October 2012 Grocery Challenge

nicknack

Just got my Lidl leaflet too - mine's got chicken breasts on offer, Nescafe gold blend at £4.99 for a 200g jar, quorn mince at £1.49 amongst other things and the weekend offers are Utterly Butterly at 90p, sausages at 49p, cherry toms at 50p and 12 bags of mini cheddars for £1.49. Some of those will be making it onto my weekly shopping list.:)

moonpixiewitch

today was a NSD :j
I need to start growing some herbs in pots but never seem to get time for all the things I want to do , despite my list .
If anyone can use a £15 off £100 spend for waitrose deliver online shop (exp 24th oct) , please pm me , as I have a code I won't be able to use .

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

minicooper272 wrote: »

In case this happens to you again, one of my favourite (very cheap) recipes is bolognese made with sausages instead of mince - just remove the skins and break them up. Recipe books say to use good quality sausages, but cheap ones will do too, and I know I always have some sausages somewhere in the freezer. Plus 2 sausages can serve up to 3 if you use a lot of veg (like I do). I think it works out about 50p/portion depending on what brand level you buy.

Thanks very much. I must admit I didn't have sausages either - we are kind of a bit hand-to-mouth at moment - just buying what we need each week unless there's special offers or YS goods on offer! But I think I will get some sausages in my freezer just in case - that's a really good idea :T.

Rationing_Revisited wrote: »

Hi new to this...but we're always looking for ways to get the most out of our small budget. Dec 2011/ jan 2012 we started ww2 style food rationing and as a result we spent £30 a week on groceries to feed the 5 of us (2 adults, 3 children) so I suppose my budget for this month (oct 2012) would be £120... £150 at a push. I say £150 at a push as I'm already putting aside dry goods (flour etc) to make or rather bake Christmas biscuits/ shortbread etc for family instead of buying it.

I'm liking this idea - especially the potential budget savings. Did you get your ideas of what to eat from anywhere in particular (that I can nick )? TIA

liz-paul

I can report that value soft scoop vanilla ice cream is quite nice. I wouldn't serve it up for a gourmet dinner party ('cos I have them all the time ) but in a cone or with apple crumble etc it was actually quite nice!

lovelife79

spent £3.45 today on wee bits n pieces, including a hot breakfast as was feeling rubbish this morning and wanted some comfort food!

she_who_can_not_cook

rupe34 wrote: »

Have indoctrinated DH into the world that is Aldi - he did the weekly shop this week and came back amazed

Need to add a coffee or two into my spends - really need to watch that.

have you seen the price of nescafe there way cheap but i dont buy that myself i got same cadburys finger for 99p but at 6gram of fat for four oh can eat them

she_who_can_not_cook

milky1991 wrote: »

I never really looked at what I was spending where before, over the last 2 days at work I have spent over £8 of my £50 weekly budget on butty's from the local shop. I need to get more organized and take my food in, I usually do but sometimes can't be bothered and I would imagine over a month probably buy food around 50% of my days in work that works out at around £40 a month thats at present nearly 1 weeks budget.

If I am going to reduce my crocery bill I will have to get more organised.

i make up my lunch box( from the pound shop) usually of a night before i go to bed it makes me focus i am now not doing salads all the time sometimes its frozen soups and sometimes its pulses

minicooper272

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi guys.

As part od cutting costs, i am trying not to buy chicken breast all the time. I see that as from tomorrow, Lidl are doing Chicken thighs (£2.25 for 1kg), so thought i'd do something with them.

Anyone have any ideas for any recipes please?

Spicy apricot stew is nice and thigh meat works best!
1) remove the chicken from the bone (may help to boil first), cook for 7 mins, remove
2) add 1 chopped onion (and any other veg you want) to the pan, cook for 5 mins, add the chicken.
3) Sprinkle in 2tsp of flour 2tsp cumin, 2 tsp coriander, 2tsp paprika cook for a couple of mins.
4) gradually add 600ml of chicken stock and simmer for 15 mins
5) Add 12 dried apricots, simmer for another 15 mins

usually serve with rice. I buy dried apricots a lot or snacks and this is how I use them up when they get a bit stale.

MrsCD

Happy Birthday GreenFairy - sorry it's a bit late in the day. Hope you had a lovely day.

A second NSD of the month for me. Hopefully won't need anything else until next week. I really need to start thinking about making my Christmas cake...

maman

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi guys.

As part od cutting costs, i am trying not to buy chicken breast all the time. I see that as from tomorrow, Lidl are doing Chicken thighs (£2.25 for 1kg), so thought i'd do something with them.

Anyone have any ideas for any recipes please?

I guess you can use them for most chicken casserole recipes. Personally I find them more tasty than breast. My favourite cassrole recipe is to brown an onion and the thighs in a casserole dish. Add stock, thyme and rosemary and whatever veg you fancy (I use carrots, celery, handful of frozen leeks, mushrooms and quartered new potatoes). Cook for about an hour at about 200. Stir in a tbsp of cornflour (made into a paste with some water) and a tin of butter beans. Cook for another 15 mins or so. With all that veg, one thigh each is enough. You can vary the veg or cook ptatoes separately if you want but one-pot is easy.

Thighs are tasty in curry too.

I buy these in Sainsbury's

at £1.60 a kg they work out very good value and are great for casseroles or similar.