February 2014 Grocery Challenge

Florenceem

Pixie_Fairydust wrote: »

BlueGreen - good luck with the wedding and have a lovely honeymoon. Hope you are very happy together.






Thanks for the link, I'm signed up!



Could I have the recipe and/or link please?

Thanks.

Pix
xx

http://www.eversojuliet.com/search/label/cooking

Billie-jo

NSD again today. Tonight we had some bacon that needed using with cauliflower cheese sprinkled with sliced spring onions that again needed using. No photo cause it was eaten before I remembered.

meg72

Florenceem wrote: »

NSD here.
I used a new recipe tonight - Veggie Pie - cooked veg were added to a cheese/onion white sauce - it was yummy. I did so much veg - made a large and small pie - so 12 portions - cost of pie - £2.79 - 24p portion Anyone want recipe - I will tell you where I found it.
We had the pie with HM wedges + roasted red pepper, red onion, tomatoes, celery, white onion.
I also made a jam tart with some HM SC pastry from the freezer.

This was an old ww2 recipe. google woolton pie. basically any old veg you could get in a cheese or onion sauce and made into a pie. lovely

jammy_dodger

FrugalLina wrote: »

I think it may be me, it is just a temporary low amount as I have had a big unexpected bill to pay that had to come out of Jan and Feb budgets.

My freezer and store cupboards were reasonably well stocked after Christmas, so January wasn't too hard and February is a short month, anyway. I have been pleasantly surprised how well I have eaten, I do a lot of batch cooking at weekends and my freezer is full of healthy, home-made ready meals for during the week. Oh, I don't have any pets, that makes it a lot cheaper!

I may go up to the giddy height of £50-£60 in March!

Hi FrugalLina yes it was your good self

its amazing what can be done in leaner times and for me just highlights how much i have wasted a shopped unnecessarily, my cupboards too are bursting and now that my dog has joined the downshift challenge :rotfl: my budget should stretch further

another NSD here good feeling knowing ive only shopped twice this month and should be ok for a while yet bought some longlife milk to avoid going to shops rest of this week and i make my own bread, have veg from garden stashed in freezer so should be stocked for a while yet

thanks to all who post looking foreward to my days off am defrosting small freezer in kitchen so i can close the drawers properly . closing the drawers had become an olympic sport here

JD xx

FrugalLina

jammy_dodger wrote: »

looking foreward to my days off am defrosting small freezer in kitchen so i can close the drawers properly . closing the drawers had become an olympic sport here

JD xx

I see another gold medal for us in Sochi then!

You got me thinking last night, I am seriously considering sticking to a £40/mth budget for a whole year, just to see if I can do it, and if I can do it healthily too...

beth2242

Did my week two spend at Morrisons today and spent £52.14! Takes my total to £102.12/£200!I've concluded now that I'm only spending £40+ per week to get this ten pound off in my fourth week but I'm chasing my wont ail really cos realistically I probably wouldn't spend £40 in one supermarket especially not that one - although today I did buy a lot of staples -
Pasta sauces
Tins
Filled up the crisps box!
Bread
Chocolate / treats for packed lunches
Cordial
Tea
Coffee
Cereal
Washing powder
Washing up liquid
Toilet rolls


Managed to get a few fresh bits that we were also short of such as bread, sandwich fillings, eggs, yoghurts, fruit and veg!


So it sounds a big spend but got loads of good meal ideas now and although I haven't done a set meal plan I do have in mind what we are having for the next few days and it's something along these lines-


Tue - 'pitta pizzas' pitta bread topped with pasatta (needs using up) any veg that needs using then cheese! And DD loves making her own too!
Wed - pasta and garlic bread (DD having a friend for tea)
Thurs - LO beef casserole from freezer - mad rush this Thursday as my DD is off to Scotland for 4 nights with my parents (will miss her but will save a little) then I'm off on night shift
Fri- something quick maybe HM lamb hotspot out of freezer with jacket potato - before night shift number 2!
Sat - valentine special - steak with potato wedges and pepper sauce
Sun - Chinese takeaway (cussing a voucher we got for Xmas)
Mon - DD home from Scotland :-D possibly fish fillets with new potatoes and mushy peas
Tue - HM fish pie from freezer with frozen veg
Wed- girls day with my dd and her friend and Mum going to Italian then cinema!


