April 2011 Grocery Challenge

Mothership

Just getting over ANOTHER tummy bug the 2nd in 3 weeks. Never mind I'm still alive. DGD brings them home from nursery and gives it to me to keep her company She grabs me by both cheeks and kisses me full on the mouth, no escape.

Only 3 days till a BIG Donald Russell order arrives, OMG with all the sick days this month I've not been cooking much. I took delivery of a MASSIVE joint a few days ago, I got it for Easter, but wasn't well enough to cook it, (not a good idea if your infectious anyway). So thats in the freezer as well. Over the next few days I've got to try and eat some of the bigger packages lol. If the worst comes to the worst and I cant fit it all in, I will be taking a wee trip over to the bowling green and popping it in their freezer lol, it always helps to have a backup plan.

Lamb Curry for dinner tonight, not been shopping for days, still got enough food to feed an army.

Thank you for your nice comments re; my post to Hippeechiq, when you think of all the troubles she has to contend with, yet she's always there for all of us when we need her. There are some really lovely folk on this board going through tough times, the way I see it is we are all in this together, helping each other, I'm sure if we all knew each other in real life we would be great friends, anyway who's to say we cant reach out further than the keyboard.

I didn't want to say anything before, but I too have suffered from depression, (note thats past tense). I found a way to beat it. Through my love of plants and growing things. So when I saw the wonderful windfall that Hippeechiq's father sent her , I was so full of hope for her DD, for a young lass to be in such a dark place, is beyond sad. If she can find something that gives her pleasure it may help her towards the light. Grow Hippeechiq, grow...

espresso21

Just been to the Co-op to get some supplies - spent £10-89 which was more than I wanted but then prices are quite often inflated at this particular store because it is the only one in the immediate area. Still I did manage to get some reduced items and some bogof bacon. It was only expensive because hubby decided he wanted bacon butties this morning which were not on the original plan!

espresso21

Quick question - I want to make some bulk rogan josh for the freezer but it cooks in a yoghurt-based sauce. Can I freeze stuff with yoghurt in it?

shell2001

Hi Al

Update as we are near monthend, well pleased with the way it has gone but only have £7 to get to end of month. Think the big tesco shop at the start of the month ate into a lot of it but had to get blades, smellies, washing stuff etc - all the things you cannot eat:(.

Did get some good reduced chicken breasts in C**p and still have 2 packs in freezer so enough food for main meals this week, also got bread and lots of bread flour so not worried on that front.

No crisps left - and my girls and DH are crisp monsters, I just think they are expensive! Need more milk, spuds and bit of fruit. Eggs too then can make some cakes etc.

Think I may go just slightly over but nothing like usual and the spendometer apt is great and really helped.

Right off to get inventive with what I have got in;)

Living_proof

I have to declare at £3.34 over budget, although as £5 of my shop yesterday was a birthday cake it could in retrospect have come out of the birthday present budget. I am still having real trouble in resisting a bargain and just had to buy 4 tins of tuna for £2.99, and whoopsied chicken bhuna (4 @£1.45). My saving grace is that I work at home and only have one, or at most two, opportunities of shopping during the week. The aim in April was to use up freezer and store cupboard items, yet I find myself totally unable to get out of the squirrel mentality. My only hope is if DS spends his uni holiday here - although it certainly won't save me money it will soon make inroads into the freezer stock!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday and hopefully having a couple of days' rest or change from the daily grind.

quintwins

morning all, hoping for a nsd today, have a nice big roast in the slow cooker, so gonna have a roast dinner tonight, beef hotpot tomorrow and stew on wed i'm hoping that will use most if not all of it up, any left over can go into the bag of sliced beef in the freezer, oh and the kids are off today but oh isn't feeling well so we prob won't do anything today, maybe go see his parents but thats about it

perrywinkle

perrywinkle

Spiggle

sistercas wrote: »

hippeechiq how sweet of your dad, i am a beginner with growing veg being doing it for the last couple of years and dont get much yield but i get so excited when i get fruit or veg that i have grown from a tiny seed :j last year i got 3 tomatoes and 6 strawberries :rotfl:but loads of courgettes carrots and potatoes

just found out one of dh's cc payments is being increased by £100 a month :eek: due to the new regulations. the only way i can accommodate this is by taking it off the food budget

I totally agree with you sistercas, a very kind act on your Dad's behalf Hippeechiq. We started growing veg last year purely in an 'on the patio in pots' fashion. Nevertheless it was amazing to be picking our own veg again :drool: (we did do it many years ago but not for long!) and saved us a lot in terms of beans, tomatoes, mange tout and courgettes.

This year we have given over half our garden to being a fruit and veg plot with established borders being cleared of the shrubs two hard winters have finally put paid to in favour of fruit trees and bushes. :dance:

Last year and this year the things that were least economic were potatoes (last year in deep bins, this year in one quarter of the plot) :doh: and the most economic had to be courgettes, mange tout, runner beans and sun baby tomatoes, all of which are sown ready for this year.

We have decided :think: (only yesterday) that once these first early pots are up they will be the last we plant. With minimum space we must maximise value and they are certainly not value for money. We can get lovely local-ish (Pembrokes) pots for far less than planting them costs once you factor in the space they need and what could be grown in the same area.

