April 2008 Grocery Challenge

weezl74

Hiya,

just wanted to share a tip: Once I've baked my 4 loaves of fool-proof no knead bread, I make 3 of them into sarnies for the month and then freeze.

Just discovered that by mixing whoopsied edam (grated by me!) and HM green tomato chutney in a bowl first, this was much easier to spread onto the sandwiches, and the little bits of grated cheese didn't spill out the sides like usual. So I've just done the maths, and It was 1.19 for a whole month of DH's lunches!:D

3 x 14p loaves, 1 jar HM chutney 12p and 1 x 260g block edam 65p.

Well impressed I am...:j

Weezl x

MrDT

Don't know if this will be of any interest, but I figured I'd post my meal plans anyway. My planned month is basically all of April, 30 days (though most of my shopping for the month will be done today).

I'll basically be having one row from each category every day. What I've really done is make a 2 week plan and stretch it to repeat for the month, this is all quite new to me so I figure it's a good way to start.

BREAKFAST
cereal (weetabix+raisins / rice crispies / fruit and fibre) with milk and glass of juice (supermarket brands)
fruit salad with glass of milk (from a tin, not great i know but up until now i've always skipped breakfast so better than nothing, i can't be dealing with 'effort' in the morning lol)
jam on toast with glass of milk (saturdays)
bacon and egg sarnie and glass of juice (sundays)

SNACK
dried fruit and nuts (find it's cheaper to buy seperate and mix your own)
flapjacks (home made)
hobnobs (home made)

LUNCH
cheese and pickle sandwich
ham and pickle sandwich
chicken and pickle sandwich
pizza
cheese and ham toastie (weekend)
tuna topped jacket potato (weekend)
bacon and egg toastie (weekend)
cheese and beans topped jacket potato (weekend)

SNACK
apple and yogurt
fruit smoothie (gonna cheat and buy ready made from asda as cheaper than making my own!!)

DINNER
bacon casserole (the welsh name is 'taws pum munud', an old favourite my mum and gran used to make when i was a kid, still love it, and it's incredibly cheap and easy to make! will cook up enough for the month and freeze in portions)
beef curry (again, bulk cook and freeze)
potato bake (home made but won't bother bulk preparing don't think it'll freeze well with cooked potato and cheese etc)
pasta meatballs (once a fortnight guilty pleasure, i actually like the mechanically recovered meatballs, love the taste and texture, not many can say that haha)
fish mash and peas
pie chips and beans
spaghetti bolognese (bulk cook the base and freeze)
chicken curry (again, bulk cook and freeze)
beef mash and veg in gravy
easy cheesy peasy pasta with ham (um, i just kinda made this one up, not sure how it'll turn out!)
pizza and chips
chicken mash and beans
chili con carne (just add stuff to the bolognese base that'll be bulk prepared and frozen)

SUPPER
rice cripie cakes (i know i can manage these lol, flapjacks and hobnobs might be a touch trickier!)
fruit salad with glass of milk
bowl of icecream (everyone deserves some icecream on friday night!)
frozen cup drink (kinda like lollies, got a box of 24 from makro for £1, could probably make your own a little cheaper, but not by much really?)
fresh fruit

I figure you can probably all work out the workings of a bacon casserole, but if there's interest I can post a recipe

edit: oh i forgot to add water (i usually drink ~2l minreal a day but will try swapping for tap so free really), squash a couple times a day probably, and most likely a bottle of wine once a week or two. i'm not including any meals out (usually rare, and if i do have one it's usually with a beer in wetherspoons or somewhere like that) or alcohol not bought from shop and consumed at home (one night out could likely double my monthly budget just as well they're few and far between!)

weezl74

wendy24g wrote: »

Also this is probably a really basic question but I brought a masssive bag of value carrots. To freeze them ready to cook do I peel, cut and freeze or do they need balanching first?

There's been some really interesting chat about this on a previous thread, I think if you search the old-style forum, with a search word of 'blanching' it comes up with good tips. Basically summarised, yes, do blanche them first

saver03

Hi can you put me down for £120 for 2 adults and 1 greedy cat!

I am hoping to come under though (fingers crossed)

Can't believe this thread is so long already and not even April yet I must make time to read it all.

mhe

no no MrDT - post it please - i like to add them to my recipe file on the computer!! Its something to show for the hours sitting on the comp when i should have been tidying up like now!!

weezl74

MrDT wrote: »

bacon casserole (the welsh name is 'taws pum munud', an old favourite my mum and gran used to make when i was a kid, still love it, and it's incredibly cheap and easy to make! will cook up enough for the month and freeze in portions)
...
I figure you can probably all work out the workings of a bacon casserole, but if there's interest I can post a recipe

recipe please, especially as it's welsh!

Welcome MrDT, good to have you here :hello:

Weezl

MRSMCAWBER

Hi wendy24g

I just peel and chop the carrots as normal, drop them into a pan of boiling water for about 2 mins, then tip into a colander, then fill the sink with cold water and tip them in there until cold... then i fish them all out and drop them on a tea towel on the draining board and leave to dry of..then pop them into the sized portions you will use them in and whack in the freezer.. they sometimes stick a litle but in "portion" sizes it doesn't matter..;)

MrDT.... I really like the way you have organised things :T super efficient

Well we had our jackets with veg gratin thingy...mmmmm im podged..very tasty and filling and hubby gave a thumbs up -not that its that difficult to get huby to do that... not much he doesn't like

mhe

Wendy24g - you dont have to be an ASDA woopsie - er to be in the woopsie club:D
I get my woopsies from either ASDA or my local somerfield which has a slower turnaround so always has some good bargains going!! MRSM gets them in Germany. But they all count so either sharpen your elbows or adopt BigMummas tactic of slipping up to them quietly so no one else notices there is a yellow sticker and welcome to the club!!

icecubequeen

count me in please

£100 for 2 adults, 2 children, 2 fish, 1 cat and 1 hamster! lol

monkey22_2

Can I join please?
This is my first time doing the GC, I'm aiming for £300 this month for 2 adults, a 4 year old and a 1 year old.
It's quite a high target but I'm having a baby at the end of the month and all planning will be out of the window!