Grocery Challenge -Week 4 (and Nanaimo Bars !)

I did my grocery shop Wednesday night , and have managed to hit the shops three times since then to spend more money. So , not such a good week. Maybe since I know it’s almost the end of the month , I’m cutting loose. I’m still on target , providing I don’t race out to buy wagyu beef or a crayfish.

So, total spent for this week $172.05

Total remaining until the end of the month $143.93

In my own defence I cooked coconut rice this week and had to buy  10 kilo bags of three different kinds of dal when I only needed 4 tablespoons of each kind. And pure coconut oil is expensive you know. (And looks and tastes like suntan lotion)  I’m going blind from googling recipes that require channa dal. I’ll be making it into porridge if all else fails.

Now, down to business. I implore you to stop talking about food in your comments. I have no willpower and I’m going to end up with a backside the size of the outback if you don't.

Last week it was Nanci and her Butter Tarts . Mmmmmmm Butter tarts. This week, the gorgeous Marg planted the seeds of Moose Milk and Nanaimo Bars. I’m giving the Moose Milk a miss , because I’m not a lush …(sorry Marg –I couldn’t resist) but I decided to make the damn Nanaimo bars since I couldn’t get them out of my head.

These need custard powder. I’ve never bought custard powder before. I know you’re thinking “Does this woman live under a rock ?“. It was thrilling to buy such an exotic ingredient.

The recipe I used is here . We don’t have Graham Crackers here so I used chocolate ripple biscuits instead.

These are easy enough to do. I just like to mess up my kitchen when I cook. See?

This is what rose like a phoenix from the ashes.

Yes, that is seized milk chocolate on top …How observant of you to notice! And mine seem pretty big compared to the recipe picture. Hmnnnnn...I wonder if that's because Australia is a lot like Texas. Everything is big here. Maybe our 8 inch pans are smaller than yours. Maybe my mix fluffed up due to the sunshine, and the fact we're south of the equator.  Whatever.

But they still taste great, even if they don't look pretty. Next time, I'll halve the base or double the size of the pan! This time, I'll just shut my eyes when I'm taking one from the fridge. (and when I'm next weighing myself)

Next time any of you want to talk food …since I’m easily led , mention salad or vegetables will you?  If I don't eat something green soon,  I fear for my health.

Grocery Challenge-Week 3

Week 3 of the Great Grocery Challenge has arrived. Head on over to One Crazy Journey  for an update on Flamingo Mama's progress.

Since I was under the weather  last  week and couldn’t get out to shop so much, I was forced to use what we had in the house. I’ve noticed that you can get really creative when you have to. I must confess there was a high degree of menu shuffling  this week because people didn’t want me breathing on their food. (Mental Note To Self: Learn to perfect a cough for other occasions I don’t feel like cooking) I highly recommend contracting a virus if you're wanting to save money on groceries as well.

I spent a massive amount this week. All of $17.00. My shopping list included ice cream (we had a guest for dessert because any other time I would be too mean to buy ice cream ) , cream, raisins, and milk.

This makes my total grocery spend for March so far : $348.02

Leaving me : $ 315.98 Pretty darn impressive huh?

I’ve been trolling round looking for new recipes this week and have found blogs an amazing source of inspiration. I particularly liked this recipe from Kirsten's Cooking  for Baked Potato Soup  I think Velveeta must be like our Kraft Blue Cheese, so that’s what I’ll be using.

My mission this week is to use all the little leftover bits and pieces from our inside freezer. Everytime I open the door something jumps out and tries to attack me. So if this week’s menu looks a bit cobbled together it’s because it is. Plus, I’ll be using some of last week’s meals because we didn’t eat them. Has anyone else noticed if the main cook is sick, everyone else decides that eating proper meals is low on the priority list? I personally dont think lollies and Dorito's are a meal.  Apparently some people in this house think that covers mains and dessert.

