January 2018 Grocery Challenge

supersaver1000

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Has anyone got any good slow cooker meal ideas that don't include gravy. I know you can do bolagnese and curries but looking for some different ideas to liven up our menu plan.

I'm going to try a slow cooker pot roast today. Although I bought a piece of top rump from Mr A rather than the recommended brisket. It was £11 but I'm hoping it will last for two meals and then do sandwiches as well for work lunches this week. It does have stock and red wine so I guess there is gravy, but I've got a couple of recipe books so I'll have a look as I'm planning to use the SC from now on (need to get back on track esp. with food budgeting).

pamsdish

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2197233
slow cooker thread

Maisie_M

Popping in to declare a final spend of £19.44 this week. A bot annoyed about this as in reality I probably only needed about £4-5 worth of stuff and the rest was pick up 'treats'. Its been a great eye opener for me with regards to spending habits as I normally do my main shop at the weekend and really shouldnt need anything else other than the odd loaf or milk. However if I pop into saisbugs on the way back from picking up ds for these things I end up with loads more than I actually need. Therefore I am going to use the local co-op as I am unlikely to buy more than what I need.

Sorry for the ramble but this has been quite useful for me.

The good news is that I had 23/31 no spend days (partly cause it was xmas and also I was ill in bed with the flu but Im taking them as a positive :rotfl:)

So off to February thread. See you there.

Highland_Fling

Spent £20 in butcher shop yesterday and another £17 at supermarket.
I am therefore declaring £148.21/£200 for January.
I am sure I must have lost a couple of receipts as this appears too low a figure. I am also convinced total was reduced due to amount of Christmas fayre still in house.
Next month I am setting budget a little lower.

pamsdish

£8.60 in Aldi this morning as I fancied chicken and none left in freezer, couple of other needed bits too.

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon all. My NSD streak came to an end yesterday. I spent €7.27 on pât!, blackberries, and two cans of unsweetened condensed milk to make low sugar ice cream with all the cream I have in the fridge. Also, €2 on a 4-pack of curry ramen for OH.

I’m heading to the halal market to get a tray of 30 eggs to last us the next few weeks. We’re down to four eggs and we’re both traveling on business this week so need portable snacks to take with us. I’ll have have OH pay for the eggs to recoup some of what I’ve spent on him the past three weeks since he’s been sick so I won’t count that in my January total.

OH still isn’t feeling well and I think I might cancel my Holland & Barrett collection that’s waiting for him to get in London. He still can’t breathe properly and I’m not going to have him lug a suitcase of stuff with back over here. That just feels mean or selfish not to mention damaging to his health.

I probably have a couple more stock up spends this Monday and Tuesday then will be done for January.

Totals So Far:
€362.01/€550.00
6 NSD

JingsMyBucket

Oh yeah, and today’s a cooking day for me. I’m going to make:

Broccoli and Stilton soup - use up both from the fridge

Low carb flatbreads

Arugula (rocket) pesto - uses up a bag of arugula in the fridge from a week ago. I might just mix it into the soup though if it’s a bit too far gone.

Low sugar Berry ice cream - using the cream in the fridge plus frozen berries I’m the freezer.

I’m also going to freeze some ham in the fridge to keep it from spoiling while I’m away this week.

SilverBird_2

Declaring a spend of £59.79 for January.

Budget was £180 but there was plenty of food in cupboards and freezer to be used up so only needed to spend around 1/3rd of amount allocated

Will definitely need to buy more in February as stocks are lower now, but will be keeping focused and only buying what's on the list - stick to the plan!!!

Merlin's_Beard

£3.44 in Aldi took me to £90.68, so I treated myself to a coffee that came with a free muffin.

Declaring at £93.25/£100

Happy with that! Hoping to use up freezer meats next month, so hopefully that will help to keep spends low.

YorksLass

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.

Might be a bit late now but another suggestion would be to mix the breadcrumbs with pesto (instead of using egg) and spread it over the fish or chicken.

Faete wrote: »

My OH and I are both down with the lurge so no big shop today, he's popped round to our local Co-op and picked up some ding meals as neither of us feel like cooking. £22.13. :(Fae xx

Ouch!

PipneyJane wrote: »

I dislike Sainsbugs. Their store layouts annoy me and I find them more expensive than MrT’s.- Pip

I'm fast falling out with them too - annoying new store layout, higher shelving (no good for littlies like me), frequent price increases, basics no longer stocked. Problem is (for me) it's either them or the Co-op which is a bit nearer but doesn't particularly inspire me (even less choice and also expensive). The only other local option is a convenience store that I won't use as their stock seems to be mainly junk food.

I've toyed with the idea of catching the bus to either Lidl or Aldi but, in both cases, I'd need to get a taxi home and that would probably wipe out any savings made. The next time I need a big shop, I'm going to use a price comparison site and try a home delivery from Mr Ts, Mr As or Morries - or maybe all of them in turn. They usually have money-off offers for new customers too.

Well, thought I'd finished with this month's challenge but DH wanted to go to the market on Friday (I think he was getting stir crazy at being confined to the house by the lurgy) and he managed to spend £12.40 on potatoes, sprouts, bacon and ??? Not to worry, it will get used up this coming week and there's still £25.41 left in the pot.

Looking forward to February as I'm going to meal plan for the whole month to try and use up as much as I can of the freezer stock and whatever is in the cupboards. And I don't have DDs for CT and water rates to pay for the next 2 months either. Works out quite well as I have 5 birthdays (DGD, x3 DGSs, DDiL) to cater for in a 2-week period.