January 2018 Grocery Challenge

claireyfairy82

Went to Aldi the other day and spent £81 and some pennies (can't find the receipt).


Bringing my total to £208.56 so far, my budget doesn't finish until the 31st but this is the best I've done for ages so I'm very pleased.


£41.44 left, I shouldn't need to spend all that before payday!!

try_harder

I am very happy that i have stayed within budget in what turned out to be a very expensive month mainly because of replenishing the cupboards and freezer .I have around £40 left for the last 5 days of the month so hoping that will see me through easily.

MadamMim2013

:hello:
FINALLY... I got the shopping done:T
Spent £47.95 and that should cover well into February, so very happy.
Had a £6.89p spend yesterday in the local shop too. (Convenience and carpy day!)
Fingers crossed this should be it, except for milk and bread!
Really proud of how well it's gone this month, was expecting much worse!:D

JingsMyBucket

Another NSD. I’m up to 6 now. Let’s see if I can get to Sunday without spending anything.

cw18

Looking for some advice please.....

I have some lemon and herb breadcrumbs (a biiiiig tub I got for next to nothing as they were very short dated) for using with fish or chicken, and it says to coat the fish / chicken with egg first - obviously to get the breadcrumbs to stick.

But I rarely have eggs in the house, and don't fancy buying a half dozen when I want to use the breadcrumbs - would work out very expensive and give me a lot of wasted eggs (I don't bake and rarely eat egg - omelette once every couple of months is about my limit).

I bought some eggs last weekend to make omelettes (had a young visitor who loves them but doesn't get them at home), and still have some left. So I was thinking of beating them up and freezing in ice cube trays ready for when I want to use the breadcrumbs, especially as I'm normally only cooking for me so almost certainly don't even need a full egg each time.

But how many pieces of fish (100-130g each) or chicken breast fillets (180-200g each) would you expect one egg to coat the top and sides of? (Don't plan on crumbing the bottoms as I always discard fish skin, and don't like soggy breadcrumbs from under things.) Trying to work out how many sections of my ice cube trays I should split the 3 whisked eggs into....... or if I even have enough freezer space for the number I'll need

VfM4meplse

Total fail, was seduced by a YS earlier so my spend is now £40.30/£40. I have no excuses, but a lot of food to get through. I have started making a list of what I will buy from Thursday onwards: top of the list is tonic water, closely followed by tomato ketchup.

cw18 wrote: »

Looking for some advice please.....

I have some lemon and herb breadcrumbs (a biiiiig tub I got for next to nothing as they were very short dated) for using with fish or chicken, and it says to coat the fish / chicken with egg first - obviously to get the breadcrumbs to stick.

But I rarely have eggs in the house, and don't fancy buying a half dozen when I want to use the breadcrumbs - would work out very expensive and give me a lot of wasted eggs (I don't bake and rarely eat egg - omelette once every couple of months is about my limit).

I bought some eggs last weekend to make omelettes (had a young visitor who loves them but doesn't get them at home), and still have some left. So I was thinking of beating them up and freezing in ice cube trays ready for when I want to use the breadcrumbs, especially as I'm normally only cooking for me so almost certainly don't even need a full egg each time.

I have sympathy, I'm no fan of eggs (but then nor do I eat fish or meat either ). If you want to leave the eggs in the freezer you might want to use natural yoghurt as an alternative. Or make a thin paste of cornflour and water, that will do the job just as well and add extra crispiness.

cw18

I'm actually wanting to put the eggs into the freezer (it's that or throw them away), but I'm not sure how best to split them up after whisking to try and reduce waste after defrosting.

I don't keep yoghurt in the house. I can't have normal stuff (I'm lactose intolerant, so should avoid dairy), and only buy soya (not sure how that would work) if I'm on muesli for breakfasts - and I've a lot of other stuff in my food mountain to use up before I buy any of that.

Cornflour probably isn't a good option - I've never been able to mix it into a smooth paste, so gave up using it for anything years ago.

JingsMyBucket

cw18 wrote: »

But how many pieces of fish (100-130g each) or chicken breast fillets (180-200g each) would you expect one egg to coat the top and sides of? (Don't plan on crumbing the bottoms as I always discard fish skin, and don't like soggy breadcrumbs from under things.) Trying to work out how many sections of my ice cube trays I should split the 3 whisked eggs into....... or if I even have enough freezer space for the number I'll need

One beaten egg will coat about 2 to 3 pieces of fish of that size or 2 chicken breasts of the stated size. It depends on if you cut them into strips too.

cw18

No, I don't plan to cut them into strips. Thanks for that, I shall try and freeze in half egg portions (or quarter egg and defrost 2 at a time - not sure how much egg an ice cube section equates to until I try pouring them in )

Mrs_Cheshire

Another NSD for me, still plenty in the fridge and fruit bowl. I'm hopeful we can get to Thursday with what we've got in.
I'm possibly passing a meat wholesale place tomorrow so may pop in and see if they have any bargains, but will add to Feb's budget if I get anything as all my meals are planned to thursday with what I already have in.