April 2013 Grocery Challenge

GreenFairy

€5.99 on organic fairtrade ground coffee from L's - big block of it, and works out cheaper than the non FT kind!

Kitchenbunny

Popped on to report a spend of £14.02. I'll update my sig now. Going to be away for a while - not sure how long so I'll keep a note of my spends and post when I can.

KB x

MrsCautious

Coxy11 wrote: »

PS. MrsCautious - good that you are enjoying your break. Feel free to ramble on as and when you feel like it. We are all here for you x

Bless you, thanks xxx
Spent £2.39 at caravan site shop on essential toiletries and loaf of fresh crusty bread. Really hoping to cut back on groceries for the rest of the month as have treated people to two meals out and spent more on petrol for getting here and trips out than I usually would have. I can say these are from different budgets but would still like to spend less on groceries to make up for it, I am still counting my blessings as we are in a very lucky position to have a break by the sea and not have to pay. The least I can do is take my mum out to some lovely spots for country walks and out for a nice meal.

I've switched energy suppliers to get cheaper so that should make a difference, plus there's no council tax paid this month.

Meal plan from tomorrow back at home til the weekend is

YS prawns in hm garlic and mushroom sauce with pasta and salad

Chicken drumsticks marinaded in Indian spices with YS Bombay potatoes (cost 9p!)

Fish fingers, salad and hm wedges

YS trout or plaice, baked potato, salad and 1,000 island dressing.

So that means I don't need to buy much more than potatoes/salad, won't even buy veg so can use it all up

Have a lovely rest of the week xx

Florenceem

Another NSD day - I am in all day because of the workmen.
No photo tonight - still suffering workmen in the house putting in new windows and doors - they finish tomorrow. :j Then next week - more workmen arrive. :eek:
We had breaded chicken + HM wedges and roasted veggies - beetroot/red onions/white onions /tomatoes for our dinner.

becsxxx

Evening all

Florenceem - hang in there with the workmen - it will be worth it when it's finished!

MrsCautious - glad you are having a lovely break, make the most of it.

Doing very well on the grocery challenge this month... but that's because the entertainment/going out budget has gone crazy! We're out tomorrow night, at a wedding on Friday and out on Saturday too, so it's not getting much better!

Popped into Sainsburys today around 6pm on the off-chance and managed to hit them reducing lots of fab meat so got: 2 packs of casserole steak, 1 pack of diced lamb and 1 absolutely huge pork leg (which I'll use in a couple of weeks when we have lots of people here for mum's birthday meal) for £9.25. Total spend with some toiletries I needed was £14.13 so very happy to have topped up the freezer with YS bargains!

Hope you are all doing well:)

NickJW

Billie-jo wrote: »

coxy - your macaroni cheese looks lovely, not had it since I was school a long time ago and it never appealed to me then but seeing your photo I think I will give it a go as it looks nothing like I remember it.

K9sandFelines - does soy bean paste smell a bit strong as I have some in a jar but not sure if its gone off or not as it has a strong/strange smell to it. It has been in the fridge for a while and has been opened.

£2.49 spent this morning.

Hi Billie-jo

The soy bean paste does smell quite strong - on par with dark soy sauce I would say. I've had mine open for a couple of months and am using it up ASAP but I'm sure as long as it looks okay and has no mould it will be okay.

HTH

Fired off another email to Mr S to ask for an update and reassurance other than an automated response to show that the issue is being investigated...

The personal boycott remains, and it resulted in a NSD! :j

mrs-moneypenny

did the main morry shop at the weekend but only just got round to totalling that and a couple of small shops since along with the fruit and veg. going to try a lot harder this month and the cupboards and freezer are pretty ell stocked so 'should' be within budget

got some rtc pittas so having veggie bacon with toms and lettuce in those tonight

brighteyes1987

Evening,

NSD, well grocery wise anyway :rotfl: had a few bday presses to buy but these are from separate budgets & all allowed for.

Had a lovely dinner of haddock, green beans & poached egg this evening.

Hope everyone is well

BE x

Bluegreen143

Billie-jo wrote: »

coxy - your macaroni cheese looks lovely, not had it since I was school a long time ago and it never appealed to me then but seeing your photo I think I will give it a go as it looks nothing like I remember it.

Aw thanks! I remember mac & cheese at school too and the main problems were soggy overcooked pasta, way too much sauce and sauce tasting like flour instead of cheese. My best tips for great mac & cheese are therefore: cook your pasta al-dente, don't go overboard with the sauce and use a good amount of MATURE cheddar. Mine had tuna & broccoli in it which might also be why it looks different, I highly recommend this

No spend day today, made chinese-style chicken curry from scratch for the first time (used to use a packet but haven't made it for ages) and it was so tasty!! Served with egg fried rice.

SpendingSensible

goldopals wrote: »

Just checking in to say I almost had a NSD altogether, but then bought an ebook from Amazon.

That's still a NSD for the grocery challenge! :T

I had another 2 NSD myself, that's 3 in a row and hopefully will have another tomorrow.

But did book our holiday and had to sent a cheque off to secure our accommodation...that's holiday budget though. Is still some time away but will have to rethink my GC budget for that month as this year we are staying in the country. We booked a cottage so will be cooking our own meals, but with the occasional lunch/dinner/treats. Might use the "kitchen-kitty GC savings" towards that (unless I get lured into a kitchen shop...:rotfl:)

Oh well, still almost 2 months to wait but no harm in researching restaurants and farm shops is there?:D

Edited to add meals: Monday lamb curry from left over lamb roast. Today: Tortilla. Wednesday: pasta cheese bake (HM from freezer). Thursday: invited by friends, so will take a bottle or some chocolates (from stock). Not further planned yet.

Sorry another edit about soybean paste
If it is like miso paste, than it's fermented and keeps for quite a long time in the fridge. Not sure how long exactly, but I keep mine for a few months at least. As long as you use a clean spoon every time. It has quite a strong smell, is salty, and you can use it for soup, sauces, marinades etc. I use it to marinade fish or chicken, just mix with some mirin (or sherry), rice vinegar and sugar. Sometimes I add ginger, garlic or chili as well.