March 2011 Grocery Challenge

tigerfeet2006

Hippee can you not start from week one of your menu plan again?

cookiemum

A small spend of £10.16 on fruit and veg today. Don't you want to eat healthier food when the sun shines!

Had a trip to Ikea with Mum yesterday and had lunch - her treat. She had a lovely lentil, cheese and pumkin seed bake in the restaurant and I have looked everywhere and can't find a similar recipe. Does anyone have anything similar? It would be much appreciated.:)

Enjoy the sunshine - payday is in sight!

123budget

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Yep! I have just done my first monthly meal plan Took some work to set up but it looks as if it may work.

Did 5 weeks of meal plans and wrote out all the recipes . Then did a list of what I needed in my store cupboard to do the month. I now have a piece of paper and pen taped into my food cupboard to write down anything that starts to run out.

I then did a meat list with 1, 2 ,3 , 4, 5 next to each so I know what week I need it for and I can tick it off if I manage to get it on offer one week.

I then have a weekly shopping list of stuff that runs out or is perishable ie: milk, eggs, veg, meat for that week (if I haven't managed to get it before then), sandwich stuff, cereal etc.
I have back up recipes for if a meal isn't a sucess that I can swap in for next time. I also have stuff from batch cooking that is in the freezer so if needs be I can substitute a meal in from there.

Well done!!:T Sounds brill - how long did it take you to organise?

tigerfeet2006

Thank you

I did a couple of hours a day, spread through the day/evening for about a week. It will probably need a bit of tweeking here a there as I go but it looks as if it will help keep me on budget and running smoothly.

What I have done is chosen 7 recipes for each week, including 2 or 3 slow cooker recipes and I choose what I want to do day to day depending on what is happening

rosieben

well done on the meal planning tiger and Hippee! :dance:

I've found that if I don't meal plan I eat rubbish instead of a proper meal

tigerfeet2006

Cheers Rosie I am proper chuffed with myself I must say.

cutiepieabf

tessie_bear wrote: »

hi....still going quite well here...just making some cakes and need to think up a pudding for tonight....might do a jelly...we like the sugar free lime flavoured one

making kebabs for tea....i got some piri piri sauce in b and m so will use that on the top of them

i made chocclares chinese chicken yesterday...very nice made the kitchen smell lovely....thanks for posting

take care
tessa

lol. i scan read this and thought it said 'chocolate chinese chicken'. Now theres a recipe i'd like to try!!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Hippeechiq

Thanks Rosie

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Hippee can you not start from week one of your menu plan again?

I suppose I could tigerfeet (it would certainly make life easier) but I have slightly more than 6 weeks worth of different meals to choose from, so if I just repeated the menu plan there would be certain meals that I would miss out on that I've tried and already know I/we like.......maybe I need to progress to a 7 or 8 week plan :rotfl:

I also have a stack of recipes waiting to be tried from constantly scouring the internet for new recipes and as I only try out new recipes on a Saturday or Sunday - so that if they're a disaster, it doesn't matter too much as OH hasn't been at work all day - it means, the range of meals available for me to choose from is constantly growing.....that's the one positive thing about being made redundant and then carer for DD - I've had the time to find all these new meals

I'd no idea we'd become stuck in such a food rut, which I was partly to blame for, as, having been on my feet ALL day, when I got home, I just wanted to get food on the table asap. We didn't eat rubbish, but we at the same thing week in week out.

I don't know how you do yours, but I try not to repeat potatoes/veg/rice/pasta/meat or type of meal two days in a row (I don't want a pasta meal 2 days in a row, or the same meat, or a veggie meal 2 days in a row, or the same vegetables 2 days in a row) which I know is making a rod for my own back, but I prefer to eat this way, and the effort is so worth it.

As you say, it does take a while to plan though, and I'm so glad you mentioned it takes you a couple of hours over several days :T it does me, too, and I thought I was just being dense at not being able to find a quicker way of doing it

Sistercas How did you get on re your job today hun?

Mothership

M*******S has 300g Spinach for 59p and Avocados 4 for £1. The recipe is posted on our list if anyone wants to try it. We have just had some for lunch nom nom nom.:)

goodgirl80

Am at £164.62/£125.00 for the month. will have to cover the overspend with my expenses next month