Grocery Challenge - February 2012

XSpender

2 small sends to report today, £1.40 on navy shoe polish for DS boots and £1.25 on 4 pts of skimmed milk at M&S.

DH loved the £2.99 Merlot from Ald1 I bought on Saturday so I will be buying another one of those at the weekend.

I made mince for the first time ever today.:D (I am a veggie of 23+ years). DH said it was the best mince he had ever tasted and ate the lot:eek: when I had made extra mash so he could take half of it to work for dinner tomorrow. (I've saved the mash). Thanks for the recipe Mum:happyhear I can cook most meat but I have to say the smell of frying mince had me holding my nose in one hand and the spoon in the other _pale_

I am now just over my £400 budget with 9 days to go, or 1 weekly shop on Friday. We have loads in still but will need dog food so I am expecting another £20-£25 spend then.

This month's spends does include £36 on nappies that will last 3 months. I could split the cost across the months but I am trying to manage the whole of my monthly budget better so it is clearer for me if I count it in the month I have spent it even if it means I go over by £25 or so.

I have a rare day off on Tuesday so I am planning to make a big veggie Quiche Lorraine and some blueberry and choc chip muffins for our lunch boxes.

rosieben

elsiepac, I've added your Falafel Burgers,Honeyed Carrot Soup, Tuna and Sweetcorn Lasagne and Chocolate Pancakes recipes to the list; I've linked to the original recipe for the Fruity Pancakes :beer:

Suffolk lass, I've added your Low calorie spicy coleslaw to the recipe list :beer:
I think I've caught up now but if you're posted a recipe and I've not listed it please shout!

Linz4383

had a nice NSD today got sum spends from the beginning of the week to report tho, they !!! to £29.69.. it is a little over for last week but hopin to not spend anything this comin week as im off work and DD is off nursery theres plenty in so should be fine

LondonDreamer

Flatmate had good luck in the whoopsie section today but can't tell you exactly how much it all cost. I know it was around £13 for lots of veg and some meat, including a lovely piece of pork belly. I picked up a few bits and pieces we can't get locally when I went in to London yesterday, that was £6.98. So going to add £20 to my sig.

Slow roasted lamb for dinner today, gorgeous. Shredded the leftover meat, soaked it in the leftover gravy and tucked it away in the freezer to make shepherd's pie next week. Think I'll actually get two pies worth out if it once bulked up with veg.

666paw

Another £2.50 spend for me today - 2.5 dz eggs.

Will most probably have to get a pint or 2 of milk but that should hopefully be it until Sunday when I can give a sigh of relief as my new month starts.

666

rej-c

Added to my sig [now up to date to 12/2/12 inclusive]: one more NSD, and £8.95 spent on Saturday in Mr T - on cereals, bread, milk, tinned and frozen veg, fruit, cheese, oil, half-price pop... and forgot the eggs, my primary reason for going. When will I learn to take a list every time I do a shop?

Ah well. Him Indoors can do without eggs for a few days, and he's going to be out and about visiting people until midweek anyway [so, hopefully, a few cheap one-woman dinners ahead]. He coped manfully with me sharing my scrambled tofu with him this morning...

elsiepac

Thanks for adding the recipes rosieben! :j

And elizabunny, that sounds like quite a fun day!!! :beer:

No GC spends today - I had the last of my Honeyed Carrot Soup for lunch and the 2nd portion of my Falafel Burgers for tea, also the last of my Fruity Pancakes for breakfast. Unfortunately had 3 bananas going the way of over-ripeness, so I ate one... then searched for reviews on Mock Goose (which I'm having later in the week from my new recipe book that came on Saturday, We'll Eat Again, ... I can't wait, it's a lovely book!) ... which weren't fruitful but randomly came across a yummy American recipe for banana bread... and for the first time ever in my life, I had all the ingredients in to make it! Here goes - this is my adapted version:

[FONT=&quot]Banana Bread[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ingredients

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Wet Ingredients:
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]60 - 70g softened butter (I used 56g Trex)
[/FONT] 2 eggs
[FONT=&quot]2 very ripe bananas
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]2/3 cup sugar (worked out 150g)

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Dry Ingredients:
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]1 1/3 cup SR flour (worked out 190g)
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (worked out 2g)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used 1x 100g pack Dr Oetker Dark Choc Chips)

[/FONT] Method

- Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
- Combine the wet ingredients above in a bowl then squish the banana with a fork and mix them all.
- Add the dry ingredients and combine well in figure of 8 (I used a fork as usual).
(- You may mix in a handful (1/2 cup) of chopped walnuts, pecans, dried cherries or apricots at this point if you prefer.) I didn't!
[FONT=&quot]- Pour the mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 40-45 minutes I found - also, grease it WELL, maybe even GP paper at the bottom...mine fell in half but was yum!).

You can freeze this according to the recipe, so I cut my "loaf" (ha! you'd have laughed if you saw it after I patched it back together... :rotfl: ) into 8 slices which are very generous but all I could manage given the state of it, and I've wrapped 4 individually and frozen... fingers crossed they'll be ok....

Enjoy!

LC
[/FONT]

tigerfeet2006

We had SC Chilli for dinner (recipe in the collection.) Pudding was the rather scrummy chocolate cake that I put up the recipe of the other day. Had to make it as the troops were baying for it.

I used the tinned tomatoes we got from Costco. They were fantastic, when I opened the tin they were chopped but rather than a few bits in a lot of weak juice it was was absolutly rammed with tomatoes and the juice was really thick. I had said I was going to put a 1/3 of a 2.5kg tin in but put nearly a half. The chilli was fabulous and I have enough for another meal for all 5 of us. So that is a very bargainous meal and I am very happy indeed.

Fiasco55

bunbun2 wrote: »

Fiasco55 the chicken chorizo and butter bean stew sounds lovely. Do you have a link for the recipe please?

I am sorry I have looked back through posts but I cant find who made the breakfast bars. Do you have a link please?

I have been baking today blueberry muffins and the last of my Mary Berry Christmas cupcakes.

I stewed some apples which previously would have thrown away and made a crumble. So that is progress!

I also put the leftover veg in the freezer to save for a soup. This is possible now i have sorted out the frezer and there is room

Huge thanks to everyone for your advice help and encouragement

No bother

Chicken, Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew

4 chicken thighs (diced)
120g Chorizo (diced)
500mls Passata (or tinned toms will do)
1/2 large white onion (you can add more - just my taste)
2/3 gloves of garlic
1 tsp Paprika
1 tin (400g) butter beans
Spray Oil

Cook the chicken thighs and onion together in the spray oil for 5 mins then add the garlic and the chorizo. Next add the paprika, passata & beans to the pan. Then cover and simmer for 20 mins. If the stew still looks like it needs to be thicker, take the cover off and simmer for a few more mins.

Catwoman103

This week's shopping came to a whopping £18.79 due to the fact that I was able to use my £8.50 Mr T vouchers. Will need a few extras next week such as rabbit food, fabric conditioner and kitchen towels but I'm well within budget with freezers still very full.

On the diet front, the scales seem to be stuck in place but I am definitely toning up as my skirts feel much looser.