April 2014 Grocery Challenge

JIL

I was enticed by Ocado with a three month free delivery pass.
The eldest were both home for Easter so I ended up getting some nice bits in for while they were here. £120 later and I'm at £220/£250.
I should be OK as there's only one weekend left and I won't need much.

PennyGrabber

Mrs_T_M wrote: »

I don't even measure any more, just plain flour, a pinch of salt, some lard, and enough hot water to form a dough. I'll try to find the original recipe I used to begin with, but it makes a ton of wraps, and rolling them all out by hand is horrid!

Ok, found it. Be forewarned, this recipe makes 40 wraps approximately, and it really does hurt to roll them out. Then again, you can get your minions to help.
http://penniesandpancakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/simple-flour-tortillas-003-each.html#.U1LlUlfEGCc

Thank you so much! I can't wait to make these! It'll have to wait until the weekend now, as busy with work and my mum visiting.

The children and I spent some time planning this week's menu earlier. I gave them a list of meals we could have (from stuff I have in), and we chose together. We have a couple of days a week where we need super fast meals, and it's becoming second nature to them to think about that.

Tonight we had sausage casserole, and I realised that I now only have 8 sausages left. That's find for another meal, but will nee to buy more during May.

Sweet and sour tomorrow, although I have forgotten to take the chicken out of the freezer! One breast will do all four of us, so I'm sure it'll defrost in time. Then mac cheese tues, out for dinner for my birthday on weds, and I can't remember any further than that for now.

As I'm a crafter, I have made a meal planner, and we love using it. It's got pegs die each day, and boxes to store the meal names in. That's why I'm not worried that I can't remember, as it's on there!!

Anyway, night all, 'see' you in the morning!

PG x

philsmum

We'll done Penny Grabber, your meal planner sounds good, could you post a photo of it. It may give some of us a bit of inspiration to plan our meals.
Thanks

PennyGrabber

Well, I'm not very good at technology, but here goes!



As you can (hopefully) see, the children have the weekend at their dad's. That's when I go into use-up mode, although this week it will be wrap/tortilla experimentation!!

The idea is that the children plan with me, and if I'm having a frugal week, the choices in the box reflect that, and if I'm trying to use stuff up, there is a bias towards that.

I like the idea that the children feel they have a say in choosing their dinners, and I love the fact that once it's done, I don't have to think about it!!

I hope firstly that it's uploaded, and secondly that it helps.

PG x

kayester

enjoyed beef yesterday, went to shop for booze will add to sig shortly.
pasta bolognaise, garlic bread and a desert from a meal deal at mr M today as OH off work, quick and easy tonight
as i got the booze (£18.79) i have about £55 left for rest of month, should be able to be done, my birthday Thursday so OH taking me out i think!

bmma

nsd today = 10
love the meal planner,Pennygrabber

Mrs_T_M

Planning on cooking today after the washing up gets done. Even though we have ingredients in, it still feels like we don't have any food! I really enjoyed having homemade 'ready meals' in the freezer earlier this month, so I'm definitely going to continue it. Much easier to pull something out of the freezer and pop it into the oven or microwave than to cook for every meal, plus it's way cheaper than buying ready meals and way way cheaper than ordering takeaway!

Chilli mac is one of our favourites, so that's a definite, as well as spaghetti bolognese. We have a 2.4 kg beef roast that will be cooked for tonight (forgot to cook it yesterday!), so the leftovers will probably be frozen and some will go into the slow cooker. Wish I had some sweet peppers, then I could do philly cheesesteaks later in the week. Suppose I still can, but will only use beef, onions, and mushrooms. I'm also thinking of doing a steak and onion pie. Ohhh, I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it!

iammumtoone

Hi All

I have been reading through the thread and think I need to join you all. I do my food budget weekly and am aiming for £30 per week to start with for me and a six year old but this includes all toiletries etc. I have been on this thread before a while ago and it really did help me with meal planning, I got so many ideas from everyone else. I have lost my way a bit with meal planning but need to get back into it. I will post this weeks plan and spends at the shop today later.

Did anyone try the black bean brownies? I had never heard of these before, might give them a try this week as our treat.

Florenceem

End of my 4 weeks - I am declaring at £26.71
A really low total but taking the last two lots of 4 weeks together - works out at approx - £11.50 per week. There is just the two of us - we don't buy alcohol, take aways or ready meals. Most toiletries we get as gifts so don't spend much for those sort of items. When I started on here - I had a very large stock of cleaning products plus well stocked cupboards and freezers. My stocks are still looking healthy although a bit depleted.

Mrs_T_M

iammumtoone wrote: »

Did anyone try the black bean brownies? I had never heard of these before, might give them a try this week as our treat.

I forgot to cook the black beans when I mentioned the brownies, but I have beans soaking so they can be cooked tomorrow. Hopefully brownies will be forthcoming tomorrow night!