January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

jedi82

Good morning, NSD for me yesterday but that was mainly due to me not getting out of my PJs all day :rotfl: I cooked a large chicken in the slow cooker so was able get loads of meat off. Made kinda dauphinois potatoes with cream that was only one day OOD but smelt fine and hid the rest of the chicken from OH so we can have it for dinner tonight (and maybe tomorrow if I can stretch it, new to this rubber chicken malarkey).

Hoping today will be an NSD but got to go into town with the kids to drop of stuff at the charity shop and so got to be strong and say NO to all of their requests

Have a good day,
Jedi X

Eighty3Bec

NSD for us here yesterday. Off to go put a curry in the slow cooker and see what the freezer has to offer for the next few days.

WantToBeSE

I had a NSD yesterday too I actually went out for a nice walk.
We are doing the same today..out for a nice walk at the local National Trust place.
I would normally go and buy some food to take with us, but as the parking there is about £4, i wont bother spending any other money!

I made some veggie burgers yesterday, with beans and stuff i already had in the house. Does anyone know at what point i freeze them? Do i have to cook them first, or can i freeze the uncooked mix?
The recipe was really easy and quick, and cost me nothing extra, and it made enough mix for about 8 burgers. So i want to freeze what i havent used.

I'm also going to make a veggie chilli either today or tomorrow, and freeze into portions. This worked really well in the past, and saved me running to the shops when i was too tired to cook after a long day.

purpleybat

hello all


I got a bit rubbish at this as it got nearer crimble and lost track of everything, so think I went quite a bit over budget.
this year I finish paying off my debt mountain and if possible I want to clear it by may rather than nov as I'm due to, the thing is I really want a short hol at the seaside this year (first hol in 14 years) so maybe nov will be more realistic.

anyway, back to thread...
can I be put down for £150 please, I think cos I got loads of bargain meat at the end of the month I might not need that amount but I want to start off gently


did my 1st shop for the month today at lidles and spent £29.18. I had no veg in and for some reason I thought I had no cheese for sarnies, I now have a cheese mountain in my fridge!

mrsnicewriting

NSD for me too yesterday, will prob only need milk today or tomorrow, as freezer full to bursting!

zafiro1984

I use ecover products because we are not on main drains. Yesterday, online, i came across a 33% off offer from a supermarket. Problem - should I go and stock up and risk spending on impulse buys or should I wait.

'Light bulb moment' early this morning - I'll shop online and have it delivered (saving petrol and impulse buying).

Thought I was really clever and had outwitted them only to find 'offer no longer available' drat - who's had the last laugh? :mad: :(

FurryBeastOz

£16.45 at YS trawl. Very disappointing but I did get smoked salmon, peppered mackerel and a side of salmon to portion up for the freezer. At one point I almost had a trolley full, then I stood back and asked myself, would you have bought it if it wasn't YS. Anything that was a no for any other reason than a luxury at full price (smoked salmon:D) got put back. Yay me:j

elsiepac

Hope everyone had a nice time seeing in the new year!

I had a nice time in Plymouth with my parents and sister, although sharing a room with my sister (we are both early 30s) was a challenge to say the least, so I definitely won't be doing that again! I made my quinoa bites and they were delicious and travelled well, so that was a success. I have some left in the fridge too!

Yesterday when I got home I made a small meal plan for the week, which involved 4 recipes, which gives me meals for the week and a couple of portions for the freezer (which I'm meant to be using up?!)

So this week I am having:
Chickpea salad sandwiches (2 meals)
Indian Cauliflower-Lentil Soup (3 meals)
Hoppin' John (2 meals + 2 in freezer) This is the recipe I used
Tex-Mex Casserole (unsure how many portions I'll get from this, but assuming 4 then it's 2 meals + 2 in freezer. This is casserole in the American sense of the word - it's like a baked rice dish with beans and spices and tomatoes and so on, and you serve it with toppings like tortilla chips, avocado, salsa etc)

I had a chickpea salad sandwich for lunch yesterday and it was delicious! Very easy too, the original recipe is from the Oh She Glows cookbook, but basically it was this:
Tin of chickpeas
2 sticks celery
3 spring onions (you could sub with red onion)
40g red pepper (about half a pepper)
40g gherkins (two decent size ones)
1 clove garlic
3 tbsps vegan mayonnaise
Juice of half a lemon
1 1/2 tsp mustard (I used dijon)
2-3 tbsps fresh dill (optional)

Just mash the drained chickpeas in a big bowl with a potato masher, leaving some in chunks, then chop all the veg up quite small and mix everything together!
It was really easy, took 10 minutes, and was different and delicious and healthy!
original recipe

I did a grocery shop yesterday based on my recipes (which also used up some bendy veg I had, hence choosing them!). Annoyingly my giant Mr T seemed to have undergone a nuclear holocaust and most of the veg aisles were totally empty! So couldn't get cauliflower or spinach so need to pop in later today.

Had a chip shop dinner (battered mushrooms, veggie spring roll and chips) on 29 Dec, before I went to Plymouth for new year - purely down to not having prepped something earlier in the day, as I was out with a friend till 9pm and needed feeding! Yes it was far too much food but it was bloody lovely!

Chickpea Salad:


Hoppin' John (on brown rice):


Plan:
21-27 Dec: £25 (actual £40.22)
28-3 Jan: £24.94 (so far £32.12, probably another £3 to add)
4-10 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)
11-17 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)
18-25 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)



Date.......Where.....Amount.....Remaining from £140 Budget
21 Dec.....T35c0.....£09.00.....£131.00 (Veggie Mains and Prepared Veg - lazy)
23 Dec.....T35c0.....£06.14.....£124.86 (Crisps, Nuts and Snacks for get together)
24 Dec.....H&B.......£03.88.....£120.98 (Mushroom Tofu Pate and Sandwich slices)
24 Dec.....T35c0.....£21.20.....£99.78 (Proper Grocery Shop and Toiletries)
29 Dec.....A1d1......£01.64.....£98.14 (Red Onions and Basil)
29 Dec.....Chippy....£06.95.....£91.19 (Oops!)
1 Jan.....T35c0.....£23.53.....£67.66 (proper grocery shop)

CRANKY40

£38.39 spent on an online shop (I'm asthmatic and a bit wheezy just now so couldn't face dragging the cat litter around). The cheese was unavailable (seriously) and I asked for no subs so dragged myself off to the nearest Asda....it was all good though as they had the cheese and I had enough price match vouchers to pay for it so technically it was free :rotfl: Also bought my dad's newspaper but not counting that as I post the local paper to him every week in lieu of a birthday present (birthday present would be cheaper but never mind). I have £20 cash in my purse for anything else we need and I've moved the remaining £10 from my £70 budget for this week into my savings account.

jedi82

£1.35 spent on tea bags at local shop. Need my tea!!!