March 2011 Grocery Challenge

roger_ramjet

With Mrs Ramjet out of the house for the remainder of the month - time to join the grocery challenge. And I am going for an ambitious start. Monthly grocery budget: £0, zip, nada, nil.

Our freezer is fairly loaded, as is the fridge and cupboards. Spend far too much adding to it without lightning the load - whilst also buying things we don't need. So if I run out of coffee, I drink tea, and then hot water if necessary. Same with eating - it would be nice to see the bottom of the freezer again! Hopefully, I will get into a discipline of appreciating that I don't necessarily need to buy things, just because they are on offer etc. And the best way to do that is to avoid the shops altogether. I have a busy month of study/exams - so that will occupy my time, and I won't have the time to go shopping...

Here goes...

janie-h

Hi all :wave:

First spends of the month

A**i - £35.40
Iland - £24.03

MrsM Thanks for those great recipes.

Can anyone point me in the direction of inspiration for meal planning? I really, really want to try this... although last time I tried was a complete failure! Kept changing - someone didn't fancy particular thing or things cropped up to scupper plans. And only tried for 1 week and wracked my brains for things to cook. Don't know why as I have numerous cookbooks and 2 files of SW recipes!

NickJW Congrats on being debt free. Enjoy treating yourself and saving!

Mothership

scotsaver wrote: »

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.

Thank you so much for the recipe for the oxtail stew.
I got the Winter stew selection in my first order From DR. It was such a good deal I ordered another two. I also got the beef for braising packs. I am so pleased with everything I've had from them, we had the minced steak tonight, and I made lasagna last week with it, that was something else, my family said it was the best lasagna I've ever made.

The brisket...

Season well, brown and pop in the slow cooker. I used about 100ml of water in the browning pan +1 oxo cube and a little gravy granules enough to make a thickish paste , then poured it over the meat and just left it to cook, quite a lot of liquid comes from the meat, the end result was AMAZING, the best I've ever tasted. I had a piece of M&S brisket in the freezer, I cooked it other day cooked the same way, the difference was night and day, it was still nice, but the DR one knocked spots off it.


The lamb Bones

I roasted two for a pot of barley broth, then boiled them for a while, but one would have done,the meat fell off the bones, I posted the recipe, (it's in the list,) it was delicious as well, and a very cheap meal. It says on the pack you cant refreeze once defrosted, so I'm keeping the remaining bones for future pots of broth or stock.

The Beef Rib trim

Nom Nom Nom, just treat it as you would braising steak, you don't need to add anything fancy to it though ( I cooked one lot similar to the brisket and another with carrot & onion, I preferred the one cooked with no veg,)
The taste is really something done in the slow cooker. You don't need to cut it up, it comes in strips, that hold their shape during cooking.
I think if you made curries etc with this cut you would lose the lovely steaky taste.

scotsaver

Mothership wrote: »

Thank you so much for the recipe for the oxtail stew.
I got the Winter stew selection in my first order From DR. It was such a good deal I ordered another two. I also got the beef for braising packs. I am so pleased with everything I've had from them, we had the minced steak tonight, and I made lasagna last week with it, that was something else, my family said it was the best lasagna I've ever made.

The brisket...

Season well, brown and pop in the slow cooker. I used about 100ml of water in the browning pan +1 oxo cube and a little gravy granules enough to make a thickish paste , then poured it over the meat and just left it to cook, quite a lot of liquid comes from the meat, the end result was AMAZING, the best I've ever tasted. I had a piece of M&S brisket in the freezer, I cooked it other day cooked the same way, the difference was night and day, it was still nice, but the DR one knocked spots off it.


The lamb Bones

I roasted two for a pot of barley broth, then boiled them for a while, but one would have done,the meat fell off the bones, I posted the recipe, (it's in the list,) it was delicious as well, and a very cheap meal. It says on the pack you cant refreeze once defrosted, so I'm keeping the remaining bones for future pots of broth or stock.

The Beef Rib trim

Nom Nom Nom, just treat it as you would braising steak, you don't need to add anything fancy to it though ( I cooked one lot similar to the brisket and another with carrot & onion, I preferred the one cooked with no veg,)
The taste is really something done in the slow cooker. You don't need to cut it up, it comes in strips, that hold their shape during cooking.
I think if you made curries etc with this cut you would lose the lovely steaky taste.

Many thanks for this Mothership.:D The Oxtail Stew last night was delicious, totally different to last attempt but same recipe so it's definitely down to the quality of the Meat. I'll make a note of what you've said above, think I'll try the Brisket on Sunday.

Dinner tonight will be Fish and chips, need to got to MrM's fish counter today for some inspiration.

Have a good day everyone.:)

beemuzed

Whoops! I'm very late this month! Going for same figure as before I'm afraid
£350

Mothership

scotsaver wrote: »

Many thanks for this Mothership.:D The Oxtail Stew last night was delicious, totally different to last attempt but same recipe so it's definitely down to the quality of the Meat. I'll make a note of what you've said above, think I'll try the Brisket on Sunday.

Dinner tonight will be Fish and chips, need to got to MrM's fish counter today for some inspiration.

Have a good day everyone.:)

I think you are bang on about the quality of the meat, I've been 'noticing' the difference between a variety of meats from different suppliers for a number of years. A lot of the meat we are eating now is grown 'fast' and the taste just isn't there. The big boys are controlling what we eat, and forcing a lot of farmers out of business. I cant afford organic meat , but I think grass fed is pretty close, anyway what is organic if not that. Anyway I for one have had enough, I still go to Mr SM but just buy the offers and walk away. I think there's a lot of folk who feel the same.

Gracie_1827

Bit late this month, please put me down for £140 for March

Kitchenbunny

Got to make a change to our mealplan for today as DH doesn't fancy it tonight (and to be honest, neither do I). Instead of the chilli con carne I had planned, we'll have fajitas for tea. That means I'll have to go get some peppers so I need to have a quick scout around to find the best offer. In the slow cooker at the moment is a gammon shank I picked up from Mr M for £1.59, the meat of which I shall shred and make a pie for Sunday night's tea and the stock I shall freeze until I'm ready to make a big batch of soup.

Hopefully will be able to survive going around a supermarket without buying anything else except the peppers! *fingers crossed* We do need a pint of milk though... We'll see how little I can manage to spend. Have a great day, everyone, and I'll update my sig a bit later with (hopefully) good news.

KB xx

quintwins

turns out i can't count, i need at add £2.60 to last nights total, today should be a nsd tho were having last nights pie for tea, i regret getting said chinese now but i was feeling so ill and it has been an awful week, and it was yummy

cutiepieabf

minnie2 wrote: »

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!!

step 1) Have a look through your cupboards, fridge and freezer and make a quick inventory of what you have.

step 2) Pull out any recipe books, check out recipes at start of thread, look for those that you feel comfortable making, and that use ingredients that you mostly already have.

step 3) if you are stuck for ideas for recipes or have really random ingredients in your cupboard - try one of the websites that finds recipes according to the ingredients you put in.
external links - myrecipes , allrecipes , recipematcher , supercook

step 4) think logically about how you are going to put your week's plan together - it helps to have your diary/calendar available to check appointments, etc. check BBE dates on fresh food. also think about the use of food, eg. if you are cooking a chicken for roast one day, then it makes sense to have a chicken related meal the next day, or you could carve the whole chicken and freeze the meat for another day.

step 5) you should now have a rough plan of what you are having to eat for that week. i use a simple table which has 3 columns - day, meal and ingredients needed. then at the bottom of the page there is a box which says - ingredients to buy - and when i have filled my meal and ingredients boxes for each day i know what i need for the week.
if you want a template send me a pm.

hope this helps and i havent overcomplicated anything. the plan is supposed to be flexible, i often swap things around because i am not in the mood for something, or i have whoopsied something. :)