April 2014 Grocery Challenge

cw18

kayester wrote: »

Ok i was taking with OH yesterday, can I ask if anyone doesnt use supermarkets at all?

I live in a village, 5 mins walk away from my house we have a greengrocers (never used) butchers (used once!) coop and sainsburys which i barely walk in either.

Unfortunately I don't have a local green grocers, as it disappeared without warning a few years ago Didn't use it often though as I could only get there on a Saturday (I was at work when he was open on weekdays), and the stuff didn't seem to keep more than a couple of days. These days I get almost all my veg from A1di, although I do use Mr M (local) or Mr T (further away) if I just want 1 leek or 1 courgette etc as A1di only sell bags.

The butcher in my town also disappeared overnight a few years before the green grocer, and was another I only had Saturday access to. Wasn't impressed with the meat from there, but I've had great stuff from other butchers so I know it's possible to get good stuff.

Most of my meat now comes from Costc0 - and I tend to stock up on mince, stewing steak and chicken breast fillets when they're on offer. (Unfortunately the pork steaks aren't on offer very often so I've had to pay full price for those, and I've never seen the NZ lamb leg steaks on offer so also pay full for those). A couple of the cuts are dearer than in the SM, but the quality is sooooo much better I don't use as much - so even for those I reckon I pay less per meal. I would imagine the 'need less' would hold true from a good butcher, so it should be possible to pay no more for the meat you actually use (just eating less, which is good for your cholesterol levels).

We also need to eat more veg we only have it on a sunday!

Spag bol tonight

and with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and padding out with lentils I get plenty of my 5-a-day with this, so that's a great start to eating veg during the week :T

Ladyluck1

Cwis totally right!
We easily get 3-4 of our 5 a day in spag Bol!
I add; mushrooms, grated carrot, onions, celery and sometimes some grated broccoli stalk if needs using up. Then the tomatoes on top

Mrs_T_M

NSD here today. Spending today batch cooking (slowly as I only have 1 large pot and 1 small one!). So far have 3 portions pork tikka, 5 portions chicken tikka, 2 portions chilli mac, 4 portions cheesy beef taco (rice based), a slow cooker full of chilli with beans, and I'll be making a chicken pot pie for dinner. I'm cooking a huge pot of rice to go with the tikkas and chilli as well.

This should give myself and DH a decent choice for lunches and dinners. I have 3 packs of basic white pittas from SB (5p per pack) in the freezer, so those will hopefully be used with the curries.

tattycath

Small spend of £1.50 on bread today.
Chicken, onion, carrots and peppers in slow cooker.

Mama10

Spend today of £33.9 at Mr.A on mostly toiletries, calpol, nappy cream, wipes etc will update signature.

Frizzle_2

Another NSD today, courtesy of potty training my little man! Who is doing fab! First proper day and no accidents! Saving me money on nappies! Yay!
We had roast chicken yesterday with roast pots and YS parsnips, y. Puds, carrots and YS cabbage! Last night put carcass in slow cooker with some onions I had hanging around and some carrots. Then this morning I made soup with carrots, parsnips, onions, and the chicken stock.
I ALS had some chicken left over which I was going to use in sandwiches. Instead I made a chicken, bacon and veg pie for tea tonight. Very pleased with myself!

Ladyluck1

£15.41 spent in coop and lidl. DH couldn't resist 2 reduced pizzas so that upped it by £2 though the pizzas should have been £7.
Should be it for the week now

mrs-moneypenny

did a rather large shop in Tesc0 on saturday then market stall for fruit and veg and coop for alpro as its cheapest there. total came to £103.48
and after all that i realise im now to my last two teabags so need to go shops! GRR

doing hm leek & pot soup for tea

bmma

spend today of £38.04
April's budget to date £90.04/£160.00

Frizzle_2

Frizzle wrote: »

Another NSD today, courtesy of potty training my little man! Who is doing fab! First proper day and no accidents! Saving me money on nappies! Yay!
We had roast chicken yesterday with roast pots and YS parsnips, y. Puds, carrots and YS cabbage! Last night put carcass in slow cooker with some onions I had hanging around and some carrots. Then this morning I made soup with carrots, parsnips, onions, and the chicken stock.
I ALS had some chicken left over which I was going to use in sandwiches. Instead I made a chicken, bacon and veg pie for tea tonight. Very pleased with myself!

Just had the pie for tea. OMG! I can't believe something so great can come from leftovers. I will be making this after every roast chicken. Now, my only dilemma... What can I make from half a pack of puff pastry?