April 2012 Grocery Challenge

cattysmum

Hi all just reporting a spend yesterday of £16.50 at Ts. Not doing too bad up to now, Im going to try to use stuff I have in the freezer for the next week or so, I have a £20 gift card coming fromMr Ts so will try to work out a good JTD shop together with Mocs, may go to Ts later today I need to get something in for Sunday possibly a piece of gammon that someone has suggested doing in slow cooker in a carton of pineapple juice sounds scrummy!!

fozziebeartoo

Had a nice morning out and it seemed wrong NOT to walk home via the shops.....oops

Spent £1.95 on a diet pepsi in Spoonies (I know how to
live :rotfl:), £4.18 in Wilkinsons on weed killer and £19.35 in Sainsbugs.....but that included 2 x YS steak pies (one for tea today and one to freeze), eggs, bacon and flour (because all the talk and photos of quiche has made me want a HM one)!! YS lamb steaks (2 meals), YS rolled and stuffed pork belly (2 meals)and a bag of roasties and a bag of chips for the freezer AND totally indulgent red and yellow tulips to enjoy looking at on my 1st Easter living alone.

But I saved 99p because the Ferrero Roche mini eggs I was going to treat myself to from 99p Store had all gone :eek:

LavenderBees

Well, I shouldn't be allowed out on my own, I think.

I had a £10 voucher for Waitflower, so decided to treat myself ...£17.61 later....:rotfl:But I got a couple of nice cheeses, some chocolate (as the Easter Bunny always forgets to visit me these days ), a Tarte Citron, Hot X Buns, some organic bacon (a real treat) and a lovely looking chicken for Sunday...I do like Waitflower's chickens. So, I've added £7.61 to my total......not a bad haul for £7.61 but not great for £17.61.

Still, it's a holiday weekend, and I certainly believe in celebrating a holiday, so a wee treat is good. :T

Have a lovely weekend, everyone

jumblejack

Right. Verdict on Jamie Oliver dough is...
a thumbs up!
I divided it into 8 portions. I made the first test pizza and it was too big for an individual pizza. I halved another of the section to give the kids to prep their own and it was a perfect size.

Therefore the batch makes 16, yes, 16 individual pizzas!!!!

Good value!

iQueen

It was so sunny yesterday, that I decided to clear the junk - defunct printer, leccy blanket, and my blown up electric mincer. (So, no more home-made sausages for a good while. ) Also took 2 huge bin bags full of Roto3tak to cs - left by my 30 year-old when she left home... years ago!

Killing 2 birds... I did my big monthly shop, too. :eek:

Thought it might help some of you on here if I publish my complete shopping, this once, as I try to keep to basic fresh/frozen food and live on a real shoe string. BTW, I live alone and this shop will last me well beyond the end of April, in many cases. Items in red are non-essentials, but will go in my AGC.

Ice!and:
Bisto Granules £1
4 Country Life butter (blocks) 1/3 off £4
Fresh white cabbage 50p
750g mature white Cheddar £3
2kg fresh white potatoes 75p
Pack 6 slices corned beef £1.50
300g fresh closed cup mushrooms £1
Frozen 6 battered fish fillets (pollock) £3
Frozen 875g diced chicken breast £5
Frozen 990g minced beef £3
Fresh 1kg whole chicken £3
Total £25.75

Mr M's

Long-life carrier bag39p (to grow my sprouting potatoes in!) Pack Ground rice 88p
1pt Double Cream £1
Sm tin saver peas 19p
Saver pesto 69p
Carte D'Or Coffee Ice Cream (Mmmm! Half price) £1.74
Pack Liquorice 89p
Pack 170g Duck & Orange Pate (reduced) 79p
Birthday Card £1
0.415kg fresh parsnips 62p
Braised beef & mash meal (reduced) 95p
2 x Hot X buns £1
1 Brace's Wholemeal loaf £1.14
Vine tomatoes £1
Small pork pie 50p
1 Flat lettuce 57p
1 living mint 79p (to plant in garden)
Total £8.63 + £5.97 = £14.60
Grand Total £40.35

I also bought my month's supply of petrol (14.22 L @ 139.9p) from Mr M's, £19.89 (non-AGC).

