March 2011 Grocery Challenge

Hippeechiq

muffin_man_7 wrote: »

hippeechiq do you have a h a b near you theyve got del monte tinned toms plum or chopped for 25p hth

I don't have a H0me Bargains/C0stc0/H0me $ense/Farm F00ds or M0rrisons near me unfortunately - but thank you for mentioning it £idls also sell tinned toms for around 33p, so I may try a tin of theirs to see what they're like before trying Te$co Value.

sistercas wrote: »

it was really nice , i did tweak it a bit though, the recipe states 4 chicken breasts, i used 2 but increased the pasta ( works out a fair bit cheaper as i used 3/4 of a bag of value pasta which was 20p a bag :j)
i used approx 75g of chorizo
i used mozzerella but didnt use any of the other cheeses
everything else was the same i think and was really yummy and there was plenty for 4 people HTH x
thanks for asking about my job, i find out on wednesday :eek: i feel so anxious about it just hoping and praying that its not me

A big help thank you
Awful thing to have hanging over you re your job :grouphug: Got everything crossed for you for Wednesday.

M0neysav3r wrote: »

Me too - lets try to stick to our budgets together We can do it!!
I think i've enough meals in to last til the end of the month so just need to buy essentials and a few basics that i've run out of.

That's the spirit! I also have all my main meals covered - well, meat-wise, but it's the fruit and veg, milk, bread and all those little odds and ends that add up.

I have to save £25 of my budget towards Ch***mas if I'm to afford it, which leaves me with £250 max (this months budget was a one-off) & probably £240/£245 max from next month onwards because my Broadband is going up as are prescriptions, and the extra money will have to come out of my grocery budget for those. So I don't have the money available to increase my budget for the months that are a five week month anyway, but it would help me to budget what money I have better if I was at least aware :doh: that it was a 5 week month :rotfl:

Hippeechiq

Aww Mothership - you've all been through the mill hun. I've been wondering where you were :grouphug:

My Mum always used to give us Plain Dry (as in no margarine or anything on it) Toast after we'd had any bugs. If we didn't bring it back up or run to the loo for 2 hours, we then progressed to something bland, but a bit more substantial, like scrambled egg on toast, beans on toast or porridge. I have always lived by the same rules if that helps at all- but I'm sure others may have more interesting/appetising ideas

I wish you all a speedy recovery.

cat_smith

Mothership (((hugs))) Hope everyone is up and about soon. I'll probably come down with it this week - DH is so generous about bringing everything home from the hospital. He's normally fine - just passes it on to me. That's love for you. Hope one of you is up to coping tomorrow. Either way, will be very careful at Mr T this afternoon. Thanks for the warning.

cat_smith

Menu planned for next week. Continuing freezer attack - haven't bought anything other than F&V and basics all month and freezer still half full. DH will be happy with CC bill this month :T

About to head off to Mr T for basics. Will be careful to stick to list. And take into account Mothership's warning about tummy bug going around.

Tonight's plan is a 'use up leftover sad vegetables with tuna/pasta/tomato bake thingy. Probably not going to be a Masterchef entry, but I won't be throwing anything away this week!

Kitchenbunny

Afternoon, everyone. Another NSD here - getting to be a recurring event! Just had left over home made minestrone soup from yesterday for lunch, and there's a batch of Twink's now in the tin, so a very productive day so far.

Have a good day, everyone.

KB xx

AlwaysHappy

As my month runs from the 20th I would like to declare at £203.20/£200 which I am relieved about - its been going the wrong way the last couple of months.

sistercas

mothership sounds like you have had an awful time (((hugs)))

i have done my meal plan for the next week, it is really helping to know what we are having so i can plan my shopping better ( more streamlined) and defrost stuff before i need it

ive got some chorizo to use up ( some is in the freezer ) so we will have a spanish tortilla with chorizo and a butterbean , chorizo and tomato stew

cat_smith

Mr T rather cheaper than expected - I forgot a few things and didn't buy the things that were supposed to be on offer but weren't. Now Oatmeal bread from front page in BM. Carrot and swede we couldn't cook on Friday because of contaminated water on to make mash. OH decided he wanted mushroom based tuna bake thingy so Campbells condensed will work its magic on some really sorry looking leftover veg.

Menu re-planned for next week. No extra shopping needed. Milk still in freezer so £25.65 for the week which included 4 of those little bottles of wine for cooking with on offer( if I buy whole bottle it tends to get drunk rather than cooked!) One whoopsied pk of pitta's for 17p which I love with soup for lunch and evenings DH is out, and a treat of a bottle for tonight. Feeling rather pleasedwith myself

cat_smith

OK. Now not feeling so pleased with myself. Carrot and swede mash boiled dry. Smoke alarm alert. Not sure how much I'm going to manage to rescue. That's what I get for spending too much time on MSE!

lotti379

Just dropping in to report we're up to £152.98/£200 for March so far...

Looking at my mealplan and going to do a bit of jigging about, try and keep it down this week so we can treat ourselves next weekend perhaps... I think a lot of soup will feature as picked up a bunch of YS organic leeks for 30p yesterday... hello leek and potato soup, and some spicy sweet potato and chick pea!