November 2012 Grocery Challenge

poppy-glos

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi everyone, can you please help.

I am going to make the 'Basic pizza dough' from the list on the front of this thread.
It says that you cut it into 8, and freeze what you dont want to use. So, my questions are: What do i freeze it in? just a bag, or do i need to wrap it in something?
To defrost, i presume that i just leave it out on the side?

i put mine into margtubs or old takeaway tubs, and yes, defrost on the side.

Sue14

I've just realized I've not put up my budget for this month. I'm going to try for £100 this month, as I want to empty the freezer and get it defrosted before Christmas, and that's not going to happen if I keep buying food while the freezer is so full, lol! Having said that I've already spent a total of £46.41, and it's only the 11th day of the month!

tessie_bear

we had tea out tonight which was nice..i have just rescued a chicken i had cooking in the sc which i plan to use for next weeks packups

planning a sheps pie for tea tomorrow and will make a start on the huge cabbage i got from the farm shop yesterday...will also make a stew at dome point in the week
have a good week tess

Bluegreen143

Hello everyone - it's been a busy Sunday as always, sorting out all my shopping & cooking/baking

Mr T delivery

I had switched to Mr A six months ago due to price, but didn't realise I'd built up £45 in Cl*bcard vouchers, so I decided to use some of these up this week getting stuff for my Christmas hampers (different budget though!).

Spent a huge £89.91 including delivery, which was reduced to £59.91 when I used two £15 vouchers. Approximately £20 was for Christmas hamper stuff so that means £10 of the voucher just paid for the normal shopping/delivery costs. I'm a bit confused about how I'm going to account for it :rotfl: so will update sig once I've decided!

Here's the breakdown:

Delivery - £5

Christmas hampers - Mr T vodka £14.47, extra virgin olive oil £3.24, caster sugar £1.05, value lemons 59p

Fruit & veg - fresh greens 75p, asparagus £1.50, value leeks £1.34, salad x2 £1, limes x3 80p, value peppers 89p, value apples 82p, value carrots 69p, value courgettes £1.60, value garlic 69p, bananas x6 85p

Dairy - Greek yoghurt £1, baking fat 55p, whole milk £1.18, halloumi £2.25, single cream 95p

Meat - 2x bacon £4.00, cooked ham £1, sirloin steak £2.30

Groceries - coleslaw 48p, pot noodle £1.10, white bread flour 60p, dried oregano 75p, baking chocolate x2 35p, passata x2 58p, balsamic vinegar £1, cayenne peper 75p, granulated sugar 88p, value bran flakes 88p, coca cola x8 £12, heinz tomato soup x4 £2, value kidney beans x2 36p, value coco snaps 78p, crisps x2 £3, tomato puree 35p, chopped tomatoes x8 £2, coffee £3, green peppercorns £0 (in BOGOF with next two ingredients, was £1.05), mirin £1.79, tamarind paste £2.25

Bread - value white bread 47p

Household/Toiletries/Cat - value toothbrushes x4 67p, value kitchen roll £1.25, value cat litter x2 £3.16, dried cat food 95p,

As you can see, I've deliberately stocked up so I won't need a delivery next week.

Mealplans & cooking

Sunday - chicken & leek pie with potatoes & veg cooking as I type this
Monday - Nigerian red kidney bean stew made 4 portions of this today, two for freezer
Tuesday - Steak & chips for OH, risotto for me, both with salad
Wednesday - Baked potatoes with tuna sweetcorn & salad
Thursday - Spaghetti & meatballs
Friday - Halloumi & veg kebabs with rice
Saturday - out for dinner with OH's sister


As well as the pie and kidney bean stew, I also made a pot of lentil soup today. Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread for my lunches (the bought bread is for OH's sandwiches) and chocolate coated twinks hobnobs, so I feel very domestic now :rotfl:

mummyyof5

Have spent £57 since my last post...spag bog for dinner today...pie and mushy peas tomorrow and butter chicken and rice for tuesday...all these are in stock so hopefully only small spends till end of week on basics

Will update sig now xx

happy_chick_3

Got the few extra bits for this week's meal plan and spent anoth £8.50 on stuff for the freezer - the local co-op is closing for a refurb so I got lots of stuff half price. It was pretty amazing actually and I now have enough toiletries to last about 6 months - Gillette ladies shaving foam was only 88p so I bought 4!

Anyway, total for the month is now £108.54 and heres my meal plan for the week:

Sun - Yellow curry and rice
Mon - Pasta, pesto and veggies
Tues - Sausages, polenta and veggies
Weds- Mushroom risotto
Thurs - Jeera rice and lentil dahl
Fri - eating out

I'll be making double portions of everything to have for lunch the following day. The risotto is already made and 2 portions have gone in the freezer for emergencies.

rosieben

kezlou, I've added your Leek, Mushroom and lemon risotto to the index :beer:

katholicos

Really easy tea tonight. Defrosted and reheated a couple of slices of lentil and veg loaf and had it with potatoes, carotts, broccolli, sprouts and gravy. Very tasy.

debtmess

I have spent £149 (rounded up) of my budget for this month but should have most of what we need in (just milk fresh fruit n veg) will be nice to come in under my target.

Had roast for dinner tonight, 1 portion in fridge for lunch at work tomorrow and rest of the chicken will be tomorrow's dinner for us.

Bulk of my shopping has been done in lidl this month sister not complained

craigywv

Hi all i not doing the challenge this month as i will only need fruit and veg and milk sporadically this month, i have 2 huge freezers filled to popping point so am doing that challenge in my head eat out of freezers for a month. I am still reading thread though as i love all your ideas , have a lovely evening all xxx