Round trip, 22 miles.

I shall have to buy bread and milk locally for the rest of the month... and I may be tempted to buy the odd other item, but I'm crossing my fingers! :laugh:

I've a stock of fresh and frozen veg, and have a pot of wild garlic outside: the leaves are great wilted down with butter. I also have masses of young nettles, for Nettle Soup (eaten with a hm wholemeal cheese scone!).

The fresh chicken will give me my first 'proper' Sunday lunch since before Xmas (Mmmm! can't wait!) and will go on to give me 4 more meals of stew, supreme, curry, pie etc, or 6 if I can be bothered to pressure cook the carcass and make soup!

Tip: Watch portion size! In the past several decades portions have grown HUGE. Read an early 20th century (1930s-50s) cookbook to find normal portions.

Tip: Bread keeeps very much longer in the fridge. Store stale bread/crusts in the freezer until you have enough to make Bread Pudding - it's a spicy tray-bake CAKE, not B&b pudding! Great snack when the kids come in from school.

Wishing you all a very (cheep cheep) happy Easter. :easter_ba

totallybored

I'm not sure what has happened but since he first week of March I've gone back to the bad old Totallybored and have visited Waitrose and M&S far too often without even thinking of my budget:(

Only 6 days into this month and I've already been to Waitrose a couple of times and haven't done a proper shop yet.

I'm going to set my budget at £200 for the rest of the month. I have to stick to it now in future as I've just resigned from my job (yay:T) and I'm going back to uni in September! That means only one salary for the next year and a bit so I must budget everything! Wish me luck, I've been a bit of a spendaholic over the last few years!

jumblejack

Regarding cheap n tasty pizzas...

Leftover chilli is lush on a pizza with a few slices of jalapeño peppers and a scattering of cheese.

Leftover curry sauce (Korma is my favourite) goes lovely with leftover chicken on a pizza too, again with a sprinkling of cheese on the top.

iQueen

LavenderBees wrote: »

Well, I shouldn't be allowed out on my own, I think.

I had a £10 voucher for Waitflower, so decided to treat myself ...£17.61 later....:rotfl:But I got a couple of nice cheeses, some chocolate (as the Easter Bunny always forgets to visit me these days ), a Tarte Citron, Hot X Buns, some organic bacon (a real treat) and a lovely looking chicken for Sunday...I do like Waitflower's chickens. So, I've added £7.61 to my total......not a bad haul for £7.61 but not great for £17.61.

Still, it's a holiday weekend, and I certainly believe in celebrating a holiday, so a wee treat is good. :T

Have a lovely weekend, everyone

In these days of Accountability...

A £10 voucher is money, no? :rotfl:

iQueen

jumblejack wrote: »

Leftover curry for dinner. Got to think about tea. Will try and make up the Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe on a small trial scale.

Not sure what the fine semolina will be like in a dough so need to test it before we serve up to friends this weekend!

Shame the recipe uses cups not actual weights in the list of ingredients. I have several cups n mugs of various sizes so not sure which to use....?

Some cookbooks have conversion table fo Cups to Imperial/Metric and Cups to liquid amounts.

You can also buy Cup measuring spoons - like the plastic Imperial/Metric ones.

valerie57

JIL wrote: »

What about apple juice, pineapple juice or grape juice? not everyone drinks alcohol so there must be a known replacement (thinking of countries where wine is not allowed). I bought a wine replacement many months ago and it was ok. It wasnt this one but wanted to see what was about. It is cheaper.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/tesco-price-comparison/marinades_and_sauces/sainsburys_white_cooking_wine_250ml.html

Cider works well too. Dry cider is best, but anything will do and you can either freeze (in ice cubes) or drink what is left.