January 2014 Grocery Challenge

mooomin

I bought the Save With Jamie book before Christmas and wasn't too impressed. It's good for people who maybe haven't budgeted their food shopping before or who don't know what to do with leftovers, but for people already on a budget it can come in quite expensive. Some of the recipes look lovely though.

I take the principles and will amend the recipes (when I make them! ) to suit our tastes. I won't use as much oil as he does on the telly either

downshifted

I went to M&S yesterday and bought things for a snacky supper for us all at my daughter's - bringing my grocery spend this week to £37.23. Only had one NSD since I started last Friday - must stay away from shops! However, will be within the £50 budget for this week, despite the M&S extravagance!

£37.23/200

kayester

mooomin wrote: »

I bought the Save With Jamie book before Christmas and wasn't too impressed. It's good for people who maybe haven't budgeted their food shopping before or who don't know what to do with leftovers, but for people already on a budget it can come in quite expensive. Some of the recipes look lovely though.

I take the principles and will amend the recipes (when I make them! ) to suit our tastes. I won't use as much oil as he does on the telly either

i agree, for me it wasnt saving
I do like the look of some of the recipes and i will try these in the future, but like you say, maybe not exactly how he does.

Bluegreen143

mooomin wrote: »

I bought the Save With Jamie book before Christmas and wasn't too impressed. It's good for people who maybe haven't budgeted their food shopping before or who don't know what to do with leftovers, but for people already on a budget it can come in quite expensive. Some of the recipes look lovely though.

I take the principles and will amend the recipes (when I make them! ) to suit our tastes. I won't use as much oil as he does on the telly either

Agreed! I wouldn't follow it for a whole week as I think the meals are quite pricey, especially if you don't have all the ingredients in. BUT I will make some of the recipes as I do like his stuff.

Kayester - that's strange your chicken went so dry, has never happened to me. I freeze leftover chicken until needed though so it isn't sitting about in the fridge for too long. It can also help to freeze/refridgerate it in some kind of sauce to moisten it up, whether just leftover gravy or if I was making e.g. a curry with it, I might try to make the curry the same day as the roast then freeze/fridge the whole thing so the chicken is in the sauce in whole time it's being stored. HTH

kayester

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

Agreed! I wouldn't follow it for a whole week as I think the meals are quite pricey, especially if you don't have all the ingredients in. BUT I will make some of the recipes as I do like his stuff.

Kayester - that's strange your chicken went so dry, has never happened to me. I freeze leftover chicken until needed though so it isn't sitting about in the fridge for too long. It can also help to freeze/refridgerate it in some kind of sauce to moisten it up, whether just leftover gravy or if I was making e.g. a curry with it, I might try to make the curry the same day as the roast then freeze/fridge the whole thing so the chicken is in the sauce in whole time it's being stored. HTH

Brill advice, thankyou. Im new to this as I would spend a fortune weekly on food/takeaways so I am just learning. Have ordered a few other cook books from various people (gino, gorden ramsey) to see a variety but I think i will stick to meals I Know too. Im happy with my next week meal plan will post nearer the time.
new plan for next 4 days.

today- chicken curry, rice and wraps.
thursday- chicken fajitas and dips
friday- spaghetti bolognaise
saturday- m&s frozen chicken breasts with noodles or chips, depending on what we fancy on the day

Make-it-3

I saw a few of the save with Jamie shows on TV and they seemed mostly to be about buying a big joint of something and then stretching it out or feeding lots of people. I didn't find anything very useful from what I watched.

First_Trouble

mooomin wrote: »

I bought the Save With Jamie book before Christmas and wasn't too impressed. It's good for people who maybe haven't budgeted their food shopping before or who don't know what to do with leftovers, but for people already on a budget it can come in quite expensive. Some of the recipes look lovely though.

I take the principles and will amend the recipes (when I make them! ) to suit our tastes. I won't use as much oil as he does on the telly either

I haven't bought a cookbook in years I tend to borrow them from the library and just note down which recipes I like and try them. If they get the thumbs up they go into a binder if not in the bin.


Third NSD in a row today!

Also having a go at making a chinese fakeaway tonight. Chicken Chow Mein, Chinese Chicken Balls and Egg Fried Rice. I will let you know how it goes.

cheerfulness4

Nikkiclaire wrote: »

NSD today and just finished making 6 jars of delicious sticky chilli jam to go with leftover meats etc. Well I pretty much eat it with anything and also use it to cook with. I usually buy it and pay £2.60 per jar. I have just made the 6 jars and it cost me a total of £3.00 so thats 50p a jar. This will be less when I harvest my own chillis. As I usually buy the chillu jam anyway its a real saving. In case anyone interested here is the recipe

150g red chillis ( finally chopped and include seeds)
150g red peppers(finally chopped remove seeds
1kg of jam sugar or sugar with added pectin
1 clove of garlic
600ml of bog standard cheap vinegar
Old jars washed and sterilized.

1. Chop finely all chillis, peppers and garlic ( you could blitz it with food processor)
2. In a big pan ( I use a stock pot) dissolve sugar and vinegar
3. Add mixture and boil for 15-20 minute
4. Sterilise jars in oven
5. Spoon mixture into hot jars and put lids on
6. As the jars cool swish them around so that chilli bits are evenly distribute
Its now cooling, but it tastes amazing : )

Finally got round to making this, with a few alterations as I didn't have quite enough ingredients so halved it and added grated apple to make up for no pectin sugar.



Tastes really good and I can't wait to make some more when I can get hold of enough YS chillies etc again.

Am I supposed to leave it to mature like chutney would anyone know? Seems fine but wasn't sure.

ArthriticOldThing

Well I've had a few NSDs in a row but had to buy bread, fruit and veg today. Total of £5.55 added to signature. Did spend on half price wrap and cards from sales but they don't come out of grocery budget so not too bad.


Off to make leek and potato soup now.

Ladyluck1

A £15 spend in Morrisons today on their best offers;
Ariel liquid better than half price!
Frozen fish half price
Sausages half price
Some mince that's on offer
And a few other bits like blueberries and lunchbox items.
Bit more than I wanted but does include washing liq and was rushing!