November 2012 Grocery Challenge

icontinuetodream · 1 November 2012 at 11:15AM

afeitar wrote: »

No spends yet, first day of the challenge for me today. My Mum has given me a big bag of veg and a big bag of fruit that she picks up through a healthy eating scheme the council does, they are £2 each for a bag and really good value! I do now have a lot of veg that needs using up so I'll have to make some soup at the weekend if I can find time. I'm thinking a pumpkin & sweet potato soup, potato and leek soup and cabbage?

Anyone else have any cabbage recipe ideas? I've been having it just finely sliced and fried lightly as a side dish which I like but it can get boring. I have about 3/4 of a whole white cabbage to use up and also a curly cabbage to use up.

Here you go.....

Braised Cabbage with Red Beans & Rice

2tbs olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
½ green cabbage (or white!!)
1 litre veg stock
4oz arborio rice
1 tin drained kidney beans
salt & pepper to taste

Method

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium low heat. Add onion and carrot, cook until softened (about 10 minutes)
Add cabbage and about ¼ of the stock, stir to combine. Cover and cook on med-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring a few times
Add remaining stock and bring to a boil over high heat
Add rice, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to med-low and cook for 15-20 mins until rice is tender
Add beans and cook, uncovered for approx 5 mins until heated through – stir occasionally.

Lush....I eat it with cranberry sauce on the side!

Suffolk_lass · 1 November 2012 at 11:16AM

CompBunny wrote: »

Has anyone noticed their local T£$co starting to withdraw certain Value ranges? For a while ours stopped selling value low fat yoghurts completely and filled their usual spot with a more expensive own brand. We simply stopped buying snack yoghurts. A few weeks later they returned.
The same thing has happened with Value crisps, an unnecessary unhealthy luxury. They just disappeared. We switched to occasionally buying crisps on decent special offers. The value ones haven't returned...

Same has happened for certain value cheeses, cupboard items etc. Some have returned, some haven't.

Have you noticed this?
Our theory is that T£$co are testing to see if people are willing to move up a brand or if they only buy the item because its affordable. Maybe we are imagining it though!

Welcome back CompBunny - you're not imagining it; they are rebranding to a more upmarket version - these articles refer here and here. Having started to use coupons recently I along with most of us on here, I suspect, am past being embarrassed. It is about whether we can afford our shopping. An example is value brand tinned tomatoes; having scrutised the tin and found exactly the same percentage of tomatoes between value and organic premium brands with pretty pictures of tomatoes!

Suffolk_lass · 1 November 2012 at 11:20AM

icontinuetodream wrote: »

£18.70 on tuesday for me....dog food and a few other bits for dd

:rotfl:does she like dog food then?:rotfl:

LannyLee · 1 November 2012 at 11:20AM

Woke this morning to find that it is a typical November day, miserable & pouring with rain so no morning walk for me & the LO, on the plus side it means a NSD (:j) as don't want to drown for the sake of buying something I don't really need!

p.s

White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit.

Pinch Punch for the 1st of the Month

icontinuetodream · 1 November 2012 at 11:28AM

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

:rotfl:does she like dog food then?:rotfl:

OOPS!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Times are hard, but not that bad!!

:D:D

CompBunny · 1 November 2012 at 11:45AM

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Welcome back CompBunny - you're not imagining it; they are rebranding to a more upmarket version - these articles refer here and here. Having started to use coupons recently I along with most of us on here, I suspect, am past being embarrassed. It is about whether we can afford our shopping. An example is value brand tinned tomatoes; having scrutised the tin and found exactly the same percentage of tomatoes between value and organic premium brands with pretty pictures of tomatoes!

Thanks Suffolk lass

Nice to see loads of familiar faces still GC-ing !

The bizarre thing is, all of the stuff that is now missing has been on the shelf re-released as "Everyday Value" already since the rebrand, which is why I'm concerned they might have withdrawn it or even worse using our store as a "test store" to see if people will move up a brand!

I agree about the being past embarrassment!!!! Coupons are a good idea, must ask OH to get some more ink in our printer so we can jump on that idea too

flubberyzing · 1 November 2012 at 12:15PM

My first grocery spend of the month!
£10.42 in Tescos and £2.58 in Aldi.
In Tesco's I just happened to be looking at the reduced meat at the right moment to be there when a shelf-stacker put in a load of organic beef meatballs (15 balls per pack) with a 50% saving. Knowing I was short of freezer space, I only got 2 packs! Pleased though, because that's like 6 meals worth for me.
The money I spent on those though, comes out of another budget, as I do bulk-buys out of my "special" version of the second purse.

lemmings1986 · 1 November 2012 at 12:17PM

CompBunny wrote: »

Well today is the first day of November and the start of my first GC in a long time. No spends planned for today as I need to rest - M.E is good for the GC as the less you leave the house the less you can spend!

Has anyone noticed their local T£$co starting to withdraw certain Value ranges? For a while ours stopped selling value low fat yoghurts completely and filled their usual spot with a more expensive own brand. We simply stopped buying snack yoghurts. A few weeks later they returned.
The same thing has happened with Value crisps, an unnecessary unhealthy luxury. They just disappeared. We switched to occasionally buying crisps on decent special offers. The value ones haven't returned...

Same has happened for certain value cheeses, cupboard items etc. Some have returned, some haven't.

Have you noticed this?
Our theory is that T£$co are testing to see if people are willing to move up a brand or if they only buy the item because its affordable. Maybe we are imagining it though!

hi comp bunny i noticed this when i was shopping today,i wanted some value crisps and theyve stopped selling them so didnt buy any as i didnt want to spend loads. crisps are soo exspensive.

lemmings1986 · 1 November 2012 at 12:30PM

hi all well low spend to report £1.65
2x digestive chocolate biscuits for ohs packup 46p
1x cream crackers 24p
1 x tub of butter 75p i normally buy clover but everythings so expensive and am trying to cut back on everything so bought the value one hopefully it will taste ok
am planning a nsd tomorrow,house to decorate and ebaying so should have £5.35 left of this weeks budget :j:j so will put whatevers left in savings pot

fedupandskint · 1 November 2012 at 12:34PM

Suffolk lass - Thanks for noticing about the debt reduction - I'm working hard on this after sticking my head in the sand about it for years, hence why I've rejoined the GC to help me out!

As I'm off work with a very nasty virus I've just spent some time looking for some cheap recipes and have written quite a few up and only added a couple of things to my shopping list for the week ahead showing me I have a lot of things in already to use up and only need a few staples. Trying out a vegetable lasagne at the weekend with more veg!

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November 2012 Grocery Challenge

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