August 2015 Grocery Challenge

t14cy_t

spends of £23.69 today, bought dogs marrowbones, did a cash and carry shop and ended with a YS marathon!!

jayII

Following a Morries order on Sunday, spends here are at £143.89/£400.

We shouldn't need to spend anything else until Friday, so I'm happy with our spending so far.

maria3104

46.04 last saturday Mr T delivery and it was a massive birthday party event day. So am well please with this. On target to finish august on target, but unlikely to be under as is a 5 week month.

Freezers are heaving with food and am beginning to feel the need to actually manage this better.

Billie-jo

Some nice sounding meal ideas going on from different people.
On NSD#8 today :j

Yesterday we had liver & mash with green beans, cabbage and onion gravy. Very frugal as liver was reduced to 27p and the potatoes were free from friends garden. :money:
Have just made enough mushroom soup for us today using up the last few mushrooms, one sad looking celery stick, half of a large onion and added what amounted to a small hand full of grated cheese which was in need of use. Have had a sneaky taste and its lovely, thick and creamy yet has no cream in it. Will have this for lunch with a sandwich then tonight we are having ham, turkey and broccoli pie which is homemade but from freezer stock.

joedenise

Total spend to date of £87.87, after a spend of £23.80 today spread between Lidlee & Sainsbobs. Also got a £1.50 off £10 spend for next Sainsbob shop so will do some in there next week as well - the best part of that will be a couple of packs of dry cured bacon.

Have also had 7 NSDs so far, so not doing too bad on those either.

Denise

A_Frayed_Knot

Hi, have been reading random pages to give me inspiration, and have came to the conclusion I need to rethink my eating/cooking habits - almost like going on a diet - need to change lifestyle, so would like to join and I'll have a guess at £120.00 just for me.

Must have been on my mind as I have kept all receipts for this month. Will update later.

lynnejk

Hiya everyone :hello:


A Frayed Knot - a warm welcome to the thread and good luck with the challenge. Sing out if you need any help:D


Managed another NSD here today. We had veggie and beef Bolognese(freezer) with spaghetti for dinner tonight.


Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday
Lx

cw18

Thanks to all for the ideas to help me with my meal plan :T

Apologies for not coming back sooner - got bogged down with job hunting yesterday afternoon / evening (major problems getting an application form into a format my software would read - ended up with OH converting it to run in an older version of W0rd at work last night), and went out to give blood earlier today (with a 4.5 mile walk each way, so I was out just short of 4 hours!) Just one more donation to my silver award which I'd planned to reach before my birthday in January, but they've lost the venue I was booked into and the one they've transferred me to is really too far from home for a December walk - so I'm desperately trying to find a viable alternative!!

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

cw18 - could you not recycle some of the cheaper meat dishes from earlier in the month, eg have mince and tatties again or something? There are some meals I don't mind having more than once a month

Or will your son not have any nights where he's out with friends etc and you don't need to cook for him, so you can have a veggie/fish /chicken meal yourself? You sound really lovely and accommodating to his fussiness btw, I'd be telling him to sort and pay for his own dinner if he moaned about any of my food! I'm mean and only plan meat meals 2/3 a week but luckily DH isn't too fussy.

Funnily enough, mince and tatties is probably one of his least favourite on the list Could probably get away with sausages and/or burgers twice if one was 'normal' and one was exotic meats, but we've both got pretty fed up of the same meals week in and week out which is why I'm trying to get a 5 week cycle in place.

He won't have nights out - he's just been made redundant, so he's not going to be able to afford to.

Cooking for ourselves would just bump up the cost of shopping (smaller quantities of everything) and the gas/electricity for cooking it. It makes much more sense to cook for both of us at the same time (and the same thing as often as possible).

lynnejk wrote: »

Cheryl - I'll have a think and look through but off the top of my head

Quiche - endless with potato/salad/beans
DS would throw that straight in the bin
Cold meats, salad and potato of some sort
And most of that - he won't touch salad at all
Slow-roast leg of lamb - lots of l/os for pies and mince
I've always found leg of lamb very fatty and hard to get on with, but I might give it a try if I can get a Whoopsied one as I've always oven cooked it in the past.
Shepherd Spy
Presumably the lamb version of Cottage Pie? As mentioned above, one of his least favourite meals (mostly down to hating mash).Eggs, beans and chips (plus ham for DS)
Big no from me even without wondering if DS would eat it. Only way I eat eggs is scrambled or omelette (and I could more than happily pass on those completely), and I have a psychological issue with baked beans (40 years and counting on that one, though I have started taking baby steps at trying to overcome it).
Pizza - do whatever you fancy on one small each or half/half large between you
Already on list - at least for him. I'm more likely to make that a fish day for me
Chilli or Bolog in wraps baked in oven with cheese on top
Chilli version sounds like the enchilladas I make, except they're chicken?
Bologanese version sounds a bit lasagne-ish?
Oxtail stew - look at Hairy Bikers for great recipe
Don't have any of their books - are the recipes on-line as well? Would have thought this was very expensive having priced up oxtail when I fancied making soup a couple of years back?
Best end neck of lamb casserole - top with potato
Lamb stew's a possible, but not if cooked with potato on top as I've never had much success with that! DS won't eat mash happily, while sliced are always too soggy around the edges and solid in the middle when I've tried that

I do either cheese/onion/potato pie or macaroni cheese with b. beans and then add sausages or burger for DH
The other complication is that I'm (mildly) lactose intolerant, and as such try and stay off dairy (and can't stand the lactofree or non-dairy cheeses). Also high cholesterol, so should only eat tiny quantities of cheese for that reason as well. Hence fish when he has pizza or enchilladas

Had a look at Jambalaya recipes, but by the time I exclude chorizo and prawns and huge chunks of veg they don't seem to have much going for them. Will probably try it once and see though.....

Pulled Pork. I've never had this, and the only times I've ever seen it has been in bread rolls instead of burgers at food festivals. Is there more to it than that? And is it always smoky or BBQ (seems to be at the food festivals and I can't eat either without gagging)

Tagine? Does anyone make it without the apricots? Or is pointless to do so?

Will have to discuss with DS before trying sweet and sour pork. Totally different to anything else I've tried making with pork, but I suspect the presence of pineapple will cause problems (not because it's pineapple, but because "meat and fruit aren't meant to be mixed together" - and I have to be honest and say I'm a little nervous about the combination myself)

What never ceases to confuse me is how he can be fussier after 4 years in the Army than he was before he joined up :eek: I really would have thought that after Army life he'd be thankful for just about anything and everything !

lynnejk

Cheryl



Slow-roast leg of lamb - lots of l/os for pies and mince
I've always found leg of lamb very fatty and hard to get on with, but I might give it a try if I can get a Whoopsied one as I've always oven cooked it in the past.
I always look for it on offer and buy largest I can. Have a look on-line for Nigel Slater's recipe and most of fat melts away.

Oxtail stew - look at Hairy Bikers for great recipe
Don't have any of their books - are the recipes on-line as well? Would have thought this was very expensive having priced up oxtail when I fancied making soup a couple of years back?
Recipe is on-line and I usually make a stew and then use l/o to make soup with the addition of some passata and veggies. I add beans also but you probably wouldn't like that. Try to buy the larger, meatier pieces

Best end neck of lamb casserole - top with potato
Lamb stew's a possible, but not if cooked with potato on top as I've never had much success with that! DS won't eat mash happily, while sliced are always too soggy around the edges and solid in the middle when I've tried that
You can omit the potato and maybe have some whole potatoes or jackets on the side. Again you will find recipes on-line if you just put in Lamb Stew


HTH
Lx

t14cy_t

nsd for me yesterday.