September 2012 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

tessie_bear wrote: »

hello i am back on the gc bandwagon after a lovely but expensive summer...really going to try and reign in the spends and have a good go at using up the contents of the freezer...i did go and buy some meat at costco last week as i read prices were going to go up

thanks to all who get the thread up and running

regards tessa

Welcome back tessie bear - we were wondering where you had got to!

Suffolk_lass

MissOrganised1972 wrote: »

What is an 'elite glitch shop'?
Where do you get the details of a 'wine glitch'?

here is the Elite thread - they share instances where the sm is giving stuff away, paying you to take it or by price-comparing, you can get vouchers for the differece

The link takes you to the first page of stream 11 - it moves too fast for me.

HTH
SL

Suffolk_lass

In_it_not_to_giveitaway wrote: »

I am still undecided about whether to buy a breadmaker. Several discussions on here have given me a good idea about which make/model to buy depending on budget, but some have warned about the bread being too good leading to weight gain.

Anyway, it would be nice to be able to make good bread by hand before considering whether to buy a machine.

I make a good basic loaf without a breadmaker but I do use a mixer on the slowest setting with a dough hook because of my hands and repetetive actions. My recipe is in the recipe index at the front with a reference to dough hook but you could easily knead it yourself. There's a video of Paul Holywood making a basic white loaf here. Just practice a few times. I find we don't get bloated from hm bread and it is so satisfying to make

Good luck!

sonastin

I managed to ace the August challenge but only by completely blowing my eating out budget instead! OH is away atm, crashing at a friends batchelor pad while he does some work in a different city. When I say batchelor pad, its a 5 bed family home but the kitchen is so poorly equipped that its impossible to cook there (metal implements & non-stick pans only :eek:). So I go visit OH and we eat out. I come home and can't be bothered to cook for one & call a friend to eat out. Or get a takeaway. So until such time as OH gets back (hopefully end of Sept), I'm gonna combine the eating-out and grocery budgets. That gives me £350 for the month, of which I've already spent about £50. The August combined total was only about £20 over so hopefully if I pay attention I'll bring September in under budget :T

MissOrganised1972

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

here is the Elite thread - they share instances where the sm is giving stuff away, paying you to take it or by price-comparing, you can get vouchers for the differece

The link takes you to the first page of stream 11 - it moves too fast for me.

HTH
SL

Thank you! My, I thought this thread moved fast.....! :)

cowboymum

A bit more grocery spending - £1.60 on eggs, and £16.60 on veg box and more eggs! Going to do a big bake up at the weekend as we have run out of bread and cakes (so we will have to buy bread today for packed lunches and burger buns for tonight). On the upside I haven't spent anything this week apart from groceries so that's good! All going to go downhill this weekend though as the boys need haircuts and new shoes! Plus paying for all the school clubs!

In_it_not_to_giveitaway

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I make a good basic loaf without a breadmaker but I do use a mixer on the slowest setting with a dough hook because of my hands and repetetive actions. My recipe is in the recipe index at the front with a reference to dough hook but you could easily knead it yourself. There's a video of Paul Holywood making a basic white loaf here. Just practice a few times. I find we don't get bloated from hm bread and it is so satisfying to make

Good luck!

Thanks for that.I have just watched the PH video and isn't it a sign that someone is really good at something when it is made to look so easy? I am going to have a go on Saturday morning but use one-third brown flour to two-thirds white flour because of the effect that white flour has on uric acid levels.

Popped in to the Chinese shop to get rice noodles, root ginger and very strong garlic for £3.66. Enough noodles for about 10 meals. Signature updated.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some reduced boned pork shoulder joints from Mr M, cut them into three and froze them. Well, I made a crispy joint last night. Earthenware baking tray - cover with olive oil, season with cracked black pepper and sea salt, sprinkle paprika, tumeric, cayenne pepper and sit on fresh lemon thyme, rosemary and two small pieces of cinnammon, on the top where the crackling will be score, rub in more salt, place a piece of lemon thyme and squeeze the juice of one-third of a lime. Pre-heat oven to 230 C, put joint in for 10 mins then turn down to 170 for x mins depending on the size of the joint. Three-quarters through cooking take out pour in one third of a cup of water and deglaze the tray to make lovely gravy - put back in oven so that gravy reduces by a third. Let rest for 15 mins. I had chopped cubes of this with rice noodles in a bowl with finely chopped ginger, garlic, tomatoes, thinly sliced carrot, red pepper and choi sum, splash of soy sauce, squeeze of lime juice and topped with coriander plus two spoon fulls of the gravy. Total cost of big bowl - £1. Enough pork left over for sandwiches today and evening meal. Original joint £3.28 for 1.18kg (cut into 3!)

Hope everyone quells the urge to splurge.

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Small spend yesterday which brings my weekly total to £58. I'm happy with this as it makes up for my overspend last week so monthly total is now possible .

tessie_bear

thankyou s-lass nice to be back kids on holiday = little time on the computer but they are back at school now so i will have more time to think about trying to save

i have picked a few blackberries this year so need to think of something nice to do with them...safely in the freezer at the mo...tea tonight reduced fish and hm chips and 4p mushy peas...thats pretty cheap but i hope nice

have a nice day
tess

tentickles666

85p yesterday on bread but now out of milk (cows and vegan) and marg so will spend a couple of pounds today. My local pub has just reopened after the flash floods damaged it, it's been duly restored so we shall be sampling its offerings later on, just to check they've done a good job of course