My Menu for this Week:

Lunches/Brunches

Chicken and avocado sandwiches
Bacon , Eggs and Toast
Pancakes with Maple Orange Butter 
Cheesey Tuna Potatoes
Chicken Wings and Salad
Mediterranean Vegetable Frittata
Lamb Salad with Mint

Dinners
Rendang Curry , baked potato skins with bacon cheese and sour cream, Jasmine Rice and Butter Tarts
Smashed Roast Chicken with Cajun seasoning, gravy potatoes, corn and beans.
Pasta and Spaghetti Sauce with two cheeses
Cooking with SAJ –Finally going to do those lamb Shanks with Carribean Coconut Rice
Kirsten’s Baked Potato Soup with Crispy Bacon and Rolls and lemon cheese cake
Steak with Garlic Cream sauce , BBQ potatoes and a green salad
Takeaway for dinner one night

I make all my own rubs and marinades. The cost is significantly less than the store bought kind and it's really easy to do.  This is the Cajun Seasoning Recipe  I use.  And here is an old post of mine that  lists  links to a couple more rub recipes. So,  Happy Shopping, Meal Planning and Cooking. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing.

P.S. I bought a cake  from the store on March 12th and it has a use by date of April 3rd. Apparently this cake will keep for at least  three weeks ...no cake I  make ever lasts that long. Exactly what is in there to keep it fresh for that length of time ? Ugh- I don’t want to know. I just fed it to the dogs. Now I feel bad because I wouldn't eat it but I expected them to, and because they can't read they weren't making an informed choice.  

Grocery Challenge - Week 2

Head on over to One Crazy Journey and join in the fun with Flamingo Mama's March Grocery Challenge. It's week 2.

I had my menu plan for this week all sorted out but slipped on Thursday when I was tired, coming down with a virus and couldn’t be bothered.  I ended up buying chicken from the local takeaway shop instead of cooking my planned meal.  In my own defence I used the leftover chicken to make chicken and vegie soup for another meal. Hot Damn- I'm virtuous! Takeaway is relatively expensive here . A  medium sized Big Mac or Quarter Pounder meal from McDonalds (drink, fries and burger) costs around $8.00 AUD which is around $9.00 US dollars.

This week’s shop included lots of fruit and vegies and interestingly the equivalent amount of biscuits, oreos,(mmmmmmmmm)  Milky Bar chocolate, a pack of BBQ chips,  chocolate bits (making chop chip cookies sometime this week) and two swiss roll cakes. Obviously I’m craving sugar and comfort food. So not a really frugal shop since nobody in this house actually NEEDS most of those sugary things, but we spent way  less than we would usually spend on total groceries. I will rush to point out that those treats will probably do us for the rest of the month as well. Oh who am I kidding- that Milky bar and the barbecue chips will be  gone by tomorrow morning...too bad if my taste buds are on strike.

So my grand total for this week is:

Foodland $102.42

Butcher $49.20 (Meat for 4 meals plus dog meat)

Total $151.62

Which makes a grand total for the month so far of $331.02, which leaves me 332.98. I'm feeling like this is emminently do-able and so far it's not even hurting.  

My planned menu for dinners for next week is:
Rendang Curry with Jasmine Rice
Roast Beef , and roasted root vegies with fresh corn and a green vegetable
Home Made Lasagna
Steak with Garlic Cream sauce , BBQ potatoes and a green salad
Lamb Shanks (cooking with SAJ- I hope we don't burn MY kitchen down)
Chicken Breast Fillets with peppercorn sauce, potato bake, beans and carrots
Foccacia with Salami, Cheese, Olives and salad

I need to point out I am a stasher. I had all the meat for next weeks meals in one of my four freezers...yep count 'em ...four. And in fact, the curry and lasagne sauce are already made.

