February 2014 Grocery Challenge

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Budgets updated to here

Welcome/welcome back to:
ikesmummy and zafiro1984

I am officially starting Feb today and have been to A!di - spent £102.99 :eek: I do have a well-stocked fridge, freezer and cupboards now though. There were some items I couldn't get which I'll pick up next week. We are away from 14-22 Feb inclusive so a reduced budget for me this month of £350. Have meal-planned for the entire month, hence the huge shop this morning.

Good luck everyone.
Coxy

Franigan

Good morning, hope you are all alright!

BlueMoo/Just The Two Of Us:
no credit whatsoever for the recipe which was stolen from deliciousmagazine.com.

I cooked it for the second time and the first time was sooo much better .
I recently started to shop in Aldo after realising that whatever I had in my trolley (mysupermarket.com) was £10 cheaper than Mr T, £15 cheaper than Mr. S, and £20-25 cheaper than Wrose.
This was consistent with different attempts and different shopping lists.

Aaaanyway, it is still a hit and miss with Aldo's products but the thing is, the first time I did the recipe I used Mr T's pork loin from the counter whereas this time I used Aldo's...or maybe it was just me being rubbish at cooking it, which is just as plausible!

So we have:

Ingredients

1. 1 tbsp olive oil
2. Knob of butter
3. 1 onion, finely sliced
4. 500g diced pork loin
5. 250ml chicken stock (from a stock cube), hot
6. Handful fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
7. Pared zest of 1 lemon, plus a squeeze of lemon juice
8. 3 tbsp double cream
9. Dollop of Dijon mustard

Method

1. 1. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry until soft. Increase the heat to high, add the pork and cook until browned all over. Add the stock, tarragon and lemon zest, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the pork is almost cooked.
2. 2. Stir in the cream and Dijon mustard. Check the seasoning, adding the lemon juice, if necessary. 3. Divide the creamy pork among plates and serve with new potato mash and a green salad or steamed green vegetables.

I still have to check out the "Aldo's good and bad buys" thread so I'll have a look now.


Later!

tessie_bear

hi i am cooking a turkey crown for tea that i got gor a fiver in aldi on christmas eve im hoping it will do a few rounds of sandwiches over the weekend

i have made a shopping list for next week but i think it will be tuesday before we get to a shop so will need to eek out what we have it....should be ok....have done a meal plan for next week using food from the freezer but do need some cheese and eggs

have a great weekend tessa

mfwin2019

Hi
Can I join this month with a budget of £168please.

managed to cut down massively in January as cupboards were bulging. spent£164.74 which equates to £5.31 a day. so going to try for £6 a day for Feb as still lots of bits in freezer, this is for 2 adults & 2 children

thanks

ikesmummy

Thanks for welcoming me aboard.

I have spent some time this morning going through the freezer and working out a meal pan for the month ahead. I have got quite good at doing a weekly plan but wanted to try planning a bit further ahead and taking my freezer supplies into account more. I do seem to stick to a very limited repertoire but that is partly due to my children's slightly fussy eating habits and also due to ease and fitting in around long work days/short days routine.

Friday 31-Jan Burger in a bun, salad & Chips
Saturday 01-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Sunday 02-Feb Roast Pork
Monday 03-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Tuesday 04-Feb Chicken stir fry
Wednesday 05-Feb Lasagne, salad, G Bread (Hannah 4 tea)
Thursday 06-Feb Egg & Beans on toast
Friday 07-Feb Burger in a bun, salad & Chips
Saturday 08-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Sunday 09-Feb Roast Beef
Monday 10-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Tuesday 11-Feb fish in sauce with rice
Wednesday 12-Feb Fish Pie
Thursday 13-Feb Egg & Beans on toast
Friday 14-Feb Steak
Saturday 15-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Sunday 16-Feb Roast Chicken
Monday 17-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread (Half Term)
Tuesday 18-Feb Lasagne, salad, G Bread
Wednesday 19-Feb Chilli/spag boll
Thursday 20-Feb Egg & Beans on toast
Friday 21-Feb Chinese - Lauren's Birthday
Saturday 22-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Sunday 23-Feb Roast Beef
Monday 24-Feb HM Pizza, salad, G Bread
Tuesday 25-Feb Spag Boll
Wednesday 26-Feb Fish Pie
Thursday 27-Feb Egg & Beans on toast
Friday 28-Feb Burger in a bun, salad & Chips

I now have the task of writing the shopping list and sticking to it in the shop this afternoon before the school run.

