November 2014 Grocery Challenge

Minimalist

Hello! I'd like to join in this month please.

I'm sorry to say that recently our good OS habits have lapsed somewhat :eek: but we've made some real improvements over the past month or so, and are ready to join in with the challenge!

Please put me down for £200. This is for 2 adults (who enjoy their food a lot!) and covers all food and household items (cleaning products, loo roll etc). It doesn't cover booze - must admit we enjoy a glass of wine or several - this comes from a separate "treats" fund, but hope to bring this into the grocery budget in future.

Just done an online delivery order from Sainsbs - using a first time delivery £20 off voucher. So £65.50 worth of shopping for £44.50 - for delivery on Sunday evening, in the cheapest delivery slot, £3 :T This is more than I'd normally spend for the week, but includes a load of storecupboard and freezer items which will see us through the rest of the month.

Good luck everyone, and have a good month!

NewShadow

interesting turn about - it seems i might not need to do a big shop this week... just had a dig through the freezer, and while my plan's a little fishy, and I've found about 20 eggs lurking from the egg man, it all sounds tasty.

I have (tesc* value 75p for a months bag) Oats with water and cinnamon every morning for breakfast. I've got 3 or 4 kilo's in the cupboard and have it with bananas and blueberries from the freezer. I'll need to buy more bananas or go without this week. Can pick them up at Lidl for about 5 for £1 and will decide on Sunday.

Today
Leftover chicken and ratatouille

(aubergine, courgette, onions, red peppers. dry fry on lowish heat until the water comes out and its all soft. add tomatoes and allow to simmer. I add paprika and make in bulk. good as it is, or stirred through pasta/ couscous. freezes okay - better used with pasta than on its own after defrosted. can be blitzed into a soup or added as hidden veg)

Sat
Lunch - a mug of cauliflower cheese soup followed by scrambled mushrooms and spinach.

(soup is cauli and broc - and the leaves and stalk - cooked and blitzed in salted water. Add half a tub of Quark, reduced fat creme fresh, or natural yogurt. Add a pack (8 for £1 on offer) of laughing cow blue cheese triangles. Blitz again to blend. Freezes really well. )

Dinner - Trout Kedgeree (pan fry diced trout fillet, add cooked cold rice and defrosted peas/sweetcorn, stir in egg, cumin or paprika if desired)

Sun
Lunch - As above

Dinner - Grilled Mackerel with salted oven baked potato and any leftover spinach.

On Sunday I also do my cooking for lunches the week and tub it up - means my weekly meals are repetitive, but tasty.

Monday
Lunch - Mini Omelette with cottage cheese and scan bran or rivita. carrot sticks, grapes and apple.

(use a silicon muffin tray. fill with diced veg, mushrooms, scraps of cooked meat. beat one egg per space and bake for about 20 minutes. I have 2 per meal. doesn't freeze well - does keep 5 days in fridge)

Dinner - I need to cook a 1KG salmon slab for the week on sunday, so Roast Salmon with roast wedges and 'veg' to be decided - probably baby broad beans.

Tuesday
Lunch - Same until friday

Dinner - Soup - either tomato or something from the freezer. Salmon potato topping, with oven baked pot reheated. sugar free jelly with fruit or something and custard if i feel cold.

(flaked salmon, sweetcorn, peas, frozen diced peppers, Quark or reduced fat mayo)

Same until thursday.

Friday

Dinner - Bacon (if i remember to defrost it), egg, wedges, and beans.

May need to buy

Grapes for Lunches - should be fine till wed
Bananas for breakfast - Have 2 left. can skip and use dried fruit
Apples for Lunches - should be fine until wed
Riveta for work - Will run out of scan bran on tuesday. may find an alternative if i dig in the cupboards

estimated spend - £8.50

£1 bananas - may skip
£1 Apples or pears
£2.50 Grapes - may skip
£2 some form of granary cracker
£2 Milk fund at work (for the month)
will skip the egg man this week...

january_23

Well our oven has decided not to work. Called letting agents and they say they'll call back after talking to our LL. I doubt this will be sorted before we need it. Typical this happens now. We have guests coming for a Halloween bash and now can't cook pizzas, chicken gougons and other party foods, ie the types of food we rarely buy! It also means it is impossible to make cupcakes, biscuits etc. Very annoying. Do have back up of fajitas and we have pasta etc we can do for people. Hopefully it will work out okay.