Prices from yesterday's grocery shop (Thought it might be fun to compare)

500 gram pack of penne pasta $1.49 on special

One dozen eggs $3.19

Premium Leg Ham (sliced ) $22.99 a kilo. (one kilo equals 2.2 pounds)

2 litres of plain wrap milk $2.63

A box of 140 tissues $ 3.09

680 grams vienna loaf $4.39

Normal white bread (680 grams) between $2.00-$4.00 a loaf

Bananas 2.99 a kilo

Mango’s  2.99 each this week

Apples (all varieties ) around 5.00 a kilo

Avocado 2.29 each

T Bone Steaks 19.99 a kilo ( on special)

Shortback Bacon 15.99 a kilo

Sandwich Steak 14.99 a kilo

Kassler Chops 13.99 a kilo.

If you add about 12 – 15 % to the price that will give you the equivalent price in USD.

So far, I'm pretty pleased with how things are going. Can't wait for Week 3 !

Grocery Challenge- Week 1

Flamingo Mama over at One Crazy Journey  is doing a March Grocery Challenge.  The concept is really simple. Work out how much less you think you can spend on groceries for the month and challenge yourself to do just that. Easy huh? I love easy.

I have always had a grocery budget ,in fact I have a budget for EVERYTHING,  and since I'm into the frugal living concept, (don't mention my fabric habit) I thought it would be lots of fun to try this with a group.

One of the important things to remember is you aren't competing with the other people who are participating , this is about setting a personal goal and trying to stick to it. Groceries in Australia seem to be significantly more expensive than in the US , so I doubt I could aspire to spending only $300-400 for the month, at least on a routine basis. I'm doing well here if I spend less than $200.00 on meat a month.   No coupons  here either and not  an Aldi or CVS in sight making this just that little bit more tricky.

I tend to shop at the same  grocery store , and it's always  an independent not a multi national chain.  I find rushing round to more than one place doesn't save me money.However I might pop in more than once, although I try not to. That happened this week, because we ran out of lemons and needed them for a curry, I needed candles for a birthday cake and then I needed limes for a pie (what is it with me and citrus this week?) 

I already do menu plans and always shop with a list but I'm flexible about what I buy even within the list. If washing powder isn't on the list but is on sale for $1.99 I stock up big. Ditto TP and dishwashing liquid. Thanks to habits ingrained by Patty, my incredible budget juggling Mum, I have plenty of freezer and pantry storage space and it's usually full.  I already manage to squeeze around 10%  savings out of my allocated grocery budget every month, but I know I can do better!

I'm shopping for three adults so I shop weekly. I've tried fortnightly and that just doesn't work for us. I try to pre-cook and freeze  a couple of meals a week in advance so I know at least two nights will be easy to get dinner on the table. This is a lifesaver when you're working. I don't like to have to think too hard after a full day at work !

So my current budget is $225.00 a week. That's a total of $996.34 for a calendar month. I am aiming for $664.00 for the month and I'm not going to stress myself out by worrying about whether I go over a weekly amount, I'll just work out how I went at the end of the month. That's because some weeks I go over my weekly amount and then next week, I might spend a very small amount.

So far since the 1st of March  (yes I've been keeping a tally because I was so darn excited about this challenge ) I've spent $179.40. That included 5 kilos of meat for the dogs  and a couple of kilos of people mince , which is mince for people to eat not mince made out of people,  but no other meat and nowhere near what I'm thinking we need for fruit and veg for the next week or so if we want to get nutrients into our systems.  I stocked up on non perishables that I know we'll need for the month that were on special like coffee, tea, butter, cheese , olive oil  and other pantry stretchers. Hoarding groceries  is the way I roll.

I'm considering doing a run to the farmers  market tomorrow morning to buy fruit and vegies because it will be cheaper than topping up at the supermarket. I used to do this and it cut our fruit and vegie bill in half! Then I got lazy.....

I'm really looking forward to reading how other people are going, and to supporting and cheering one another on. And if you have any frugal meal or grocery  ideas feel free to share them!