January 2011 Grocery Challenge

boultdj

And a small $8.62 spend today.

ChocClare

Well, I have been made of fail when it comes to posting this month as I've had all my receipts in an envelope and have only just got round to adding them up.

The results so far - not TOO bad tbh - £312.87 for the month to date

BUT

we used to get a takeaway every Friday and this month I have bought Waitrose's own Indian takeaway - much cheaper and very nice :A:A:A
We do feel a bit guilty about not supporting our local Indian takeaway - but will limit ourselves to once a month instead of once a week.

However - takeaways were not in my budget whereas now they kind of are as I'm counting them in my grocery shop.

I am aware I only have £37.13 left to the end of the month and am a bit tempted to cheat and declare on Saturday before I do the shopping on Sunday :rotfl:

So I may go over for January but I'll be all sorted for Feb... probably

Hippeechiq

Minnie2 Sorry you've had such a sad day hun :grouphug:

Mothership wrote: »

Thats what I'm doing right now, I've got two freezers, moving stuff around to make sure the older stuff gets eaten first. and to make space for a Donald Russell order thats due 25th Feb.
I found a few UFO's as well. Not quite sure what to do with them either.

I started using those re-sealable freezer bags I date the item and write what's in the bag now. That makes a BIG difference. Especially since you can pack them flattish depending on what's in it.

I also do this, but I buy the cheapest food bags I can find, put whatever inside, then I put that bag inside a zipock/sealable bag and put a small piece of paper in between the two bags with (I keep all junk mail I receive that is blank on the back for this purpose, and also for writing shopping lists on) for example, 200g Chicken Breast diced 26.1.01 written on it.

By doing this, I always know what's in the bags, and how long they've been in the freezer. Double bagging them also helps stop them getting freezer burn, although that's not much of a risk for me, as because I put the date on everything I freeze, I rotate my stock by putting the most recently purchased underneath what has already been purchased and frozen. Value/Smart Price food bags are as cheap as chips, but are very thin, so when I've used them once I throw them away when I defrost whatever is inside them, but I reuse the ziplock/sealable bag.

PennyGrabber If you do make the Chicken Bacon Roast, if you remove the skin first from your thighs (and drumsticks if using) before wrapping the bacon round the chicken, it makes it a far healthier meal. I've made it both ways, and whereas, I normally prefer to leave the skin on my chicken, in this instance is nicer without the skin on, although you then have to add a tiny bit of oil to the pan/dish you cook it in for the potatoes.

I did have a NSD today after all, so I'm now up to 13

gdyr1945

Are we all food hoarders? I know I only have to see a 'bargain' to buy it. Have had to seriously restricted my access to DanApFd. I am thinking of stopping his emails to me as I confess 'I am a sucker for a bargain' and there are some great ones there. The only supermarkets near (15miles)are T's and c**p. L**ls is in a different direction and means an extra 30mile drive. Buses not an option unfortunately as I have a free bus pass.
I have oodles of space so storage isn't a problem. We have a large house (5beds) and there's only the 2 of us. Also we used to have shop and I can now fill all those shelves with 'my' stuff. My OH says there is more there now than when shop was open!
12 people turn up unexpectedly - No problem! Could probably feed them the a month; only need to buy milk and fruit. How bad is that?

helen_jelly

Isn't it amazing that when you get a random group of people together with the same aim, how much can be achieved. I am not a cook!! I don't like cooking!! The kitchen is my least favourite room in the house!! One of my aims this year is to learn how to cook from scratch even if its only a few meals - DH does the cooking for me and I do the cooking for the kids but I really need to ease his burden and thats the only thing I can do to help. He is laughing at this - and says Watch the budget go out the window now!!! Isn't he being a beast. I can hear him laughing in the other room - MEN!! Seriously though, my kiddies eat alot of carp food and this has to stop, DH will cook us a lovely curry but we can't save any for the kiddies cos they won't eat it so having spent many an hour pondering this I have reached the conclusion that its down to me to lead the way. I've adopted the "Second Purse" idea from Mothership as I think thats a fantastic way of saving some more money and have started making alot more use of the bread maker this week and now need to try another thing - a meal - one new thing each week where possible and soon not even my DH will recognise me. most of what I'm doing is down to all of you on here and another forum I post on so..............................

THANK YOU

Inspirational, funny, intelligent, caring are but a few of the words that come to mind when I think of my virtual friends on here

Love Helen x

Hippeechiq

Well, personally, I think that's superb! gdyr :T lol

Sunflower1227

gdyr1945 wrote: »

Are we all food hoarders? I know I only have to see a 'bargain' to buy it. Have had to seriously restricted my access to DanApFd. I am thinking of stopping his emails to me as I confess 'I am a sucker for a bargain' and there are some great ones there. The only supermarkets near (15miles)are T's and c**p. L**ls is in a different direction and means an extra 30mile drive. Buses not an option unfortunately as I have a free bus pass.
I have oodles of space so storage isn't a problem. We have a large house (5beds) and there's only the 2 of us. Also we used to have shop and I can now fill all those shelves with 'my' stuff. My OH says there is more there now than when shop was open!
12 people turn up unexpectedly - No problem! Could probably feed them the a month; only need to buy milk and fruit. How bad is that?

See you and my other virtual friends at the weekend then :rotfl:

laineyc_2

Well, I am a bit tired. It has been a busy day. My cupboards, fridge are ship-shape now. I baked oreo brownies instead of an apple cake. Will bake the cake tomorrow. I am housebound while waiting for my compost bin arriving. It feels good to be taking control of things. You are all very inspiring.

Tomorrow, I will be attempting a NSD. I would like to have at least 18 this month.

prettypaula

FYI m&S doing whole chorizo for £1.49 at the min... i think thats a good deal... if anyone loves it!

have sorted a second purse... written my lists ready for 1st feb.. wish it was here now!

Cant remember who asked about Swede... i like root mash... parnsip, swede, carrot potato whatever youve got all mashed up, its also nice roasted!

Mothership

Hippeechiq wrote: »

I also do this, but I buy the cheapest food bags I can find, put whatever inside, then I put that bag inside a zipock/sealable bag and put a small piece of paper in between the two bags with (I keep all junk mail I receive that is blank on the back for this purpose, and also for writing shopping lists on) for example, 200g Chicken Breast diced 26.1.01 written on it.

By doing this, I always know what's in the bags, and how long they've been in the freezer. Double bagging them also helps stop them getting freezer burn, although that's not much of a risk for me, as because I put the date on everything I freeze, I rotate my stock by putting the most recently purchased underneath what has already been purchased and frozen. Value/Smart Price food bags are as cheap as chips, but are very thin, so when I've used them once I throw them away when I defrost whatever is inside them, but I reuse the ziplock/sealable bag.

Thats a great way of packing food for the freezer.

I noticed that the supermarket food packages were the ones that had freezer burn, all my own packages were in perfect condition. There's two packs of chicken in my freezer that I'm not sure about, I might end up feeding them to the cats in the lane. I've stopped buying Chicken from SB's and Mrrsns altogether. I've had this happen too many times over the years. I think the problem is if there is any space in the packaging ice can form.
I like M+S Oakham Chicken I buy these when the 3 for £10 offer is on and cook them all together. Have a roast dinner and portion the rest up, make stock with the bones and freeze it. I've stopped freezing chicken thighs, I cook them fresh. They taste better.
I also brown mince remove the fat then freeze in, it stacks better in the little flat packages. And cooks really quickly, most evenings I need to get the dinner on the table quickly.

Thank you for the tips, I'm always on the lookout for a better way to do things, found some great ones on here.