April 2008 Grocery Challenge

BigMummaF

Just come in from MrT & the bread flour is still 48p.
Fresh pineapples 89p
Heinz Tom Ketchup SIZE=1]570ml[/SIZE are £1:41/2-4-£2 till middle of May so I'll get some next time
Bird's Eye & own label frozen BBQ range offers finish 22/4/08
Locally sourced 2pt most milk @ 68p
Conch pasta 55p
Others 67-70p
Value rice 43p

The recipe for the coconut pie sounds.....interesting Sashanut but I still like the sound of it. I've plenty of other projects to try so no hurry----when you've a spare few minutes will be fine thanks!

I was thinking about malt extract MrsMc; we used to have a dessertspoonful every morning in the winter before going to school:D Last time I went looking for it to try on the offspring, I had to go to a chemist......mind it was a good few years ago, but may be worth a try.

Something else I suddenly remembered while thinking about those Maid of Honour Tarts; when a recipe calls for ground almonds, you can substitute some of them with ground rice & add a few drops of almond essence:T Guess what I've been stocking up on today to part with another £23:30:o

skintscotslass

BigMummaF wrote: »

I was thinking about malt extract MrsMc; we used to have a dessertspoonful every morning in the winter before going to school:D Last time I went looking for it to try on the offspring, I had to go to a chemist......mind it was a good few years ago, but may be worth a try.

I thought thats what my mum/nan used malt extract for! DD is red haired with very pale, almost ivory skin. Compared to our cousins, who are quite swarthy skinned, she looked ill. Nan gave me malt extract to make her look better :eek:

skintscotslass

Forgot to say, been to Naz (local shop for milk) and Tesco and spent just under £20. I cant believe how much stuff I bought for that and had to get the bus home My updated spends are £93.26. I've now done a menu plan for the rest of the month and I reckon I'll just need fruit, veg and milk.

I'm making chilli tonight. Will it be ok to put porridge and lentils in it?

angchris

4 days to go till my monthly challenge is up _party_ :dance: i have spent £2.25 on 18 humongous moohassive eggs today from an honesty box in front of someones house..how the chicken laid them i`ll never know :eek: at least now i can bake some muffins etc as ds is having baking withdrawal symptoms and is moaning theres nothing in the house.
i think i might do my online shop tonight to be delivered tues as the fridge is looking very empty.
im definately coming in on budget (budget of £150)this month, £110.25 spent so far :j for 2 adults one teenage boy and a big rottweiler, i think i`ve done really well this month considering i`ve done it with £40 to spare.
good luck to everyone else doing the challenge...i hope you make it!...angchris xx

ifonlyitwaseasier

hey skintscotslass, should be fine to add the lentils and oats, you won't even notice the oats once its cooked.

mentat72

Think I'll join this from next month as I don't have the receipts for this month.

Do you include the receipts for going out to dinner too or just groceries and things you forget at the supermarket?

mandy_moo_1

got a slight confession to make....i was near iceland (the shop, not the country) this morning, and i used some of next week's grocery money to buy a few things, cos i won't be going near there next week, but i've updated my sig

but what i want to know now is......my freezers are full and i've done a meal plan for the next 2weeks, so technically i should only need to buy milk, f&v , chocolate and dog food to go with all the stuff in the freezer ( and before anyone asks what we're having the dog food with, i thought we'd try it with roasties :rotfl:)

so how come i know i'll be skint still for those 2 weeks? where does all the money go?

mandy_moo_1

mentat72 wrote: »

Think I'll join this from next month as I don't have the receipts for this month.

Do you include the receipts for going out to dinner too or just groceries and things you forget at the supermarket?

i have one budget for everything...groceries, toiletries, dog food, chocolate , but others have different budgets for different things. its whatever works best for you

scotsaver

:T MRSMC - congrats on the weight loss, that's fantastic. Well done also on the seedlings, been checking mine each day and hoping for great things this Summer.

Just wanted to let you all know that I made a Shepherds Pie last night and was brave enough to chuck in 2 hands full of oats to bulk it out - no-one noticed the difference and I didn't let on;) even better, when I was making it, it bulked up so much it wouldn't fit in the dish so made a seperate one to put in the freezer for OH, :T he can have that on a night that the kids and I are having pasta or risotto as he is strictly a meat and 2 veg man??!! Anyone who hasn't tried the bulking out, I really recommend it, the way prices are going every little helps.

Having pasta tonight with some homemade tomato sauce, cheese grated over and loads of salad. OH won't eat that so he is having some chicken that was lurking at the back of the fridge. I'm finding I can't throw anything out now, DD1 has toast in the morning but won't eat the crusts so have now started cutting the crusts off before I toast it and freezing the crusts - have quite a bag full now so will make a bread pudding on Sunday for afters??!! Before now I would have put the crusts out for the birds but looking at leftovers etc in a whole new light now - am I mad or what.

Anyway, enough waffling for now - pasta bubbling away, keep up the good work everyone, the end of the month is in sight now.:j

Moniker

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

this sounds really different to do in the SC....please can you tell us what you do with the beef? what do you stuff it with? do you put some sauce over it? i can only ever think of doing casseroles in my SC, and i like the idea of stuffed topside

I don't actually have a proper recipe but intend to adapt a pressure cooker recipe I did years ago. Basically, you beat the slices of beef so they are quite thin. You make the stuffing with 3oz white breadcrumbs, 1 tsp mixed herbs, 2oz mushrooms, a small chopped onion, salt and pepper, and bind with an egg. Use this to fill the slices of meat and roll up, securing with string or cocktail sticks. Brown the roulades in a pan with a little melted marg or lard to seal. Put in the slow cooker with 1/2pt brown stock and 1/2pt red wine (actually I think you won't need this much in the slow cooker - just enough to cover the meat). After cooking, remove the roulades and keep warm while you thicken the juices with flour and water to make a gravy. I have no idea how long to cook this for but will probably leave it in all day! I will serve with mashed potato with butter and parsley added and green veg. I'll let you know how it goes.

Moniker