I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

gailey_2

Evening guys thought best update.

Been odd month -my grocery month started 25th march.

hubby did £50lidsl but came home with not an awful lot

£29 b&m but not all was foods

big £100 shop in aldis last week-was half term.

managed to bag some good reductions in co-op, spar and sainsburys local.

hubby does his mums shopping in sainsburys so probably gets £10-15 for us on top if he sees offered and taken to going in late night and brought 10loaves of bread the other night I trained him well:).

so i guestimate not exact £200 on shopping.

we have 11 days left until next pay day.

Whats helped is doing new dishes and cheaper ones,

basing meal plans around reductions

I still have some leeks left from aldis -to do leek and potato soup.

have some carrots -doing carrot and cumin soup tommorow.

got some reduced mushrooms and I adore mushrooms on toast fry mushrooms on butter, add some reduced cream and black pepper.

tonight went spar got 5pints milk for 50p.
reduced sausages 8pack 44p that means sausage casserole tommorow with rice.

found some wedges at bottom of freezer tonight unexpected surprise.

used up eggs for tea and cakes.

made 32choc cupcakes with choc icing and sprinkles.

we out of

sugar-using caster sugar
cheese
chips
eggs
nuttella-used last of it today
low on cereals.
out of crisps and biscuits-not a bad thing
low in squash brought c-op value small bottle 44p. tide us over.

Al though hubby hates b&m experience dident help with 3kids in tow the small amount food we did buy come in handy.

now we have no nice treats left in house

they snacking on
organic raisens
tinned peaches
did angel delight last night for dessert,
jelly for tonight.

got some butter from spar on offer so flapjacks and maybe a spong pudding tommorow with carton of custard.

we have plenty tinned tomatoes, pasta and tuna we brought there.

As long as family have stuff to snack on and desserts I find they dont feel as grumpy and deprived.

last night made lush pizzas with aldi cucina pizza base mix very impressed.

today i had cambells condesed mushroom sauce as psata saucewith chopped up ham .

hoping to meal plan next few days and surprise hubby with how I manage to stetch storecupboard out.

Hoping to do better next month.

Ohh the john west boil in bat rice is really good its like the takeaway. im crap at rice I need a bag.

have some reduced warbertons squares
tuna/sweetcorn for eldest lunchbox monday.

thinking growing some cress as hubby likes egg and cress sandwiches.

its ham that really bumps sandwiches up.

recovering_spendaholic

Well have had a good read and feel really inspired to try and get to the end of the month only buying milk, bread and a little bit of fruit and veg.

I am afraid that it was just the three of us who demolished the cheese - made hm pizza, cauliflower cheese, cheese on toast, macaroni cheese and also ate a few chunks with some cherry tomatoes. I am going to try and not buy any more until the end of the month, as we still have two big chunks of Red Leicester and Mature cheddar to get through!

Tonight I had some pork shoulder steaks in the fridge which should have been used up today. I was going to throw them out:o but then, inspired by my reading the thread, I decided to try and use them up and made a lovely dish by chopping them into large medallions and mixing with half and onion (from back of fridge), half a bulb of fennel (ditto) and a sliced apple - I covered them with a sachet of Maggi sage and apple roast mix and cooked for an hour . Had a tiny taste when it was done and it was lovely all browned and tasty. I have put it in the fridge covered with cling film and it will make a nice meal for tomorrow.

Earlier on I went to the little Tesco express round the corner and the man was just yellow stickering loads of meat - it was all slashed and had been three for two, which also worked at the checkout still - I got a whole chicken, two lots of turkey breast slices, finest meatballs, two lots of rump steak, two lots of braising steak, finest sausages, two lots of four chicken breast fillets and a pack of stir fry beef. All that, plus two loaves, two lots of Cravendale and a multi pack of Crunchies came to just over £18 - probably didn't NEED any of it (except milk) but it was too good a bargain to pass up.

Once DD1 has gone back to University tomorrow I am going to try and get back to a lower carb way of eating. I do notice that I feel better when I eat less carbs and WAY better if I don't have sugar.

Lovely pictures Florenceem, JellyB and Kirri! and lipstick!

gailey_2

Morning guys

have come to conclusion lack of moneys a good thing as its at leats forcing us to eat what we have as guess we all have tendancy to have stuff in cupboard but nothing we fancy I know oh definatly does.

I have to use those carrots and leeks up today.

milks running low again and brought 5pints last nite.

cereal selections not great.

Hubby got seduced by some posh musili in lidls but is not that keen on it.

The farmfood bargain cereals 89p for weetabix minis and honey waffles.

I detest mini weetabix so much as they stay hard and taste like cardboard. The kids dont like like the honey waffles.
So everyones eating normal weetabix and we have porridge if get desperate.

Are out date supernoodles ok? i use dto love them in uni but not so much now.

I also have couple pasta in sauce dried mixes and few packet mixes have chilli one wondering if should try do vegi chilli minus the meat or try find some reduced mince but since horse thing brought very little mince.

Trying to decide on stratey for next month.

havent tried morrisions in ages.
definatly need a farmfoods shop.
like some stuff ocado and waitrose do so wondering small shop with them?
loving aldis right now not been in lidls nearly as much.
liked some things b&m so will pop back there.

debating doing 1st approved foods order.

maybe should try diffrent place every week.

tempted to order veg box this week as fruitbowl is empty.

I need to be much more frugal than I have been.

thinlk learnt few lessons last few months mainly dont let hubby shop alone.

Lynsey do you do much couponing these days?

Lip_Stick

Morning all.

Feeling shattered *yawnssss*. Yesterday for lunch I did poached egg on potato waffle with a sprinkling of cheese. Not the healthiest, or fanciest lunch, but ds and I enjoyed it lol. Tea, it was just myself, so was alcohol served with spicy sausages as hot dogs.

Sunday dinner is at mam's and is going to be the finest topside that I acquired for free, with m&s peppercorn sauce and things you'd have with a steak, like wedges and mushrooms. My idea, since I've given them the joint.

Next week will be minimum spending on food etc. Need to start buying decorating stuff, like paint and wallpaper!

Got phoned up this week about a job, had to do a quick online assessment which went well, so fingers crossed I'll be going in for a proper interview. Annualised hours so that'd be ideal for having time off for ds.

WB Jane - nice to see you posting again.

Kirri - like the look of those burgers!

beachie wrote: »

You know your committed to paying down your mortgage when you go to the shop to by alcohol but can't bring yourself to spend so much so come away with a 65p bottle of cloudy lemonade instead!

Silly mistake. If you'd have bought the alcohol, you'd have forgot all about the mortgage until the headache cleared up at least.

Jelly_Biactol

Frogletina wrote: »

I love lentils, coconut, chestnuts so I would love the recipies that contain those ingedients please. Maybe I should try one of the soups too

If you have any specific recipes in mind, just name them and I will try and post them:)

ms_night_ryder

Afternoon all.

Used up the ribs and chicken yesterday, I've made a fruit smoothie, broccoli, fruits of forest frozen, can of mandarin, I forgot to put ginger in. Nothing else be eaten at home.I'm off.to my.grandmas for dinner, so I'm bringing cakes from waitrose, hopefully reduced ones and flowers if reduced, I've had a bit of money come in, but have now decuded to be frugal with it, don't want to spend it up too fast, I get paid this week, trying to also put some money aside for a quick break, but i only want to use money I've saved not from my small windfall.

Need to get ready, been lazing about in bed all day happy Sunday all.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

I read this thread but I am sooooooooooooooooooo bad at it, seem to constantly have a tin of paint to keep the top of my freezer down! Have even worked out I can defrost it in under an hour and pile the stuff back in it.

Must try harder!

HHx

Kirri

gailey wrote: »

have come to conclusion lack of moneys a good thing as its at leats forcing us to eat what we have as guess we all have tendancy to have stuff in cupboard but nothing we fancy I know oh definatly does.

How true, I only eat what I fancy till I run out and have to use things up.. and it's painful!

Once my stocks are back to minimal levels I will just be shopping for what I want to cook and eat weekly and will be eating things much fresher then and not having much frozen stuff hopefully (I don't like the taste of most of it) and if things are bought and used quickly they won't end up in the cupboard till they are past their best - at the moment I have to find recipes to use stuff up and am saving up recipes where I need to buy things for when it's all gone. I never even shopped that much before either and it's still taking an age to reduce it all down.

Tonight I had pasta with 2 year old allotment frozen sliced beans from the freezer and tbh they weren't that great, been in there too long (only another 30 portions to go..). Added some pine nuts which had a slightly rancid taste (small amount left), some fresh spinach from the lovely veg box and luckily the strong Stilton saved the day.

I think the sliced beans may be better used up in either stir fry or curry..

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recovering_spendaholic

Evening all - just settling down to watch Hawaii 5-O whilst messing about on the laptop.

DD1 went back to University today and the living room is lovely and tidy for the first time in three weeks! So is the hall, front room, bathroom and kitchen:)

made a roast dinner for before she went - I used up some root veg mash from the freezer and also some frozen roast potatoes and frozen peas, so it was an easy meal and went down well. I have only just had my tea and I made chopped hard boiled egg mixed with grated cheese on toast - sounds vile but tastes lovely. DD2 had some of the pork I cooked last night on baguette so we both had a "use up" tea.

My knee is really bad at the moment (arthritis) and it is really getting me down - I am going to have a google to see if there is anything I can do with my diet to try and ease it. I can't take many painkillers because of other tablets that I take so I'm limited to paracetamol and codeine which don't really help that much.

Kirri - so you grow much fruit and veg? I would love to grow stuff but I think I would need a raised bed because of the dogs and also because it is hard for me to squat because of my knees. I know that some people grow all kinds in tubs but I can't imagine that would be any good.

Kirri

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

E
Kirri - so you grow much fruit and veg? I would love to grow stuff but I think I would need a raised bed because of the dogs and also because it is hard for me to squat because of my knees. I know that some people grow all kinds in tubs but I can't imagine that would be any good.

I grow a lot, maybe too much, cutting down a bit this year maybe! I have some raised beds, some open ground - they now do quite a range of raised beds and some are aimed at people who have less movement ie they are much higher/can be used when standing, there was a competition on the comp board to win one recently iirc. If in the garden it would be ok but on an allotment they do need a lot of extra watering as they dry out and warm up more, so can almost create more work, same as with any tubs and pots and things. You could always start off small and see how you go though, maybe just a few pots or one bed. As much work as it is, there is nothing to compare with the taste, it makes shop veg seem awful.

Ah the comp has ended but this was the company supplying the prize, they don't seem bad prices. Most standard 'raised' beds are a lot lower than this.

http://www.forestgarden.co.uk/accessible_gardening.asp