Islandmaid

Hi all,

Did my first Feb spend today £49.52 from Aldo's and that included 2 bottles of wine for a yukky weekend.

I always grin when my bill comes in under £50, I used to spend double per week, and normally top up shops too - silly but I want to tell people in the shop LOL

joedenise

mooomin wrote: »

I would eat that without a second thought

I would defrost by leaving out on the counter overnight and then popping in the fridge in the morning, but I'm sure that's probably not the best way to do it!

It's how I always defrost food and not just chicken - HM ready meals as well.

Denise

PS Looks like a was a bit late replying to this one!

Ayeshalush

Could I join in please? My budget is £80 for the month.


I usually aim for £100/month (there is just me and the dog and she has her own budget) but always end up spending on tops ups out of the money in my purse which doesn't then get counted so it would be interested to see how much I actually spend in a month.


I also have plenty of stuff in the cupboards and freezer so there's absolutely no reason why I can't stick to the £80.


Since returning to work after the festive season I have been bringing homemade soups for lunch instead of sandwiches and salads and it is saving me a lot of money! Whatever veg is needing used up is the base for the next soup and determines what kind it will be. I am trying to vary the soups so I don't get bored and I make a massive pot, put it into old takeaway containers in individual portions and put a couple in the fridge for that week and the rest in the freezer for the following week, so that I'm not eating the same soup for lunch every day.


I'm heading to Aldo's after work today for a big shop but I'm hoping that it will do me for at least 2 weeks. The meat and fish that I have/will buy today will be enough to last me the month so any shops after today should just be for fruit and veg and the odd item needed for a recipe or top up of staples.


I've also realised in the last few days that I have a number of packets of sauces, cous cous, etc in the cupboard that are out of date so I aim to use these up as well, although it may take me more than a month. I don't tend to use packets/jars and prefer to cook from scratch which is why these haven't been used, but don't ask me hy I bought them in first place as I haven't got a clue lol! First of these will be used for sausage stroganoff tonight (I don't have any steak and the sausages are not that nice so thought it would be a good way to disguise them) and will also make some choc chip muffins to use up one of the 2 packets of choc chips that went out of date in Sept.


(Are the smilies not working for anyone else, or just me?)


Oops, this has turned into a bit of a novel! Will update tomorrow after my shopping trip tonight.


Ali
xx

kayester

Ok so just thinking of meals plans, this is a rough guide for me just so i know where I am at.

Today: l/o hm curry
tomorrow: breaded chicken and noodles
sunday: beef brisket and the works for a roast
monday: l/o beef into a stew, half over yorkshire puddings
tuesday: rest of stew into a pie, freezing leftovers (is it safe to do this, if so shall i cook then freeze or freeze then defrost/cook? its puff pastry ADVICE PLEASE)
wednesday: hm curry
thursday: l/o curry
friday: chilli and rice
sat: l/o chilli and rice
sund: toad in the hole
Monday: spag bol
tues: l/o spag bol
weds: curry using chicken from freezer
thurs: frozen pizza
fri: valentines day hopefully get taken out!
sat: pie from freezer (pending advice)
sunday: supermarket to do meal plan for rest of month

lunches will be either leftovers from meals (eg beef sandwich) or cupa soups, soups, sandwiches ect. ceareal/ toast breakfast, NO SNACKS need to lose weight!!

annem38

hi there, well after slightly overspending in jan am now looking to be extra good in feb, so can you put me down for 180 for a 4 week month


right, got a couple of loaves proving, Chinese for tea on offer from mr w's, chicken salad for tomorrow and dinner out on sunday, so should get off to a cracking start to the month


good luck everyone


anne