July 2011 Grocery Challenge

Nimeth

Been meaning to update for a while, but been so busy that I feel like I've got no time!

Got two weeks spending to catch up on, spent £42.62 in Te$cos the other week, then did my usual shop on Friday in A!di and Morrison$, spent £32.15 and £11.57 respectively in there. A trip up to Brum in the week including dropping in at the Chinese supermarket, spent £15.28 in there and came away with a good load of stuff that should last me a good while! So far up to £191.79 with one more July shop to go. It'll be a close thing this month, but it is a 5 week month for me, rather than 4.

I did discover, as I ran low on some foodstuffs a lovely recipe for stuffed peppers! It's a good veggie meal if anyone is looking for some new ideas:

Stuffed Peppers

• 4 red peppers
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 150g/5oz peas
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 150g/5oz farmhouse bread
• 1 free-range egg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prep method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cut around the stalks and remove the very tops off the peppers. Put these to one side. Remove the insides and seeds of the peppers.
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and saut! the peas with the red onion and garlic.
4. Soak the bread in water for two minutes, then break it into breadcrumbs. Add the breadcrumbs and the egg to the pea mixture and stir.
5. Stuff the emptied peppers with the mixture and replace their tops. Place in a baking tray and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
6. Cook them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until soft and cooked through.

Om nom nom!:D

rosieben

Nimeth wrote: »

... I did discover, as I ran low on some foodstuffs a lovely recipe for stuffed peppers! ...

Stuffed Peppers recipe is added to the index :T

Winged_one

I spent €100 in hard cash over the weekend on groceries, but made a good few savings too. I was in the Market and spent €29 on various bits and pieces (pasta, cheese, eggs, olives, fish, etc); my overall bill in the SM came to €105 but I had points on my loyalty card that I used, and I had a lot of multi-buys (that I needed anyway and will use the extra) and some whoopsies in the cart too. Including nice in-store baked bread reduced to less than half price at the end of the day, which made for lovely mushrooms on toast for tea.

My plans for this week are:
Mon: Cod or mussels
Tues: Opposite
Wed: vegetable stir fry (may throw in a few prawns)
Thurs: Out in town, so something small when I get in (more mushrooms on toast?!)
Fri: Don't know yet - maybe rasher sambo

lizzyb1812

First official month and I'm doing better than I expected. £78-64/£150 so far with just a week to go :j

I've been using things from the freezer and cupboards so that has kept the spend down, but I've also done some bulk buying of pasta, kidney beans, whoopsied sausages, etc. Posting my meal plans has helped too.

My next move is to research the nutritional value of petfood that is cheaper than the stuff I currently use. I do get a very good deal on it by shopping around online and buying in bulk for 6+ months when I see a really good deal but I'd like to get it lower whilst still providing good nutrition for my pets.

I've always been pretty MSE but doing the Challenge has stepped that up a level and I'm saving loads :T

quintwins

sent my mum for my nappies in the end so nsd for me cause they were already paid for and i'm just making do without bread, running low on spuds aswell so made yorkshire puddings with our sheperds pie to bulk it out, there will be loads left which i will fill with left over mince for the kids lunch tomorrow

69chick

JIL Thanks for the tips, I havn't thought of the mushroom pasta idea (I love mushrooms)..

RosiebenThanks for the link..it seems I have something in common with Delia, I too always order fishcakes if they are on the menu wherever I am eating..I love them!

Think I will test the potatoes out in a potato salad to start with...now I think about it, many years ago, an ex boyfriends Mum used to cook a Sunday dinner with a joint of meat and everything else was tinned including the potatoes and at the time I thought it was better than my Mums one with fresh veg (although my Mums cooking leaves a lot to be desired, which she would admit to!)

NSD today (if you don't count the check for over £300 which is the balance for the twins summer childcare :eek:)

quintwins great thinking on the yorkshires and that sounds like a lovely lunch tomorrow...I now get a real sense of achievement if I manage with what we have in,when in the past I would have nipped out to the smarket to get something else in and spent a fortune on stuff I didn't need...

Lots of you sound like you are coming in close to your budgets :T, even if its an overspend, just think about how much you would have spent if you hadn't been trying to stick to a budget

rosieben

69chick, I think it was JIL who posted the link to the Delia fish cakes

they sound good, I might be trying those myself

69chick

Sorry Rosieben I got all beffuddled there, just realised also I said almost exactly the same thing as you about how much we would have all spent if we weren't doing the GC! can I blame my twins who decided not to go to bed as well as they usually do so I was typing under duress

They do look good though those fishcakes, so thanks JIL

JIL

rosieben wrote: »

69chick, I think it was JIL who posted the link to the Delia fish cakes

they sound good, I might be trying those myself

They are good, and in a light bulb moment I remembered the recipe website, I spoke about, I have just had a look and surprised to see they are recipes by James Martin. http://www.cannedfood.co.uk/index.php

There are a few recipes using tinned potatoes!!!

69chick

That website looks fab JIL have bookmarked it for a good read tomorrow...