June 2018 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted User]

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Need some help with tasty snacks both sweet and savoury for my kids

Not sure if you have a Home Bargains or B&M by you, they do nice flapjacks 19p or 29p, depending on size, really filling. If you Google lunchbox ideas for kids, it will bring up loads, here are some suggestions. https://www.facebook.com/tastyjunior/videos/easy-school-lunch-prep-for/403732693314157/




Spends to date £10(ish). I did update sig straight away, also bought some Vital Wheat Gluten Flour - was £15(ish), coming out of bulk fund, also updated sig straight away - gonna have a go at making some Seitan. Got a ton of veggies, fruit, organic rice bread, wholemeal bread n more from work, 'el complimento', 'cause it will just go to waste. Have a lovely w/e everyone. xx

PipneyJane

Oh my god, it’s early! I coughed myself awake this morning and am drinking a mug of scaldingly-hot tea to try to calm my throat down. (It usually works.). Partially my own fault - I talked myself hoarse yesterday.

Thank you everyone for the get well wishes. This cold will wear off eventually. My DH - aka He Who Never Gets Sick - had the symptoms for 2-3 weeks.

I have no spending to declare since my last post.

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Today we spent £16.61 of June budget. Around £5 just for the ingredients I didn't have to make the dinner I fancied . It will do enough for tomorrow as well and maybe enough for Sunday though. That and there will be one lemon grass stalk and 2 chillies left over.

Both lemongrass and chillies freeze well. Either chop them up or shove them in the freezer whole. I would defrost the lemongrass before using* but not the chilli. Another Asian friend just smashes up frozen, whole chillies. She says they break up really well while frozen. I’ve not tried; I freeze my chillies chopped and use a heaped teaspoonful for each chilli specified in a recipe.


MrsCheshire the BBC’s Eat Well For Less program has some good lunchbox fillers. I like the look of these breakfast bars but they have others on the site.

HTH

Pip



* I buy ingredients like lemongrass and Kafir lime leaves frozen from WingYip, the Chinese supermarket/cash-n-carry. The way they’re packaged, it’s easy to just take out one from the frozen packet and put the rest back in the freezer. My favourite dish - beef rendang** - involves chopped lemongrass, so I defrost that and throw any water that collects into the recipe.

** from memory, Beef Rendang is a 24 hour production number, since you have to marinate the meat in a paste made from the main herbs and spices. I don’t make it often. It’s a treat and a celebration dish.

FoxFace

Morning everyone

Haven't been on for two days because I've been mega busy! Two NSD's though, so that's good

Just doing my menu plan for next week... my week ends on a Saturday, so this one will be the last of June! Still under budget though... and considering the budget is about £20pw less than I was spending, I am very happy with that

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

I use shampoo bars too, mainly to save plastic but mine has lasted ages too - where did you get yours from? I'll need a new one soon and not sure whether to use Lush again or try somewhere different
I did buy a conditioner bar too but it didn't work and ended up using it as expensive soap!

Sorry for the late reply... I bought mine from our local health food shop and it was £2.62p per bar... it is a brand called "Friendly Soap"

Off to update sig, have a lovely day everyone!
Fox
x

pamsdish

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

Could you buy bigger bags of crisps and put a few in a little pot in their lunchbox? This might work with popcorn too, although I guess you'd need some way of keeping the main bags fresh.

I have a little sealer thing I bought on ebay for £1 and a few pennies, really works well for opened larger bags. even cheaper at the moment.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=food+sealer+machine&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Hopeless_Case

FoxFace wrote: »

Morning everyone

Haven't been on for two days because I've been mega busy! Two NSD's though, so that's good

Just doing my menu plan for next week... my week ends on a Saturday, so this one will be the last of June! Still under budget though... and considering the budget is about £20pw less than I was spending, I am very happy with that



Sorry for the late reply... I bought mine from our local health food shop and it was £2.62p per bar... it is a brand called "Friendly Soap"

Off to update sig, have a lovely day everyone!
Fox
x

Thanks, I'll have a look out for it

pamsdish wrote: »

I have a little sealer thing I bought on ebay for £1 and a few pennies, really works well for opened larger bags. even cheaper at the moment.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=food+sealer+machine&_sacat=0&_sop=15

What a great idea! All that is then needed is will power, I'm not good around opened bags of crisps even if they are resealed :rotfl:

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon everyone! I’m catching up reading everybody’s posts while on vacation. I’ve missed the boards a bit. As far as spending goes, I haven’t found anything in this particular city that I’d like to add to my bulk vacation stash just yet so there have been 3 NSDs on that front. In terms of day to day food or eating out spending, Ive been pretty good about sticking to my budget of roughly €40/day. That’s even including transportation around town. We’re also being rather lazy and just enjoying the view from the terrace while reading or watching movies in bed. A true holiday, finally!

TOTAL SO FAR:
11 / 10 NSD
€223.92 / €300.00

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Going to do some baking to use up bits in the house and to try a reduce the use of shop bought snacks.

Need some help with tasty snacks both sweet and savoury for my kids - 9 yr old has a packed lunch every day and needs a healthy snack for break time, 2 yr old has packed lunch 3 days a week, 7yr old on free lunches for the next few weeks but will revert to packed lunches in september.
They all need a snack after school and something after tea!

The ones on packed lunch currently have sandwiches/wraps/crackers and some veg, a piece of fruit, a yogurt, some crisps/savoury snack and a cake/flapjack bar. The eldest usually has a cereal bar/malt loaf or small bag of popcorn for his morning snack.

It's costing me a fortune!

Would just packing an extra half sandwich as their snack(s) work? It could be one that’s a bit more special to set it apart from the others so they understand to save it for later. That would end up being mentally more filling than little individual pieces like popcorn or pretzels, IYSWIM. It would also be cheaper too. This could be for the afternoon snack. Other filling items could be cheese, boiled eggs, roasted chickpeas, etc. The protein would satiate them more and possibly help prevent more snacking.

Chloris

Hello All. Nsd on Friday and today but Thursday was expensive. Paid milkman, topped up children's lunch money (they take packed lunches as a general rule but I like to keep money in their account just in case they forget water bottle etc), lidl and Sains shop. That all takes me over my monthly budget, sigh, and I'm now at £480.10. Unfortunately there is another Thursday in june and I go right up to the end of the month. I will do my best. Xx

Tales17

Weekly Update!

- £16 - Fruit & Veg Box

- £6.99 Amazon - Childs Farm Bubble Bath, recommended to try and help my son's skin condition!

- £83.47 - Click and Collect Tesco Shop last week!

- £108.32 - Click and Collect Tesco Shop this week! Bigger than usual but I had done a complete pantry update so stocked up on toiletries and cleaning products that I needed that were on offer!

- £12.38 - ASDA - Quick shop to buy a few items I can't get at Tesco!

So total spend to date is: £354.95

FoxFace

£22.32p spent today... ouch! Although within that is a not insubstantial amount that I spent on Soap Nuts, which will last us for quite a number of weeks hopefully!

Also managed to get a few bits that I can put in next week's menu plan I have a LOT of different grains to work with so I will be trying to incorporate as much as possible.

However I will admit that I blew a ridiculous amount of cash today on some vegan black forest cupcakes that we found on an outdoor market stall... I have zero regrets on that front

So I have £60.25p to get us to Friday... easy peasy!

Hope everyone else had a good day
Fox
x

Edit: I messed up my maths

Mrs_Cheshire

I've got a food delivery coming tomorrow as my car tyre is completely flat and needs replacing so I can't get out as easily as usual to do the shopping.
It will take me a couple of pounds over my budget as I'm paying for delivery but I'm not worried as it'll save me petrol and hassle and I'm pretty sure some of the food will last into July!