April 2013 Grocery Challenge

Billie-jo

Thanks to those that commented on my photos. Was unsure at first about putting them on but now hope to post more.

Blue green - that Eastern style meal looks lovely. I will certainly give your pittas a go. They look very professional and a thousand times better than the ones I made not so long ago.

Tea tonight is just salmon sandwiches and salad and probably some fruit cake for afters if there is some left if not it will be fruit.

Tomorrow I am doing something with chicken breasts that are thawing out, possibly chicken chow mein or similar. Also I have a head of celery that is a bit ‘ropey’ so am planning on celery soup so using up the celery and also a pot of cream that is just out of date. Will have a look tomorrow and if the cream is ok will use it.

NSD as expected today - 4 in total so far for April . Hope everyone has had a good weekend.

mummyyof5

Another NSD today,taking little ones to cinema tomorrow but OH has transferred money to pay for it,:Ahes in Cornwall at the moment..sounds odd saying that as he is normally abroad lol x
In a view to keeping costs down I will be treating them to some pop and chocolate to take in with us ...hitting B@M for this beforehand ..any left over money will be going towards new school shoes for my 6 yr old DS.

lizalloareds

spends for today
£1 Mr A
£2.24 Aldi
£2 Lidi
£7.21 Mr T
sig updated

getting-sorted-sarah

Can I ask two questions please?

1. Why does everyone deliberately mis-spell supermarket names or refer to them by nicknames?

2. What do people think of the Delivery Saver from Tesc0 (not sure if other supermarkets do versions...)? I do a mix of online and in store so have always thought it was expensive, but now I am wondering, anyone want to talk me into it?

Thanks in advance!

Bluegreen143

sistercas wrote: »

I've made a chicken and leek pie with HM puff pastry with mash and broccoli for lunch. I did a cost comparison on the puff pastry , it cost £1.20 for the butter and 8p for the flour , so £1.28. i could get pre made in sainsbugs for a £1 so no saving. However the sainsbugs is 500g and mine is 624g .:D

No idea how much butter you used so you might have already tried this but... value butter is 98p for a pack (my rough puff recipe uses exactly one pack I think) and I generally use half 'best for baking' which brings the cost down further (from memory think this is about 65p a pack??). In fact I think you can use all baking fat for super cheapness but losing a bit of the buttery flavour. HTH.

Billie-jo wrote: »

Blue green - that Eastern style meal looks lovely. I will certainly give your pittas a go. They look very professional and a thousand times better than the ones I made not so long ago.

Thanks My first attempts were very oddly shaped, it's taken a bit of practise to get the oval shape right! I found these worked better than the white ones, they puffed up way more I think.

Just did a shopping, will post it up and update sig later. Only spent around £25 though so pretty happy

she_who_can_not_cook

sistercas wrote: »

Was going to be a NSD but the milk I defrosted is lumpy:eek: so DH is going to pick up a pint when he goes to get his mother for lunch.

I've made a chicken and leek pie with HM puff pastry with mash and broccoli for lunch. I did a cost comparison on the puff pastry , it cost £1.20 for the butter and 8p for the flour , so £1.28. i could get pre made in sainsbugs for a £1 so no saving. However the sainsbugs is 500g and mine is 624g .:D

I can ne ver do a good puff pastry but did get a few packets from af a long time ago i know they were cheap just add ect

SpendingSensible

Hope everybody is enjoying the weekend.

Am still recovering from Sunday roast at lunch:D, have been gorging on lamb roast, potatoes and assorted veggies. Lovely, but it made me extremely sleepy this afternoon.

Had a smallish shop yesterday, bought some fish for kedgeree dinner yesterday, and some veggies and milk for today. £11.35, am well within budget and don't think we will need much this week as OH is away for business. I will make a curry tomorrow with left over lamb. Also, when alone, I don't always feel like cooking, and with plenty of bread in freezer, I think I will just include a few bread type dinners this week. Hopefully that will last me until Thursday before a new shop/proper meal plan is needed.

Have updated sig and now off to read how everyone else is doing.

K9sandFelines

£9.81 top up shop on fruit and veg. Only stocked up on Thursday and it's nearly all gone already.

Updated sig

hex2

Roast chicken with lots of veg (parsnips, cabbage, carrots, butternut, cauliflower cheese) for dinner - enough left overs for tomorrow and then the scrapings of the chicken will be used for chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew for the freezer, and the carcass will get added to the stock collection.

While the oven was on I made rock buns and a chocolate chip cake for packed lunches this week. No 'marge' in stock so experimented with a third lard to two thirds value butter which worked well. Very little cocoa so subbed a third of the sugar with value drinking chocolate and then a tablespoon of cocoa which also worked out well.

NickJW

getting-sorted-sarah wrote: »

Can I ask two questions please?

1. Why does everyone deliberately mis-spell supermarket names or refer to them by nicknames?

2. What do people think of the Delivery Saver from Tesc0 (not sure if other supermarkets do versions...)? I do a mix of online and in store so have always thought it was expensive, but now I am wondering, anyone want to talk me into it?

Thanks in advance!

Hi getting-sorted-sarah

In regards to supermarket codes. I work in an industry requiring the use of 'code words' and systems such as Go0gle Adw0rds (not in the supermarket industry I hasten to add). They ensure that certain searches such as Sa1nsburys and Tesc0 appear higher the more times they are used. Some people use codes such as Mr S or Mr T as a way to prevent their personal posts being used for supermarket promotion. Other people use it for ease of use, and perhaps other people use it as a way to be part of a community.

There are no rules (apart from being nice to each other ) on this thread, and if you want to say Sainsburys or Tesco in full you can do so.

(In fact there is a bit of a discussion at work that GoOgle is controlling and filtering 'well known' code words to relate to a company, to increase exposures, but that's not something I'll divert to here) .

Have spent a bit more recently, including buying a pack of turkey breasts from SAINSBURYS! (YES - I want negative feedback seen if the system works) yesterday which were OFF within date for the 8th April (as in gagging smell, had to throw in the garden - no way I'm keeping them in the fridge stinking it out :mad:!). I couldn't go back to the supermarket yesterday, but sent them an email as a complaint and am yet to receive a response.

Does anyone else think I'm unreasonable, not going back on the same day if I'm not able to do so, and is it a case of 'stuff you' when you leave the shop? Has anyone else had any experience with Sainsburys and their complaints procedure?

Will update my spends shortly when I check my receipts