July 2014 Grocery Challenge

Make-it-3

Weekly shop of £41.54 - and it felt it carrying it all home! Needed to restock quite a few essentials.

Total stands at £121.58/£200 mid-month - so a little ahead of where I would like it to be but hoping next two weeks will be lighter on the pocket.

Make-it-3

Welcome back Florenceem - I missed your dinner photos!

craigywv

Good to "see you " back flo missed you , thought you were poorly or somethingxxx

craigywv

Spent 22.00 on fresh milk fruit and veg and some meat that will do me for ages, joining the fiscal fast again now.

Soworried

A spend of £14 today stocking up at the Chinese supermarket. I bought 2kg of prawn crackers, 10pkts of noodles, curry sauce paste, king prawns, 50 spring rolls and 60 samosas.
These help make cheap meals seem like a treat so I always like to have them in.

Hopefully no spending now until Sunday for the piri-piri half price half chickens at L!dl.
I'm off to catch up on the thread

Gracie_1827

A NSD for me today...the postman brought me a voucher from the Co-0p...a £5 off a £5 or more spend.. thought it was a mistake and meant £5 off a £50 spend...but no....so £5 worth of food for free.:j. I'll have to pick wisely though their food is sometimes very expensive.

Frizzle_2

Picked up a few bits n tesco and aldi. Most of which is not in the grocery budget e.g. Teacher pressies. So £11.02 in tesco on half price pork joint and a couple of boxes of Barney bear cakes for the kids! Can't remember how much in aldi. Will add it on when I find the receipt!

lynnejk

Ryuu wrote: »

Sure, but it's exactly how it sounds like (my simplified variant)

I use wok (for the volume I make is good enough), but feel free to make it in a pot... I can't really say precise amounts, since I make it every time a little bit different. Also it's dependent on your tastes and the stuff you buy.

1. On medium heat add butter to the wok, then add finely chopped onion (small/medium one, I like the sweetness of onions so I use little more :-)). Add small volume of olive oil.
2. When the onion is getting gold, add a bit of salt, ground black pepper, 2-3 allspice berries, 2-3 juniper berries, 2-3 black pepper berries. (had to search for translations of allspice and juniper - had no idea how they were called in English :-D)
3. Add teaspoon of sugar, let it melt.
4. Add tomato puree (key ingredient) and stir. // I use Italian one
5. Add 1-2 bay leaves.
6. Add beef stock (either from cube or self-made) to increase flavour and reduce thickness (in WCS, use water)
7. Taste, if it seems a little bitter to your taste (some Tomato Puree that are sold here are really bitter), add sugar in small steps and always taste it, so you don't over do it. (another reason why I use more onions = they are really sweet)
8. Let it boil on low heat for a few minutes so it thickens up a bit. EDIT: Remove berries and bay leaf from the pan, so you don't accidentally eat it :-).

This sauce can be served with dumplings or pasta (traditionally macaroni, but penne and similar are also common)
As a protein, it mostly goes with beef (often prepared separately in pressure cooker)
Btw: found a really great picture of types of pasta :-D
charmingitaly.com/different-types-of-pasta/

Hey - thanks for that and brilliant for looking up the translations. It's strange that a Tomato Sauce can vary so much and that's why I was interested. I will definitely give it a try at the weekend.


I use similar method but different ingredients - suppose mine more based on Italian herbs.


I sweat 2 large well chopped onions in olive oil very low and slow, adding a small tea-spoon of malt vinegar (helps to sweeten).
About half way through add some chopped and crushed garlic.


When really soft and starting to brown add tetra pack of passata and some tomato puree, fresh ground black pepper, basil and oregano (fresh if possible but dried will do). Add hot water to get to consistency you want.


Simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes stirring occasionally.


Can use as it is or blitz in blender to make really smooth.


Add direct to pasta or include into chilli or bolognaise, adding meat, beans, vegetables or stock to taste.
(Hope you can understand the English )

just_the_two_of_us wrote: »

Apricots down to 59p and ready to eat - delicious!!!! Sig updated

They have been my 'treat-a-day' for the last couple of weeks. Love, love, love

Florenceem wrote: »

I have been awol - my pension is every four weeks so I am ready for GC August. I am declaring for July at £70.70 16/28 NSD.

Wondered where you have been ??!! Missed your piccies etc. Hope all okay ??
Still don't know how you do so well with the budget :T


Spend today of £3.02 on milk, LL milk for making yoghurt and vine tomatoes. (seem to have developed a passion for them atm).


Lovely lunch today. I was making a chicken casserole in SC (using chestnut mushrooms and artichoke hearts) for tomorrow. So pinched a few mushrooms and hearts and cooked with shallots, garlic, white wine and cream, added some HM pesto and poured it all over wholemeal penne and topped with some grated reggiano. Absolutely scrumptious :j


Hope you all have a thrifty Thursday
Lx

K9sandFelines

Can't sleep!!! Have updated sig earlier with £30 odd Tesc* online spend.

wishus

I've only managed 4 NSDs this month, though most of that has been in the 'other' category, not grocery. I have been doing so well, I thought, trying not to go to the supermarket until the weekend. Last weekend I went to a farm shop and thought I would try some bantam eggs. I used one this morning, which come to think may have been an ordinary hen's egg from the farm as it wss a bit bigger than the others in the box. It passed the stale test, but when I went to use it, my life did it smell weird or what!

Such a shame. We couldn't bring ourselves to eat our breakfast eggs. It was a bit more than I'd normally spend on eggs, too. Thought they would be lovely, but I feel like I have wasted my money.