March 2008 Grocery Challenge

angelnikki

icandream wrote: »

Regarding snacks, do any of you have any good recipes for quick and easy snacks that the children will love. I made bite-size sausage rolls last night, using bought shortcrust pastry and half a pack of sausagemeat I unearthed in my recent check through the freezer. Sorry about admitting to not making my own pastry: I gave up long long ago. :rotfl::o They have been demolished bar six, and the kids were really appreciative. It made me think, I'm buying less nibbles- I make our own biscuits, and bread, and cakes. But can anybody suggest something easy and savoury like the sausage rolls -it took all of 5 mins to make them up, so I can easily cope with that (very time short, as are we all! :rotfl:). And, most important, they are helping me to stay on budget. :j

You could do a similar thing with pastry but put some tuna and cheese in the middle to make tuna parcels, or maybe some cooked chicken with a white/cheese sauce.
Nikki
x

ubamother

I did say this month I wouldn't be setting a target, just keeping a list of everything I bought so I know where i'm at for setting a target next month. Boy has writing stuff down sharpened my spending habits!! I haven't bought a single grocery since a £40 main shop on Sunday - a serious first. I have however had to pay £45 vets fees, buy new violin strings as my old ones were getting buzzy, a £35 deposit for a school trip and a mothering sunday gift!! Swings and roundabouts I suppose - but having been so restrained over groceries all this at once hasn't been as painful as normal. spendingdiary.com is a wonderful thing!

shelovestobuystuff

Planning the menus in advance really helps tons with keeping to budget,not that I have kept to budget:o but I dread to think how much money I would have wasted if I hadn,t planned at all.
I use one of those family wall calenders with 6 columns,one for me,hubby,dd,ds,the dogs(keep note of vet appointments etc) and one left for menus.Having it written up on the wall for everyone to see means that they know what for tea every night and if I am ill or busy anyone else can read it and then knows what to cook.
I write all the dinners for the month on little bits of paper first and then move them about on the calender so that we dont end up with the same kind of meals 2 nights in a row before writing it up.

Heres this months menu plan.Hardly any fish as no-one else eats it.A couple of times a month I will have salmon instead of a red meat dish.


1/HM chicken balmoral with creamy peppercorn sauce,steamed carrot,broccolli,cauliflower and boiled potatoes.
2/HM soup and a sandwich
3/chicken drummers and savoury rice
4/sausage and bean casserole with crusty bread
5/veal escalopes,creamy garlic sauce,potatoes and steamed veg.
6/Pizza & salad,garlic bread
7/HM Beef stroganoff & wild rice
8/Roast chicken dinner(corn fed free range bird)with savoury ducks,steamed veg,mashed and roast potatoes,bacon wrapped chippolatas and hubbies famous chicken and white wine gravy.
9/HM sweet and sour chicken with noodles or rice
10/HM lasagne,salad,garlic bread
11/HM chunky soup and french stick
12/cod steaks in parsley butter sauce,boiled pots and steamed veg.
13/spaghetti bolognese,fresh parmesan and garlic bread
14/sausage and bean casserole,crusty bread
15/HM chicken pie,pots & veg
16/canelloni,salad,garlic bread
17/toad in the hole
18/chicken drummers & savoury rice
19/spaghetti & meatballs,garlic bread
20/chicken curry & rice,naan bread.served with dishes of pineapple and apple
21/HM bacon and egg quiche,salad,french bread
22/roast beef & yorkshire pud,steamed veg,pots
23/spaghetti bolognese,garlic bread
24/ham & eggs on toast
25/beef stir fry and noodles(using left over roast)
26/sausages & egg
27/lasagne,salad & garlic bread
28/fish steaks in butter sauce, peas and boiled potatoes

Son is vegetarian so lots of these meals have his quorn or soya substitutes for him instead of the meat.I am also going to try to make a broccolli and stilton quiche for him when we have the bacon one.The top drawer in the freezer is all his veggie stuff,nut cutlets,veggie sausages etc.

lilmisskitkat

icandream wrote: »

Regarding snacks, do any of you have any good recipes for quick and easy snacks that the children will love. I made bite-size sausage rolls last night, using bought shortcrust pastry and half a pack of sausagemeat I unearthed in my recent check through the freezer. Sorry about admitting to not making my own pastry: I gave up long long ago. :rotfl::o They have been demolished bar six, and the kids were really appreciative. It made me think, I'm buying less nibbles- I make our own biscuits, and bread, and cakes. But can anybody suggest something easy and savoury like the sausage rolls -it took all of 5 mins to make them up, so I can easily cope with that (very time short, as are we all! :rotfl:). And, most important, they are helping me to stay on budget. :j

