April 2008 Grocery Challenge

madmittens

Had my first shop of the month last night - £17.59 including £6.61 cat food. Don't know how, but the necessaries for the Giant Jaffa Cake somehow found their way into the trolley

So this week I am eating:
Last night - HM Quorn cottage pie & veg from the freezer (shopping night is always something nuke-able as it's usually gone 8.30 when I get home)
Tonight - HM Veg Mornay
Sat - HM Veg Cobbler (without the cobbler, yuk) from freezer, and mash
Sun - HM Prawn Pillau, HM bhindi bhaji, HM naan
Mon - HM Beany Burger & HM oven chips
Tue - Prawn pillau again (makes enough for 2)
Wed - Roasted veggie pasta

Lunches this week (packed, eaten at desk - no cooking facilities at all) have been tuna mayo & HM bread, HM yoghurt with lemon curd, fruit. Next week will be much the same but egg mayo instead. Lunches at the weekend will probably be soup (from the freezer).

madmittens

scotrae

Our new fridge didn't turn up til very last thing yesterday, by which time the meat m-i-l gave us the day before and the yogurts from pre-breakdown were well and truly past it. I wasn't sure about the fishcakes either but DH and I are still here this morning!

I'm going to have to restock the fridge a bit today, particularly with the children starting packed lunches again next week. The weather forecast is naff for Sunday so I shan't try to do a car boot sale this weekend, so I'm going to have to ferret about in the garage freezer and see what we can create with some tins and packets.

At least I have got stacks of defrosted butter and marg in the fridge now - the perfect excuse for lots of baking this weekend!

Girl_least_likely_to

Morning All

Just had a couple of NSD's and comtemplating when to go shopping, not sure whether to go this morning and get it out of the way or leave it until Sun/Mon when I'll have to go. Decisions, decision

Here's my meal planner for the week......

Fri - Takeaway (Hubby's treat)
Sat - Baked potato with leeks, mushrooms and bacon in a cheesey sauce
Sun - Roast chicken, roasties, stuffing and veg
Mon - Chicken risotto (using up leftovers)
Tues - HM Bean Burgers, Cous Cous & Salad
Wed - Eggs, Bacon, Black pudding, mushrooms and beans
Thurs - Cottage Pie (HM from freezer)

Hope everyone has a fab weekend

helliecopter_2

Yipeeeee!:j I set myself a budget of €120 for last week and I'm under by a whopping €3-25! The great news is that the freezer is full of meat, and I've enough fresh fruit & veg until Tuesday. We're going away on Tue morn and not back home until late Fri night. My food while we're away is in a seperate budget as we going to Disneyland Paris and I think the food will be vvvvv expensive. It means that this weeks budget €75 (today - thurs) will have to buy milk & bread over the weekend. I'm going shopping on Monday for sandwich and packup stuff for our 6hour car journey. This should save some of our hol spends and we're not eating expensive junk from service stations. I've been promising to take my DDs to Burger King for days now as a treat. They've both been under the weather and the budget can afford it this week. It'll be about €18-50 which still leaves €56-50 until next friday. Should be a good week and be €20 under budget!

My monthly spend so far until 3/4/08 : Food €116-75 / €390-00 & Misc €20-41 / €30-00

nicky1306

Welshlassie wrote: »

Last night I spotted someone mention a Chicken and Chirizo (?sp) Cassrole. My DH loves Chirizo any chance of having it posted please, it sounds yummy.

It wasn't me but we quite often have chicken and chirizo risotto, its the tastiest yet easiest recipie i make! I'll post the recipie incase anyone would like it!

250g/9oz cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
300g/10oz risotto rice
4 chicken thigh fillets, halved
200g/7oz chorizo, thickly slice
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 litre/1¾ pints hot chicken stock
pinch of saffron strands
8 large, raw prawns (we've never had the prawns in it)
salt and freshly ground black pepper


1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Place the cherry tomatoes in a roasting tin and sprinkle over the red onion, garlic and olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are softened.
2. Stir in the rice, chicken, chorizo, rosemary, chicken stock, saffron and some salt and pepper, mixing well together. Return to the oven for 20 minutes.
3. Stir in the prawns and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through.

fedupnow

Nicki1306 I would make a stirfry. There is almost nothing that doesn't go in my winter soups or summer stirfries. The frying pan is a dustbin.

Mrs Mccawber your weightloss is awesome. Truly. My oh struggles with weight issues - I swear he eats very little, but I suppose he must be cheating somewhere. *sigh* But soooo well done you.

I am such a newbie I am struggling to get to know everybody so please ALL bear with me. I also fouled up on the meal plan. On day 1 actually. It was a time issue and I didn't have time to cook whatever it was we were supposed to have so I made something quicker and now I don't want to have mince two days in a row and.... you all know what I mean right?

Anyway, although this is only my first month and only the 4th I am already on plan B. That is, I have written down 15 meals that we all like and I will have each one twice over the month of April. So, depending on how much time I have and what guests turn up will depend on which meal from the list we have. May get a little dodgy towards the end but it is worth a go.

What do you all think? Doeas anybody else do it this way?

MRSMCAWBER

Thankyou Fedupnow

I have been dieting on and off since i was about 14 :eek: ..now i have dumped "diets" and "diet products" and its a doddle..just wish i had tried it sooner

I do similar with my meal plan...
I list 7 things a week but roast chicken dinner, jacket potato with salad and feta, and tortilla wrap turn up every week as they are our faves ...
but I don't decide what we are having on which day as you can bet i won't fancy what is listed for that day. Plus -like you it means i can pick according to how busy we are, if hubby is out golfing or what needs using up first..
I find it works brilliantly ..
Im sure you will soon get into the swing of things

MSHAWX

I have mislaid my diary at the moment to rather than forget what I have spent the obvious place to record it, is here.
Spent £15.92 last night at MrS. I had forgotten, I probably have 7 to lunch today and needed to make some mackeral pate. (Delia's recipe)
Must go and make some HM hobnobs (Twinks recipe) for afters - that will impress them. I already have the ingredients for that.
This is my first spend of the month.

Mrs Mc - fantastic, I wish I had your resolve to see it through, you deserve to be so proud of yourself

findingmyfeet

well done again Mrs Mc, you have certainly cracked this dieting lark. I stayed the same this week- but probably on account that i have done loads of baking for kids and hubbyand had to sample them!!!! must admit though your way of dieting sounds very appealing all natural , fresh stuff. Im at weight watchers , good if you stick to it ! But sometimes some diets are a real faff about.

fedupnow- keep going with the planning , its sometimes a pain but works. I know exactly whats in fridge/freezer and what meals it will make over the fornight but dont decide until the day which one to do. good luck

teedy23

I AM having a NSD today I AM. The only thing is I,m off work today and dont want to stay in. I,m going to put the little thats left in my GC budget into a purse and keep it there. I dont usually do this but it,s the only way to make me face what I have left to spend, and stop this back peddaling and excuse making.