September 2012 Grocery Challenge

MrsCD

Jumblejack - the jelly looks gorgeous already :T Can't wait for the end result.

Miss Organised - well done :T You have been VERY busy!

gettingready wrote: »

Thanks but I tried those and did not stop with them,

I have nicorette inhalers at home, perhaps should go back on those.. sigh..

It is the will power I need - can you post me some of that?

My Dad gave up smoking when our DD was 3 or 4 (in the 1980's) She said, 'Granda, I don't like that smell!' He had just been made redundant, and they only had £10 left from my Mam's wage for groceries, rent, insurance etc. after his cigarettes were paid for, so they were the deciders for him. I've never smoked, so I can't advise you on what to do, but I will be cheering you on all the way
:T:j:T:j:T

In_it_not_to_giveitaway wrote: »

Well ... not been on here for a while. Just recovered from a gout attack - my second in a month.

Have to make lots of changes to my diet, which makes meal planning more important than ever. It also seems that alcohol is a trigger for me.

I thought the challenge of this site tough enough, without the additional behavioural straight-jacket of abstemiousness thrown in. I have a hot cup of tea in my hand, England beating S Africa in the cricket one day internationals and an episode of Lewis I haven't seen before recorded. So it isn't all bad news.

Hope everyone else is is bounding about as a roe deer in the Spring, he adds, mind wandering down memory lane,

Hi - In_it.... good to see you back with us.
Hope you're recovering well - gout is horrible.:(
On the positive side though, not buying alcohol will help with your GC, oh, and wasn't the final ball in the cricket amazing!
I'm more a George Gently gal, rather than Lewis - it's not the same without Morse. Dunno about all this bounding about - it's all I can do to make a pot of tea some days

postcode

Had a NSD on friday and today. Gave in Saturday and bought a packet of crisps from the local supermarket whilst at work - didn't have to, but it was one of those days and the extra fat and salt helped a little. Today was too busy to even contemplate it, so I guess it balances out somehow. :P

Up to 7.58/80, signature updated accordingly. Need to go to the supermarket tomorrow or Tuesday to buy a few things, will try to time it around 6-7pm ish for the reductions. Wish me luck!

Loobeyloop

Hi all, can I join in again please, sorry lost the plot towards the end but promise to stay committed and very focused this time:o

Would like to stick to target of £300...am hoping that I will manage this or lots less, have been tupe'd at work and ended up paying emergency tax and they underpaid me so have to manage on £170 less than normal....I'm scared!!

Hope you are all well, I look forward to joining you and sticking to this challenge!

Nighty night

Soworried

Morning
Breakfast will be cereal once they get out of bed. :cool: They have waited until the last few days to start lying in.
Lunch will be the YS quiche and YS coleslaw I got yesterday. Carbonarra for dinner with some of the pork loin joint. I am also going to pull out some rhubarb and make a crumble.

It should be a nsd here.

Seems like it is going to be another nice day here, I might get a sit outside.:j

Good luck with your YS shop postcode. x

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Liz-Paul - re cutting down costs of alcohol. A!di do nice Italian red wine for £2.99 - I'm fussy but I really like this one. Obviously only good if you like Italian red wine . Also, I only buy 1 bottle every 2 weeks now and find if I don't have it in the house, I can't drink it! DH now only has 1 bottle of beer every 2 days instead of 1 a day and we only buy what's on offer. He tried A!di's cheap beer and said it was fine and he's usually only into branded beer.

tentickles666

NSD for me yesterday

MissOrganised1972

Morning all!

Will be NSD day here (GC speaking). All just having cereal for breakfast. I've made a packed lunch because we're off out for the day. I bought a half price ticket a couple of months ago for adventure playground/stately home grounds/maze & so no cost today. Really glad we saved it for a nice day because the weather here is beautiful! Just me & the kids, I'll join in & be a big kid with them!

Just going to whip up some batter & have already got out some YS sausages (25p for 12) out so I can make toad in the hole as soon as I get in.

Have a good day all

Suffolk_lass

I've got the day off today because we have Paralympic tickets. Just making bread to take some sarnies as shocked by the prices when we went to the Olympics (charging like wounded bulls comes to mind) so being a bit more savvy this time. Might stretch to a bottle of drink though as the free water fountains were warm and metallic-tasting and you can't take anything in. We're going to the swimming - hoping to see gold for GB

cokezone.co.uk has a free 500ml coke if you register today (Monday 3rd Sep). The collection options are B00ts or Souperdrag

HTH
SL

she_who_can_not_cook

MissOrganised1972 wrote: »

I am very pleased with myself. For my batch cooking I'd planned today, I decided to make as many dinners as possible from one 800g pack of minced beef. It did mean I had to break my original plan of a NSD because I needed beans but i managed to make:-

2 large Cottage Pies (each should serve 4 adults).
2 bolognaise (each serving 2 adults & 2 kids)
2 chillis (each serving 2 adults) :j:T:j


here goes with the details of what I did.

I chopped 3 onions & 3 garlic cloves & cooked them in my biggest pan, in some oil (I meant to add more garlic but only realised, as I type this, that I forgot to go & get another bulb of garlic out). I probably would have gone for about 6 cloves.

Next I added the 800g of mince & fried til the meat was all brown. I added 6 handfuls of red lentils, 2 beef oxo cubes, 2 handfuls of porridge oats & a small cup of water (reckon I could have managed without the water). Next I added 6x400g tins of chopped tomatoes, a large glass of red wine & black pepper & cooked it all for about 10 minutes. Then I started to split it to make the different meals.

Cottage pie-I put, into another saucepan, about 8 mushrooms chopped really small & cooked them in a little bit of butter. Then I added enough meat mixture to make it look enough for 2 Cottage Pies (I got the dish out that I normally use so that I could estimate visually). I added 2 handfuls of frozen peas, a really big dash of Worcester Sauce, 2 squirts (about 2tbs) of tomato pur!e, a chicken oxo cube, some dried thyme & dried rosemary. I halved the mixture. I have topped one half with cheesy mash for tonight's tea (which will spend about 1/2 hour in oven) & the other half will be frozen (labelled up) ready for another day & I will only need to do the potatoes.

Next, I added the remainder of the tube of tomato pur!e into the remaining meat mixture. Then.......

Spaghetti bolognaise-in a clean pan, I fried 2 leftover rashers of bacon, chopped up small, with some oil & dried rosemary. I added some dried oregano & enough meat mixture for 2 family portions (we are 2 adults & 2 kids). That has now been transferred to a casserole dish, ready to spend 1 1/2 hours in the oven, when I have it on later for the cottage pie.

Chilli con Carne- finally I have added a tin of kidney beans, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder (could add more, but I only had hot chilli powder in) & a light sprinkle of cinnamon & will also cook this in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, later, when it's on. I have made a bit of a boo boo because maybe should have added beans 30mins before finished cooking. Hopefully will be ok! DDs don't eat chilli so there's enough for DH & I for 2 meals each!

when i have done batch mince i have added TVP and oats but not lentils will give it a go thank you

she_who_can_not_cook

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Oh dear, not a good start to September. Firstly OH came with me to do the weekly shop and wanted to buy various extras that weren't on the list - so shop came in at £59.65 (double what I usually spend:eek:

Then today, we had to buy some booze to take to a picnic - I end up forgetting to collect my receipt and credit card for this (luckily someone had handed it in), but again OH doesn't want to be shown up by taking cheap plonk so our spend was about £9.50.

So £69.15/£200 just TWO days into the month.

one of the rules of shopping Don't go shopping with kids :rotfl: