July 2013 Grocery Challenge

lizalloareds

Back from our holiday yesterday so will start grocery challenge from then. Hope I've not missed much.

sefilby

hollieinbloom wrote: »

Onion relish: 8 onions chopped into 1/4s and sliced thinly, 150ml of vinegar (any sort will do, i prefer to do 100ml of malt vinegar and 50ml of balsamic), 200g sugar, 2 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard. Fry onions until slightly brown, add sugar and let the sugar dissolve and brown. Mix the vinegar and mustard in a jug and add to the onions and keep on a medium heat and keep cooking until the vinegar is evaporating and you have the right consistancy. There isn't really a time that you should stop as it's all on eye. When you think it is ready to come off, put it in a sterilized jar. (to sterilize a jar, just clean it and dry it, put it in a low oven GM1 for 20mins. Don't put hot food into a cold jar or it will crack!. Hope that helps! x

Do you have a rough idea how long this keeps for? That's if we don't end up scoffing it all first! :rotfl:

Florenceem

Spend of £4.95 today on snack foods to take for travelling and while away at the weekend. I am going with a friend - cheap hotel - no breakfast included so we take food to eat with us.

CountingPennies

Well, its my 1st time on this challenge and I haven't updated in a week because i needed to admit to myself how much i'm failing this challenge. I was either far to enthusiastic setting myself a £500 budget for the 1st time, or i'm spending far too much because I just can't resist! I suspect it is a bit of both

Anyway, i did what i promised and kept ALL of my receipts, so here we go.....

5th i went to the following shops:

Home Bargains for some energy drinks (DH on nights), toothpaste and 2 pairs of tights for ED for school. £3.38

Tesco and did a top up shop which came to £26.74 but did include 2 bottles of daz washing liquid, cereal, fruit, paracetamol and a couple of fridge bits. Oh, and a £2 christmas top up.

Aldi for lettuce, aldis old wheat biscuits, 30pk crisps and a bag of midget gems £5.24

Iceland for milk, bread, cheese, cooked meats and after all the shopping DH popped in 2 snicker duos so a total of £10.00 but that included a 50p bonus card top up.

Then my brother decided he would come to mine for a BBQ because the weather was so nice, so popped back to Mr T's on 7th and spent a huge £19.64 on stuff i didn't need apart from the deodorant and fabric softner which i forgot to get on Friday

Then yesterday back to Iceland for more milk and some new potatoes £3.00 then it was another beautiful day and after school DH decided to do the kids a BBQ for tea so ended up popping back to Iceland and spending another £10.50 :eek: This included more bread buns, burgers, sausages along with pop and ice lollies (cheaper than local shop)

On a more positive note tho, we had a fab weekend and Saturday managed to be a NSD as the kids played in the garden with a tent all day. Also been back to the docs and put back on anti-d's (lots going on) so hopefully a couple of weeks and my head will clear a bit more. And in my defence, when i picked up my prescription from Mr T's i managed to not spend ANY money in there, despite a 10 minute wait!

So my planned top up shop for the week turned into a huge spend of £75.50 :eek::eek::eek:

Gutted. I think because i have so concentration at the minute and no "go" about me i'm cooking for convenience rather than trying to put some prep into it and cut the cost down. I just have so much going on in my head tho i don't know where to start!

At least i actually kept my receipts and i've been honest with not just all you, but with myself about how much i'm spending. Actually i need to add another £2.00 to all that for some other ice pops i've just remembered about! so i'll make that £77.50 to add to my signature.

Must try harder. Low on funds and don't get paid till 30th and the kids break up the 19th so my food bill will be much higher if I don't stop all this convenience shopping/food making!

Sorry for the long post.... But i needed to write/type it all down as once i see it all logged it will help me make a mental note rather than deny it all, if that makes sense!

Florenceem

CountingPennies - be positive - some you bought will not need buying again in this month's GC - Daz, tights, fabric softener, deodorant. Just keep trying.