That meal plan is very rough - it isn't often we stick to it cos I often find there's something needs using up that ill end up cooking but we will see! Either way I know I don't need to be going shopping til set least next week!

mrs_wannabe_frugal

Hi, would love to join this months challenge have set a budget of £220 as have got 6 starving cats !!! trying to cut down as only me and hubby to feed . any tips would be greatly appreciated on money saving thanks to you all and would just like to say love browsing through the forums x

norabatty_2

Hey folks,

Ended up going to the in-laws for the weekend for a big celebration. So while we saved 2 days worth of food, we also had to fork out £100 for a present, 25p for a card, £20 for drinks and about £35 in petrol

Starting to feel a bit better so I went back to uni today, did just under 2 hours of research and got paid £15 which was handy. Then went to Sainsburys this evening as DH was complaining about the lack of fruit and said he wanted to go shopping! :eek: This could only have one outcome - he would arrive home with a £20-something receipt and only fruit, cereal bars and biscuits to show for it.:eek:

So, instead I went to Sainsburys because we got a £4 off £40 voucher when buying petrol at the weekend. I got all ingredients required to make about 10 jars of marmalade, which I'm looking forward to making at the weekend. Also got fish, 2 packs of mince, a 2kg chicken, 2 packs of ham, 3 loaves of reduced bread, reduced veg, frozen veg, and loads of other stuff including DH's fruit - no cereal bars and no junk! This cost me £37.75 so I will have to update my signature.

Total spend so far this month is £40.80/£180.00 (including card). There is plenty of food to last us for about 10 days (excluding milk) so I think I am going to do really well this month :j

LittleBill

Hullo

Finally got around tonight to trialling baking with Pure Soya 'marg'

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=250460711

On offer at Tescolditz until tomoz at £2 for 1kg

Used it in some buns that are quite 'ingredient rich' as thought this was the best trial .. Recipe called for 175g of unsalted butter .. melted
Although the mixture was looser when cased up, they came our really well and not greasy as i expected ... Maybe better in a 'creamed' cake mixture, but regardless, think is well up to the job

:T .. If i get the chance will buy some more

Wrestled our 'Christmas' Turkey out of the freezer yesterday .. Long story but, ordered from Waitrose end November and when it came, it was flat on one side .. got a bee in my bonnet about maybe it defrosting and refreezing *worry worry* and emailed Waitrose .. Good souls that they were, they refunded .. Ended up not cooking at Chrimbo and had a big chicken plus duck
Anyways .. out it came and too big to roast as didn't really want loads of 'roast turkey' .. So, sliced a couple of escalopes off each breast and made Schnitzel with some long-lost breadcrumbs discovered during my January Freezer inventory (am i the only mad soul to freeze breadcrumbs?) .. Roasted the 'thinner' bird and should make pot pies for 3 plus curry

Plan to make Jamie's Turkey and Leek pie with half a pack of frozen puff i have left .. recipe here ..

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/turkey-recipes/turkey-and-sweet-leek-pie

Made it after Christmas with chicken .. ignored the bit with the chestnuts in the pastry .. and added finely chopped carrots and peas to the filling ... It is a lovely recipe and worth the effort with the leeks

Here is the meal plan for the next 10ish-days-or-so-in-no-particular-order .. Have all the ingred-i-ments except a Swede (the small turnippy kind, not the Abba kind)

Spaghetti Carbonnara .. Sains Cooking Bacon .. (I am besotted with Sains Cooking Bacon ) .. Grano Padano, plus LO frozen Double Cream
HM Turkey & Leek Pie
HM Chilli, Basmati & Sweetcorn plus HM Tortilla's .. Chilli already made up batches
HM Cottage Pie
HM Lasagne
Roast Rib of Beef .. Valentine's tea for the boys, saved from my skirmish in the January bargain basement .. plus HM Chocolate Fondants
Baked Gnocchi with Pesto & Cheese
HM Spaghetti Bol .. from freezer stash
HM Pancakes .. (everyone needs a Pancake Tea Day)
Smoked Mackerel, Rice & Pea's
HM Turkey Curry

LittleAllMenuedOutBill

PS .... Also used the Pure Soya to fry the Schnitzel and it acquitted itself well there too *smile*

lynnejk

BMG wrote: »

These are the quantities of meat items I have in the freezer at present

Thanks for the help you are giving me. I would like to not have to shop next week if possible

You have already had lots of super ideas but just thought I would add some ideas for 'mince-based' dishes, either for now or later.


Make up into chilli sauce, bolog sauce and mince in onion gravy and freeze in 2 person portions. I try to serve in different ways though.



1. As originally intended but vary the veggies
2. Mixed around - eg chilli with pasta etc
3. All these sauces go well in a wrap - plain, (or then baked topped with cheese) and serve with salads (various)
4. All can be served with jackets, new pots, mash, croquettes
5. Can make all into pies - with flaky pastry top or mashed pots and then browned.
6. Can layer any with cooked sliced pots and veggies and bake
7. As 6 but add layers of b!chamel or cheese sauce


I managed a NSD today


Hope you all staying safe in this awful weather


Lx