We have had a budget of £400 for the garden this year :eek: (which included the cost of a guy to double dig the plot for us) but expect it to be far less next year when things like raspeberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb and apples will be established and won't need buying again. :T

Mothership wrote: »

Just getting over ANOTHER tummy bug the 2nd in 3 weeks. ...

...

I didn't want to say anything before, but I too have suffered from depression, (note thats past tense). I found a way to beat it. Through my love of plants and growing things. So when I saw the wonderful windfall that Hippeechiq's father sent her , I was so full of hope for her DD, for a young lass to be in such a dark place, is beyond sad. If she can find something that gives her pleasure it may help her towards the light. Grow Hippeechiq, grow...

Ooh, poor you Mothership, :grouphug: the tummy bugs sound really horrid. My tummy has been 'off' since I got out of hospital but I think that's drugs rather than bugs (I hope!!! ).

Couldn't agree more about the health benefits of growing things. Being out in the daylight helps the mind and body so much even on a cloudy day - honestly!

I haven't had a reschedule date for hospital yet and I'm glad. It really has been a nightmare experience in which the diagnosis and potential treatment once diagnosed threaten to make me, who feels completely healthy and well and has no symptoms whatsoever, ill! So I want to apply the brakes for a couple or three months, have another scan then and proceed from there. I genuinely believe that what they think they've seen on the x-rays and CT scan is an anomoly and will not be there in a few months time. Only time will tell.

Well the 'bad' sun of the day is gone now and so I'm back out to the garden to the less harsh 'good' sun! :rotfl:

See you all later and sorry to have gone off topic a bit - though growing our food is part of the gc I think.

Take care,
Spigs

Hippeechiq

Mothership wrote: »

That is soooooooooo sweet of your dad Hippeechiq, Dinny worry I will help you. I'm a plant 'freak' lol . I love growing stuff. I was down in my greenhouse this morning potting up bedding plants. Maybe it would be a good idea to try and involve your DD, ask her to help you, by looking up how to care for them on the net etc /library and with watering /feeding etc, it may be something you can enjoy together.
The cherry tomatoes do well in hanging baskets if you have any. (if you don't let me know and I will send you a couple, I have lightweight ones). You will need a couple of hooks or two brackets , I've seen these for about £1 each in A**A/ T***o etc I planted three cherry tomatoes per basket, and had hundreds of fruits. M*******S have 8 black florists tubs for 99p each ( they are deep and great for all the veg you mentioned), you need to make holes in the bases for drainage, but they are great.
I wish you great joy from your wonderful gift, you may not realise yet just how wonderful it is. PM me your address and I will send you a few bits and bobs you will find useful. LOVE AND LIGHT! xx

Thank you Mothership - what a lovely post and what a lovely gesture, I'm truly very gratfeul :kisses3:
However, I think I may have everything covered though, as my lovely Dad also sent me £40 cash for containers & compost.
Actually, he thought the plants were being delivered in pots, so hadn't accounted for that, so is sending me a little bit extra bless him. This is his way of helping me because he knows things are not easy for us at the moment. He's been trying to give me money for a long time, but I wont let him. It doesn't sit easy with me to take money from my Dad, so this was his way around it - he knew I would keep the plants, but he also knew I would have to accept the cash to buy all the necessary bits as I don't have any spare. What a Dad eh? :happyhear

Unfortunately, I'm not near a Morris0ns. I've been trying to source cheap black buckets for 2 weeks now, but with no joy. A$da had black buckets for 99p each, but have sold out, and the next cheapest I can find close to me (that DDs boyfriend would give me a lift to as we now have no car) is £1.99 at H0mebase, and that's too much.

So, after much research - and because I want the plant containers to have handles- I've decided I'll probably go for these

They're wine carriers. They have material sewn in to accommodate 6 bottles of wine (which is easy enough to snip out) and they measure 26.5cmW (10½") 31.5cmH (12½") by 15cmD (6") and cost something like (I can't find the link now) 42p each - bargain!

Could I plant two plants to a bag do you think? Or will it need to be one bag each?

I bought some water retaining gel crystals on Saturday to add to the compost when I put the plants outside in the bags, as I'm on a water meter and I understand veggies need a lot of water, and a load of 5" pots to plant the 12 plug plants into that I've already received. I had a bag of compost from last year so they're all currently on my south facing bedroom windowsill. 6 Sweet & Neat Cherry Tomato Plants & 6 Standard Shirley tomato plants.

I'm buying this for my compost http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=031324&Trail=searchtext%3EGROW+BAGS (as it has very good reviews) and adding it to my bags. I need some tomato plant feed presumably - will that do for all the veggie plants?

I've got a bamboo type plant that grows in my garden that I can prune to provide me with canes for support. Anything else?

On the GC front, I've had 2 NSDs, so no spends to report.

espresso21

I had quite a lot of potatoes that were near their best before date. I have cooked them all up - some will be used to accompany tonight's bbq in a potato salad. Any ideas what I can do with the rest? Freezable ideas would be preferable if possible. Thank you!