April 2008 Grocery Challenge

lainz

Couldn't resist and had to break into my shiny new budget :rolleyes: ! Went to Asda and was very well behaved!!! Even though I didn't take my list I pretty much stuck to what I needed, did get some whoopsied trout. Had a piece for my tea, I've some cheap white fish for the cat, although she's not overly keen on it, but when I cooked my fish I then cooked hers in the juices in the pan :whistle: , she woofed it down :rotfl: .

Good luck everyone and see you over on the May challenge when it starts!

JennyBee_2

procrastinator wrote: »

Thank you. I love this site. I am a bit of a luddite with all things techno. Don't do online shopping or banking (scared of fraud) and only use the computer occasionally till I started following all your comments this month now I becomming addicted. So as well as saving money I may become computer literate!

Hiya
I don't do online shopping either (although I'd be lost without online banking!) However, I discovered the other day that mysupermarket.com have the facility to print your shopping list on there. So you can go in, add stuff to a "trolley", compare it to other supermarkets and then print it out. It comes out with pack sizes or weights on there too which means that when we pop into Lidl or Aldi it's really easy to see whether the stuff is actually cheaper or if it's just a smaller packet! Sorry - rambling...

ifonlyitwaseasier

not rambling jennyBee, i didn't know about printing the details, fab, thank you!!

candygirl

Having been a regular Aldi shopper for the past 10 years at least, I have noticed a really steep increase in prices lately, and have found Morrisons to be much much cheaper, even for branded stuff:eek: :eek: I think I wrote a couple of months ago that quite a lot of my Aldi items had gone up by 30p when they brought the 49p fruit n veg in.Has anybody esle noticed the same?

superspam

BigMummaF - I think it was on a different thread that I said I would post recipes; was it banana flapjack and cereal bars you were thinking of? I haven't located the banana flapjacks recipe yet but here's the cereal bar one as posted on the weight loss thread:

405g tin of low fat condensed milk
250g oats
75g dessicated coconut
100g plain choc chips (could use dried fruit to be more well behaved)
150g mixed seeds
100g flaked almonds (or any other nut you may like to use)

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Warm the condensed milk and add to the dry mix. Spread the mixture in a greased tin and press down - this is a sticky job! Bake in a preheated oven at 130 C/gas mark 1/2 for 1 hour until just starting to turn golden (keep you eye on them towards the end). Cut into as many pieces as you like - calorie values per slice are as follows:

16 pcs - 279kcal
24pcs - 186 kcal
32 pcs - 139 kcal

They keep all week easily in an airtight container, and would probably keep longer but they never last that long in my house!

superspam

Here's another one I posted on the Mealplans thread:

Garlic Prawn Spaghetti for 2

1 tbsp oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed - it sounds a lot I know, it is a very garlicky dish! You could reduce the amount if you wanted.
1/4tsp chilli flakes
120ml white wine/chicken stock - either is fine
1lb prawns - recipe says raw but I use the ready to eat ones and just cook long enough to make sure they're warmed through
a handful of chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp marg
Spaghetti (recipe states 180g but use whatever you would normally use for two people)

Heat oil in a large non-stick pan and cook garlic and chilli flakes until garlic starts to turn golden. Add the wine or stock and bring to the boil. Add the prawns - if using raw they will need to be cooked for 5 mins or until pink and firm. Add parsley and margarine and as soon as marg is melted, add cooked drained spaghetti and toss together - yum yum!:D

JennyBee_2

Sunnyday - According to my Delia book, the reason that some eggs are harder to peel than others is down to it's age. When an egg is fresh, the inner membrane is taut...as it gets a couple of days older, more air penetrates the egg and the membrane slackens. Therefore, if your eggs are a week old they're ideal for hard boiling as that membrane is looser around the egg!

Also, to tell how old an egg is put it in a glass of water. If it's very fresh it will lie horizontally (less air in it), up to a week old it will lie at an angle and it will sit vertically if it's stale.

Hope this helps!

JennyBee_2

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

not rambling jennyBee, i didn't know about printing the details, fab, thank you!!

No problem - you have to go to the checkout and check your trolley and there's a little button on the right hand side under the "send your trolley to..." button

JennyBee_2

disaster - just realised my car tax is due!

I can't remember who it was that asked about whether people included toiletries etc in their budget! For me, there is no other pot for it to come out of so it has to! The only things that don't are the random things that you can now buy in supermarkets that are unrelated to cooking or cleaning in any way!! My OH's bday present of a bike for £40 in tesco for example!!! But everything else - washing powder, soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc all comes out of the pot! If all else fails we'll just stop washing!! That should save some money

Frugaldom

JennyBee wrote: »

Hiya
I don't do online shopping either (although I'd be lost without online banking!) However, I discovered the other day that mysupermarket.com have the facility to print your shopping list on there. So you can go in, add stuff to a "trolley", compare it to other supermarkets and then print it out. It comes out with pack sizes or weights on there too which means that when we pop into Lidl or Aldi it's really easy to see whether the stuff is actually cheaper or if it's just a smaller packet! Sorry - rambling...

:T Thanks for this, I didn't know about the print option either. It should really help if I can take a print-out with me when shopping! Excellent way to check prices, especially as I have to use Co-op for incidentals between main shops.