September 2010 Grocery Challenge

:eek:having failed spectacularly on my august GC mainly because it was the first month ever i ever recorded our spends i was wildly over optimistic ha ha however now have more realistic idea of what we spend so we going for £400sept please and hopefully achieve if not come under it then can reduce for oct nov etc - well thats the plan! I am off to do a thorough inventory of cupbaord contents as they full of something but not sure what and there could be tins of anything lurking at the back!! Good Luck all and keep those top tips coming in us newbies need them! thanks xxx:)

Hi everyone

Can't believe another month has passed.

I came in £10.41 under budget last month :j

Please can you put me down for £300 again this month.

Good luck everyone

Thanks

Tracey

EllieA, a couple of immediate ideas would be to use a tin of coconut milk to make a mild chicken or prawn korma curry, and serve with the rice. Or a rice pudding for desert.

Use french beans, cherry tomatoes, an onion, sweet pepper and courgette - chop into small dice and roast with some olive oil (and dash balsamic vinegar?), and some herbs if you have them (like rosemary, thyme, and garlic goes well too). Serve as a side dish with evening meal, and put leftovers into couscous made with chicken or veg stock (from a cube is fine) - I am actually having a very similar dish for lunch today having had the veg mix for dinner last night with roasted chicken portions and roasted spuds.

Apple jelly with the cookers? Or chop into small pieces and dry in a very low oven.

Apple pieces (above), banana chips and seeds etc can all go into muesli - you could get basic oats and make completely from scratch (ferw raisins, dates and dried apricots also work well), or just get a box already mixed and add your bits to it (I add loads of extra dried fruit to either K***ogg's Country Store or S***sburys one in the green box).

Would banana chips work in banana bread? (I partly ask that because I have a tub of banana chips in my cupboard for a few months now, as I bought them for the muesli and then realised I preferred dates and apricots, which really didn't work with banana for me).

I made up a large batch of my roasted veggies last night, partly to use up loads of HG beans and a pack of mangetout I'd forgotten about, and to hide more squashes - and partly to have something nice for lunch today!

We are having the garlic mushrooms, chips and steak from M&S tonight, and whatever leftover Chorizo potatoes DD doesn't eat (frozen from last batch) for her dinner. DH scoffed most of the trifle last night!

I am re-evaluating the menu for the rest of this week, as I will be off, and I want to use up a few things. So I may still make a lasagne one day, but I think the tomato linguine will also be needed (loads of tomatoes ripening and we promised DD she could have some). And I'll leave the "easy" dinners for next week when it's back to madness.

I am hoping for an NSD also today - I got my coffee using my S***bucks card this morning, so no cash handed over, and I don't need to get anything else today.

Really need to budget as getting married next year! Can you please put me down for £100 .

Hoping won't be too bad as have a few meals in the freezer. Love the chickpea ideas so may put a couple of tins on the my shopping list. Thinking humous and chickpea curry. Going out to the garden next to see if any fruit left. Will make some coulis if so and freeze it to have with ice cream as have a few tubs of that in the freezer too.

)

EllieA wrote: »

Oh weird and wonderful things

4 tins of Coconut Milk. - curry. Rice pud.

Pinenuts?? - pesto. Pasta with roasted tomatoes, pine nuts and bacon (and basil leaves if you have any) - yum

Massive Bag of Cooking Apples (i have made tons into pies/crumble and apple filling but still have loads left and the freezer is full) - leave in fridge for a s long as poss until you have more room in freezer!:D Apple muffins. Baked apples with sultanas (and sunflower seeds

couscous i know i should be able to use this but tbh i find it abit boring and tastless but refuse to bin it. - I love couscous. Make it up with squeezy garlic (dried herbs if you want) add roasted veg - Mediterranean. Serve hot or cold. Or add sunflower seeds, some roasted veg, cumin, coriander, chickpeas and sultanas for a more moroccan type. Serve with pork and roasted peppers and onions and courgettes (all in together) instead of rice. Use in wraps withj chicken (add salsa/ sour cream for stick-togetherness)

Green beans and cherry toms from the garden, getting abit sick of them now tbh, frozen loads but need some good recipes rather than sidedish/butty's/salad because if i serve them again i thing im gonna have it thrown at me. - roast toms and freeze for use in pasta. Freeze chopped toms for pasta/ pizza sauce/ ratatouille/ casseroles. Chutney beans and tomatoes. Serve cooked beans with a spicy tomato relish (pretty much the only way I'll eat the beans unless in chutney!!

Cracker bread thats been there for at least a year - I thnik you may just have to bite the bullet and eat with cream cheese and chopped tomatoes

Banana Chips? - yummy choc/ banana muffins. Also yummy to eat as is! Stirred in yogurt.

Oh and a serious amount of mixed seeds (things like pumpkin, sunflower etc) i occasionally have some as a snack but i have so many i really could do with getting rid of some. - in yougurt. Ialso use HEAPS in crumble toppings and flapjacks. Use in muffins. Roast some with soy sauce as an omega type snack mix. Roast some with honey for yummier snack mix!:rotfl:

Rice and balsamix vinegar i bought for a recipe at some point and have never needed again Rice wine? Use it up in stir fries a bit at a time. Balsamic = gorgeous with peasant sty;le bread and olive oil. Drizzle over pasta dishes, salads, lasagne. Use with tomatoes when roasting them for depth of flavour.

- .

hopefully some ideas for you There is also a storecupboard challenge thread somewhere that can probably copme up with more ideas


Mrs Mc, can I please have a budget of £350 for September - a reduction of £100 (eek!!) If I live off the glut of F&V from the garden I could do this....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: If I manage it I want to put the £100 as an overpayment to the mortgage.... Haven't declared August yet - need to add up our receipts from our weekend away in a mo - I suspect the vast amounts of icecreams will help to bring me quite close (but hopefully not over!) budget!!:cool::cool: