November 2019 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted User]

We've spent £50 so far...not too bad really as we'd run out of a couple of things ....
On a mission for the next 2 weeks to spend no more than £20 as we're going to be paying off the mortgage on the 21st and need the additional money to do it
Shouldn't be too difficult though...we are fine for household and toiletries and have enough food basics in stock to see us through - all we should need are a few bits of veg/fruit and some cow juice for dh

pennywisesheeb

At £8.19/£150 as had to pop into Aldi after the school run this AM for milk, bread, squash, 8x sparkling flavoured water (I'm trying to cut down on the fizzy pop massively as it's not cheap), pastrami & some cans of tropical juice.
I had a list and stuck to it which is something I never do. Hoping I can have NSD until Monday, maybe Tuesday.

Planned Mediterranean chicken tonight with homemade chips and salad.

Also made a cake a cake this morning with a Betty Crocker mix I found in the back of the cupboard.

PipneyJane

StripeyTightsSpottySocks wrote: »

So i've been baking muffins - any other suggestions for bananas?
Stewed apples ready to be frozen and turned into a crumble later - unless there are suggestions for what else stewed apples can be turned into?
Have pears to stew - this week at some point.
Potatoes i may turn into potato cakes
Eggs tested and cooked.

So no waste there. i have peppers left to use up, small punnet of tomatoes, mushrooms on the turn and more bananas so any suggestions very welcome.

Hello. I've got a few ideas for you:-

1. Bananas freeze well. You can either cut them up in chunks, then freeze (and use them from frozen for smoothies), or leave them skin on and freeze to defrost later for banana bread/banana muffins. No waste.
2. Stewed apples. How about making Apple Cake? I can't remember if the recipe is in the list at the start of the thread, so I'll share mine separately in a minute. Note: you can always freeze the stewed apples or the cake for later.
3. Tomatoes. Two ideas: either cook them up now with a chopped onion and some garlic, to make a simple tomato sauce, or oven dry to make home grown "sun-dried tomatoes". For the former, I don't bother to skin them first. For the latter, place halved or quartered tomatoes in a low oven (120c) and leave for 3 hours or until leathery.
4. Mushrooms. Fry them up and freeze them until you're ready to use them. Add frozen to your dish, after the "fry onion" step.

Hope the above helps.

-Pip

PipneyJane

As promised, here is my recipe for Apple Cake, which uses stewed apples. You can also use apple sauce, if you have some that you want to use up.

I mainly use windfall apples that I've stewed and then bottled ("pressure canned"). Because of the size of my jars, I make two cakes at a time, which I bake in loaf pans. The ingredients in brackets are for one cake.

Ingredients - Makes 2 (or 1, if using the quantities in brackets)

1 cup oil (1/2 cup)
2 cups stewed apple (1 cup)
2 cups castor sugar (1 cup)
4 eggs (2 eggs)
4 cups plain flour (2 cups)
4 tsp baking powder (2 teaspoons = "2 tsp")
4 tsp ground cinnamon (2 tsp)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Line your cake tins with grease-proof/silicon paper.
3. In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients and then add the wet ones. Process until smooth.
4. Distribute the mixture evenly between cake tins. Bake for approximately 1 hour in the hot oven.
5. Remove from cake tins and cool on the wire rack.

- Pip

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

£66.07 spent of £150 budget Mr socks has been using some jars i got - and keeps mentioning it - thing is they were an end of line and reduced. I saw similar products also in clearance with a long date on so bought 2 - only to be greeted with the words 'oh i've not used much there's loads left :eek: At least they'll keep

Suffolk lass, wishus and Pipney Jane Thank you so much - I will try with rags Suffolk but we struggle for storage and our cats sometimes have accidents - which means quick soak up with tissues first rather than rubbing. Just had an idea where rags can be stored for quick access - if i can ever get house organised

wishus and pip - i will post what i bake when i get round to it - bananas can stand a bit more time yet and apples have been stewed and frozen & i have rest of ingredients for cake :T i also have pears so think i could make the same cake using those

Shopping this week still need : - cat food and cheese & potatoes - will aim to stick to it!

pennywisesheeb

Pipney Jane - I always have apples that get left in the fruit bowl to go a bit manky, so I will be making some stewed apple and trying your recipe, thankyou!

bett_rhy

Placed my first order for the month, hopefully I remembered everything for the week

(lord knows the kids will tell me otherwise) :rotfl:

£76.15/£280

Trying for all NSD until next Friday

Vanlady

£109.50/£210 NSD 6/16

Afternoon all.
Another shop done today bringing me to just over half way point in £££s:o , but certain things that we buy were on offer/reduced so I bought them even though they weren't on my list. Hopefully that will save me money in the coming weeks.
I'm pleased with my 6 NSDS, this challenge really makes me think twice about mindless/unnecessary shopping!
Pip, thanks for your tips; I've never frozen mushrooms before so will bear that in mind in future.
I also freeze ageing bananas, great for smoothies or pancakes.
Meal plan made for next week.....to be honest it's a very similar repeat of last week (and probably the week before, and before that etc etc), but it works for us:p
Have a lovely weekend everyone

tessie_bear

hello im still going along spent about £50 this week but got a few extras for halloween and bonfire night. Trying to use down the freezer so i can put christmas bits in it. Im useless at using down the freezer i often spot a must have bargain and in it goes

hope evryone has a fun weekend

Doom_and_Gloom

Thank you Elsiepac for running this thread.

We are late into this month as we go by calender month, however I have all the receipts so will be up to date from now on for the month.

2 adults, the OH and I, and the budget is to cover all food (apart from date night) and non alcoholic drinks. November goes 1st to 30th

Budget £210.

I'm having vegan tofu katsu curry for dinner tonight. Taro mochi for a sweet after dinner.
OH is having beef stew with either mash or baked potato. He will be having home made rice pudding after his dinner.

So far:
£80.13/£210.
£129.87 left.