March 2008 Grocery Challenge

mikeD

Hi Folks.

Thanks for the Brownie and Mushroom Stroganoff links. I remember watching Nigella make these and thought at the time that they looked tasty but a bit exotic for me to make. Also 48 brownies seem a lot as there are only three of us. I dont like tampering with ingredient quantities as the originals have been tried and tested, but looking at it, it may be OK to cut everything in half. What do you experts think?

Had to get some milk today but that's all. Got a 2 Lt bottle which was £1.19, If I had got two 1 Lt bottles like I usually do it would have cost £1.39. I normally get 1 Lt bottles because my DW has difficulty lifting the 2 Lt ones. I will transfer half of the contents into an empty 1 Lt bottle and then things will be alright for her.

Love the FM

patentgirl

Afternoon everyone
my these pages grow more each day really busy at work at moment so just got a couple of minutes to skim through updated my total not going well this month I seem to be struggling lately only got about £38 to last me till 24 Feb so dont hold out alot of hope for me this month will do some baking tomorrow to try and satisfy DD and DS will try the brownies thanks Scintscotlass, HM burgers in rolls for tea tonight
spent £4.31 last night in saisnburys on not much thye have got carrots on bygof for 66p and quite a big cauli for 68p
good luck everyonexx

saver03

This is probably a really stupid question and there will be a lot of tutting when read I imagine but Does making your own cakes eg brownies or flapjacks really save that much money and is it worth it for the time it takes?
I haven't done baking since school and I am a bit wary, more to do with my lack of patience really!! I know the OH is partial to a nice bit of cake and he would love brownies as long as he could add squirty cream!
I am also making lasagne for tea and have some tinned tomatoes that were left over from Monday night tea so I am hoping to strech out the sauce and freeze it until we have bolognaise next week, fingers crossed. Also, my lasagne is huge, due to me thinking we needed such a big cooking dish for 2, so we generally get another 3 portions out of it which OH can take for lunch or I can freeze and we can have it for tea again (which would be next month now as I am all planned for this 1!)
My grocery spends are adding up and I still have a freezer and cupboards full of food so if I need to get bread and milk before the end of the month I musn't be tempted with anything else.

mumofjusttwo

Sunnyday wrote: »

I`ve just done my pasta this morning i put the kettle on to boil and put the pasta in a big pan with a lid fill the pan with boiling water and give it a quick stir then put the lid on, nip back and stir again after 10 mins and put the lid back on and in 20 to 30 mins it`s cooked.

Thanks for the brownie link skintscotslass:D
SD

That is great-thank you so much. Seems so obvious when someone else suggests it.

lil_monkey

Went shooping last month and spent £43.00 and that was at MR S which is always a little more expensive. so far this month £86 yiphee:T x x x hope everyone else is doing ok x x

Sunnyday

I`m not a great baker and things don`t always turn out as intended but i will always make our own cakes and goodies etc.
Once you build up a stash of ingredients things cost pence to make, and i try to only bake when i have the oven on for something else so that i`m not using the electricity when i normally wouldn`t.

I`m still learning and the easiest thing to make are Twinks hobnobs, great for lunchboxes and they freeze well - also you know what goes into them, the shop bought things will be full of chemicals and preservatives and although they taste nice they will be twice as bad for you than anything you could make yourself.
I`m starting to enjoy trying the recipes posted on here and hopefully my baking skills will improve with practice.:o
HTH
SD

candygirl

lil_monkey wrote: »

Went shooping last month and spent £43.00 and that was at MR S which is always a little more expensive. so far this month £86 yiphee:T x x x hope everyone else is doing ok x x

Did you only spend £43 for the month?:eek: :eek: :eek: or am I missing something?:o

meanmarie

Afternoon everybody,

Spent another 1.99 on milk this morning, so my spend for this month is now €199.60, leaving a balance of €150.40 for March.

Marie

rosieben

My March spend so far is £6.86 - milk, fruit and veg

I'm doing a store cupboard and freezer challenge and just picked up a couple of good ideas from the 'Packets and Tins - fallback meal' thread. I still have quite a few tins and packets to work my way through! I'm down to my last long life milk carton, still have one tub of Marvel left. I need to be using up my pasta and rice and trying to get away without buying potatoes; the remaining few of the sack I bought are pretty much on their last legs but I'm sure they'll mash ok. I might have to buy a couple for jackets this week though

Good luck everyone!

JoJoB

£12 in tesco today - only went in for a butternut squash!