

We need to eat more fish too and I have 8 dish filets in my freezer and some salmon and plaice... but no idea what to do with any of it! I shall learn!!!

I am really struggling to figure out exactly how much we spend each month but I know it was in the region of £600 for 10 of us... I hope to get that down to about £300/£400 eventually but I do like to aim higher than I know is possible.

Good luck!

Pandora123_2

pigpen wrote:

Does it matter if they are not peeled? I hate peeling spuds it takes me ages due to arthritis and RSI.

I don't peel mine. More fibre that way.