March 2013 Grocery Challenge

ikkle87

Really chuffed with myself today. Did my first online T*sco order which got delivered today. It cost £45.69 but had 240 nappies in which don't come out of the grocery budget.

The nappies cost £33.32, so £12.37 spent on a tin of formula (£8.87) a chicken, 2 pork crackling joints and a duck joint. Will get at least 2 meals out of each joint and at 87.5p each I'm well chuffed with that

Will be calling this month quits on Thursday as we get paid on Friday so will start a new month then but I think we've done quite well with the challenge this month x

tessie_bear

hello again just needed to pop on and share this....i got a piece of gammon from sainsbobs ys to £1.99....i thought it wasnt very big but for that price would do us dinner i cooked it on sunday morning in the sc and we have had from it;
gammon/mash/veg dinner for 4
x2 rounds of sarnies for ds packup
a quiche for 4 peoples tea (tomorrow)
pea and ham soup for 2

so 12 meals for £1.99 and really nice tasting...the gammon was in the 3 for a tenner meat so i might buy some more of that because at full price it is a bargain at less than 20p a portion

very:money:

tess

Florenceem

ikkle87 wrote: »

Really chuffed with myself today. Did my first online T*sco order which got delivered today. It cost £45.69 but had 240 nappies in which don't come out of the grocery budget.

The nappies cost £33.32, so £12.37 spent on a tin of formula (£8.87) a chicken, 2 pork crackling joints and a duck joint. Will get at least 2 meals out of each joint and at 87.5p each I'm well chuffed with that

Will be calling this month quits on Thursday as we get paid on Friday so will start a new month then but I think we've done quite well with the challenge this month x

I find it staggering - the amount spent on nappies. I had 6 children and used terry towelling nappies. They lasted me for more than one baby and then became cleaning cloths.

ikkle87

Florenceem wrote: »

I find it staggering - the amount spent on nappies. I had 6 children and used terry towelling nappies. They lasted me for more than one baby and then became cleaning cloths.

I know, it is a lot, we were originally going to use reusables but due to my LO needing to be in and out of hospital reusables aren't really pheasable.

K9sandFelines

Crashed and burned

I'm now over budget, having just had shopping delivered from Mr T for £41.01 ( it had to be at least £40 to qualify for the delivery saver, which i made a mess of last week)!
Anyway, i have sat and done an inventory of the freezer, and rejigged it. Used a spare calendar to write OOD from fridge (and will do inventory of there tomorrow), and i really hope now i can stay away from the shops unless it's an absolute dire emergency; as we really do have enough food!

meg72

Florenceem wrote: »

I find it staggering - the amount spent on nappies. I had 6 children and used terry towelling nappies. They lasted me for more than one baby and then became cleaning cloths.

Iused terry towels for my 2 as well but Ireally do wonder if they were really money saing bearing in mind the cost of a boil wash etc not to mention the time. I think also that baby is probably more comfortablefor longer with disposables.

Maybe though I amjust jealous that I never had the choice :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

brighteyes1987

Evening all,

NSD here :j:j:j

We had pork chops, savoury rice & roasted veg/peppers for dinner.

Have meal planned until the end of the month & according 2 that & my shopping list, I should make it under budget.
Time will tell :cool:

Hope everyone is ok.

BE x

Bluegreen143

No spend day today, but had a Mr A delivery yesterday that cost £54.76:

