June 2008 Grocery Challenge

huxley

Hi nsd here, chicken carcass and bits went in the slow cooker earlier now all the meats off veggies in and some dumplings, I know its meant to be summer but.......... someone forgot to tell the weather, everyone's got wet today and good old fashioned stodgy comfort food is just what is needed:D mmmmmmm maybe bannanas and custard for pud.

tattycath

Blimey it's only the 2nd June and already we're on page 37!!!
£200 budget for me again this month-see if I can actually stick to it this time. In my defence this year I have managed to get up to £44 worth of morrisons savings stamps towards the christmas food shop.
Well done everyone so far and continued good luck for the rest of the month.

yellowmonkey

Mr T again today and & £7.82 spent. Progress with OH. She is willing to try Lidl and Aldi :j:j:j:j:j

Small steps catchy monkey

yellowmonkey

I am only on page 19

Must be because I am set on 40 posts per page. Try it. It is a lot less scrolling and faffing around.

Go to user CP

Left hand side

Edit options

Scroll down to number of posts per page

Set to 40 and Voila

Hope that helps

ym

lday77

Well my Chilli was delicious and o/h loved it to.
I also worked out that I am saving £18pm by cancelling my weight watchers subscription and the gym have let me freeze my membership for 6 months and can just pay £3 on a pay as you go basis, so by being pregnant I'm saving £63 a month. Also May was the last payment for my Prince's Trust loan so altogether I'm £134 a month better off. I am going to open a post office savings account and try to pay this amount in along with anything I save from the GC thread so I should have a little lump sum for my bump. So all in all feeling quite smug!

greent

lday77 wrote: »

I am about to make a chilli and had bought a packet mix to add to the other ingredients, I wanted to eat half and freeze half but the packet say's "do not re-heat" do you think it will be okay? If not how do I make chilli that I can freeze? I have mince beef, tinned toms, onion a tin of mixed beans and dried red lentils. I have the usual herbs and chillies do I need gravy granules?

If the packet mix is like Schwartz or siilar, then it's fine to reheat. I did it for years:D The packet mixes are flour & spices - so are fine to do that with

As someone else said - sorry didn't note name before typing:o - you don't need gravy granules. If you have chillies and garlic you don't really need a packet mix, but it's up to you :-) - it will have to get used at some point! What a lot of people also do is add a square or 2 of dark choc (really!) - it can intensify the flavour. I also shove peppers, courgette, mushrooms and grated carrot into mine (along with onion) - I don't pre cook any of it - I like the different textures, and it all cooks anyway. I don't use oats or lentils, but I do use a reasonable amount of veg. I also don't add any sugar to my tomatoes - but always use Napolina ones. I do sometimes add tom puree, more to give it added redness tahn any other reason - oh, and I always add a generous glog of red wine - about a glass or two!:beer:



GT

SAVVYMUMMY_2

lday77 wrote: »

Hiya
Right I am on a mission now as I have just found out I am pregnant and really need to watch the pennies. On the plus side my appetitie has disappeared so I might not need to buy as much!

I spent £17.53 in the co-op yesterday which I am extremely proud of, it's normally £70 odd and this included toilet rolls, £2.30 for Charmin' which is a right bargain.

Also made two large cottage pies, bulked up wit carrots, lentils and peas, one wne in the freezer and there was some left from yesterdays for my lunch mmmmm

:j :j :j CONGRATULATIONS lday77:j :j :j

fluffysox

Needed a loaf so went to local frozen food store, where it's cheaper than supermarkets. They have a 50p parking charge that you are refunded via a voucher system in store. Spotted two of these vouchers, both dropped on the ground in the past hour and picked them up. Used my voucher + one more so got extra 50p off shopping and put the third voucher in purse to do the same next time. Can't believe people throw them away . Anyway I benefitted. Spent just over a fiver for two bags of bargains:rotfl: .
Yellowmonkey I hardly ever go to the big supermarkets now Lidl and Aldi are great, particularly if you enjoy continental foods. Bought some gorgeous pate in Aldi last week, with olive and roasted red peppers, would have cost a three times as much on Mr.Ts shelves. They do great deals on fresh veg too. Been to Mr Ts last week for first time in a couple of months just for Green Giant sweetcorn- the only branded fodder my OH will not budge on- he doesn't realise that he gets the Aldi version whenever I cook it though.:p

Also good for wine at Lidl, they do a lovely bordeaux.

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Natty68 wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can freeze mushrooms? I bought about 5lb of the darn things at the market for a £1.00 at the weekend and now I don't know what to do with them...lol I know I will use them in Dh's stir fry tonight, and to pad out the chilli tomorrow but I don't want to waste the rest, so was going to freeze them.

We don't have fresh mushrooms to eat, as I can't stand them, so it won't matter if they go soggy as they will only be for cooking.

Help!!

Hi Natty I freeze mushrooms, I don`t blanch them just slice and lay out on a flat tray and put in freezer. When frozen I bag them up. HTH

miecherox

Good evening - am on the scrounge for advice and a recipe.

I am looking for a recipe for chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup or similar if anyone has one - I think I recall mrsm talking about it once?....

Also, a question about nappies i've got two in nappies at the mo and usually use washable nappies (very os i think!) but sometimes I really want a "nappy washing holiday" However I am super tight about something I'm just going to throw away 4-8 times a day! So....just wondering if anyone has tried the smartprice nappies from asda the REALLY cheap ones? If so what are they like?

Thanks guys you're all fab

M x