January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Ilona

Forgot to report in last night I was feeling a bit tired. I had a day out, walked 8 miles.

I took a pack up with me so no spending on food. However I did spend £5.40 on the Humber Bridge toll, but that's ok, because I had saved that money at Tes&co buying the reduced stuff the day before. Money in - money out, it balances. I spent £1 in a charity shop on beads that I can use for my crafting projects.

Last night for my dinner I had the last of the three day stew, and two slices of marmite on toast. I didn't feel like any more because I had saved some of my pack up to eat at the end of the walk. I like to eat little and often, don't let myself get too hungry because that's when you slip off the wagon and stuff your face.:rotfl:
Ilona

ebayqueen_2

Morning folks
Just quick catch up on my grocery spend £70.51 in Mr T's. Tonnes of whoopsied beef chicken pork etc. So am well stocked up. Should have cost £86.48

Major stock up yesterday on lots of items...coffee, dishwasher tabs that sort of thing. Normally when this is needed, costs me about £130-£150 so I am delighted with my self control!
Treated me and hubby to wait for it ................. Andrex 18 rolls £6.49....sad lives we lead. Hiding it from the children in hubbies walk in wardrobe!!

Hot press (airing cupboard where hot water tank lives) contains enough Tesco Value Loo roll to do us (:)) for a week or so! Ring childline quick!

Best friend coming for lunch today ...
MENU
home made chicken and veg soup(from carcass of yesterdays whoopsied roast chicken)
Ham salad sandwiches(whoppsied deli ham...yummy)
Coffee
Bikkies

Happy days.

Dinner tonight for Hubbie and moi
Home made soup
potatoes/oven soda bread

youngest chef (15) making pasta with whoppsied ham and cheese (whoopsied of course)

Hope all well with everyone
Need to check out this weetabix cake sounds lovely

take care and God bless all.

cat_smith

Yay. Mr T's at 0700 this morning (had to take husband to collect car - he found 2nd car key :T)

Forgot list at home, but remembered what was on it and ONLY got things that were on the list. Forgot Tom Puree, but only £14.77. Haven't bought on impulse, and the freezer is still full.

Think I'm going to come in under budget. Which will be good for my mood. Apart from NSD's and GC it's not been a great couple of weeks. Big Black Dog still here with a vengeance.

Off to update sig.

elf06

Morning all - not been about much this month so havent read any of the thread since the first week in january so sorry if i have missed anything. Just wanted to update my totals with my latest spends of £28.56 taking me to a total so far of £65.68. Not too bad but I do need to go shopping this evening for a couple of bits.
Hope you are all well

mrs-moneypenny

minnie2 sending you a big hug, i think you need one. praise yourself for your successes and dont knock yourself out for any slipups. you have done brilliantly with NSDs and you may have set your budget a little tight over a couple of months things can work themselves out January is always a rotten month.

martafdz

Ok, I think I am going to get the courage needed and attempt to do my first loaf of bread!!

Advice / help?
I read some recipes online and I am going to attempt to do a baguette. Apparently, I need just flour, yeast, salt and wamr water. It says I should do a vulcano with the flour and yeast, add the water in the middle and mix mix mix. Let it grow for a couple of hours, mix again, let it grow for 45 min and put it in the oven for 30 min after brushing it with an egg white.... is that right? Any experience bread maker around? I do not have any breadmaker, so everything is by hand. Help!!! Lol

helen_jelly

Please please - we do not fail, we look at what we've done, we learn and we move on - everything we do is a "learn" for us - never ever a fail, this is a challenge - long term - we will never get it right the first, second or third time. Minnie2 - you are doing so well, you are looking at what you spend and learning about your shopping habits, it took a while to get it wrong so it will take a while to get it right, please be proud of what you have done so far, you are getting it right, right, right. Take a big breath and start again. I get it wrong nearly every month but always start again, so do lots of other people on here!! We are always here to listen and help, use us as your sounding board and keep on trying - lots of hugs, Helen x

ifonlyitwaseasier

martafdz wrote: »

Ok, I think I am going to get the courage needed and attempt to do my first loaf of bread!!

Advice / help?
I read some recipes online and I am going to attempt to do a baguette. Apparently, I need just flour, yeast, salt and wamr water. It says I should do a vulcano with the flour and yeast, add the water in the middle and mix mix mix. Let it grow for a couple of hours, mix again, let it grow for 45 min and put it in the oven for 30 min after brushing it with an egg white.... is that right? Any experience bread maker around? I do not have any breadmaker, so everything is by hand. Help!!! Lol

have a look at the first page of this thread as MrsM has a baguette recipe on there that looks easy, that and her remoska recipe cooks ok in the oven too

martafdz

Thanks!!

I will do that one next time, since I had already started the other one! Ingredients are the same but different amounts, also it is much quicker to prepare so I might give a go at the one I have before going to work and if everything is ok I might do hers this weekend with more time I just noticed that OH threw away all the bread we had!!! No idea why, I can only asume it was mouldy, but good think I was going to try to make bread today anyway! Lol

Is there anything that can be done if the bread is starting to be mouldy, btw? I know ideas for when it is getting hard or soggy but no clue on what to do with mouldy bread... just throw it away? Grrr... I wish I had noticed it was going ood before, I would have made something with it! Can you freeze bread?

NickJW

£1.60 spent in Mr T today on a reduced sandwich filler to go with my last wrap, and I also got a reduced pasta ready meal. The sandwich filler was supposed to be just for today - but there is quite a lot of it! I've used up all the bread in the freezer and all my salad (apart from one tomato) as well. I'll have to buy a bagel or something to go with it tomorrow, and put the ready meal in the freezer for next week.

Tonight I've defrosted some sausages in the freezer, and in the absence of potatoes, I'll will be making a swede and carrot mash with swede + carrot which needs using up, and a couple of roasted parsnips which need using up also.

I'm quite surprised how well I'm doing at this stage of the month, especially since I've been out for a meal as well!

I reiterate what others have said, NONE of us are failures! :T