January 2014 Grocery Challenge

BlueCow1975

Being new to the challenge this month I officially have my L plates on!! I am keen to cook the vast majority of our meals from scratch and am blessed with a chest freezer. Was trying to click on the "dont throw food away" link on the first page but it isnt working.

Is there any advice in a specific location about how to make the most of fruit / veg that is nearing the end of its life (ie does it have to be turned into a recipe straight away or can some things be frozen as they are / sliced etc for future recipes). Am also darn sure I can make more use of my chest freezer! I have tried to "batch cook" meals in the past but I swear my husband eats for 3 people alone and stuff never makes it to the freezer as it gets eaten the next day etc. BIGGER batch cooking or putting a muzzle on my hubbie is the way forward I suppose!!!
:rotfl:

Edit to add: Just discovered the old style board - new territory for me and packed with very useful information on freezing etc!

MrsCautious

Hello everyone, it's great to read how everyone is getting on already, I think it will help me this month. I haven't spent any money on anything since December 31 and am planning to hit Sburys with a gift voucher tomorrow, so I will be counting my spend as nought if I don't go over the voucher limit!

I've got a meal plan of sorts to try and stick to for the coming days. I'm loving making hm wedges from big bag of spuds instead of buying oven chips, so much nicer. I'm another one who would like to use less meat in my family's diet and hope to get more of a feel for this as the months pass.

I don't have much left in the freezer but would like to get through this week using up remaining contents, which now I come to list them sound very nice! I have salmon fillets, pizza, 2 lots of good quality sausage, prawns, smoked salmon, and trout -- no unprocessed meat left and not planning on buying more til I absolutely have to. Have some YS burgers.

My meal plan is:

Sat -- bacon and beans on toast
Sun -- sausage, mash, veg, gravy, Yorkshire pudding
Mon -- pizza, garlic bread, salad, hm wedges
Tues -- prawn curry, basics rice, Naan bread which were on offer in Sains, also YS onion bhajis which cost 80p from my local Spar.
Weds -- fish, pasta, veg, hm (or on offer ) sauce
Thurs TBC -- left over chickeny type Birds Eye malarkey with baked potato
Fri -- just me so beans on toast
Sat -- fish/fish fingers etc with some variation of veg/salad and potato!
Sun TBC --
Mon TBC
Tues YS fresh quarterpounders, hm coleslaw and wedges.

I think this is the most basic our meals will have been for a while but I'm determined to use what's there rather than buying more stuff.

rubber_duc

Thanks for your concern. The first thing I did was pop an iron tablet and drink a pint of water. I think it is a mix of a cold, dehydration and iron levels. Not been good at looking after myself the past few weeks, got a day off tomorrow so gunna kick myself up the Bum xx

mags50_2

Quite proud of myself...no money spent this year yet!
But got the family for tea on Sunday...all 22 of them eeek...so don't think the NSD's are going to last much longer!

kalojac

Had a trip to Asda today for some essentials spent £26.65. There's stuff in amongst that for baking, which will be used for snacks etc for back to school next week.

I made a variation of a Banoffi Delight recipe I had because I had things to use up. It's supposed to be 2 Cadbury caramels, a banana, 284ml double cream and a flake. I used curly wurlys instead of caramels (same weight worth though) and grated a fudge instead of crumbling a flake on top.

So you melt the caramels (or curly wurlys), along with 3 tbsp of double cream, allow to cool slightly. Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks. Fold in caramel mixture. Slice banana share equally into four sundae glasses, spoon in caramel mixture, and crumble on flake (or grated fudge), allow to cool in fridge for at least 30 mins. It was a nice change of pudding and more importantly used up some leftovers and selection box items.

lynnejk

Just posting to say I am up at this strange hour as having a cup of tea before leaving for the airport :j for my hols


Will try to log in now and then depending on wifi situation but will definitely be back on for the 5th February.


Hope you all have a few good weeks and the weather's not too bad
Lx

Ladyluck1

Received a late Christmas present from a relative today, tesco voucher for £30. So I'll use that with a £12 off £60 code making my shopping hopefully £20! Should do me half of this month if I plan right. Probably cheating though....
I don't need anything else from tesco, just got a new rug for Christmas and new crockery in the sale with a next voucher.
Think this month should be fairly easy
Hope everyone is doing ok?

annem38

morning all, well after 2 NSD's to start the new year it went a bit to pot yesterday, OH misheard when I asked him to get a bag of salad of mr w's and came home with £20 worth of stuff, so with my market veggies spent going on for £25, on the plus side though I am going to have to really REALLY healthy to use it all up!


have just found an "emergency" frey bentos pie at the back of the cupboard but its 6 months out of date, I think it will still ok, any thoughts on this you lovely people??


anne

miss_empty_piggy

mags50 wrote: »

Quite proud of myself...no money spent this year yet!
But got the family for tea on Sunday...all 22 of them eeek...so don't think the NSD's are going to last much longer!

Gulp - where do they all sit? How do you get all that food in the oven, at once. I'm stunned. This is huge and is blowing my mind a little, but I bet it's great fun. Have a great time. x

miss_empty_piggy

lynnejk wrote: »

Just posting to say I am up at this strange hour as having a cup of tea before leaving for the airport :j for my hols


Will try to log in now and then depending on wifi situation but will definitely be back on for the 5th February.


Hope you all have a few good weeks and the weather's not too bad
Lx

OMG I am sooo envious - hope you have a wonderful time. x