January Grocery Challenge 2015

lynnejk

Hiya everyone


Liked the picture Billie-jo :T I love hollandaise sauce with salmon yum


Had an NSD today but will need shopping tomorrow


Hope you all have a super Saturday
Lx

rubiesr4eva

dingdongsaving wrote: »

Similar to other posters...
*Spuds in cold water. Bring to boil for 8 mins.
*Leave to "dry" off...shake in pan to "fluff" and add a tablespoon of semolina.
*Into hot oil for 40 mins = crispiest roast spuds ever.
(I used to just shake or shake and add salt but my sister always had amazing roasties and this is her trick...now we're never without a bag of semolina).

Going to try this myself - always more for improvement

[Deleted User]

Wooftastic wrote: »

SaveDosh, does anyone still post on the Second Purse Thread???

I don't know, ive never been on it, but you could see when the last posts were to see if there is much activity.

zafiro1984

rubiesr4eva wrote: »

zarfiro i do crispy potatoes by par boiling them, drain them, add a sprinkle of salt and some "one cal" spray oil, give them a good shake, then finish off in the oven.


This way they are crispy on outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside.

Many thanks to all who offered ideas. I tried them last night with great success. I didn't have 'one cal' spray oil so dunked them in veg oil but drained them well afterwards before putting them in the oven. Had them with a couple of sausages wrapped in some fabulous bacon and braised red cabbage with apples from the freezer (Christmas leftovers) - again many thanks - no need to spend money buying them and they cost pence to make - win win

maria3104

Mr T has delivered, the lovely driver is so sweet.
Unloaded, put away and only £33.40. I have updated signature. Doing OK this Jan so far. Which as Dec was a good month is reassuring.

Long drag for me to April which is the next time I will have some disposable income, the joys of self employment.

SilverBird_2

I've managed 9 NSDs out of 10 so far

Fortunately there is plenty of food in the freezer and cupboards, and I'm making a big effort to use up what's there and resist the temptation to spend. Some fresh tomatoes would be nice, but will hold out as long as possible. I've spent time this week creating a spreadsheet up to end of 2016 and am now highly motivated not to spend unless the item is on the shopping list as will be making a serious effort to achieve the projected balance!

cw18

Starting to panic a bit about my grocery budget :eek:

I seemed to cope well within budget last year, so I dropped it just over £1/day this year [strike]hoping[/strike] expecting to be able to lower it again part way through the year :T

But this year I've also changed the way I'm charging things to my budget, and it's already showing just how much I was relying on special offers / whoopies - as well as stuff I had stockpiled in the house which I'm now charging to my budget as well. I realise I've already paid for those items, but I need to get a realistic picture of how much I need in the bank to cover food moving forwards (especially once I get the stockpile down to a manageable level instead of an overwhelming mountain).

Budget for month is £253.10, which equates to an average of £8.16/day - though weekends are dearer as I feed 3 instead of 2.

9 days into the month (as of end of yesterday), this means I should be looking at having spent no more than £73.48

My old way of accounting would have been £35.98 worth of goods from the shops, less a 5p voucher, 88p savings on multibuys, and £2.74 whoospie saving - so I'd have been logging a spend of £32.31 (money I've actually handed over to shops) which is well within budget.

This year I'm charging myself the full cost of everything I buy (splitting savings between a second purse for future restock/household emergencies and spending for 'wants') and also the full replacement cost of everything I use from stock (with that money being split half for future restock/emergencies and half for 'wants'), as this will give me a picture of what it would cost to eat the same things if the offers/stockpile aren't available. And then I'm rounding every bill up to the next 10p (with the loose change also going into my pot for spending on 'wants') in the hope this will cushion future grocery price increases.

So I'm currently on £35.98 from shops plus £37.91 from stocks plus 51p loose change - making for a declared spend of £74.40 which is over budget. Whilst it's not much over, the worrying thing is that £3/day of my budget is what I charge DS1 for feeding him, but there have already been 3 days this month he's paid for when I've not had to - so I should be £9 under budget just from that :eek:

That means I'm about £10 over where I wanted to be in 9 days - which is roughly the £1/day I reduced my budget by !!!! And I can't afford to put it up again, so I'm going to have to seriously look at what we're eating to try and reduce costs - although DS1 is already getting really funny about the appearance of lentils in all mince based meals (just as well he doesn't know there's porridge oats in there as well ). And I know a lot of the portions I serve up aren't as much as DS1 feels he pays for or OH would have at home.


However..........

On the plus side I'm clearly making a dent into my stockpiles (albeit not yet noticeable) as over half the spends are from there, and I've released £20.79 for restock/emergencies and £21.30 for 'wants' :T As 'wants' also includes essential household appliances and I have a built in fridge/freezer in desperate need of replacement, the amount moving over to there is fantastic news

miss_try_to_save

hi all nsd for me today last night I told my family I was only doing shopping for bread milk fruit basically essentials next week expecting there to be an explosion instead I got a about time there is enough food in the house to last out a zombie apocalypse (we had just watched a zombie film lol) which made me think doing this challenge is the best thing I have done when my family think I buy to much I have to take a serious look at what I am spending money on we are having a recipe from my hairy bikers diet book tonight and I had everything in for the recipe which has made me think I need to do a stock take of my freezers they are jammed to the point I can hardly open the draws more food has gone in than come out did anyone else have this problem when they first started doing the challenge I feel maybe I have taken shopping for food to extremes and now I need to cut back big time

Solstice_3

rubiesr4eva and dingdongsaving have added your Roast Potato methods to the recipe list

meg72 added the link for flavoured oils to the recipe index.

Update to my spends

7th NSD (8)
8th £2.95 Supermarket
9th £9.65 Supermarket
10th £16.70 Butchers

My shoulder of pork is in the oven now for tonight's dinner - tomorrow I will portion it up and keep 2 days worth in the fridge and freeze the rest, once I know how many portions I have I can finish my meal plan It's been really disjointed this month not knowing how many meals my big joints will do so I haven't really properly meal planned. Need to get back in the flow for February and do a proper meal plan.

Total spends so far £170.24 I should have just under £150 left I have £40 I have no idea where I have gone wrong, missed a big spend on food or spent it somewhere else - very disorganised and rubbish start to the year!

Wicked_Lady

Hi all


Almost a NSD for me today as I've only spent £3.15 on newspapers and carrots.


Out tonight to a dance but the £16 for tickets will come from a different budget. Mind you, the cat cost us money at the Vets this morning and it looks as though she may need her remaining 4 teeth taken out next month!