Our November starts today.

£37.93 of budget used so far out of £200 budget.

NewShadow

january_23 wrote: »

Well our oven has decided not to work. Called letting agents and they say they'll call back after talking to our LL. I doubt this will be sorted before we need it. Typical this happens now. We have guests coming for a Halloween bash and now can't cook pizzas, chicken gougons and other party foods, ie the types of food we rarely buy! It also means it is impossible to make cupcakes, biscuits etc. Very annoying. Do have back up of fajitas and we have pasta etc we can do for peoole. Hopefully it will work out okay.

Our November starts today.

£37.93 of budget used so far out of £200 budget.

do you have the ingredients in for fridge cake?

goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/no_bake-cake

january_23

NewShadow wrote: »

do you have the ingredients in for fridge cake?

goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/no_bake-cake

I'm looking at them and I'm not sure the ones I have the ingredients for otherwise would work. I need to make them with no egg and no dairy milks - one main reason we bake and not buy.
The no bake chocolate truffle would have been good (could have done individual cupcake like ones or something) but I haven't got dairy free whipping cream.


Think my best bet is to beg a friend/my parents into using their oven - mostly as I already mixed a set of wet and dry mixes (thankfully not mixed together) of the cupcake stuff before I found out the oven wasn't working!


(Other allergy of someone coming is coconut oil. Unfortunately all of the no-bake recipes I use that are both dairy and egg free use coconut oil and it isn't like I can use a different oil as it changes the taste too much.)

FoxFace

Hi folks... can I join you again please? I am on sick leave again and this time my pay is cut in half... it stinks, but I can't help being ill so I have to plod on and make do.

My budget goal is £50 per week, to feed the four of us... so am setting £250 to last the month.

I have just been over to T*sco and spent £45.93p for everything we need for the week, which included nearly £10 on non-food essentials also... so I am pretty pleased with that tbh.

Menu plan for the week is all from scratch, starting tomorrow.
Saturday: Bean and veg soup/stew
Sunday: Lamb mince & veg with dumplings
Monday: Lentil curry and brown rice
Tuesday: Spaghetti bolognese
Thursday: Tuna fishcakes with bulgar wheat/quinoa and veg
Friday: Pumpkin & Sage pasta

Lunches will be HM veg soup or eggs (omelette or whatever), kids have packed lunches which are standard sandwich, crisps, yogurt and fruit. Breakfast cereal and porridge are already in stock... Ready. Set. Go!!! :T

january_23

Due to looking up the microwave cake in a cup (I'm trying to figure out any way for us to do this without friends/family) I decided to try making my cupcakes in the microwave! They aren't as good as they come out in the oven but they are okay.
Our microwave is a combie so I am working out how to use it for pizzas etc. We may have a way to work this out.

NewShadow

january_23 wrote: »

Due to looking up the microwave cake in a cup (I'm trying to figure out any way for us to do this without friends/family) I decided to try making my cupcakes in the microwave! They aren't as good as they come out in the oven but they are okay.
Our microwave is a combie so I am working out how to use it for pizzas etc. We may have a way to work this out.

where there's a will

Have you ever heard the term stove top pizza? (obviously not sure if your oven is like mine and the top works independently)

In a frying pan - its how we used to make them when camping.

january_23

NewShadow wrote: »

where there's a will

Have you ever heard the term stove top pizza? (obviously not sure if your oven is like mine and the top works independently)

In a frying pan - its how we used to make them when camping.

Yes I have to agree with that.


Never heard of that term no.

The stove is independent from the oven. It's also electric, no gas in this flat.
The pizzas are store bought. On youtube all the pizzas are from scratch but would it work if I defrosted them and then used the stove to cook them?

mon1o

Hi all

Today is payday so my month has started! Ive been to the local farm shop this morning and stocked up on meat for the month plus a few other bits £61.20 out of my £250 budget gone. Off to ald! To stock up on a few bits tomorrow but that wont cost much and then should be just a case of bread/milk top up shops for the rest of the month. I need to do a signature thing to keep up lol but cant on my phone so will do it tonight when i get on the computer after trick or treating with the kids.

Mon x