July 2013 Grocery Challenge

medusasmummy

afternoon all

its the end of week 1 and the main bulk of july's menu plan is bought freezers are all full and meat is defrosting in the fridge for the weekend. feeling very efficient today.

spends so far :-
Te$co £60.58 (after using £12 off)
Ald! £37.99 (after using £5 off)
Aldi £45.68 (after using £5 off)

TOTAL SPENT £144.25

Just bread to stock up on (when there's room in the freezer) and the usual fresh fruit, veg and milk each week for the next couple of weeks.

have a great weekend all, keep on the straight and narrow and enjoy the sunshine (while it lasts) :beer:

mumofthetwins

hi everyone
sausage casserole- ive done this in the slow cooker before but just browned them in a pan then made gravey added that .. some cubes of potatoe and let it cook .. i then added some tinned peas and carrots when i got in and it was nice

Im on my second week shop tonight ... last week i managed really well and just avoided the shops so couldnt be tempted ...

my shopping list this week is pretty small to as my mam has told my dad he needs to get rid of his store of food and stuff in the garage (he is prepared for an apocolypse) as she wants her garage back, so i am willingly helping them .. lots of corned beef and tins of meat and dried foods

i do still need other stuff though and some charcol as im gonna have a BBQ on sunday

Lisa x

Florenceem

dylan2011 wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome people. I have spent the last day going through a lot of things, making a speadsheets of income and outgoings, and if I get this down to £250 a month we will be so much better off.
Had a NSD yesterday, but today spend £2.70 - Had toddler group and paid £2.50 there in exchange for a couple of cuppas, some biscuits and a morning of kids being entertained. Plus spent 20p on a freddo choc bar for little one.
Have loads of food in so hope won't need to much until next week, poss some milk and baby wipes at weekend.
Thanks for nappy tips - I get the Aldi Mamia range usually, 40 in a size 5 for my 2 year old @ £4.59 (approx 10 days-2 weeks supply) and 24 Newborn for £1.69 (approx 5 days at the moment) for the 10 Week Old. They both fit my boys well and don't leak easily.
Am lucky with my 2 year old as he is not fussy with his food. To be honest, think it is because he never had the chance to be. Have been skint since he has been born, he doesn't want for things because he has the things he needs, but is happy with the little things in life, which is great. He tends to eat what we have, except when we have a very spicy curry, then he has baked beans on toast (which he loves). But he also loves to do it all himself which can get very messy. lol.
Curry for tea tonight, and will be plenty left for another meal which will freeze (chicken, sweet potato and green beans in a very spicy home made sauce. Mmmm Mmmm)

Great that your little one is not a fussy eater. I had 6 children - all fed the same - eat it or go without. They all survived - 5 out of 6 are not fussy now but eldest boy is a right pain - at 41!

Florenceem

sheeppappar wrote: »

Hello all. Just popping in to say my frozen sausage/slowcooker experiment was not a success. I just put the sausages in the cooker (frozen) in the morning and although they were cooked completely by teatime, they were completely minging .
Maybe because they weren't v good quality although I reckon if I had had time to brown them in the pan first they would have been better... as it was they were like that meat paste you used to buy in sausage-shaped plastic wrappers. blleehhhr. Also not impressed by my Aldi or Lidl saus casserole jar of sauce...I just got it for a quick fix but next time will just put gravy or tin of toms + work out the spices for myself.

Does anyone find themselves stuck in a rut of eating the same stuff? I know some of you have lovely inventive food but I tend to go to the old favourites as I base my shopping for meat around cheap freezable stuff so it's chicken, mince, bacon, tuna etc. I am going to try and be a bit more interesting next week so have HM chicken kiev + wedges, bobotie, koftas and wraps and chick satay planned.... will see how that goes.
If anyone has any favourite easy/interesting dinners I would love to hear about them

Updated my signature with £3 in Sainsbury's -- orange squash 1.50 :eek: + milk + something else I have already forgotten... on a plus point their 2l of skimmed milk is now £1

Anyway have a lovely weekend all.. looks like the weather will be nice XX

PS Woowooo just noticed I am now a 2-star moneysaver hehe!

