May 2011 Grocery Challenge

CupOfChai

Evening ladies, and gents if there are any about. Just quickly popping on to update my total with this week's topup shopping, I've got about a fiver left in my budget to last the rest of the month now and I won't be able to get what I need for less than that. Going to be a little bit over again. Does anyone have any ideas on what I might be able to do about getting it back down below my target, as I think it is just where I have to shop now so there's not really much at all I can do about it? (Or, not much I can think of I can do).

Sue14

OH had a huge spend today, 3 packs of lincolnshire sausages from Mr S for 75p, lol, but he felt it would be a bit cheeky to ask for staff discount! I've just checked on mysupermarket and they're on offer at that price until 5th July. A bit handy that he got them actually as I was going to buy some tomorrow, so I've now only got to get eggs, mince and possibly milk.

scotsaver

Morning everyone - just updated my total with spends from Sunday and yesterday, less than £50 left but only 9 days so I know I can do this.;)

Have defrosted some DR Meatballs for tonight, haven't decided exactly what I'm doing with them yet - will see how the day pans out.:D

Have a good day everyone.:)

Winged_one

I updated my sig for weekend spends this morning. The lasagne last night was a great success - DD had 2 helpings, the au pair had it for her dinner and wants a portion for her lunch today. I still managed 2 portions for the freezer though - so not bad. (Especially considering I left the pot on low heat while we went out for 2 hours by accident, so I was lucky not to lose the lot!). I had mine with some of the leftover coleslaw from Gran's birthday at the weekend, and used the last of it for my sambo today.

This weekend, I am definitely not going to the SM. Local F&V shop for a large bag of things, the butcher for meat for maybe 2 days, and the convenience SM for milk, bread and cooked meat for sambos. So may have a chance to not be too far over - I am not doing well on monthly challenges this year (although the annual total is ok at the moment - hope that keeps going ok).

Sunnyday

espresso21 wrote: »

Does anyone have any idea of something to make with savoury rice and two cooked chicken breasts (I had to cook them to make them last longer - raw chicken doesn't tend to last too long in the fridge)? Thank you!

In a pan stir fry a chopped onion, some garlic and a handful of frozen or fresh chopped peppers, add the chopped chicken and fry for a couple of minutes, add a handfull of prawns & some chorizo. In a seperate pan cook the savoury rice and finally put everything into one pan and add a knob of butter and mix through. Voila instant tasty paella type meal

I usually start of with the veg & meat and then add the rice to the pan last of all then add the water to it and cook it all in one pan but it sounds as if you already cooked the rice/chicken? so will need to do it differently.

HTH

SD

espresso21

Sunnyday, thanks for that recipe. That might be one for the future. Tonight I think I am going to do chicken wraps as hubby loves them and I have all the ingredients. However, this does leave me with the rice so I might use that in some way for lunch. I like your recipe though and am going to add that to my things to try!

Winged One, well done on the lasagna - sounds like it was a huge hit! Would you like to share the recipe? I could do with a good lasagna recipe. Do you freeze before or after cooking?

HelenJelly, thanks for extending the hand of friendship. I'm not so far from MK myself - about 45min I guess. No car though although the bus service is pretty good. Unfortunately my work hours are pretty unsociable so I hardly ever get to meet up with anybody - maybe some time in the future?

And I must clear something up - I feel so bad as everyone keeps offering food parcels on account of what I said about not eating. It was a glib and thoughtless remark; I was exaggerating the situation highly. I'm sorry - I had had a really horrid day, I seem to work every hour there is and then to find I didn't even have any money at the end of it was upsetting. I meant what I said to be humorous but I guess my humour wasn't really working when I was in that mood. I'm sorry to have worried you all!

PennyGrabber

I have a contract mobile now - I used to have a PAYG, and thought contracts were not for me. However, I was offered a £10 a month contract from 3, which I took for 12/18 months (can't remember which). At the end of that, I rang them and said I was going back to PAYG, and they offered me a contract for £5.32 a month, which includes 3000 texts, 2gb data and 75 mins. That's more than I ever get through, but less than on a PAYG! I did buy the phone up front though, which i think is the key to contracts. If you don't buy the phone up front, they add the cost of the phone into the contract, so you could be paying for the phone for years to come. At least this way, I now know i will only ever pay £5.32 as long as I'm with them, as they promised it wouldn't go up!! I think i got a pretty good deal, but it's always worth asking the question. And I got to keep my same number - you just need a pac (??) code from your last contract provider, and they're obliged to give it to you.

HTH

NSD planned for today, although i may go mooching tonight (I know)...

PG x

quintwins

morning all, expresso you could do abit of a stir fry with your rice, onion,garlic,peppers (if you have any) peas, sweetcorn and soy sauce

we didn't have a great night one of our twins has an upset tummy, altho he's fine now so i was very bad and sent him to nursery anyway, my youngest isn't really eating and has a tempature, i'm also wondering if he has a wee water infection cause he keeps soaking nappies threw even tho he's not drinking a huge amount, he def seems to be peeing more, so it's gonna be a long day

on the plus side i'm making tea from leftovers so shouldn't take too much cooking, were having beef casarole will bulk it out with carrots and peas so i can keep a wee bit of meat for tomorrows stew my roast shrunk alot but i'm determined to make it into 3 meals, i'm having an egg sandwichs for breakfast it's just boiling now, and today is a NDS 3rd one in a row

zpr1c3

espresso21 wrote: »

Anyway, back to the mobile phones. I never thought about PAYG. I always thought they worked out far more expensive. I shall have to investigate. I won't be able to keep my old number will I? Thanks for all the advice. I might have to have a look around. I have always had a contract as I thought it was cheaper. Maybe I was wrong!

Hi,

Espresso21 you can keep your mobile number when you leave a contract to go PAYG, you just have to ring your contract provider and ask for a PUK code then give this to your new provider and they will enable the PAYG sim with your old number. HTH

On a GC note I am really not doing as well as I had hoped, too many little shopping trips. I am currently at £160. But have enough food in to last at least a week if not longer. So, hopefully no more trips to the SM's.

nessie216

JIL wrote: »

By sing do you mean the wheeping noises they make? Mine go mad when we are pulling grass up around the trees and paths in the garden, obviously know the sound of grass being picked, this is even when they are in their runs and have access to get their own. I have also got them to wheep when I shake the shed keys.
From an MSE point I started composting all their used bedding last year and have some great compost this year. I mixed it into some raised beds where I have planted some mixed leaves, I will share the spoils with them!!!
I have heard them make other noises other than wheeping a bit like a chirrup but this is few and far.

I mean chirping - for a good couple of mins at a time - my Donna does it and has been doing it more and more recently - sounds like a bird singing!

All mine know when it is feeding time, open the back door & they wheek, rustle a bag & they wheek - gorgeous - i love their little noises!



On the subject of phones - i have a PAYG from 3 and top up £10 every 3 months as the free texts (600) and free 3 to 3 calls and the 150MB of internet last for 3 months before they expire & then you have your £10 to spend aswell! I only got it because everyone else in my family got it so we could call each other for free! Might be worth looking into! (but beware of the signal strengths in your area - some areas are dodgy (like mine!))