May 2011 Grocery Challenge

crockpot

Been into Morrisons today and it was hell, never again.

On the up side only got what was on my list and spent £7.98.

Going to do a meal plan tomorrow and do an online shop for next week.

Sig updated

fedupandskint

quintwins wrote: »

]this sounds nice but can anyone help me with how much dry beans and lentils to use?

I had a guess and I think I used approx half weight for dried beans and lentils and then weighed the kidney beans that came in at around 430g

I think!

Just had a slice and it was lovely - could have done with baking for a bit longer but I turned the temp down as I have a very fierce oven that cooks very quickly so maybe I should have left the temp up. I don't think it matters too much as when I defrost the slices I'll bake it in the oven to cook again.

Was very tasty and spicy - nice!

quintwins

fedupandskint wrote: »

I had a guess and I think I used approx half weight for dried beans and lentils and then weighed the kidney beans that came in at around 430g

I think!

Just had a slice and it was lovely - could have done with baking for a bit longer but I turned the temp down as I have a very fierce oven that cooks very quickly so maybe I should have left the temp up. I don't think it matters too much as when I defrost the slices I'll bake it in the oven to cook again.

Was very tasty and spicy - nice!

ok thanks i'll try half the weight, did you sock them overnight?

fedupandskint

quintwins wrote: »

ok thanks i'll try half the weight, did you sock them overnight?

Yes I soaked the kidney beans overnight as per pack instructions, then boiled for 10mins rapidly then simmered for 1hr 30mins. Lentils soaked for 30mins then boiled for 30mins and simmered for 45mins as they were the green/brown lentils

WelshWoofer

I did it!:j:j:j

I actually walked into Mr S for a pot of fromage frais for a recipe for tea and walked back out with a pot of fromage frais and nothing else! 83p poorer now but would usually be a fiver with extra unnecessary bits.

It can be done:p

seductivesmile

Hi All,
I can't believe it is May already! but we have an absolutely glorious day, if not a little blowy here today! I am reigning it in again, as although i have been reading, i've kinda fallen off of the wagon, so getting back on! NSD y2dy and today!

Feeling very virtuous today as was thinking of going down to Mr M's, but decided to go through my fridge and see what i could do, i have made lunch for work for tomorrow, out of salad i was going to throw away, i then made a pasta sauce using peppers and onions which were borderline usable, and bacon that needed using, ( for tea tomorrow as i already have curry defrosted for today), then for lunch i made some potato salad using some 'old' new potatoes, red onion (left over from the pasta) bit of turkey that needed using today, and the end of the cucumber that was wrinkly, and my it was tasty!

Then i took the strawberries i bought on sat, that were turning a bit mushy, chopped them up with a wrinkly apple and have a apple and strawberry crumble to have after my curry tonight! yum!! so thats lunch, dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow and dinner tomorrow all sorted with things i was thinking i would have to throw away! now to figure out for the rest o the week!

I will not spend and i will use up the mountains of food in my cupboards and freezer! I sat down and made an inventory this morning, and considering it is just me i have enough food in the cupboards and freezer for ~90meals. . . so - only the perishables, but first i will use the frozen veggies, and tinned fruit and veggies before i buy any, and hopefully by then the salad leaves will be in the garden, i also must start the BM up again as i have 3 bags of bread flour and yeast etc, but somehow my bread always ends up heavy... any ideas?

Have a happy cheap May!
SS xx

quintwins

my hubby said my bread was really heavy til i started doing it with hotter water i know this sounds silly but it does seem to work, so now i do 1/2 a cup of water from the tap and 1/4 from the kettle, it might be worth checking your measurements aswell to make sure your not using too much flour

homemade bread is generally more filling anyway but my first ones were real stodgy now there lovely and i have a slicer now aswell, i have bought a few loafs the past 3weeks with the kids being sick and holidays ect but i'll be going back to hm now i acually made one this morning

Hippeechiq

Hello everyone :hello:
Thank you Pink, Rosie and MrsMcabwer for getting the thread up and running

JackieO wrote: »

.I always divide it up into four lots of £30.00 and put the first in my purse and the other three in the cupboard out of temptations reach.

Me too, with just a slight difference.

I leave £60 in my account for one online shop a month.
This is for heavy items as I'm now car-less for the first time in my life and some things are just too heavy for me to carry.

The remaining £180 of my budget is bought using cash, on foot and carried home on my back and in my hands - can't afford bus fares unfortunately.

That £180 is split into 6 envelopes:
WEEK 1-4 have £25 cash in each
MEAT ENVELOPE £50 cash
DDs ENVELOPE £30 cash
Slimfast etc., needed due to weight gain because of meds)

I've just put the WEEK1 envelope money into my purse, and WEEK2, 3 & 4 are locked in my bureau.
I always carry my MEAT envelope and DDs envelope with me

The beauty of cash, is that - unlike a debit card - it's impossible not to notice how much/little money you have left if your purse each time you pay for something. It's also impossible to overspend, because if the cash isn't there, you can't spend it.

Also, by splitting your monthly cash into weekly envelopes in particular prevents the whole not-having-any-money-left-at-the-end-of-the-month scenario too.

I started the envelope system in September last year, and with the exception of Nov/Dec when I blew my budget because of Xm*s, I'm convinced using cash is what keeps me in line.

With having to save for Xm*s & giving money to my 2nd purse out of my GC Budget, I'm also spending £35 per month less feeding the four of us than I was a year ago (it's hard work mind) - so I'm very pleased with that :T

.....is one allowed to applaud oneself? :rotfl:

Mrs Mcawber, could you put Hippeechiq down for £240 for May please

Bought a couple of bits on Saturday so that I didn't have to go out yesterday or today, and also paid money to my 2nd purse for items used from stock, so spends so far £18.36.

Good Luck for May eveyone

fedupandskint Like the sound of your Lentil & Bean Loaf (I make the Cheese & Lentil loaf from the index, and it's lush) - is there a recipe somwhere please?

sparkle76

Hi everyone,

Well we spend around £65 yesterday between Mr T and Sains, lots of heavy bulk items like cat food, washing powder, cheese, 15 eggs, a chicken etc. Not much of it 'normal' food mind, so I just hope now that sort of stuff is bought the rest of our budget can be planned properly. We got £2 off at Sainsburys for spending over £20 too.

I ended up using the credit card due to the cashback, but will keep an eye via online checks to see how we are doing spend wise. Hoping that now I am focusing on it more this month we can manage better. No 'treats' because of bank hol etc...

Next month might try leaving £20 on card for when OH gets small bits on way back from work, and £140 cash on me for the main spends and if I need to top up shopping in my lunch hour etc. I figure if we save £4 a month this counter balances the cashback we'd get on the card yearly anyway.

Yesterday I made around 15 healthy muffins of which some have been frozen for work snacks (always hungry as am pregnant)... and today we're planning to make 2 loaves of bread too which hopefully will happen as would make lovely lunches. I am off tomorrow so can always make one loaf myself if OH doesn't fancy making some today. It will be my first attempt!

fedupandskint

Hippeechiq wrote: »

fedupandskint Like the sound of your Lentil & Bean Loaf (I make the Cheese & Lentil loaf from the index, and it's lush) - is there a recipe somwhere please?

Whoops! It was that one - I got the name mixed up!

Your organised envelope method sounds great and I'll be trying that to keep me on track for the rest of May with my £27 left