Gala apples 6 pack - £1.25
Smartprice chopped tomatoes x3 - 93p
McCoys crisps 6 pack - £1
Asda toothpaste - 39p
Sanex deodorant - £2
Toilet roll 16 pack - £6.00
Smartprice cistern blocks 2 pack 30p
Asda floor cleaner - £1
Smartprice pasta shapes - 30p
Smartprice bourbons - 23p
Granulated sugar - 88p
Asda tuna in brine - 97p
Asda couscous - 68p
Dried oregano 25g - 92p
Whole black peppercorns 200g - £2.38
Smartprice individual orange juices 3 pack - 45p
Smartprice bran flakes - 88p
Asda babyleaf salad x3 - £2.00
Free range whole chicken 1.7kg - £6.77
Asda halloumi - £2.00
Asda ham 125g - £1
Country life spreadable butter - £2.00
Smartprice salted butter - 98p
Creme fraiche 300ml - £1.10
Whole milk 4 pints - £1.00
Smartprice natural yoghurt 500g - 45p
Smartprice mushrooms - £1.49
Smartprice mixed peppers - £1.77
Asda fresh tomatoes 750g - 1.00
Loose bananas x6 - 65p
Loose courgettes x3 - £1.01
Green beans 240g - £1.00
Smartprice frozen sweetcorn - 98p
Smartprice white loaf - 50p
Asda cola x8 - £4.30
Smartprice cat litter x2 - £3.20
Face wipes 60 pack - £1.00
Delivery - £0 (was £5 but we had a £5 voucher which I used to pay it)

Forgot to get washing up liquid and mayo, also need to get value cocoa pops, which Mr A don't seem to do, so I'll need to pop into Mr M tomorrow on the way home from work.

Had a day annual leave today (just needed to use it before the end of the holiday year) so made six portions of veg chilli (two for dinner on Thursday, the other four for the freezer) and four portions of mushroom stroganoff, half of which we had tonight with sauteed potatoes and green veg. Was delicious!

Recipe below (will add to index as well):



Mushroom Stroganoff (serves 4)

750g mushrooms (any kind works, it's nice to have a mix of chestnut, portobello etc, this time however I used a whole pack of smartprice ones), wiped clean and halved or quartered
2 onions, sliced into half rings
1/2 pint alcohol (Madeira is traditional but didn't have any left; white wine, sherry or cider will work too - I used the end of a bottle of Cava that had gone flat)
200ml crème fraîche
a couple of dashes nutmeg
1 heaped tsp whole grain mustard
15-20g dried porcini or mixed mushrooms
butter and olive oil, to fry
1 tsp sugar (optional; not necessary when using Madeira)
Heat the wine or cider in a small saucepan until nearly boiling, add the dried mushrooms and turn the heat off. Leave to rehydrate.

Meanwhile, heat a small pat of butter and a dash of olive oil in a large high sided frying pan, then add the onions and fry until soft and a little browned on some edges. Remove from the pan, add a little more oil and butter, then add half the mushrooms and keep frying until soft and browned. You’ll find you need to keep adding more oil as the pan dries out.

Remove the first batch from the pan, top up the butter and oil, and fry like the first batch. Use a slotted spoon to lift the dried mushrooms out of the alcohol and slice. Add back in all the mushrooms and onions to the frying pan, along with the sliced dried mushrooms, cider, nutmeg and alcohol. If you use a dry white wine or cider instead of the sweeter Madeira, you’ll get better results by adding a teaspoon or so of sugar at this point.

Let the mixture bubble away at a medium-low heat for around 20 minutes, until the mushrooms are all tender. Take off the heat, add in the crème fraîche and stir until combined. Serve with rice (or potatoes, as I did tonight) and salad or green vegetables.

Nicky_Noo_Na

becsxxx wrote: »

Hello everyone

Sorry for the delay with checking in, we've had guests all weekend. NSD today and I was very proud of the delicious Sunday lunch I made - twice cooked pork belly (very cheap and totally delicious) for main and then my mum's fantastic no-bake key lime pie which always goes down a treat - everyone had a lovely time and now just meal planning for next week

Hope you're all having relaxing Sundays x

Any chance you can share the recipes for the belly pork and key lime pie pretty please???

No more money spent on groceries yet (since Sat) so happy so far. Just had a lovely lamb curry that was planned for last night but ended up at work so one less meal to cook this week, hurrah.

Florenceem

Big spend of £10.89 today - Mr F went shopping! :eek:
Still we needed toilet rolls and have enough Glucosamine now for 2 months!
For dinner we had cottage pie with carrot, leeks, asparagus, onions, swede and gravy.
Flipping new Photobucket - I can't work out how to resize ! :mad: