January Grocery Challenge 2015

CherryPie

Ventured into Mr T's today as I was running out of a few things. I had a list of 8 things, and came home with only 1 additional thing! Quite the success for me! Some cup a soups for work lunches, tinned tomatoes (the cupboard was bare!) kidney beans, spices, eggs, mushrooms, jam & yogurt. The plus 1 was some satsumas.


Huge pot of veg chilli on the go, perfect anti dote to this horrible weather we're having. Also plan on making these later... http://www.thriftylesley.com/jammy-oat-bars-7p/ If you haven't been on Thrifty Lesley's website yet, I'd highly recommend it.


Signature updated, almost halfway through the budget with 17 days still to go. Pretty confident I'll make it! (famous last words!!)

[Deleted User]

Just a little old style tip if I may, I have not bought mouthwash in years as a dentist advised me that just a quick swill with salt water was more effective, just a sprinkle of salt in water .[/QUOTE]





I use a mix of 1tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Does not dry the mouth and is very effective and cheap

JIL

I made some fab indian snacks tonight they are baked rather than fried and you get loads for your money as opposed to buying them.

its easy just chop and slice 2 large onions, which then need to be gently fried in a little oil for about 10 minutes, then I also added some leftover cooked peas, a left over cooked potato which I cubed and a bunch of defrosted spinach. Use whatever takes your fancy really.

Then add to this a teaspoon of coriander, a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of turmeric, half a teaspoon of ground ginger and a half teaspoon of chilli powder, gently mix together over the heat and then take off the heat and add a really good squeeze of tomato puree and eight tablespoons of gram flour, mix together and then add some water, just enough to make a very stiff batter.

pour some oil onto a baking tray and just make it cover the surface. then add spoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet. It should make about 12.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at about 190, then turn them over and bake for a further 10 minutes.
They freeze well but are best reheated from frozen.

Serve with a raita made from fresh yoghurt mixed with a teaspoon of mint sauce and finely diced cucumber.

Bobarella

NSD here. Woop! Need as many of those as I can get this month due to us having an extra 7 days in this pay period. We're all pulling in the same direction though which helps. Well, mostly....I made a home made chicken and veg pie last night as I work 10 hours on Saturdays. I asked Mr to roll out the lid pastry and pop it into the oven. I made the mistake of also leaving some sweet pastry out so they could make a treat. Fast forward to dinner time. I don't need to tell you what happened do I? Let's just say it was an 'interesting' tea...

bmma

NSD today = 4 x

Mrs_Cheshire

Spent £11.07 today, grabbed some reduced priced bargains in Mr M. and some other cheap bits from Her*n foods.

wealthygirl

Good Evening everyone, well I went back to work this week and with RL I have lost track slightly:(

I have bought a few bits this week including some laundry items which I needed so they came to £9.64. which brings my weekly spend to £49.43.

Today I did my weekly shop at Ald* which came to £50.60. Also went to Ms to get a joint for tomorrow which was £5.22 and then to Asd@ for some sunflower seeds for £1 to go into my HM bread.:)

Made a loaf of bread this afternoon and did a large pile of ironing.:T

Will update my signature to reflect my spends.

Have a good evening all.:)

gollysmissus

£31.44 at Al*i - £2.50 @ As*a and £1.98 at H**e Ba****ns. Should last till next Thursday if I stick to my plans!!!!!!!
Made a venison casserole tonight with carrots, celery onions and some dubious mushrooms. Amazing what u find at bottom of freezer when ur on an economy drive. Hubby loved it but I'm not keen on the meat but it makes a lovely gravy very tasty but will probably buy shin beef or braising steak next time.
Hopefully a few NSDs next week but we'll see.

Night all😴

lynnejk

Hiya everyone :hello:


Looks like most people are doing quite well for the first month of the year :T


CW - I was just thinking over your finances as you've shown them whilst I was washing up.


I think some of it might be that probably, like me, you buy things to stock up when they are on some kind of special offer and you are charging yourself full price to replace them. You will probably re-stock some things at a reduced price again in the future.


Also, it is difficult to spend to an exact amount each day as most things are used over period of time. So I don't really think nine days is very long and you need to give it 2/3 months on your new style of budgeting. You will probably then see where you need to tweak it eh


Maybe you can make some various big pots of soup and freeze in portions. Then you could give DS a portion with some bread before he has his main meal - that would help fill up his hollow legs quite cheaply HTH.


We didn't go shopping as it started to snow and, being a Saturday, we wouldn't be able to park near the shops in the town. It's free everywhere on a Sunday so we will go the morrow.


Hope you all have a super Sunday
Lx

cw18

Thanks for the ideas

I'm using full cost of everything as I'm trying to work out how much I'll need if there aren't special offers / coupons / whoopsies to be had in the future - hence charging myself full value for everything. Almost everything I've bought from shops this month has been used pretty much immediately, a small amount from stock has been a full tin of this / packet of that, and the rest of stock is from containers I weighed before first using this month and weighed again this mornings. So the figures are probably pretty accurate. The only exceptions are a jar of pickle and a bottle of ketchup from stock I've just opened that will last for months, a tub of hot chocolate I've bought (ditto), and 6 portions of fish that have gone into the freezer.

DS1 won't eat soup very often - and most definitely not the veg laden soups I make (he throws out most of the veg I serve him - but my feeling is he's paying for it so that's his choice, at least I plate up a balanced meal for him). He takes half his main meals to work, so they have to be the type he can microwave (bolognese, chilli, stew) and he wouldn't want more than that to deal with in his meal break. Can't remember the last time he ate bread at home either, unless it's a bun with a burger inside it !!!