March 2011 Grocery Challenge

misscreditcrunch

Managed a trip to A**i this morning and spent £52.39, haven't made it to Ice**** yet tho, want to defrost and thoroughly clean fridge freezer first:) Have a great weekend everyone and don't spend too much money!!!! :beer:

NickJW

roger ramjet - now that IS a challenge! Good luck with that

____________

Before BOGOF discounts I had a £38.14 spend, after deductions £33.44 was spent in Mr T today. HOWEVER not all of it needs to be added to the signature.

This is because:

£8.05 is non grocery related - I bought some new plates and some metal BBQ skewers, which I'll use for kebabs tonight
I had a £3 off a £20 voucher which Mr T kindly sent me
I used a £10 voucher received from Valued Opinions from surveys I've sporadically been doing. This is extra 'income' from my normal budget so I don't include this.

Sooo: in total I spent £12.39

I've got a lot in now! Tomorrow I'll used leftover chicken from roast last night with wraps, salad and coleslaw.

WelshWoofer

Just reporting in today's spend....

£43 in Mr T and £7 in the greengrocers so a total of £50 - that's £5 over the budget of £45:(
I have bought loads of fruit and veg, dairy and fresh bits, a few tins and staples and dog food and treats (oh, and a few household bits too).

I'm trying a few new recipes this week so I needed a couple of extra bits and pieces that pushed up the spends.
Never mind - at least I'll add to my tiny repertoire!

jumblejack

Well I have spent £50.27 so far but....
My month began on the 28th February and i have even included 3 clothing items in my grocery spend as I bought them at a supermarket!! I have also included a few months supply of rice, lentils and dal from an Indian supermarket. I also bought another few crates of multi-vitamin fruit juice from lidls whilst they were on offer. Won't have to buy any juice now for about 5 weeks.

My last batch of home made thermos yoghurt separated into curds and whey and in true OS fashion, I am using the seived curds to make a flan topping. I will gave to google what to do with the whey?!

I have spent the morning finishing off planting my seeds so I should have LOADS of extra produce in my self sufficiency garden this summer, yay!!!!

martafdz

kirsty822001 wrote: »

Hi I know u have found the thread for menu planners and u are using a word doc but for anyone who wants forms to print out to help with meal planning or keeping a record of spending there are free ones at http://organizedhome.com/sites/default/files/printable/notebook_food_menu_planner_monthly.pdf

I also found one for weekly menu planning that has lunch/dinner and on the side there is room for the shopping list organized by categories:
http://www.simplify101.com/hs_files/grocery-list.pdf

The form was included in a meal planning list of tips and advice:
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2010/09/meal-planning-tips.html

CherryPie wrote: »

Cooking sausages, roast veg & cous cous for me and my friend tonight before our night out. I think I will boil the sausages first as recommended on here.

Silly question alert!!! I'll roast the veg for 45mins to an hour, can I just add the sausages to the same dish?
:beer:

:think: Idk... I would roast the veg then add the sausages to roast in the last 30 min with the veg, then add everything to the couscous. But I have never done couscous before and I love my sausages in the oven!!!

Btw mothership, talking about sausages, in order to get rid of some fat did you put the sausages in cold water, running water, lukewarm water...? Never heard that tip before and if it works as you said it is great! Do you think it gets ridd of the stuff that some companies add to make them artificially bigger?

karmachilovething

Phew, have just caught up with the thread, so some of these are a bit out of date . . .

adelight wrote: »

I have ~3 months to clear my stocks before I move flat again and I have much more than I thought. Lots of rice and pulses dishes planned. I always buy tuna when it's on offer and overly ration myself as I fear running out, but now I have 10 tins of tuna, 2 tins of salmon, tin of pilchards & 5 tins of sardines/mackerel

Good point! I'm moving house in a couple of month (lease is up in June) should be planning to clear a bit ready for that . . .

kittypimms wrote: »

An overspend last month, but hopefully now have built up eough stores and recipe ideas to attack the new challenge in March! (and fingers x'd no further dog-tummy issues requiring expensive chicken!)

My dog had a very sensitive tummy (who knew dogs had IBS!) and yes it can be very expensive. We used to give her turkey breast (a lot cheaper than chicken) which pretty much does the same thing. Hopefully though your dog will get better and you won't have to worry

But what about me? I've made a serious dent in March's budget but got lots for it:

£13.50 at C0op

£18.13 @ Sainsbugs

£12 on my usual veg box

£19 at the farmers market this morning

Its the bulk of my budget but includes things like meat (chicken, sausages and lamb chops), some scampi and fish fingers for easy meals when I can't be bothered, honey, 3 months worth of my favorite pasta (is it weird I have a favorite pasta? well I eat it about 3 times a week so maybe not :rotfl:), 2 month of green tea bags, EV olive oil, laundry powder which are not every month purchases. This should be most of what I need for the month. Freezer and cupboards full, so will just need top ups of fresh goods.

Right off to update my sig. Have a good weekend everybody.
KarmaChi

Gracie_1827

Did large shop at Mr S...although put back 4 items as I knew I could get them alot cheaper at Mr M.... Robinson squash only 50p a bottle and 2 x 4pts milk for £2. Milk would have cost £3.10 at sainsbugs. But have my work cut out with batch cooking and freezing this weekend. Will do a plan for next 2 weeks and hopefully won't have to buy anything else except milk. Overspent last month so will try and redeem myself:o Tonight's tea is "Flammkuchen" we had one in Strasbourg a couple of years ago and it's delish. Using bread mix for the base.

Mothership

martafdz wrote: »

Btw mothership, talking about sausages, in order to get rid of some fat did you put the sausages in cold water, running water, lukewarm water...? Never heard that tip before and if it works as you said it is great! Do you think it gets ridd of the stuff that some companies add to make them artificially bigger?

PERFECT SAUSAGES

I put them in a pan with cold water, brought it to the boil and SIMMERED them for 5 minutes. I hadn't heard it before either, but seemingly chefs do it to make sure their sausages don't split during cooking, The sausages I used were really good quality, but still released a lot of yucky looking stuff into the water. They also needed less frying. I like to remove as much fat as I can from our food, so was keen to try it. I will be doing it from now on.

STEAM FRIED EGGS

I saw Ian Rankin making 'steam fried eggs' on TV years ago, I do that as well it makes perfect (non greasy)fried eggs.
Add a little knob of butter to frying pan, heat then add the eggs, fry till the whites partially set , then add about a tablespoon of water to the side of the eggs, cover the pan with a lid (I use a glass one) to finish them off, it only takes a few minutes. The steam sets the top of the egg leaving the yolk nice and soft.

Heres another wee gem...

NON STICK SCRAMBLED EGGS

Depending on how many eggs you use, you need about half that quantity of milk, so 100 ml egg with 50 ml milk.
Scramble the eggs on their own, leave to side.
Add the milk to pan with a knob of butter and a little salt , bring to the boil, start pouring the egg slowly into the milk , stirring all the while, I use a silicon thingy with a broad bottom. The egg cooks almost as soon as it touches the milk, and whey hey! NO YUCKY POT!
Works every time, and makes the fluffiest scrambled eggs imaginable, I regularly teach my guests how to make it.

Hippeechiq

Spiggle wrote: »

Been here in spirit if not posting! Had a funny week, got to have an op so they can diagnose/confirm what they think is wrong with me (I feel fine and am having difficulty accepting things - I keep switching from fight to flight!). Seeing as the reason I ended up in hospital has nothing to do with what they now think is wrong then it's either a blessing that I did go in or a pain in the proverbial to be caught in a spiral of s***. Sorry.

Ditto what Rosie said Spigs as it's clear that you're very worried hun. I wish you all the very best for the op and the results :grouphug:

I was a bit fed up this morning of trying to constantly juggle money and I had a bit of a mad moment and just bought most of what was on the list of things I wanted regardless of whether or not I could afford to buy it without staggering the cost over the month. The result being, not only have I started next weeks money envelope before Monday, but out of the £25 cash in it, I have the princely some of £8.68 left to last me until Monday 14th.....it's not gonna happen, and right at this particular moment in time - I don't care!! AND......I bought Chocolate too! And I don't care about that, either! :rotfl:

Four days in, £55.50 down - go me! :T

maid_in_cornwall

Popped into Mr T's after work for milk and cereal, and came out with the new square looking tortilla things from warbutons. They were on offer at a pound and suggest using them in various ways, one being for a pizza base which looks like a great idea. so will be trying them out this week.
Am batch cooking cakes and biscuits tomorrow, have made sultana slab cake this week twice, but it has been eaten in seconds so need to make it and freeze it quick! Will also make rocky road, piggy cake, caramel slices and shortbread. Should be a busy day.:)