January 2012 Grocery Challenge

aberdeensaver wrote: »

Please help, can I freeze risotto? My oh has just announced he is going out and I already have defrosted the chicken for risotto and there's too much for just me!

You'll probably get lots of differing advice on this one as some people do it & never have problems while others have been very ill from reheated rice and would never consider it again!

The main thing is to get the rice cooled as quickly as possible - when I do Risotto, one portion is plated up and the other is put into a big plate with sides (are these pasta dishes?) and popped into the washing up bowl (so it floats) filled with cold water.

You will need to take the plate out / mix & respread the risotto a few times to get it cool ASAP.

Once cooled, I put into the fridge (sealed container) straight away & would always use the next night. To reheat, I do on a medium setting for 5 mins at a time & stir, then another 5 mins etc until absolutely piping hot.

TBH after receiving much advice on here, I decided not to risk freezing mine so have always just done this. HTH

Just checked my online banking and realised that one of my grocery spends came out of a separate budget so i have put £10 back into my virtual pot.

I am thrilled with how it is going. I have separated the cash in my purse into 'weeks' so I have a weekly grocery budget already sorted.

Am grinning here, I feel so in control of my finances and that is a VERY new feeling for me! Now I am off to clean my house!! Wish me luck...

Afternoon all:)
Just popping by to update weekly spends.

Did the weekly drudge round mr M's yesterday to a cost of £26.78, I don't think I checked in with last weeks spends so am going to have to declare an extra £30 for last week too - I know I didn't go over it.

I did buy some wine & beer&soft drinks for a party but am not going to declare it as that came out of entertainment budget - it's not used often at the moment , so not that worried and it was less than £15 for 5 of us that went anyway.:rotfl:

I did though yesterday used some of theMr M's saving stamp card that my Dad gave me for part of my Christmas pressie(think its his way of thanking me taking him every week to Mr M's:))

I stocked up on s*rf that is on offer at £3 for 25 washes,so got 4 (which compares to Amaz8ns offer on the P£sil) - I suppose it's just personal preference in the end- also bought the a£e bleach at half price,cans of coconut milk (2 for £1) & bran*tons baked beans (pack of 4 for £1.25) and T-bags that were half price- that lot came to just under £27.

Poor lad on checkout totally got baffled and had to get supervisor over to show how to put stamps through as wasn't sure. Anyway they gave me the £70 back from the stamp card in cash,so I went over to customer services and exchanged them for £70 in stamps and took 5 cards as well.

Have divided them up into 2 lots of £15 and the 3 lots of £10 on the cards. So my idea is to make them work harder over the next few months so i can stock pile the bargains.

I explained this to the woman whom I got the stamps off and all she said was "but you won't have got the extra £3 at Xmas"

No but I had saved around £16 on that one shop if I had done it buying each one seperately and when the items were not at bargain prices so even taking off the £3 bonus I am still better off -plus the stamps were a gift in the first place,even better!

I could see her mulling it all over as I left ...something for her to chat about at break time I suppose:)

My Dad bless him is totally bemused but I think he is quie impressed that I am making the stamps work for me.

Went to A5da yesterday, armed with most of my coupons, spent £78 after the coupons were taken off:D

totallybored wrote: »

I've just started going to C0stc0 recently and I now aim to go once a month to stock up on certain bits. They have toilet roll on offer atm, 10 4 roll packs for just over £10 which is good value as they seem to last (I don't just look at price as I've found some cheaper rolls get used much faster) and I got 12 packs of bacon for £9 last week that is still on offer. Lavazza coffee, Clipper tea bags and cans of tuna are other things I will now stock up on from there too.

Thanks for this has convinced me its a good idea going to apply for a costco card out of the money we have saved on groceries at the end of this month :money:

we got the cheaper loo roll in tesco a while ago and was going through twice as much so thats something I like to know too. right off to clear cupboards ready for costco trip next month :rotfl: