April 2008 Grocery Challenge

bertiebots

Hello to everyone....sorry I havent got time to read over 1000 posts but I have tried to keep up with the thread!!:eek: I have just done my final shop of this months GC and am over the moon!!:T I have got cupboards bursting with food and have only spent £45 so I have come in under budget yippeeee:T !!
Of course with all this saving I am doing I could justify the pair of yummy spotty shoes I purchased at matalan for £12 ..my life may not have been complete without them lol:rotfl: :rotfl: .............its a long time since I bought any too so I think I deserve a treat (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it:rolleyes: )

SmellyOldSock

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

i like the idea of that Smelly,

any chance of the recipe? pretty please????

No worries, its one of my favourites for using up stuff

40g butter
leeks or onions
bread about 6 - 8 slices
ham or bacon 110g
cheese grated 150g
milk 1 pint
eggs 3
salt and pepper

grease a 1.5 litre baking dish with a little of the butter.
melt the remaining butter and add leeks/onions, saute for about 5 minutes
Cut bread into triangles, layer the base of the dish. scatter half the leeks/onion, chesse and cooked ham on top, arrange the remaining bread triangles followed by rest of leek/onions, ham and cheese.
beat milk and eggs together, season and poor over. Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes (i usually make it in the morning). Put in oven at 190 for 30-35 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.

I tend to use bacon, peppers, sweetcorn or what ever is about that needs using up!

enjoy
charlotte

funkyfunkymonkey

egon wrote: »

I have a few moc from sainsbury's for baby stuff. As I won't use them (Nearest Mr S is at least 45min drive), if anyone would like them, then pm me. Some have my name on, but I hope it will still work.

egon

Our Tesco takes Sainsbury's vouchers so long as you have followed all the terms and conditions. So, if you get a £5 off £50 spend in Sainsbury's you can use it in Tesco if you spend £50. Or if its 50% off baby wipes, you would have to buy the baby wipes.

Other 'brand' moc they freely accept whether you buy the item or not.

FFM

MrDT

BUST!

I am now £2.53 over my target for the month, but I'm not hung up about it in the least I *could* have managed to hit the target but todays purchases we're totally worth it!!

1. Needed batteries for my 'tv' remote, obviously an essential purchase lol (it kinda is though, what I use as a tv only works by remote, no switches on the unit itself)
2. Didn't strictly NEED toiletries, but I will soon enough so might as well buy them when on offer
3. Ditto cheese, not needed yet but will be soon, and 800g of extra mature pilgrims choice in tesco for £4 is a great bargain!
4. Spent £3 in the cash and carry on treats. Non essential, but seriously, 1.2kg of chili/bacon/bbq/pepper coated peanuts and 2kg of natural juice sweeties all for £3, no way was I saying no to that!

So I spent £10.82, but am absolutely sure I got my money's worth

It gets better...

The company I work for operate a staff discount policy, and a friend of mine goes through a lot of the product we sell, so he buys through me. His company also have a staff benefits policy - And it's a corker! They develop and supply meat products to major companies throughout the UK (and some other countries too I think), top quality stuff vaccuum packed and frozen; the 'traditional pub lunch' served in a lot of places comes from there, by 'meat products' I don't mean chicken nuggets etc lol! The staff are allowed to buy a 'big mixed box' (it's a blind lucky dip) of the products at a heavily discounted (£5 a box!!!:eek: ) rate every few weeks, so me and my mate have an 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' deal going on :cool:

Here's what the magical frozen meat fairy brought me today:
large pouch of beef ribs in bbq sauce
a roasted lamb shank with roast root vegetables and garlic butter
2x pepper corn beef rib pouches
a serving of hoi sin pork
huge 1.5kg tray of roast turkey in gravy
huge 1.5kg tray of pork meatballs
two mini lamb shanks in rosemary and redcurrant
a pouch of steak and ox kidney with english mustard and redcurrant pie filling
large serving of lamb neck with 2 bone chop in barley and mint sauce
serving of beef bourguignonne
large ham hock in ginger and vanilla
a taster pack of sticky oriental chicken
two pouches of chicken chasseur
a large lamb shank in red wine with shallots
a taster pack of roast lamb in gravy
and one mystery pouch missing a label...
That should have set me back a fiver (I'm serious), but he already owed me a fiver from before so I got the whole lot without handing over any cash at all

My freezer is so ridiculously full now :rotfl: , working it down to nothing is gonna be some task! I even took some photos as it's ridiculous when you consider I'm trying to empty the damn thing to defrost Will post a picture if I find the camera cable lol!

I may have gone over budget, but I think I crapped out spectacularly NOMNOMNOMNOM!

edit: oh yeah I did some cooking last night and added 5 curry servings and 4 soup servings to the freezer too

Frugaldom

I spent £6.37 tonight and it included £1.49 for 2 large bars of chocolate... OOPS! But tonight's telly night and tomorrow's free bingo, so it's allowed. :)That and the fact that I got 2 lovely wholemeal loaves at 10p each, now in freezer. Signature updated and I'm still well within budget. GC in signature has had to be merged as I had no space left for each month.

angelavdavis

I have had to make some more rolls tonight as both OH and I have been taking rolls into work.

