July 2012 Grocery Challenge

mummyyof5

£6.50 today in MrTs did include 3 bags of their SP pasta and 3 tins of the mushy peas...going to grab more pasta next time I go in and try to stock up while its still cheap..we eat lots of pasta so makes sense.

rising_from_the_ashes

keza wrote: »

im toying with the idea of baking my own bread. is it truely cheaper as i begrudge paying over £1 for a loaf!

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

It is definatly cheaper.

Although the "everyday" costs are less than buying bread (and tastes so much better:D) but don't forget to factor in the cost of buying the machine (which can be around £100+ for a good one - and TBH some of the cheaper ones are carp - experience talking here!) and the electricity costs of using it.

It will take a fair while to get to "break even" point to offset the cost of the machine.

keza

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Although the "everyday" costs are less than buying bread (and tastes so much better:D) but don't forget to factor in the cost of buying the machine (which can be around £100+ for a good one - and TBH some of the cheaper ones are carp - experience talking here!) and the electricity costs of using it.

It will take a fair while to get to "break even" point to offset the cost of the machine.

im going to do it by hand no machine as DH wont justify it

Bluegreen143

Happy anniversary Helen Jelly!!

I have a bread machine (free from a friend a few years back) but tbh I generally just make bread by hand every weekend as I prefer it and find kneading dough oddly satisfying lol. Either way is miles better than the pre-sliced rubbish from the supermarkets though and I will use the machine if rushed.

No spend day today.

jumblejack

keza wrote: »

im going to do it by hand no machine as DH wont justify it

No need for a BM if you do the artisan bread in 5 mins method.
Lots on here have tried it and swear by it. No kneading necessary! It is quite high on my own to do list too!;)

Just went on a little forage whilst the kids were at their class. I think I have finally found chickweed! If I get it IDd on the foraging tread then I will bring some home next time to establish itself in my wilderness spot . It is worthy of foraging all year round apparently!

The home grown herb tea was kinda OK I suppose. It did leave the palate clean in the way that mint would.

We smelt curry in the way back home so it is a quick veg n chickpea curry for tea with rice. The bacon can wait.
Whilst taking the peelings to the compost bin, I passed a couple of new dandelion plants so the little leaves were brought back in with a few handfuls of nasturtium leaves. These are washed and will be added to the curry 5 mins before I serve it up to wilt. Can't get much fresher than that!

meg72

Possession wrote: »

Flo your crumble looks so delicious I just have to make one with my 3 sorry looking Bramleys sitting in the fruit bowl. I think I shall make up a big lot of crumble mix and batch freeze it.
Should be a NSD today, as I've decided the big store cupboard delivery today is coming out of savings. That seems pretty skewed thinking I know but it all comes out of the same pot in the end.

Looking at your signature,does that mean that you have spent 20.00 from August budget,I love the idea of being ahead like this.

Possession

meg72 wrote: »

Looking at your signature,does that mean that you have spent 20.00 from August budget,I love the idea of being ahead like this.

Yes I'm not sure if it will work or not but I did a big butcher's order, packaged it all up in batches in the freezer and estimated 2/3 was for July and 1/3 for August, so I'm counting 1/3 of the bill as already spent in August. Actually we're away a week so I don't think I'll be buying anymore meat until September.

tigerfeet2006

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Although the "everyday" costs are less than buying bread (and tastes so much better:D) but don't forget to factor in the cost of buying the machine (which can be around £100+ for a good one - and TBH some of the cheaper ones are carp - experience talking here!) and the electricity costs of using it.

It will take a fair while to get to "break even" point to offset the cost of the machine.

My quote included the electricity. I asked for my Panny as a Christmas present one year and several people clubbed together for it.

Todays dinner was chicken, sprinkled with garlic powder and done in the slow cooker, potatoes tossed in butter, carrots and peas.

Hopefully enough chicken left to make another meal, possibly Chicken and Leek pie but I will have to see.

Was outside earlier putting the recycling out and my nieghbour came out to put some rubbish in the bin and made the comment she was emptying her fridge of all OOD stuff. I asked her what she was chucking and she said potatoes that had sprouted, carrots that were OOD from the 25th June, leeks 28th June, cheese 20th June, eggs 28th June and that is what I remember, there was other stuff. I said to her that they were perfectly fine and ok to eat and wouldn't poison her and that they were BBD's which meant that the products were best eaten before that date for taste and quality but were absolutly fine after that and if any were going a bit bendy then you could make vegetable soup or pop them in a casserole. Also that eggs would be fine past their BBD and explained the float test. All she had to do with the sprouty bits on the potatoes was take them off.

My goodness she gave me a mouthful about me trying to endanger her family and how dare I lecture her. I pointed out that this is how I live and we are perfectly healthy and she had been moaning to me last week about the cost of food and how much she was spending for 3 of them (£150 a week) and that this week I had spent £55 on shopping for 5 of us and that maybe she had better take my advice and go onto MSE and learn about food. She dumped her stuff in the bin and huffed in doors I was really trying to bite my tongue as she was letting loose at me.

Barbeduk

I'd have been tempted to sneak it all out again and put it in my fridge! Some people are nuts.

LO chicken made into curry for tonight's dinner, hermanthegerman friendship cake for pudding. Made the blackcurrant and apple version, lovely.

NSD too, phew.

GreenFairy

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

My goodness she gave me a mouthful about me trying to endanger her family and how dare I lecture her.

Well however are supermarkets going to make ginormous profits if they don't have everyone chucking out "toxic" produce as soon as it nears any sort of date stamp? :cool: Endanger, indeed. Antibacterial soap is more dangerous to her family than a bendy carrot!