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November 2012 Grocery Challenge
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I need to update my freezer/pantry contents xls so that I can menu plan for the next 3 weeks, as they are bursting at the seams so it should be doable to come in on budget for the very first time.
Budgets done to here
Sorry to cause such a debate about my xmas job
Spent £1.89 in Waitflower today on some roasted cashews. The friend I was with was randomly adding bits and pieces to her trolley - total of £74 :eek: Our DH's earn roughly the same, but I prefer to make our money go further (eg. overpaying on the mortgage) rather than buying finest brand goodies, especially from that shop
Have a good day everyone.
Coxy
Lasagne for tea and it just needs to go in the oven, had a courgette sulking lonely in the fridge so grated this and also added to the meat along with a handful of oats, grated carrots and some reduced mushrooms. Its made a large dish so hopefully some will get frozen and also a small dish - minus the bechamel sauce as none left - which has already been put in the freezer. While the oven is on I will also be roasting some tomatoes and peppers which will make yet more soup. Yes we love soup thank goodness :rotfl:
Have ordered some Staffordshire oatcakes for tomorrow and probably will get some more cheese that should be it.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
:rotfl:I was thinking Heal's :rotfl:
There's some really interesting meal plans being posted. NickJW your Prawn, celery and cashew stir fry sounds yum.
We've got to have the boiler man out (again) - third time for "episodes" with our new (ish) boiler. It is still under warranty as is is less than two years old so it won't cost. The guy who installed it popped in and diagnosed the problem so we know we aren't wasting his time - bits are actually broken. Putting a positive spin on things it means we are using lots less oil than if the heating was on and we did get the chimney swept last month so we can light the woodburning stove (just got to chop some of the gargantuan logs in the garage first) - perhaps we'll live in the dining room for the weekend where the range is!
Have a great weekend everyone and remember, write your list then cross off the bits you can live without or you already have!
SL
Save £12k in 2020 - #20 £5,010.84/£5k 100.22% after September
OS Grocery Challenge 2020 target £2,230.32/£3k 74.34% so far at end of Sep
Mortgage Free Wannabes 2020 #37 £8,405.49/£15,000 56.04%
MFIT T5 No 2 £51,020/£59,998 or 85.05% paid after Q6
My Debt Free Diary is Get a grip Woman
Hope everyone is having a lovely day.
Annual GC 2017 £1634.61/£2200
Two weeks to go for us this month and things are looking very tight although I guess that is the whole point otherwise it wouldn't be a challenge! Not sure if we'll make but I have certainly not given up hope as the freezer and cupboards are still pretty full.
Have a good week everyone
PP xx
Mortgage neutral achieved August 2020 - 7 years early!!!
elly2 Congrats on the new job!!! :j
Your meal plans always make me drool NickJW. Shame about the tagine as it sounds tasty!
Small spend of £3.50 today as OH popped into Mr M and bought coke and orange juice.
Making spicy chicken wings with sweetcorn and wedges and salad for dinner. Never made this before so fingers crossed it's OK. Didn't have time to post yesterday (which was a NSD) but I made a very lovely salmon & roasted squash salad with an asian-type dressing (chilli, honey, soy sauce, Japanese vinegar). Spicy but amazing. OH doesn't like salmon so I told him to fend for himself, he then made a Fray Bentos pie with oven chips then looked mournfully over at mine and asked if he could swap! :rotfl:
My debt free diary
Thanks - I can't take total credit, but I adjusted it to what I had in:
Prawn, Cashew and Celery stir fry
> Mix 1 tbspn soy sauce, 1 tbspm sesame oil and 1 tbspn rice wine or mirin in a bowl - set aside.
> Finely chop 3 - 5 cloves of garlic (I like garlic), about an inch of ginger, and half a red chilli deseeded (less/more depending on how hot you want it) - set aside
> Thinly slice around 4 stalks of celery and half a bunch spring onions (green and white bits) - set aside separately. Also use half a pack of babycorn if hanging around
> Heat a wok with some oil and fry the celery (+ babycorn if using) + 50g cashew nuts until cooked (about 5 mins). Place aside on a plate
> Then in the same work put in a pack of defrosted raw tiger prawns (I had 225g) - fry for 2 mins, then add the ginger/garlic/chilli mix for 1 min. Add the celery, cashews and spring onions back in along with the soy sauce mixture for a couple of mins the sauce is cooked.
> Serve with rice.
Writing it down sounds quite complicated, but it really isn't - it took max 15 mins
ETA: SuffolkLass - just make sure you don't get the flu if your boiler is playing up! :-(
Grocery Challenge 13 -spent £1453.06
Grocery Challenge 12 -spent £1565.51
DFD 1st March 2011 :T
Do you mind posting that Salmon recipe? Looks gorgeous (and uses my favourite ingredients!)!!!
Grocery Challenge 13 -spent £1453.06
Grocery Challenge 12 -spent £1565.51
DFD 1st March 2011 :T
Thank you so much. I only need spring onions and fresh ginger (might stretch to minin too) to give that a go tomorrow. I've got half a bag of queen scallops in the freeer I might add a few of these too).
Do you ever feel it doesn't just drizzle, it pours... my washing machine :mad: had the light flashing when I just went to empty it. There was I dreading yet another call out but I looked up the manual online and this error (E20) means it isn't draining and there's a really useful emergency drain. Unfortunately if your machine is on the floor (mine is) it has no effect as the tap bit obviously needs to be below the water in order for the gravity pull to work. So nothing for it but to get loads of rags out from under the sink to soak up the "planned" flood and undo the main drain thing. It was like sticking your thumb over the end of the hose. Went blooming everywhere :eek:- cold water, lovely with the heating off... Anyway there was a mass of solid lint, pen bits and sticks in there :embarasse:shocked::doh::whistle: Not sure routine mainenance is my strong suit! :think: Might have to do that more regularly in future. Anyway it's re-doing the wash cycle to see it that fixed it and it's on here because if I've fixed it that's saved a call out.
I may have to sit quietly somewhere after all the excitement!
Save £12k in 2020 - #20 £5,010.84/£5k 100.22% after September
OS Grocery Challenge 2020 target £2,230.32/£3k 74.34% so far at end of Sep
Mortgage Free Wannabes 2020 #37 £8,405.49/£15,000 56.04%
MFIT T5 No 2 £51,020/£59,998 or 85.05% paid after Q6
My Debt Free Diary is Get a grip Woman