March 2011 Grocery Challenge

martafdz

PennyGrabber, I also suffer migraines every other month and painkillers do not help at all. Ask in your pharmacy for Imigran, it is not a painkiller, it is a chemical to balance the chemical we lack and produces the migraine. They have to ask you a few questions first and then they give you a paper to show everytime you buy this. There are two tablets, you cannot have more than that for each migraine attack. However, I have not found anything more effective than that, 30 minutes and you start feeling the migraine disappearing. You take the second tablet only if after 2h you still feel it. Then nothing else. It costs £8 or so but I swear by it. My migraines came with aura (blurry vision), I lost the strength in one side of the body, had problems breathing and talking and got really sick. They started after I hit the 25, I don't know why. Until I found these tablets, I had to stay in bed for about 48h in silence and without drinking or eating. Now I just have one tablet as soon as I feel the aura coming and done. I might get a bit of discomfort under one eye but nothig like before and I can do normal life and get on with my work. These tablets used to be under strict prescription a few years ago, they now give them over the counter but only after the questions because they only work if what you have is a migraine, and not a normal headache no matter how strong it is the headache. It works by providing your brain with the chemicals that made the vessels swallow in the first place and that produce the symptoms. So they do not work with other headaches or conditions because the cause is different. But again, I swear by them, I would not know what to do without them. I never have both, I only have one and keep the other one for the next time. Now I might have them once a month or less but my quality of life has been improved enourmously, because before I had to stay at home in bed no matter what for a couple of days and now I can just do whatever I need to do.

About margarine/butter, I saw on Monday that MrM had I can't believe it's not butter at 62p the 500g. It was cheaper than lard!!!
Also Cheerios 600g (big box) at £1.32.
And Robinsons Cordial (sugar/no added sugar) at 50p.


On milk, I can't recommend it enough if you do not want to buy milk often, you cannot freeze milk or you do not like the taste: Cravendale milk lasts 3 weeks unopen and 1 full week once opened. I buy milk only twice a month. Most sm have them always on offer, I currently buy 2 bottles of 2l at £3, so £1.50 each 2l bottle. I know it is a bit more expensive but I worked out how much I was throwing away with other milk because of going off and it worked better for me to pay a bit more initially and never throw any. Plus because it can be in the fridge for about 3 weeks, I rarely have to go running to the shop to top up milk, saving me the trip and money!

scotsaver

Mothership wrote: »

I wouldn't mind the recipe for your oxtail stew, I've got some from DR as well I've never made it before , but my granny did.

Well done Nick on clearing off your debt, hope you have a lovely holiday

Hi Mothership - I thought the Oxtail Stew recipe was from the front page here but I've checked my little hand written recipe book and don't know where I got it originally so apologies to whoever I got it from.:o Here goes:-

Oxtail Stew:-

Oxtail
4 large spuds, peeled & cubed
Quarter of a Swede, peeled & cubed
1 parsnip, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3/4 pt of Beef stock
Half tsp Dried Rosemary
2 bay leaves
Salt & pepper
4 tbsp Cornflour

Layer everything in the Slow Cooker, spacing the pieces of Oxtail around the dish, add herbs, season then pour over the Stock. Cook in Slow cooker on Low for 8 hours. Thicken at the end by adding the cornflour mixed with a little water.

Last time we had this there was a lot of liquid/stock left so I added a few more veg next day to make soup.

I've actually just checked on it now and there isn't any excess fat floating like the one before from local Butcher and also, the smell is devine, fingers crossed I can win the family over this time.:o

Mothership - I don't know what you had delivered but I had the Winter stew selection delivered, I'm ok with most of it but can I ask if the Brisket has to be slow cooked/roasted and do you have any suggestions for the Beef Rib trim? I also had the Beef for Braising pack which also had a pack of Beef rib trim and I also rec'd a free pack of Lamb bones which I assume I can only use to make stock/soup?:o Sorry for all the questions but these are cuts that I've never used before and I thought there may be others on here that can benefit from recipes/ideas.:cool: Thanks.

quintwins

martafdz wrote: »

On milk, I can't recommend it enough if you do not want to buy milk often, you cannot freeze milk or you do not like the taste: Cravendale milk lasts 3 weeks unopen and 1 full week once opened. I buy milk only twice a month. Most sm have them always on offer, I currently buy 2 bottles of 2l at £3, so £1.50 each 2l bottle. I know it is a bit more expensive but I worked out how much I was throwing away with other milk because of going off and it worked better for me to pay a bit more initially and never throw any. Plus because it can be in the fridge for about 3 weeks, I rarely have to go running to the shop to top up milk, saving me the trip and money!

oh dropped me in some milk earlier and it's dated til the 13th :eek: hows that even possible it's not even long life milk it's normal cows milk, it won't last til that long, i was only freezing milk to save a shopping trip so i don't end up buying more

supersally01

Thanks for the tip SCOTSAVER, I managed to make 48 out of the hobnob mix using my measuring spoon, freezing 3/4 of them in three batches. Just left a few out, if any left will take to work tomorrow.
Went to L!DL, and will update siggi now. Lots of offers there, loads of good gardening bargains!
Have a good afternoon all!!!

minnie2

l.m.hart wrote: »

i made pastry last night for my chicken pie, 8 0z flour ( basic mr t)
2 0z lard and 2 oz marg, all whizzed in mixer and cold water added then chilled in fridge, so sounds exactly same as you had no complaints at dinner last night,:D

well done NickJW it must be an amazing feelingx

Chloris wrote: »

Another NSD here. Dh will do the weeks shop after the children are in bed tonight, but as none of it is going to be eaten today I shall count it as tomorrow. I will be checking I have written down everything I need, everything. I don't want to have to pop to the shops until the weekend or early next week.

Pastry: 8oz plain flour, 4oz butter, pinch of salt, splash of cold water. I roll it to fit in quiche tin, cover and rest in fridge 30mins then chuck fillings in and bake. I cba baking blind. With my leftover pastry trimmings I add some grated cheese and dried sage, roll out, cut into cute rounds, brush with milk and bake. Very nice. DD loves them in her packed lunch box. HTH

i had been buying ready to roll pastry but looks quite easy to make!!! plus i cant buy ready made sweet patry as im allergic to dairy. So how would i turn it to a sweet pastry?

quintwins

minnie2 wrote: »

i had been buying ready to roll pastry but looks quite easy to make!!! plus i cant buy ready made sweet patry as im allergic to dairy. So how would i turn it to a sweet pastry?

i use the same pastry for both tbh, but you could add some suagr or honey to the mix i supose

minnie2

ok so spend around £80 already but that should keep us going fo ages - except for odds and sods etc.

am tempted to create a weekly food plan but have no idea where to start!!!!!

and this month we are being very frugal now - as havent got as much money coming in!!

rosieben

quintwins wrote: »

oh dropped me in some milk earlier and it's dated til the 13th :eek: hows that even possible it's not even long life milk it's normal cows milk, it won't last til that long, i was only freezing milk to save a shopping trip so i don't end up buying more

like martafdz, I like Cravendale, it lasts absolutely ages, extra filtered or something which is why its more expensive; I still freeze a couple of small bottles for absolute emergencies though

Missus_Aka wrote: »

...Well done NICK on clearing your debt i have cleared £2500 from payday companies since the beginning of the year so i am very happy with that. PHEW!!! That will never happen again

Well done Missus! its great to hear stories like this, cheers us all on

Sunnyday wrote: »

... I was looking around yesterday and found this site http://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/ which has lots of recipes for peeps interested in SW, hope that it helps someone. ...

thanks for that link Sunny, I've added it to the recipe index :T

fedupandskint

Just thinking ahead to pancake day next week and wondering what I can do with pancakes to make them into a savoury meal - any ideas?

£15 spent so far out the budget and will be going to the shop tomorrow as need a few things for meals otherwise its pasta all next week!

NickJW

You've done AMAZING MissusAka! This challenge really helps doesn't it? I'm never, ever, getting any credit card or loans out again. From now on I will only spend what I have...and if I want anything nice I will save up for it

Small £1 spend today in Co-op on a pack of mushrooms - will update my signature.