January 2012 Grocery Challenge

lisakay_2

After 5 NSD's on the run I spent £7 yesterday and £31 today:j well under budget so far. should be ok now until payday except maybe a few butty box things for the kids. freezer and cupboards well stocked, long may it continue:D. I haven't been on and posted because i haven't been spending, so I really haven't been keeping up with the thread. I hope everyone is ok. sending out love, hugs, comiserations, luck, condolences, congratulations to all who want/need and I'll try and catch up tonight when kids are in bed and all housework done xxx lisa xxx

Redouble

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Had bad news yesterday that my Auntie has passed away-it was imminent-we knew but sad all the same. At least MIL and hubby are not still in hospital!Glad I am fairly organised for next week now but its a hectic one with exams, dental apps and taking hubby for chemo. I do hope the funeral doesnt clash with the chemo!
Backup plan in motion if t does!
I have a Mr A delivery tonight so no shopping next week at least! All of my appps were unplanned when I booked it so Im glad I am reasonably organised!

((hugs)) to you and your family

majjak

Big hug for angel and anyone else who needs some support at the moment xx

NSD here :j And I've 'bought back' some of my cereal from my 2nd purse - i just need to make sure I've always got some cash on me as I tend to use my debit card for most things.

Still trying to get warm here after watching DS footie match this morning - they won 9-2 :T. Tis nice to have a bit of a natter with the other mums as well as watch the boys .

Going to delve into the freezer soon and dig out some rhubarb and make a crumble. I'm supposed to be trying to lose a bit of weight but I could really do with something rib-sticking tonight - maybe I'll just make a small one and have a little bit .

Need to update totals later as well.

totallybored

NSD for me today:j I was going to go to Sainsbobs for the half price De Cecco pasta but I resisted as I already have enough pasta for the rest of the year.

Instead I have bread in the machine to make lunches for work, cheese tomato and pesto muffins in the oven for us to take for breakfasts and then I'm making Twinks hobnobs for weekday treats:D

Ive also roasted tonight's chicken and will let it cool so I can portion it up thinly before starting all the veggies for dinner later. Really enjoying spending the day pottering in the kitchen. I also made French bread overnight in the machine and we had yummy sausage sandwiches (reduced ones from Waitrose that have been stuck in the freezer a while) for brunch.

Herbyme

Big chicken in the oven, enough for tomorrow's pie with the extra 3 thigh fillets, mushrooms and bacon from the farm shop just now, £3.20 to report.
Hugs to all those who could use them.

Suffolk_lass

Having taken everything out of my cupboards and been forced to throw some away (!) we are now having meals that incorporate the ood stuff. Last night we had some pork fillet (been in the freezer in an unrecognisable state for about 2 years) with a jar of Lloyd Grossperson Tikka Marsala sauce (to which we added more garlic, some chillis and some frozen peas). It was yummy but in the course of this I noticed the jar is bigger than the others in the cupboard.

It was 454g and the new ones are 375g so they have reduced the jar size rather than put the price up. More sneaky behaviour to watch out for Team!!

recovering_spendaholic

Angelatgraceland - so sorry for your loss - you have a lot on your plate by the sounds of it with your MIL and your OH - look after yourself!

Dobs - sorry about your little jack russell - we have recently got two jack russell/scotte puppies and they quickly become a real part of the family. We lost out beloved Scottie Angus last July and it was just heartbreaking.

Have got a huge chicken (free range too - half price in Mr T) ready for the oven as am making a roast dinner tonight. Have made home made stuffing out of some whoopsied sausagement, dried sage, chopped onions softened in butter, hm breadcrumbs, egg and water - don't know what it will be like but it looks okay!

Had leftovers for lunch - left over pasta bake for me and DD1 had weetabix and philly toast as a sort of brunch. DD2 was out at a sleepover so not back.

Spent £30 in Tesco and £10 in lidl and have updated signature. I haven't been to Lidl for ages and found that it was more expensive than Aldi and also the store was not very tidy and clean looking, unlike my local Aldi. I bought their breadmix which we love and the red box ice cream, which I had tried at my friend's house and really liked.

PennyGrabber

MissOrganised1972 wrote: »

Today I am going to be cooking. A nice day in the kitchen. A couple of questions though.

I am making a spaghetti bolognaise. I will be using 500g of mince. Normally this feeds the 4 of us nicely. However, I was thinking of adding red lentils to the mince to, hopefully, stretch it to 2 meals. How much should I add and should I add any extra liquid?

Also, I wanted to make some savoury bread. I bought some buttermilk to do this last week but did not get around to it. The buttermilk is out of date. I have never bought or used buttermilk before. Any idea how I check whether it is off or not? Smell? Appearance?

Many thanks in advance for your assistance.

Can't help with the buttermilk, but I can offer help with the mince. I bung in a good handful of lentils, a glug of extra water (or another tin of toms works well - often get an extra meal then!) Also, I add a grated carrot, and sometimes some frozen peas. Basically, the more of bits and bobs you add, the more meals' worth you get! I've got to a point now where 125g of mince will do us three for 2 meals! Mind you, we don't have huge appetites. I've never done oats before, but may try that next time!

Did the weekly shopping today, it came to £23 and some pence. I was laughing at myself going round though, at the things I was saying to myself. I used to think nothing of putting £10 worth of carp into the trolley, but today I 'treated' myself to a pack of 4 yogs for £1, and 2 lots of those nakd raisins with flavours (32p each)! I actually laughed out loud at myself!

For my money, I got loads of f and v, cherry toms, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, tangerines, cuc, lettuce, a carrot, and then the usual bread and milk, san towels, and other things. I felt like I got my money's worth today, whereas sometimes I walk out thinking what have I actually got for my money!!!

minipenny_2

medsdemon wrote: »

Monday: Baked Bean Shepherds Pie

Hello everone.]

Luck sending to gailey and hugs to dobs and angelaatgraceland

medsdemon - what is baked bean shepherds pie please? have just stockpiled from C0stc0 today so any extra recipes with them would be fab!!!

Have spent £72.40 in Costc0 and £44.47 in Mr T today:eek: but have enough meat and food to last about 4 weeks so hopefully will help with next months bill too. I think I don't need to buy anything else for the rest of the month apart from Milk, Bread and butter.

minipenny_2

Oh and I got the new booklet for Costco starting from tomorrow if anyone wants me to post the deals?