When you make a shepherds pie you could keep back a bit of the mince and onion mixture and use it to make little pasties with some shortcrust pastry? Just cut into rounds, add a spoonful of mixture, fold and seal with a little water or beaten egg

hth

kate xxx

icandream

angelnikki wrote: »

You could do a similar thing with pastry but put some tuna and cheese in the middle to make tuna parcels, or maybe some cooked chicken with a white/cheese sauce.
Nikki
x

That's a great idea: dd2 loves tuna, so I'll give that one a go. Thanks! Caz

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

I have just had the strangest shopping trip .... wandered in to "real" just because i wanted to stretch my legs - so thought i would see if there were any bargains to be had... ended up with

• 2 packs of ready rolled fresh puff pastry @ 79c
• a bag of spelt bread flour @ 79c

then i hit the whoops section got the following fresh filled organic pasta

• 4x250g cappaletti with prosciutio @ 99c
• 1x500g tortelloni with marscapone @ €1.69 -will do us twicw
• 1X500g tortelloni with bolognaise @ €2.00 -will do us twice
• 1X250g tortelloni with cheese 99c
• a pouch of fresh organic carbonara sauce 99c

I thought these were good to keep in for when im not 100% so hubby can still eat well... so the total lot came to €12 -so i gave them the right money ...only when i paid and got half way out i realised that the checkout had thought i had given them a €20 plus 2 €1 coins...and had given me €10 change. Being good i tootled to customer services and in my best pidgeon German (which isn't THAT good) tried to explain to the lady who had English as good as my German ...anyway i explained -sort of and handed the €10 back and turned to leave..... to be shouted back,,, the lady then slapped a €20 on the counter and dashed off from behind the counter..at which point i gave up and left...
Which means they actually PAID ME €8 to take my shopping home :eek: but you can't say i didn't try :rotfl: .... guess trying to be honest pays

So i have stashed that lot in the freezer and have nothing to take off my total :T

Have just had the leftover pasta and meatballs for my lunch and the HM pasta actually re-heats much better than the shop stuff...it was actually nicer warmed up

feta salad tonight..and the rest of the pack is going to be turned into a puff pastry slice with onions, peppers, mushrooms and ham

keep at it everyone...:D

icandream

lilmisskitkat wrote: »

When you make a shepherds pie you could keep back a bit of the mince and onion mixture and use it to make little pasties with some shortcrust pastry? Just cut into rounds, add a spoonful of mixture, fold and seal with a little water or beaten egg

hth

kate xxx

I love this idea too, as it's simple, and I'm making a shepherds pie once at week. Be easy to do as well, with a biscuit cutter. Thank you. Want to go and get started now... I've got some bolognaise in the fridge. :TCaz

curly_cabbage

Hi all
Day off today so, got all the housework out of the way early, made a 50/50 loaf of bread, sorted out the bank account and found i had more in there than i thought. We've got quiche for tea with stuffed bake potatoes (Chesse & Bacon) which i baked ready just need to warm through when we get back from the gym tonight. Also i have had 5 NSD's in a row YIPEEEEEE. but tomorrow i will have to go to get fresh veg from the shop's.

CC

patentgirl

MrsMcawber well done you especially as you was trying to do the right thing
icandream what about mini cheese scones they are easy to make
littlemisskitkat chicken thigh fillets have got the bone taken out of them and are normally more expensive I always just buy the chicken thighs if you put them in a slow cooker the meat practially falls of the bones anyway
SAV3R do you use cash or card I have definately saved alot of money by only using cash
woohoo! another NSD day for me got all meals sorted out for weekend and dont need to buy anything cant wait to try out Mrs Mcawbers tortilla wraps with meatballs

Frugaldom

Good afternoon everybody, you are all so domesticated and organised and put me to shame! I feel like I only pop on here to pinch some frugal cooking ideas and then dash off again. But I promise that I do my best to keep up as best I can and can confirm that my grocery spending is kept well in check by reporting in here every spend and making the most of all your fantastic cooking tips - thank you for all of those! :T

After my monthly shop (bought from Mr T last weekend), all I have had to buy, so far, was a large carton of milk this morning at £1.99
Total spend to date is £77.23 for the 3 of us and the cupboards, fridge and freezer are jam-packed. I still haven't got the hang of meal-planning and really must make more of an effort to bring some structure into my housekeeping. I tend to start something and then forget to make dinner until someone asks what time we're eating! Usually, I'm on here reading!:rotfl: