January 2013 Grocery Challenge

Island_mum

So I've been lurking a little but do want to join in. I won't be able to help with prices etc seeing as we only have two supermarket chains (Marks and Waitrose) so our grocery costs are high over here but I am keen to take people's advice on reducing costs etc.

I'd like to ask for some advice if I may - is it possible to freeze a portion of pasta? I made pasta with a homemade sauce for dinner tonight and as we're having roast tomorrow, I'd like to freeze a tub of the leftovers if it will be ok. Does anyone know how long it would last?

FBG85

Island_mum wrote: »

So I've been lurking a little but do want to join in. I won't be able to help with prices etc seeing as we only have two supermarket chains (Marks and Waitrose) so our grocery costs are high over here but I am keen to take people's advice on reducing costs etc.

I'd like to ask for some advice if I may - is it possible to freeze a portion of pasta? I made pasta with a homemade sauce for dinner tonight and as we're having roast tomorrow, I'd like to freeze a tub of the leftovers if it will be ok. Does anyone know how long it would last?

I freeze pasta in bolagnaise (sp?) sauce and have used it after 2 or 3 weeks in the feezer and its fine IMO. HTH

cornishchick

happy to report 2 NSD :j we are lucky as we were given 2 lots of the morry xmas vouchers from family members just before christmas so stocked up on coffee,tea, loo roll ect. and my freezer is fit to burst with all the YS stuff i find, so the plan is to save as much as possible this month, then combine that with an argos vocher to get my second freezer so I can do more batch cooking.
so far this month only needed to buy milk and bread so spent under a fiver, and thats been from the change pot.... so TECHNICALLY..:rotfl: not from this months budget !!! ;)

on to the bad, hubbys half pay kicks in this month. he is not able to go back to work yet, still waiting to find out if the treatment is kicking the cancer's ar*e, stilll trying to be positive, and strangley ......working hard on keeping to a budget, meal planning ect, gives me a feeling of having control over something... and even on the days I dont have the energy to post, I would like to say thank you to every one who posts, as reading your tales of life and it strange and wonderful things that happen helps me... so THANK YOU x

katholicos

No grocery spends. Made a couple of lentil loaves which we had with potato salad. Jolly nice too!

Must buy groceries tomorrow though.

FBG85

Beckseven~

I find Aldi good for cheap cleaning products, their bleach is 55p and they do a lovely multi purpose cleaner, which you dilute to do floors and work tops etc ( the blue one smells really fresh) which I think is less than a pound and their bleach wipes are about 75p.

FBG85

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

Made the enchiladas and they were delicious and easy:

Enchiladas (serves 2/3)

• Two portions of chilli (I used leftover veggie chilli from the freezer, but you can use meat chilli. Some recipes in the index here or here or here or here or you can even used jarred sauce. Veg chilli is a 'fridge clearer' recipe for me that varies every time I make it so can't really give mine :rotfl:)
• Four wraps (a brilliant way to use up stale wraps like mine were :cool:- micro them for 30 seconds if they're too hard to fold)
• A jar of salsa (Used value stuff jazzed up with a lot of extra cayenne pepper)
• A couple of handfuls of grated cheddar, to taste
• Soured cream or greek-style yoghurt, to serve
• A big, green side salad or other veggies, to serve

Preheat oven to 200C.

Spread 1/2 of the jar of salsa over the bottom of a baking dish - mine was 22cm x 22cm.

Stuff the wraps with around 3 big heaped tablespoons of chilli in each one, then fold over and pop into the dish so that the folds are on the bottom. I wedged three in next to each other one way, then used the gap at the top for the fourth, as my dish was square.

Spoon the rest of the salsa over the top unevenly (don't spread it out to cover the whole top, as the exposed bits of wrap get all crispy and nice). Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Bake for around 30 minutes, until the top is nice and crispy and it's all heated through. Serve with a nice green salad and soured cream/yoghurt. This serves two but we do have a whole enchilada left for lunch so with a more substantial side might do three.

Have added this to the index for future reference.

I am now very hungry!!

meg72

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi All.
I am really feeling on top of this months GC. My £55 a week limit is going well, and i am trying as hard as possible to make sure i use what i have leftover from previous meals/whats lurking in the bottom of freezer, to make meals

PLEASE help me with something, as i have hit a snag. I am going to do Nigellas 'Tarragon Chicken' next weeks, which calls for

60ml Double cream
80ml Vermouth or white wine.

I dont have either of these...does anyone know if i can replace the cream with semi-skimmed milk, and the Vermouth with chicken stock or just plain water?

I am determined i am not going to buy any food until Friday next week

I really do think that if you havent got something called for in a recipe, then try what you do have, you only have to be fed afterall, and if it didn`t turn out great you will know not to do it again

jem1980

Almost continued my no grocery spend Jan with dinner at MIL's, but couldn't resist popping to Coop on way home for a bottle of red (£3.99) and two needed 4-pinters of milk (£1.32 each) so £6.62 spent so far. Am in desperate need of an Aldi shop tomorrow so that'll be a trolley full but have a list at the ready so hopefully in budget :-) By the way, when you refer to Mr A on here, is that Asda or Aldi? Hope everyone's enjoying a nice fresh start to the year!

P.s. had never heard of lentil loaves, katholicos, but am very excited by the idea!!!!!

XSpender

Coxy11 wrote: »

Morning everyone,

Budgets done to here

Hello to:
Kameleon, snowbrow, GILL635, xxsally1990xx, Mumof2, mumwithamission, jem1980 and Plethora

StressedOutMummy - would you like to set a budget for January?

We have friends over for dinner tonight, so have just made a choc pavlova, strawberry and almond crumble and have prepped the meat and veg. Last bit of entertaining before I knuckle down and lose some weight

Coxy

Coxy Could you tell me how you make a chocolate pavlova? As a coeliac meringue is one of the puddings that is almost always safe to eat:)

A spend in m&s today on sausages as they are all gluten free and good quality and as a recent covert from vegetarianism I am a bit picky about meat. Also bought DH some beers.

Used some of the chorizo sausages to liven up an ald1 pasta bake jar sauce and added some sun dried tomatoes I bought from AF early last year. It was lovely with a bit of salad and followed by some defrosted summer fruits and Swedish glac!

I now have enough meat in to last about 20 meals so this should last me well into my Feb GC. With a bit of thought and forward planning I could use eggs/DH salmon and veggie meals to stretch this out for the next 5 weeks so I do not need to buy any meat in Feb's GC.

Also bought some items in body shop to try and sort out DH feet which are very sore. Not sure if I should add this or not as I would normally add medicines and toiletries but not sure what this would come under. Oh well I am under budget so I will add it in here.

I am roughly sticking to my meal plan and am having pork loin steaks with redcurrant and mint sauce with roast pots and frozen veg tomorrow.

Maisie_M

Spent £59.02 in Asda today stocking up on all my fresh fruit and veg etc. A small spend tomorrow for bread and cold meat and that will be us for a few days. Over for this week but thats cause its my first proper shop since before xmas.