I thought I would have to go shopping tonight as I couldn't think what to put in OH's rolls for lunch tomorrow, but have decided to use the salmon that I had in the fridge planned for the meal tomorrow night. I will cook tonight and mix with lettuce and mayo for his sandwiches. That will leave another salmon steak that I can then use cooked with some pasta and cream cheese sauce for Friday evening's dinner.

I have put the leftover beef stew into a pie dish ready for a crust for dinner tomorrow, and am having the leftover bolognaise from last night, plus some kidney beans for chilli for me for dinner tonight. The leftover of this I will have for lunch friday when I am working at home (must remember to make a little extra rice!)

Loving leftovers at the moment! I wonder if I can put off shopping for food until Saturday - I fancy a bit of a challenge!!!.....

egon

funkyfunkymonkey wrote: »

Our Tesco takes Sainsbury's vouchers so long as you have followed all the terms and conditions. So, if you get a £5 off £50 spend in Sainsbury's you can use it in Tesco if you spend £50. Or if its 50% off baby wipes, you would have to buy the baby wipes.

Other 'brand' moc they freely accept whether you buy the item or not.

FFM

Sounds good, but not for me. My 'local' Mr T is 30 min drive. I get my groceries delivered once a month. I see the inside of any MrT maybe once every three month. So it isn't really worth it, as most vouchers usually run out before I get there.

Egon

egon

MrDT wrote: »

BUST!


The company I work for operate a staff discount policy, and a friend of mine goes through a lot of the product we sell, so he buys through me. His company also have a staff benefits policy - And it's a corker! They develop and supply meat products to major companies throughout the UK (and some other countries too I think), top quality stuff vaccuum packed and frozen; the 'traditional pub lunch' served in a lot of places comes from there, by 'meat products' I don't mean chicken nuggets etc lol! The staff are allowed to buy a 'big mixed box' (it's a blind lucky dip) of the products at a heavily discounted (£5 a box!!!:eek: ) rate every few weeks, so me and my mate have an 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' deal going on :cool:

Here's what the magical frozen meat fairy brought me today:
large pouch of beef ribs in bbq sauce
a roasted lamb shank with roast root vegetables and garlic butter
2x pepper corn beef rib pouches
a serving of hoi sin pork
huge 1.5kg tray of roast turkey in gravy
huge 1.5kg tray of pork meatballs
two mini lamb shanks in rosemary and redcurrant
a pouch of steak and ox kidney with english mustard and redcurrant pie filling
large serving of lamb neck with 2 bone chop in barley and mint sauce
serving of beef bourguignonne
large ham hock in ginger and vanilla
a taster pack of sticky oriental chicken
two pouches of chicken chasseur
a large lamb shank in red wine with shallots
a taster pack of roast lamb in gravy
and one mystery pouch missing a label...
That should have set me back a fiver (I'm serious), but he already owed me a fiver from before so I got the whole lot without handing over any cash at all

My freezer is so ridiculously full now :rotfl: , working it down to nothing is gonna be some task! I even took some photos as it's ridiculous when you consider I'm trying to empty the damn thing to defrost Will post a picture if I find the camera cable lol!

I may have gone over budget, but I think I crapped out spectacularly NOMNOMNOMNOM!

edit: oh yeah I did some cooking last night and added 5 curry servings and 4 soup servings to the freezer too

Can I borrow your friend? Pretty pretty please!!!!:kisses3:

faye1978

egon wrote: »

I am officially way over budget.

Been to Morrisons and Lidl last night. In Morrisons, I got some offers which will last us into May.

Yorkshire Tea bags 240 - 2f6.50 (still on offer)
Munch Bunch Yoghurt 2f1£ (offer finished yesterday)
Muller Snack Yoghurts bogof (still on offer)
W/Watchers yoghurt bogof (still on offer)
Also the rolls and pies were down to 39 and 49 pence for 6. So they are now in the freezer.

Anyone who likes Douwe Egberts Coffee, Morrisons have the 200g jars on bogof.

And a friend of mine works there and let me have her staff card, so another 10% off. In total I saved £16.29.

Made a bread last night. Tried with milk powder, but it seem to go quiet heavy inside. If I do a bread without milk or milk powder, it seem to be lighter and fluffier inside. Any ideas????

I ALWAYS make it without milk powder now - it's SOO much lighter and I think it tastes better too.

Thought I would add that I also alwasy do a dough cycle first - it adds a further 1.5hrs to the time but I think the difference is worth it - again it gives it more of a bread texture. Occasionally, I'll put it in the oven to cook and that gives AMAZING results!!!

pink_princess

hi just popping in to update my sig and ask any one for mince ideas got given three packs from work and just cant face spag bol or mince pies again also any spring roll recipies os style got 40 spring roll pastry sheets and no clues ( cant you tell im a newbie lol )