January 2008 Grocery Challenge

Angelraesunshine

woo hoo i have managed to have a no spend Week. ( well for groceries at least)

I did really want to go shopping yesterday but ended u going to the town with the DH to go tell off the bank manager for being naughty. So now will be going on monday as i can really survive till then i have enough stuff just about to last me. Do have a list of a dozen things but its not too bad and i am going to stick to the list and only divert for meats on offer to stock up.

Sassamac

morning.
You all have permission to kick me up the bum. I have been a bit naughty and need to confess;

Its a bit of a tradition in our house to have pizza on a Friday night (just the Tesco 95p ones, which is quite restrained considering we live 10 doors away from a Domino's).
Anyway by Thursday night neither dh nor I fancied what Id taken out the freezer, so I nipped to Tesco for pizza with the intention of having Thursdays dinner on Friday. Well that went out the window when in passing through Somerfield yesterday I noticed some sirloin steak on their reduced counter.
So Thursdays dinner is still in the fridge looking a bit sorry for itself and probably not fit to eat by tonight. Luckily it was only stirfry leftovers so very cheap. I also bought some pain au chocolat from the reduced counter even though its still not cheap with a 25% discount.

I need to nip out today just for milk, and will have a dig around in the freezer to find a dinner for tonight so hopefully that will be my sole spend for the weekend.

Sadcase that I am I have worked my monthly budget into a weekly and daily average so I know exactly where I am. Proportionately I am about £5 under budget so I hope that continues.

cornishlady

Blairweech wrote: »

I had to buy another pint of milk!!! Such disorganisation. Because OH and I were both out late last night, the tanker had already been . If I had remembered, I could have quite easily got milk before I left for work :rolleyes:

For meal planning, I plan 7 days, but don't assign a meal to each day. We have one night as a 'quick and easy night' e.g. beans on toast, egg and chips etc. We also have a 'leftover' night, as I usually cook too much at some point in the week.

ATM, I am just shopping for what I need WHEN I need it, as opposed to a full weekly shop (this seems to be working better than a full weekly shop), where I tend to end up throwing things away. So, we ran out of cheese on Monday and haven't needed it since, I am only buying it today.

I am going to have to finish off my next fortnight of menus soon, otherwise I will become unstuck. Haven't gone for a takeaway yet this month, even though I *really* crave fish and chips. Fortunately, we have no decent Indian takeaways near us, and last time we went to the Chinese it was a bit rubbish, so I have gone off those two. Plus, tonight, instead of going out for chicken, I am making it at home! I have done it in the oven before with success, but tonight I am trying it in the deep fat fryer.

Oh yes - I have a big pack of mishape bacon rashers which need using - any ideas for them (they have already been frozen)?

i
I make homemade egg & bacon pasty if i buy bacon bits , use shortcrust pastry to line a sponge tin , chop up the bacon fairly small put in tin ,whisk up 4-6eggs, seasoning,good slosh of milk and pour over bacon, cover with more pastry, cook for about 3/4 hour or untill egg filling is set &pastry cooked. quiche ,& leek pie are 2 other things that come to mind

orchid-96

Might have to pop out later to get a few bits missed from yesterdays shop, only freezer bags (completely out and am struggling to put stuff in the freezer without them) and I didn't get any veg, so need to get something to go with tonights steak and tomorrows chicken dinner....might also get a bottle of wine If I go to Aldi I should still come in at under a fiver including the wine, so think I will go there (definitely not going to Tescos as impossible for me to leave there without picking up a few 'bargains'


Hope you all have a nice frugal weekend...

Thanks for the tips on recipes as well, I am going to try doing a potato bake this week...

Sassamac

meanmarie wrote: »

Hi all,

Shopping this morning and spent €59.56, bringing my total food spend for this month to €168.16, leaving me with €151.84 until 31st January...hope it will last , having a little trouble at the moment with my guest who had a baby just before Christmas...she is drinking gallons of milk and uses things (like my precious tin of crab meat this morning) to have snacks on...eating at least twice as much as anyone else in the house...and she is a guest, so no contribution expected or offered! She is allegedly to be here for a month after baby is born...baby was 3 weeks old yesterday and she is not doing very much, has only gone for a short drive once with baby and really needs to be getting more used to it as when she goes back home she will not be going anywhere without the car...she really needs to get a budget worked out, have offered to help but it still hasn't happened...maybe I should just back off.

Sorry for moan, but don't want to feel that I am being made use of...ah to hell with it, she has nobody else and we won't starve!

Marie

If she is breastfeeding I would go easy on her at least 'til the baby is 8 weeks and the bf is estabished. I know I ate like a horse the whole time I was bf and its really important to drink loads. Perhaps take her shopping with you and show her how you budget / meal plan and place hints that certain foods are for meals or treats and not to be snacked on casually.

Sassamac

Mollymop5 wrote: »

I bunged some lentils, onions, mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, celery in the slow cooker the other week with tinned tomatoes.I then froze it.
I've just defrosted it so i'm going to mash some potatoes add it on top sprinkle a bit of cheese then bung it in the oven.Hopefully will come out ok and kids will eat it

Thats sounds really good, in fact the base could be frozen and used for loads of things - soup, lasagne etc.

Rowan9

Angelraesunshine wrote: »

woo hoo i have managed to have a no spend Week. ( well for groceries at least)

I did really want to go shopping yesterday but ended u going to the town with the DH to go tell off the bank manager for being naughty. So now will be going on monday as i can really survive till then i have enough stuff just about to last me. Do have a list of a dozen things but its not too bad and i am going to stick to the list and only divert for meats on offer to stock up.

A no spend W E E K I am seriously impressed.
W

natzini

Went shopping with OH yesterday... eek! I don't think I'll be hitting the target this month. We had to stock up on a few things and I have £30 for the rest of the month, so I'll be meal planning my socks off tomorrow to see if I can get it there, rooting through the freezer and then totting things up on mysupermarket-a chicken and some bacon from the butchers and everything else value is what I forsee.....

NEgirl

chardonnay wrote: »

hi ne girl, how do you make croutons (is it in the oven?):o

I just took the bread i had left and chopped into small squared and fried them in batches, popped them onto a tray to cool and bagged then froze them (4 slices made a full bag for the 6 of us - so i managed to get 4 bags out of what i had left in the breadbin!) Usually i would have just binned them but now i can just grab a bag stick them in the frying pan from frozen and add to soup (thats if you can get them initially from the pan to the freezer without kids nabbing them inbetween!!) :rotfl:

rosieben

Sassamac dont beat yourself up, it sounds like you're doing pretty well and we all deserve a treat now and again, especially if its in budget!

Meanmarie, I think she's very lucky to have you; I struggled when my kids were small but I had so much help and people were really kind to me; I've tried to pass on the good deeds, particularly to young parents. I think its more difficult these days for young mums because they dont learn anything at school thats helpful and the stress is so much on other things besides home making