September 2012 Grocery Challenge

I am very pleased with myself. For my batch cooking I'd planned today, I decided to make as many dinners as possible from one 800g pack of minced beef. It did mean I had to break my original plan of a NSD because I needed beans but i managed to make:-

2 large Cottage Pies (each should serve 4 adults).
2 bolognaise (each serving 2 adults & 2 kids)
2 chillis (each serving 2 adults) :j:T:j


here goes with the details of what I did.

I chopped 3 onions & 3 garlic cloves & cooked them in my biggest pan, in some oil (I meant to add more garlic but only realised, as I type this, that I forgot to go & get another bulb of garlic out). I probably would have gone for about 6 cloves.

Next I added the 800g of mince & fried til the meat was all brown. I added 6 handfuls of red lentils, 2 beef oxo cubes, 2 handfuls of porridge oats & a small cup of water (reckon I could have managed without the water). Next I added 6x400g tins of chopped tomatoes, a large glass of red wine & black pepper & cooked it all for about 10 minutes. Then I started to split it to make the different meals.

Cottage pie-I put, into another saucepan, about 8 mushrooms chopped really small & cooked them in a little bit of butter. Then I added enough meat mixture to make it look enough for 2 Cottage Pies (I got the dish out that I normally use so that I could estimate visually). I added 2 handfuls of frozen peas, a really big dash of Worcester Sauce, 2 squirts (about 2tbs) of tomato pur!e, a chicken oxo cube, some dried thyme & dried rosemary. I halved the mixture. I have topped one half with cheesy mash for tonight's tea (which will spend about 1/2 hour in oven) & the other half will be frozen (labelled up) ready for another day & I will only need to do the potatoes.

Next, I added the remainder of the tube of tomato pur!e into the remaining meat mixture. Then.......

Spaghetti bolognaise-in a clean pan, I fried 2 leftover rashers of bacon, chopped up small, with some oil & dried rosemary. I added some dried oregano & enough meat mixture for 2 family portions (we are 2 adults & 2 kids). That has now been transferred to a casserole dish, ready to spend 1 1/2 hours in the oven, when I have it on later for the cottage pie.

Chilli con Carne- finally I have added a tin of kidney beans, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder (could add more, but I only had hot chilli powder in) & a light sprinkle of cinnamon & will also cook this in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, later, when it's on. I have made a bit of a boo boo because maybe should have added beans 30mins before finished cooking. Hopefully will be ok! DDs don't eat chilli so there's enough for DH & I for 2 meals each!

Just wondering 2 things:
1. What do you do to get your alcohol bill down? I'm not a huge drinker but I probably share 1-2 bottles of wine with OH at weekends and he has a couple of beers most nights. I usually buy booze from supermarket, OH accepts whatever is cheapest and occasionally I buy him something he likes! I buy wine on offer usually for about a fiver a bottle. I would rather drink nothing than drink something I don't like so don't tend to buy the cheapest ones. Am I missing any tricks?
2. Do I need to report each spend I make on here or can I keep track at home and just record my total at the end of the month?
Thanks!

Thanks HiddenIdentity, glad to hear it.
i have just passed my 2 year anniversary of being smoke free, and i love being a non-smoker (or is it ex-smoker?)!

Have had a NSD today, finally!
Also, i found my old nectar card that i used to use, but its been about 2 years since i used it!
I called up the nectar helpline and they told me the card had been deleated, and the points i had on it, deleated. So i asked them to send me a new card and put the points back on..and they did! So i have 1903 points on my new nectar card when it arrives.
Does anyone know how much that actually is to spend in store?

Afternoon folks after a NSD yesterday, I had intended today to be one too, but hubby suggested taking DGS to the seaside today so have spent £10.46 in MacDonalds and was another £1.50 for the wee seaside bus and another £1.50 for the seaside train, so will increase my spends by another £13.50 - my budget is for everything - not just grocery. At the moment I have leeks drying in the dehydrator - got 4 leeks from tesco for 40p, and dont have an inch to spare in the freezer so anything else will need to be dehydrated and put into jars. With going to MacDonalds this afternoon hubby is not wanting any tea so the steak pie which was earmarked for tonight will now do tomorrow. Aiming for 3 NSD's this week - Tues, Wed and Thurs, fingers crossed it happens!

Hi peeps. Today was my first grocery shop of september and I managed to spend £56.01 in sainsbugs, but did have OH with me who put sweets in the trolly. Can't be too mad though as I also put a bottle of cava in. Then popped to the veg shop for veggies, apples and eggs and spent £9.56. Need to do a comparison online and see if the veggie shop or the supermarket works out cheaper. So today a grand total of £65.57. Will update sig in a bit.