May 2011 Grocery Challenge

espresso21

Did tortillas tonight - 2 chicken breasts that were left over when I jointed a chicken for a curry the other night and lots of veg (peppers, red onion, tomatoes) that were nearing their end; served with wraps and salad - an easy and cheap meal and one that my husband really liked. It's strange - I haven't been doing these 'budget' meals before in case hubby didn't like them but the last three meals have all been budget and he has loved them (more than the stuff I normally do)!

katholicos

NSD number 10 today so no spends on groceries. I made nut roast using a packet mix...2 trays of choc chip flapjack...and a chicken curry using whoopsied chicken I found in the freezer. I also baked 2 loaves of bread to give away.

JIL

espresso21 wrote: »

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?

Just reminded me of the first meal i cooked my husband many years ago and do sometimes still make.
Chicken and bacon lasagne.
its so easy and really tasty. You just gently fry some chopped bacon/pancetta with some chopped onions and mushrooms, add cooked chicken and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Layer between lasagne sheets, top with a white sauce or cheese sauce add a bit of grated cheese (stilton is really tasty and you dont need much) Bake in oven for 40 mins to an hour, (cover with foil if it browns too much) until the lasagne sheets are cooked.
I let this cool and put portions into takeaway tubs and freeze it.

you can add garlic, herbs etc to your own taste. It is good for using up left over chicken, bacon, bits of cheese etc.

Hippeechiq

espresso21 wrote: »

I was much happier when I was with Vodafone. I don't really think I can buy it out - I still have 8 months to run and my monthly cost is £30 so I am assuming the buy-out would be £240 - not going to happen!!!

V0daphone is a dirty word in this house - the trouble we've had with them, but that's another story.

Someone else might be clearer on this than I (OH sorted out DD & SS's contracts, and he's not here to ask at the moment) but it's something along the lines of:
You phone up o2, tell them you can no longer afford to have a contract phone and they then pass the whole amount (as in the remainder owing if you bought out your contract) to a debt collector, and then you agree between yourselves and the debt collector the amount you can comfortably afford to pay back per month.

Obviously it's in their interest to get you to pay back as much as possible a month, so you need to be firm about the amount you can afford to pay, pointing out that you can't pay what you haven't got. They do add a handling fee, but it's a way out of the muddle, and it stops the bill being compounded month on month if you can't afford to pay it off fully each month, which is what happened to DD & SS as they buried their heads in the sand and between them, owed over £1000 :eek:

Sistercas I'm feeling a lot better today thanks hun The double dose anti acid meds have eased DDs stomach cramps and she has had a better day physically and mentally, and that always lifts my spirits.

Don't have much of my budget left considering I still have 14 days left of this months challenge, but it's been a bl00dy awful month so far in every other way, so I'm not going to give myself a hard time over it. A girl can only take so much c r a p in one month.

rosieben

Pixie and JIL I've added both your lasagne recipes to the index

CherryPie

Another spend of £8.43!!! Only went in for bread and milk, but got Mum staying for a couple of days so got some scones & biccies feel a bit bad for not making them myself as I know it would work out cheaper, but I honestly don't know where my time goes.

Went to Asda just in time for the whoopsies. I was telling my Mum about them, and said we'll just wait here until those people have finished looking at them. ( I hate being crowded!!) So when the chiller cabinet was free me & Mum had a right good rake. Then this horrible woman came up and almost pushed me out the way, and did that reaching in front of me thing :mad: I was only there for 2 mins tops, honestly, some people have no manners. If she'd said excuse me, I may even have moved for her!!!

Anyway, I got some courgettes and those mixed roasting veg tray things for 5p each. So my question is, do I need to cook these before freezing?? I know some of you lovely ladies (and gents!) will be able to help me on this one. Or maybe I'll make some courgette & rosemary soup, it's a bit chilly up here just now!!

Nite x

boysma

Just totalled my spends from weekend and this week so far -$63.65:eek: Updated my total but this leaves me just over 12 quid till next next Wednesday - still doable if I am really careful I suppose.

I have started buying Mr T saving stamps for Xmas shop:D but not counting these as they will be spent in Dec (obviously).

Some lovely lasagne recipes on here which I am going to try esp the chicken and bacon one - sounds lovely.

Hugs to everyone who needs them :A

Good luck grocery challengers:)

quintwins

CherryPie wrote: »

So my question is, do I need to cook these before freezing?? I know some of you lovely ladies (and gents!) will be able to help me on this one. Or maybe I'll make some courgette & rosemary soup, it's a bit chilly up here just now!!

Nite x

i've had the m&s ones before (the meal deal i'm not made of money :rotfl:) and i just froze as they were then i defrosted them to cook, courettes i just slice and freeze


another NSD for me i'm racking up quite a few now i do need desil this afternoon tho tea is stew with the last of the roast beef, last nights casarole was really tender and yummy i sorta wished i'd cooked up all the beef so we could have more but this way we get a whole extra meal out of it

laineyc_2

Hello everyone!

I am still on the challenge. I have been busy in the garden and my meal planning has gine a bit awry. I will be slightly over this minth but not my much. We enjoyed lot's of salad leaves from the garden this week.

I am going to do my meal planner for the next month and get back on track.

[Deleted User]

Only spent just over £52 quid so far this month but have been seriously staying away from shops and 'making do and cooking ' what I have in my store cupboards and freezer. I am so pleased with my progress so far and its over halfway through the month already.Mind you I have had some odd concoctions at times but have managed to streetch things out by making either soup for starters or a pudding for afterwards it does extend a meal so you really feel full and I have stopped snacking between meals as well.No more shopping to buy until next week with luck, and then only essentials that I have run out of.When ever I feel the urge to go to the shops I think of a job that i need to catch up with and by the time its done I decide that I really can do without wandering around spending cash on stuff I don't need when I only have just over 12 weeks until our holiday so I am stashing my cash for that instead.