January 2012 Grocery Challenge

Fiasco55

Another £15.27 spent today. Got loads of reduced items rolls, bread, some salad. Also bought a few ready meals for some of the nights I am on backshift and just don't get a chance to have a break.

kerri_dfw

re: portion sizes

I was always told a portion is no bigger than your fist although I can't for the life of me think whether that's for portion of veg + meat or not.

medsdemon

Woohoo a NSD for me. Planning one tomorrow too if I can keep OH out of the SM. I have yellow split peas soaked ready to stick in slow cooker with stock, onions, celery and carrots( out of the bottom of fridge to use up) for soup when we get in from work for dinner. I may defrost parcel of ham from freezer to add to it too, not sure yet. Hopefully there will be enough for lunch on Thursday for work for us all as well.

I am really pleased how my budgets going this month and we seem to have loads in the freezer so I must get round to a proper meal plan to keep it under control. I am planning a big shop this weekend sometime though I am loath to use up my days off in a SM, we are low on fresh and storecupboard ingredients so must do it as am having problems making meals because we are missing so many basics like tinned toms. Could maybe fit it in on Thursday evening after work:cool:....we shall see!!

Will try to keep the shop under £50. May take cash out to encourage that. Won't need much meat, but may get sausages, chorizo & mince ( or miss the mince and use lentils instead in the recipe). Am going to try and include plenty of veggie recipes from HFW's book as we're slipping a bit off our healthy veggie meals lifestyle. Then plan to get as many NSD next week as I can.

kezlou

Thanks for the info on the cat food rising from the ashes.

I'll check it out. Normally i buy 24 tins for £10 from pets at home when i get the cat litter but OH went last time and they wasn't any large packs of wet food or cat litter.

I'll have a look in aldi this week and check the price for you.
Only got one tin left myself, DS1 eats it constantly.

debbiedeejay - i'd complain that kid of service is shocking!

Well better run and sort the shopping list out. The scary thing is we need loads but i'm not buying it!The freezer stuff will be eaten.

SueP19

Had a spend day yesterday :mad::mad:

Went to L*dl to get some of their 7.5kg pots, guess what they had none which made me angry, its why I stopped shopping there and A!di

So had to go to Asd@ and they were dearer than Mr M's :mad:

Checked out HB's and got a couple of things for next week

So Asd@ £2 and HB's 74p

I have to say I love this thread, a hidden benefit, having done a meal plan I am finding it quite liberating, no pondering, no loitering round those evil supers for ages, just calender then freezer fab :beer:

patentgirl

Morning all

Still keeping on budget which really pleased about spending alot less now I am just buying daily what we need still using storecupboards and freezer from stocks before xmas havent done a big shop for ages plus added advantage of walking to town daily 3 mile round trip which is helping with my diet and exercise plan if I find another job will have to change around but at moment it suits me and my pocket!!
well done everyone of their reductions
Re portion size I still cook far too much but use leftovers for lunches next day or freeze somethings like mash or pasta I always coook over to start another meal off
Tigerfeet that pie sounds yummy will pick up some soft cheese next time I am out as have all other ingredients in

Beccatje

I read a few posts about keeping a double purse. May I ask what that is? And how it works?

Thanks.:D

bupster

Janiepops - weigh out your own portions of things like rice and spaghetti dry once or twice, like when you're making your own lunch - around 50g rice or 70g pasta is enough if it's not on its own - then you'll know what it looks like cooked.

Another neat trick is to serve yourself on smaller plates. You can always have second helpings if you're still hungry. You could make this really nice by hunting down a really nice plate from a second hand shop or market stall and just having that for your own.

Hope this helps!

mrs-moneypenny

morning all

yesterday was a no meal plan day as it was Dh birthday subway in the cinema carpark for dinner and all went out for a meal in the evening not really an MSE day but the restuarant was 2for 1 on main courses and last time we wen we got a 2for1 on puddings voucher so it halved the total price

jacket pots for dinner and will look out a risotto recipie from here for tea
got some reduced bacon bits from tesco Ds wants me to do him bacon and pasta with that

BTW i made him some chicken nuggets monday using the instructions someone posted on here, he was really impressed and will have them again so thank you OP. i made my breadcrumbs by zapping a whlemeal crust and a couple of slightly dried wraps in the liquidizer and just adding a few herbs and pepper

sproggi

Beccatje wrote: »

I read a few posts about keeping a double purse. May I ask what that is? And how it works?

Thanks.:D

A lot of people use Mothership's 2nd Purse system, there are links to it and how it works in post number 6 on the first page of GC

A very much needed NSD for me today.

Sproggi