The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Share your tips and ideas on making the most of meals!
Roxanne
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Roxanne » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:35 am

This is my progress update for for the week of Feb 5th - 11th
- At least 1 pk of mac n cheese - of 5 packages I want to use by the end of the month - wasn't in the mood to eat it so didn't make any
- At least 1 potion of baked ziti (frozen) - accomplished
- Protein powder (will elaborate at the end of the week the ways I incorporated it into my meals and drinks) - incorporated it into cream of wheat porridge for breakfast 2 mornings
- Vanilla drink mix (also will elaborate at the end of the week - this one I need to mask the flavour so ideas appreciated) - so I didn't end up doing anything with it this week
- Potato flakes - Used 1/2 package still have 1 1/2 packages to go.

Anything else not listed here (but I do have a list on a notepad for the whole month of February) will be mentioned at the end of the week. Those listed above are my main culprits I want to use.

- cream of wheat
- brown gravy mix (froze leftovers)
- cream cheese
- white quinoa - grain
- wonton wrappers

Roxanne
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Roxanne » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:39 am

Doing pantry purge again. Items for the week of Feb 12th - 18th will be
- At least 1 pk of mac n cheese - of 5 packages I want to use by the end of the month
- At least 1 potion of baked ziti - again (frozen)
- Protein powder (will elaborate at the end of the week the ways I incorporated it)
- Vanilla drink mix (also will elaborate at the end of the week - this one I need to mask the flavour so ideas appreciated)
- Potato flakes
- Want to use up leftover brown gravy (thanks for the idea to freeze it)
- 1 portion of 3 portions of shrimp (I have them portioned out for recipes just need to remember to cook it!)

Anything else not listed here (I have a list on a notepad for the whole month of February) will be mentioned at the end of the week.

Kchurchill5
Posts: 16044
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:55 am

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Kchurchill5 » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:44 am

Potato flakes I use them all the time to thicken up soup or stews. They add great flavor and thicken at the same time.

Also, I have used them in meatballs too.

Roxanne
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Roxanne » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:49 am

Kchurchill5 wrote:Potato flakes I use them all the time to thicken up soup or stews. They add great flavor and thicken at the same time.

Also, I have used them in meatballs too.
Interesting you should mention using them in meatballs. I saw Giada using cooked couscous in her meatballs the other day. Looked good and I got to notion it would make them lighter and fluffier but dunno, will have to try that myself.

HeatherFeather
Posts: 2558
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:07 am

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by HeatherFeather » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:55 am

I go through tons of potato flakes as they are the main ingredient in my bread starter for my potato bread (which I turn into loaves of bread and cinnamon rolls). I have been planning to get that posted on here at some point. I am trying to document each step with photos, but it has been hard getting them to turn out correctly.

I almost never use potato flakes to make mashed potatoes, oddly enough.

Roxanne
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Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Roxanne » Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:07 am

Oh you just reminded me of a recipe I saw once for crescent rolls which uses mashed potato flakes. I dunno why, but I love to eat mashed potatoes made from the flakes. I just stocked up on too many packages when it was thanksgiving time :oops:

HeatherFeather
Posts: 2558
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:07 am

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by HeatherFeather » Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:18 am

Oh crescent rolls made with potato flakes sound really good! I hope you find the recipe.

HeatherFeather
Posts: 2558
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:07 am

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by HeatherFeather » Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:23 pm

Update for the week: I did use up some black beans and some other canned items this week. I didn't end up making any salad, so the dressing mix is still sitting there. I think I am going to try one of the suggestions made about using it as an ingredient in meat marinade.

I am going to try to save money this week by lowering my budget to $75, although I do hope to spend even less than that. I also will be working on frozen meats and more canned/bottled items in my pantry.

HeatherFeather
Posts: 2558
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:07 am

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by HeatherFeather » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:15 pm

I just did my grocery shopping and thanks to great sales, shopping in my own pantry first, and using some coupons, I was able to meet my $75 budget within a couple of dollars. I could have chosen to put back something, but I did actually have the money and wanted to take advantage of a great sale/coupon combo for an item I did need soon, so I allowed for a tiny bit over - but barely.