Basing meals around chicken, mince, tuna and bacon gives you plenty of scope for choices of menu.
Chicken - roast, cold with salad, in stir fry, in wraps, chicken pie, kebabs, burgers, casserole, soup etc.
Mince - chilli, spag bol, shepherd's pie, burgers, with pasta, in a pie, meatballs etc.
That is 14 choices with 2 of the meats you buy.

Islandmaid

Hi all,

5th NSD.

Deffo have to go to the shops toorrow - still no milk, but DS2 had toast for brekkie today

Going to the pub tonight for a quick drink, but will use some leftovers for dinner, will be a bit 'hit and hope' but ther,s loads left in the fridge.

Got turkey steaks, minced beef, chicken breasts in the freezer so okay on the meat front, just some veggies needed to make meals for the week, hoping to keep it under £20 this week

Enjoy the sunshine x

meg72

Yay just picked a big bowl of Strawberrys out of the garden, got the icecream ready in the freezer. Treat for my DGS when he stay tonight.No dinner to cook as he looks forward to his chippy night.

I really wanted to do some gardening as its very neglected but had to give up as too HOT, not complaining though it usually too cold and wet.

lushlifesaver

Been to Morrisons and spent £9.27 on groceries - for that I got:
1 tin savers chopped tomatoes
2 tin savers baked beans
1 tin savers kidney beans
1 savers milk chile powder
2 carrots (18p!)
1 pack of taxis (choc biscuits for bf)
1 bag frozen mixed veg
1 bag frozen sliced peppers
2 packs of smoked bacon (2 for £2 or £1.68 ea for 6 slices)
1 lettuce
1 whole cucumber
1 superlife loaf

Also spent £2.99 on a bottle of wine but that's from my personal spends

With regards to the groceries I only went in for a few bits but I've been fancying chile for ages and bf won't eat it so with him away for 7days from Tuesday I figured I would make myself up a batch and eat a couple of portions and freeze a couple. So far ideas for eating it goes as follows:
* as chile with rice
* burrito (with rice, salad and cheese in a wrap)
* chile cheese chips
* on toast (love this on weekends!)/ in a toastie
I think with I can tomatoes, 1 tin kidney beans, 1 tin baked beans, some onion and sweetcorn (both already in at home) plus some of the sliced peppers and some chile powder I will make a minimum of 4 if not 5 portions

Other meals planned for in bf's absence are;
*chile chicken fajita
*cottage pie
*chicken and noodles
*southern fried turkey steak with salad
*omelettes
*toad in the hole (an experiment to see if I can get it right to do for bf sometime)
*chicken and bacon salad

which *should* equate to several NSDs with me taking leftovers/good from home to work for lunches once bf goes away Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

Gorgeestwo

Hi
I'm a little late joining in this month, but I'm aiming for £250 from now until the end of July.
I'm a relatively new Lidl convert, but have to say I'm loving it there :j spent £41.69 there this morning & feel like I got loads
Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend x

MrsCautious

Sheeppappar I sometimes think I'm in a bit of a rut with samey meals, would like more variety and more veggie meals and fewer potatoes, but I'm working so hard at work, working hard outside of work to raise money and at home etc, I stop myself thinking that and prefer to reflect on the fact that simple home cooked food with decent ingredients is still better than a load of processed gloop, am trying to be kind to myself, also these simple meals are family favourites. Perhaps I should plan something more exciting for the weekends.

Managed an NSD today, been doing some work for a well known slimming organisation, makes me laugh, what with me being such a shining ad for them (not at all! )

Lushlifesaver loving the sound of a chilli fest, my daughter announced the other week she no longer likes it so I'm sulking about that.

Have a great weekend all, another Sunday for me stood in a field selling my worldly goods to people who have practised a poker face to perfection xx

d003kk

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody has any experience of buying staples in bulk e.g rice, pasta, oats etc.

Where can you buy these things in bulk and is it cheaper than Aldi