January 2012 Grocery Challenge

bupster

OK, went to Aldi to pick up last of shopping for feeding 15-20 people tomorrow - spent £9.63 on that, and £3.56 on yoghurt (for making my own, keep forgetting ), clingfilm, some frozen petit pois and a cereal container someone mentioned on one of the threads (it has a neat little screw-off bottom that you can put in the freezer and will keep your milk/yoghurt cold). Then I went to the market and spent £4.20 or so (forgot how much already ) on fruit, mushrooms and cavolo nero, which is a really nice kale I ought to grow myself. Didn't really need any of the above except maybe bananas and clementines to take into work so will have to be really careful that I eat them all.

Also got out Reader's Digest Good Food For Less from the library - anyone tried this? Has lots of nice easy looking recipes with the calorie count too, which I find really handy as a lot of the recipes that are meant to be cheap and cheerful seem to be very fattening and I want to lose some weight this year too! (Note to self - stop taking chocolate to bed, you muppet :rotfl:)

jollymummy

cleggie wrote: »

Thats a great idea Jolly, i hope you dont mind if i use it! i had never thought about writing a list on the front of the cupboards. Do you just tick it off the ist if you need to buy more of it?

Hi Cleggie, yes we are crossing stuff off the list as we use it and I've left a blank bit to add anything new we might need. I had no idea what was in there so it should make shopping a bit easier.

jollymummy

cw18 wrote: »

Why? If it was tins and jars, the chances are it was probably all OK for eating. I have things in my cupboard that must go back almost that far (used to go back a loooot longer than that but have finally worked through the oldest stuff), and don't think twice about eating them (open, eyeball, smell, and - depending on what it is - a dipped finger taste test..... if it passes those then it gets used).

It was the half eaten packets of open jaffa cakes and manky mince pies we just didn't fancy along with the soft cream crackers etc, we kept some jars and flour etc. Some of the jars had fur growing on top too and as we had 10 jars of jam we felt we coud let them go. We also the space, especially as I've just made a big batch of marmalade and it needs somewhere to live - not that it will last long in our house.

123budget

have been to L*dl now and stocked up on their half price mince - it's higher fat content than Iwould normally buy but I can always fry off and drain away the fat.
Have put two in 3 packs into the freezer and am going too:-
1. prepare some burgers with one pack and freeze ready to use.
2. mix another pack with pork mince and make some meatballs to freeze and use at a later date.
3. use another pack to make a chilli for evening meal tonight.

Also got £40 of Asda vouchers in the post today ( a late xmas gift from dh work - supposed to be their 'turkey' voucher but came a bit late) so as dd is at a party later right next to our Asda I will pop in and get some more meat with them. It's meat that really ups my spending so I I can really stock freezer up it will be a big help later on.

jo84

sonastin wrote: »

I get where you're coming from. Not sure I can explain my answer clearly though :rotfl:

You should be able to work it out. You get (e.g. - not sure of the exact details) 1 point for every pound spent and 1 point equals 1p to spend when the statement comes through. So for every £ you spend in Mr T, you get 1p off your next shop. And every £ in that next shop buys you 1p off the shop after that.

If I understand correctly (and I'm tired now so might not be thinking clearly), you're better off shopping elsewhere if it is cheaper because your points are only equivalent to a penny off. But if its the same price in the other stores or Mr T is closer/more convenient and only marginally more expensive then you might as well rack up the cc points.

In my experience, some things in A!di are significantly cheaper and better, some aren't so cheap and some aren't as good on quality. I've taken to doing my shopping all over the place depending on who offers the best value for money for a particular item.

Good effort at explaining this, I have often thought about this too!

janiepopps

123budget wrote: »

have been to L*dl now and stocked up on their half price mince - it's higher fat content than Iwould normally buy but I can always fry off and drain away the fat.

Hi 123, I read ages ago a money saving tip - buy the fattier mince (often is much cheaper), fry it and put it in a sieve over the kitchen sink. Then pour boiling water from the kettle over it which drains all the fat off.

I did this a lot when on SW and it doesn't lose any flavour, just a whole lot of calories. HTH x

PS if you were being really frugal, you could catch the drained off water in a bowl, let it cool and the fat harden so you can scrape it off, and then use the water as stock. Why didn't I think of that before...? :cool:

meg72

janiepopps wrote: »

Hi 123, I read ages ago a money saving tip - buy the fattier mince (often is much cheaper), fry it and put it in a sieve over the kitchen sink. Then pour boiling water from the kettle over it which drains all the fat off.

I did this a lot when on SW and it doesn't lose any flavour, just a whole lot of calories. HTH x

PS if you were being really frugal, you could catch the drained off water in a bowl, let it cool and the fat harden so you can scrape it off, and then use the water as stock. Why didn't I think of that before...? :cool:

You can also use the fat for pastry, frying etc.

Suffolk_lass

janiepopps wrote: »

Hi 123, I read ages ago a money saving tip - buy the fattier mince (often is much cheaper), fry it and put it in a sieve over the kitchen sink. Then pour boiling water from the kettle over it which drains all the fat off.

I did this a lot when on SW and it doesn't lose any flavour, just a whole lot of calories. HTH x

PS if you were being really frugal, you could catch the drained off water in a bowl, let it cool and the fat harden so you can scrape it off, and then use the water as stock. Why didn't I think of that before...? :cool:

Brilliant idea - In our village we have a vacuum pump sewerage/waster waste water system (means we have mains instead of septic tanks) and we have had real problems with fat down drains and I'm sure town sewerage systems don't like it either. :j

meg72

annem38 wrote: »

hi there, another 7.01 for yesterday for me, still under budget but still got to do monthly tesc* shop for all the heavy stuff ( cat food , tinned stuff etc) normally comes in at about 80-100 quid, must try and get that down! also having the usual saturday debate as to whether to go shopping or take a meal out of the freezer, decisions decisions:D

anyhoo, can't remember who posted it but thanks for the tip, have started to keep a record of how much things are so i will know a bargain when i see it! know the price of things like bread and meat etc but not other stuff, for example, oh asked me to get some branston pickle, now i think this is the work of the devil and tend to chuck it in the basket without looking, instead looked at price at usual supermarket £1.56 but at lid* something like £1.36, now if i can make savings like that on everything i buy we can have that caribbean holiday that oh seems to have set his heart on for his 50th:eek:

anne

Re Branston pickle,I used to use a lot a this but a friend gave me a cheese and pickle sandwich and asked me if I thought the pickle was OK,I did and she told me it was SP,26p I now only buy this.A big saving on Branston.

tracey12_2

dreamerbea wrote: »

Was wondering what people use to freeze batch cooked meals in - freezers bags - foil dishes or plastic boxes - I have not freezed many items before so not sure if one way is better than another

I also use plastic boxes (like the ones you get from chinese). I put the soup, casserole, chilli, spag bol etc in the plastic box and put this into a labelled freezer bag and write on my freezer list. When the food is frozen I take out of the plastic box and just wrap in the freezer bag so that the box can be used again. It is easy to stack the food as well as all the food is rectangle you can fit more into the freezer.

I meal plan about a week in advance and look at my meal plan and just take out the right meal the night before needed so that it can defrost slowly in the fridge overnight so it is then a case of re-heating but make sure it is piping hot.

HTH

Tracey