I feel really good! I bought a lot of good stuff. I don't know if any of you are interested, but here is what I bought. I don't buy a lot of ready made stuff, and I do buy organics & fresh produce often. My coupons only saved me about $10 this week, but my markets had almost everything else on sale.

Organic Milk (2 quarts)
2 containers of organic flavored half and half (the second one was free today)
1 bag mozzarella cheese
1 block Monterey Jack cheese

1 container Feta crumbles
1 huge tub Sorrento ricotta cheese (I had a great coupon and it was on sale today)
1 large tub sour cream
5 containers Fage yogurt
1 container Noosa organic yogurt dessert
1 pound salmon steaks (fresh)
1 large orange
1 package fresh asparagus
1 pkg grape tomatoes
1 can sliced peaches
1 large box of red & green grapes (expensive, it came to $6 since grapes aren't in season, but I needed them and they were the only good looking ones in the store today)
1 can organic pumpkin puree
1 pkg fresh basil
1 tub of olives, stuffed grape leaves, and marinated mushrooms from the olive bar
1 loaf multgrain bread from the bakery
1 Mardi Gras King cake from the Fresh Market bakery ($8 - expensive, but I didn't have time to make my own this year)
3 cans coconut juice
2 jars Bertolli vineyard pasta sauce (one was free)
1 box panko
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 bag brown sugar
1 box baking soda
1 box cake mix

Writing out the list it doesn't seem like as much as it looked like all piled on the counter, but almost everything was on my list. The stuff that sneaked its way into my cart: the two jars of pasta sauce, since it is a brand I love and it was buy one get one free today, the ricotta cheese (although I had already planned to make ravioli next week, so I would need it then anyway when it would no longer be on sale), and the Noosa yogurt, which I bought as a treat for myself to eat for lunch (it is $3 a container when not on sale, but I was hungry).

It seems like Publix is having an Italian ingredients event this week - tons of Italian foods were on sale today. If you have a Publix near you and need pasta, pizza, sauce, pizza dough, sausage, cheeses, etc - just about everything you can think of for Italian cooking was on sale or buy one get one free.

I already have meat in my freezer to use, plus fresh veggies I still had in the fridge from last week that didn't get used up yet, as well as plenty of pantry items to round out my meals.

Roxanne
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

Post by Roxanne » Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:06 pm

So yeah, last day of February and I am sorry to say that I have totally lost track of my list and honestly too tired to bother looking at it right now :oops:. But off the top of my head I have used a few things

- Baked ziti - still have a couple slices
- macaroni and cheese (boxed kind) - still have a couple boxes
- mashed potatoes flakes - half package left
- ritz crackers (I usually have it on hand to use in meatballs but since I ain't making them anytime soon I used it all in a dessert recipe and don't plan to buy more soon)
- vanilla drink mix - I discovered the best use for it. I mix it as stated on the package and then blend in a few spoons of nutella and a little vanilla, churn it in my ice cream maker, chopped some chocolate covered hazelnuts, mixed it in and froze it into nutella hazelnut chunk ice cream - omg! Heaven! I have a lot more of the mix to use so I am glad I found a way to mask the taste of it. Have been thinking of trying peanut butter base with oreo cookies mixed in too.
- protein powder - been adding it to the vanilla drink mix ice cream base
- cream cheese - made frozen cheesecake bites (have to make time to write down and post recipe for that, it was an experiment and it turned out fab)
- quinoa - chocolate quinoa cake and quinoa omelet. Basically I stir fried veggies and added in the quinoa, a little soy sauce (almost like fried rice, except fried quinoa lol) then put it all in the omelet.

mmm can't remember what else off hand but yeah, my pantry purge has been going in the right direction for sure.

Oh the quinoa flour - I decided to give that to my grandmother since she likes using it. I personally don't like the smell of the quinoa flour so I am put off by using it but loving the quinoa grain itself.

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