May 2012 Grocery Challenge

forever_saving

I spent a total of £111.52 this week, bringing my total to £217.59 so far. The cupboards and freezer are still not full but at least now it looks like i have been shopping :rotfl:
I hope everyone else is doing ok.
FS

goodlife_wannabes

Spent £98.41 so far for this month (15th - 15th)

fozziebeartoo

Coxy11 wrote: »

Hey it was me that said about simmering sausages for 20 mins before grilling them. They were Donald Russell sausages, frozen, and this is what it said on the packet. They were lovely - but that's maybe because they are really good quality, no shrinkage, no grisle(sp?), just lovely plump pork sausages

Thanks Coxy! Just shows I didnt read the DR
instructions!! :rotfl:

I DID simmer them anyway (YS Co-op posh ones) that tasted nice before but the skins were tough, and after the simmering and browning they were VERY tender and much less chewy!

abitofhelp

Morning all, i have updated sig to reflect a £25 spend at aldi last night, got everything i wanted so i'm pleased. Chicken will be going in the oven shortly, stuffed with garlic, lemon & i will cut some tarragon from the garden for it also. I might do a batch of brownies & some rolls at the same time. Planning on carrot and ginger soup for this evening so that can go in the slow cooker. I dont feel like a roast today so i think i will do sweet potatoe wedges and salad to go with the chicken.

fozziebeartoo

I must try and get some NSD's under my belt this week......not least because I only have a few pounds in my purse and have moved any spare bank pennies into savings accounts to try and deter myself from getting any cash out

Got a lift to shops yesterday late afternoon with a view to looking for YS, me and friend both found useful things!

Spent £10.68 in Sainsbods but that included a large bottle of sherry (I am not much of a drinker but I do enjoy a sherry, and all this dating malarky at my advanced age and after a 30+ year marriage, is proving a strain......so sherry needed) :rotfl:

Spent 30p in Tesco Express on 2 x 2 nan bread......squeezed in freezer for when i do curries.

Co-op 57p on Loyd Grossman Korma sauce.....not short dated so no idea why it was reduced.

Today I have my daughters and bf's and DGS round for lunch, so managed to get a few YS bits out of freezer - doing a mix & match meal for them.....

Didnt have enough of any ONE thing (and didnt want to buy specially) so have YS chcken pie, 1/2 price Lidl pork, YS sausages in HM onion gravy, (they can have a bit of each if they want) and loads of roasties, yorkers and veggies and cheap stuffing (finding Sainsbods 15p stuff perfectly ok).

Sig updated.

And the sun is (just about) shining so happy Sunday everyone!

jumblejack

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhhhhh that looks ...... yum!:j Might be giving that a go!

Quick question - how do you chill your rice for freezing (have heard loads of horror stories about reheating / freezing rice and apparently it's down to how quickly the rice is cooled)?

The soup looks just as yum:D - I love parsnips but not tried making parsnip soup before - another to add to the list!

Thanks

I allow the rice to cool down before I put it in a freezer tub for reheating when needed. Never had an issue with it. We are all still standing
The rice I will be using for a leftover rice pudding tonight was allowed to cool down then put in the fridge.

Remember the peanut butter cookies I made last week and I made the leftover dough into sausages for the freezer?

Well I used one yesterday. I cut it into discs whilst it was still frozen. 10 minutes later, they had transformed in the oven from frozen discs to golden cookies! No thawing whatsoever!

I even slice tea cakes/hot cross buns whilst frozen straight from the freezer and toast as needed. Never had a problem. The ultimate convenience!

MunniMuncha

jumblejack wrote: »

Thanks

I allow the rice to cool down before I put it in a freezer tub for reheating when needed. Never had an issue with it. We are all still standing
The rice I will be using for a leftover rice pudding tonight was allowed to cool down then put in the fridge.

Remember the peanut butter cookies I made last week and I made the leftover dough into sausages for the freezer?

Well I used one yesterday. I cut it into discs whilst it was still frozen. 10 minutes later, they had transformed in the oven from frozen discs to golden cookies! No thawing whatsoever!

I even slice tea cakes/hot cross buns whilst frozen straight from the freezer and toast as needed. Never had a problem. The ultimate convenience!

Doh! knew I needed something when I went shopping yesterday:doh:

PennyGrabber

NSD today. May make some easy jammy cookies later. Only need a few storecupboard ingredients, so that's a bonus!

My two children and I have spent the morning tidying together, and the house is looking much better - I feel good about it now. I tend to feel really blue if the house is a mess, but when it's a mess I can't find the energy to fix it?!?!!?

My wine is brewing nicely - still needs a few days to finish fermenting, but I'm looking forward to sampling it on Friday! My friend and I got a kit, but we're looking into making cheap fruit/foraged wines, if anyone has a good recipe?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone - I'm off to carry on with the washing, finish playing, and then going out to meet a friend for a playdate and dinner.

PG x

Barbeduk

**tiptoes into the room shamefaced**

er, quite a lot seems to have happened since I last popped in! I am going to have to spend the rest of the weekend catching up.:p

Luckily, although I haven't posted I have kept all my receipts which are still very !id! biased which means I have only taken myself up to £203.97 so plenty left for the rest of the month.

Sausage and chips for lunch today, special treat as we never have chips! And chicken curry made with leftovers for tea, yum.

I'm rubbish at things like links but there is a fab nigel slater recipe on the bbc website for black banana bread. Sounds yuk but basically it's a chocolate and banana loaf and I can't recommend it highly enough!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.:D

Possession

PennyGrabber wrote: »

My two children and I have spent the morning tidying together, and the house is looking much better - I feel good about it now. I tend to feel really blue if the house is a mess, but when it's a mess I can't find the energy to fix it?!?!!?

PG x

I can SOOOOO relate to this. I pretty much exploded this morning after hinting and hinting for days that the house needed clearing up and then spending an hour sorting out DD's wardrobe and drawers full of clothes she'd screwed up while putting away. Needless the house is now a bit tidier although no cleaner and there's still a long way to go. It seems no matter how often I say it I still have a family (including DH) who just leave things wherever they happen to be rather than put them away. There's only so many times a day I can ask people to pick things up before I explode.
Anyway, a £12 spend in Mr T this morning with most of that being Gaviscon for DH. Life would be a lot cheaper without reflux.