January 2014 Grocery Challenge

meg72

Very pleased with myself, went to town centre for Boots 70% sale and did very well, got birthday and Christmas presents. I then walked straight past Asda without going in, that must be a first for me.

BlueMoo

Loving all these fab pictures everyone!

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Dinner last night of pulled pulk with roasted veg and rice.

Sould have enough for dinner tonight and a cheese baguette for OH lunch tomorrow.

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Will have to go shopping again! Argh! Get some eggs, milk, bread, biscuits, crisps and cereal. It's so expensive having a sick man at home!

I might even make the trip to the big supermarket and pick up the things as it's almost a full shop.

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Ladyluck1

£9.90 spent today in coop on YS;
Salmon fillets x 4
Chicken enchiladas
Chilli and rice
Milk
Belgian buns
Cadburys trifles
Will update shortly. Freezer is looking very healthy so it'll just be fruit veg top ups for a while.... Unless there's any real bargains

JulieGeorgiana

tessie_bear wrote: »

hi jg i agree about it being fun to think of substitutes when food items are running down....we are on a use it up vibe here and really trying to keep the budget in check...seems to be getting harder

I try and keep a minimum amount of everything in my cupboards and yet every 4-6 months I go over budget trying to 'restock' because everything ran out at the same time

I found a jar of pesto, and some pumpkin seeds, and I have 20g of cheese... So tomorrow I'm making pesto pasta for my friend at lunch... Pity I have only 1 onion (for tomorrow's dinner) and I can't add any! But at least I found something

Running low made me realise I eat the same food over and over.... I've enjoyed the veriety this week...!

I've also been trying to think of healthy lunches I can bulk make and freeze for my DD age 2, I've got cheesy pasta, cheesy mini omelettes, mini toad in the hole and pea soup. I'm thinking of making carrot and lentil soup too...

Anyone have any other ideas??

I'm trying to make 1 thing a week so I have options and veriety all week for her.

Obviously I have the stuff I can make on the day too... But all ideas for her are welcome

marris

NSD for me today. went to boots at lunch time got some bits for kids at 70% off but paid with my points so no money spent( still got another £125 worth of points to spent)

[Deleted User]

Hi Kiwiblue, I hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you make your own salami? I'm fascinated that you can do it at home, and I'd love to know how. Can you only do it with dark meat, or can fowl be used as well?

Hi Mossylawn
Am making the salami today, so will post some pictures. Any meat can be used, even fish. Fowl would be great, just add the appropriate seasonings to taste eg perhaps thyme, sage as flavouring herbs. You are basically making a sausage and then smoking it.
The recipe I use as my base is as follows:

Salami
1 kg ground meat
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp mustard seed
2 tbs salt
1tbs coarsley ground black pepper
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp liquid smoke flavouting

Mix all together and stuff into casings.
Smoke until internal temperature of salami reaches 75 degrees C.

This is not a long term keeping product as is has none of the chemicals necessary for long term preservation, so I slice into chunks and freeze.
Hope this helps

[Deleted User]

Yesterday was another NSD for me, but am doing a weekly shop today,
BBQ for dinner last nighht with sticky pork ribs and homemade sausages.
Bottled the peaches I bought on our trip to the Hawkes Bay, and in an attempt to be ultra frugal, am making peach jelly with the leftover peel! Not done this before, so am interested in how it will turn out.

poppycracker

OK, stock take done, the only thing I'm concerned about is that I dont have a lot of meat to make meals with. So far, my meal plan looks like this:

today - sticky BBQ chicken thighs for DH, mini kievs for me, with pots and veg
Thursday - mild veg curry with left over (uncooked!) sprouts, onion, tattie, broccoli and cauliflower. And rice
Friday - chicken fillets with either rice and veg or pots and veg depending on DH's preference
Saturday - lemon sole in some sort of sauce (4 fillets have been lurking in the freezer for a while now, need to get them eaten).
Sunday - chicken breast with garlic butter wrapped in pancetta (another long term freezer resident!) mash and veg
Monday - spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday - fish fingers and HM chips
Wednesday - sausage pasta bake


Next week's meal plan I'll work out later. Should only need the minimum of shopping tomorrow thankfully.

Soworried

Quite a large spend for me today of £16.95, I did get quite a bit though including 2 packets of prepared veg at 19p each, a red pepper at 13p lamb meatballs at £1.19.

I have updated my signature.

I made a list today of my dried goods cupboard, I thought I had very little in but I have loads so I am going to make an effort to use it all up

samtoby

Spag bowl tonight made from all Aldi products - £2.00 for the mince, tinned tomatos of about 50p and 2 sticks of garlic bread which were about 50p each. YUM!