February 2017 Grocery Challenge

lynnejk

thriftwizard wrote: »

...... So we're going to have to stick with things that don't trigger the pains, i.e. tuna in olive oil rather than sunflower (sunflower oil being one of the main suspects) .......

Have you tried the tuna in spring-water. I prefer it as it's less greasy

elsiepac wrote: »

......
I'm not using the F word, but I am saying I ACKNOWLEDGE that I need to stop doing this and that I can't afford to. It's no wonder I'm always broke looking at the way I'm breezing through money already this month!

.........My fridge is stuffed full. My freezer I was supposed to be running down but somehow there is extra STUFF in there! As my fridge has fresh veg in it, I am going to do my best to live from it. Until it's all, or virtually all, gone.
Tonight I will INVENTORY my fridge and freezer. I will PLAN better. Don't wish me luck, it's not luck, it's winding my neck in and stopping being silly. I can do this!

Wow - a huge step forward eh, well done Hope you soon feel better as well.

Ginmonster wrote: »

.... I need to find somewhere to walk to in my lunch hour that isn't a shop!

Do you have a library, museum, art gallery etc. I know it's a bit cold for a park atm but you have spring just around the corner

Had three NSDs in a row now :j :j :j

Hope you all have a thrifty Thursday
Lx

Franalamadingdong

Well I went to lidlly and to the tip. Going somewhere new is a big thing for me. I get terrible anxiety, but I try to push myself now and then. Spent £11.96 on a new rucksack, paper stickers etc for DS out of some of his Xmas money, and got a new cleaning set (£3.99) from discretionary fund. It meant that food, toiletries and cleaning stuff came to £59.05! Feels like a massive amount even though I was spending more than that every week. This should cover most of the food for the rest of the month. I did an evening meal plan for the full month, wrote a list, then left the list at home! Thankfully I remembered everything. We'll need fruit veg and milk top up later in the month though. We'll see if the bulk shop helps reduce the monthly bill.

meg72

Florence_J wrote: »

Not to worry Jensfeet, I found the thread and have joined it

Glad you found it and welcome its a great thread very friendly and helpful.

Ginmonster

lynnejk wrote: »

Do you have a library, museum, art gallery etc. I know it's a bit cold for a park atm but you have spring just around the corner

A good suggestion - thank you. I work in Manchester city centre so I have easy access to all of the above. Sometimes you forget what's on your doorstep.

PipneyJane

elsiepac wrote: »

Anyway, after that I will need to work out meals based on what's left. I have plenty in - but I have about 8 potatoes that need using fairly soon - any suggestions? I don't have any veggie sausages to have with mash which to be honest is sounding very appealing!! Maybe I might do lentil shepherds pie if I can be bothered, then I can freeze individual ones before they are baked. We'll see, I'm exhausted just thinking about it today to be honest!

Hope everyone has a nice day

Hope you feel better soon, Elsiepac.

Re the potatoes, I have a suggestion: potato gnocchi, which goes really well with a tomato sauce (mix mashed potato with flour and an egg/egg substitute until you get a soft dough, roll into strips then cut into 1 inch lengths. Drop the gnocchi into a large saucepan of boiling water. They're cooked when they rise to the top, which takes 2-3 minutes).

Today is a completely NSD for me. I didn't even have to take my turn at the dreaded coffee round at work - my turn is tomorrow. Work have rubbish coffee making facilities; no kitchens in this building, just Cliks machines dispensing something that is almost but not completely unlike tea (or coffee). Downstairs is a staff canteen with 2 microwaves available to heat up your lunch (for 400+ people) and two coffee stalls that make good tea and coffee. There's 5 of us in the team and we take it in turns to buy a round, spending about £5 each time.

medsdemon

NSD for me again. Took salad for lunch then someone made me awfully unhealthy by buying a whole huge pizza so had a slice of that too��. Dinner was Spicy lentil soup with rice cakes that i made last night. OH has his soup for his lunch and is having salmon from the freezer with chips when he gets in from running.

Will need milk tomorrow. And possibly bananas.

Florence_J

Hi guys,

I am running low on veggie mince, but luckily I have a packet of dried soya mince in my cupboard.

I just have one question which is if I cooked the whole lot in one go can I freeze it in individual portions and then reheat later? Or would it have to be kept 'fresh' in the fridge?

JensFeet

Florence_J wrote: »

Not to worry Jensfeet, I found the thread and have joined it

Yeay!! See you over there too Florence J

February NSD #5 for me today... Another one expected tomorrow although have to send money to school with DD for Valentine Disco and her end of year 6 'prom'. This is definitely not from the shopping budget though so not counting this!!

I'm absolutely surprised that I'm feeling 'drawn' to the supermarket and shops in general just because they are there... I keep telling myself that they are only there to take money off me and therefore interfere with me and my family's ability to do some fun things that cost ££ instead. I remember our wee touring caravan - which we LOVE - needs a new fridge so the money not being spent on groceries to clog up the cupboards can be used to replace this fridge. And then lots of weekends away over the summer for us without needing to think about trying to get food packed safely in a cool box etc... Silly but realistic too!!

elsiepac

Thanks for the suggestions for potatoes guys! I went home from work at 9am in the end but nipped to Tesco avoiding peoples eyes as I shuffled round clutching a tissue! I got some balm tissues as my nose is red raw, but I'm not going to count them as it's not something I would normally buy so it's from my spends budget. Spent about £9 on red and white onions, celery, carrots, cucumber, leeks and some free from ice creams as they soothe my thirst and for a treat! I bought the veg as they are the bases i was missing to create lots of meals from what I have in.

The leeks were on offer at 79p and there were 4 in a bag so I grabbed them with leek and potato soup in mind.

I felt quite pleased as I was tempted to buy ready made soups when I saw them but thought no, waste of money!

When I got hungry this evening I forced myself to go make the soup, it was so easy as just a bit of chopping really but I struggled as quite lightheaded!! Worth it though, as had it for tea and have another 4 portions, so I've got no need to cook for the next couple of days. I'm not going into work tomorrow either.

t14cy_t

nsd yesterdday, yippee!! xx