CountingPennies

Florenceem wrote: »

CountingPennies - be positive - some you bought will not need buying again in this month's GC - Daz, tights, fabric softener, deodorant. Just keep trying.

Your right about that. And i do actually have some decent stuff in to e able to make stuff from scratch, but the hot weather means the kids are begging me for sandwiches and yogurts especially after having a hot dinner at school!

Before i forget, i've got a huge leek given to me off a neighbour. Any ideas/suggestions welcome as to what i can do with it. I usually only buy leeks for broth, which they can be expensive at times, so i'm wondering if there is anyway i can cut it up and freeze it??

CP xx

meg72

CountingPennies wrote: »

Your right about that. And i do actually have some decent stuff in to e able to make stuff from scratch, but the hot weather means the kids are begging me for sandwiches and yogurts especially after having a hot dinner at school!

Before i forget, i've got a huge leek given to me off a neighbour. Any ideas/suggestions welcome as to what i can do with it. I usually only buy leeks for broth, which they can be expensive at times, so i'm wondering if there is anyway i can cut it up and freeze it??

CP xx

Leeks freeze really well just chop it up and put in a plastic bag,
you could blanch it first but I never bother.

Florenceem

CountingPennies wrote: »

Your right about that. And i do actually have some decent stuff in to e able to make stuff from scratch, but the hot weather means the kids are begging me for sandwiches and yogurts especially after having a hot dinner at school!

Before i forget, i've got a huge leek given to me off a neighbour. Any ideas/suggestions welcome as to what i can do with it. I usually only buy leeks for broth, which they can be expensive at times, so i'm wondering if there is anyway i can cut it up and freeze it??

CP xx

My 6 children had the dinner I planned for the day - no arguments with Mum - just ate it.

fedupgetalife

Just been reading through this thread and well done your all doing really well.
I feed a family of 4 so can understand the pennies when everything in supermarkets is going up.
I am better at saving money than my DH as you could give him £10 and he would not know what he has spent it on,lol.

It's is also very difficult for pensioners and single parents bringing up kids on their own.
I run on a budget for everything and for food per month I have £300 and we get paid last day of each month and only 1 wage coming in.
But I don't spend £300 in fact so I have the extra to play around with or save.
Mostly I save as I like to save at least £100 per month.
I make home cooked meals everything from scratch and started growing vegetables in our garden last yr.
I found Asda and Tesco very similar in prices for every day foods, Asda cheaper for their milk while Tesco was cheaper for their eggs.
I did have a bread making machine but 3 hrs later and the bread still was not bread,lol. I go with my old methods of baking bread in the oven only takes 20/30mins in gas oven.
I do stock up on things like value pasta, rice lasagne sheets.
Tesco's own stock cubes taste the same as oxo/bisto cubes. Tesco's own Cornflakes, weetabix are cheaper than Asda's.
As for pasta sauces they are so easy to make rather than buying the jars, and passata is very expensive to buy in Tesco just now so buy in Asda or make your own as I do.
Pizzas you can make your own
Toothpaste I buy in boots called 'Smile' as it is better for you as it has no fluoride in it.
1 medium Chicken can feed a family of 4 for two to three nights, first night you have chicken and chips with veg, or chicken and salad, and the rest of the chicken make a chicken curry adding carrots peas, onions.
It's all about survival and one day there may not be supermarkets or food on the shelves so people need to learn now how to survive from growing your own, making do and mend.
Material things mean nothing.

CountingPennies

meg72 wrote: »

Leeks freeze really well just chop it up and put in a plastic bag,
you could blanch it first but I never bother.

Thankyou. Wasn't sure if it would have to be blanched and i'm not even sure how to do that if it did have to be. Yep, i'm a complete novice!

It is a HUGE leek, so i'm guessing i'll get quite a bit out of it. And they are expensive in the winter when i use it most so it will save me money. Once over if anyone offered me veg from their garden i would have said no coz it didn't come from Tesco :rotfl: How times have changed!

Do you happen to know how long I can freeze it for? And i assume if i added it to broth then i wouldn't need to defrost it first