how much do u spend on groceries

[smurf]

Thanks Cherrygal!

[kaka]

For us, 2 adult+ 3 kids, about $600/mth. Seems quite normal according to the thread so far ... actually, tried to spend less but have to buy still have to buy leh ... :moneyflies:

[24hr-mum]

i hv 3A3C, i dont know wet marketing how much cos done by dh. but for ntuc, ev wk i spend 100-150. so a mth ard 600?

[b2b3m4]

deminc:

b2b3m4:

I make large batches of ready to eat meals from scratch and freeze them (I have a large stand alone freezer inherit from my kids' breast milk time).

Hi, I'm trying to do that but I'm not sure what meals are suitable for freezing, and also the containers best to use for freezing. Please give me some advice on that! Also which brand of freezer are you using? Thanks so much!

Mine is a 2nd hand Fisher & parkel but i suppose any freezer will do. Types of food i freeze

1. Curry chicken (goes w my frozen prata- sorry that one i dun make from scratch)

2. Soup (butternut squash/pumpkin, old cucumber etc)

3. Nuggets, my latest craze, the kids just loved it!!! Cut chicken fillets in nuggets size, season, dip in egg then panko (can add chilli/garlic powder, salt, pepper in crumbs) Bake till light brown if freezing, golden if eat on the day.

4. wantons. i have those mini muffin tray or u can use baking sheet. Wrap wantons and put apart on oiled sheet. When frozen, dump into zip lock bags and throw into soup when needed.

5. baked muffins - for kids, throw frozen muffins into their lunch box. by break time, nice and thawed.

6. Tomato/onion/capsicum - tomato sauce for pasta / pizza

7. Cabbage, chicken rice / fried udon, bee hoon, kway tiao - these i put in single adult serving. Good for times when eating alone or to pack away for work.

Containers i used, i always use those ta bao containers, use and throw or direct in pyrex or Corningware dishes. I try to wash as little as possible. Due to my large freeze, sometimes i throw in the whole pot and just take out and heat up for dinner. Tonight i cook extra servings of mei cai kuo ruo (Stewed preserved veg with pork belly). The extra will be frozen away. Tomorrow i think i'll have stir fried vege with my ba kut teh from 3 weeks ago. Yum!

[b2b3m4]

smurf:

If u buy in bulk, supermarket is better and cheaper. If u buy smaller quantity, wet market is better but not necessary cheaper. For example, if u cook chicken curry, you can buy just few stalk of curry leaves, etc. But u can't do that in supermarket, you have to buy whole packet in , and if u dun use the rest of the apcket, you have to throw away. Quite wasteful.

I'm a freezer bunny! I freeze my herbs too! So i dump my ginger, parsley, coriander all into the freezer. U see these stuff in the freezer section of Cold Storage too.
There's a minimal quantity that u need to buy when getting ginger. ANd i always find b4 i can finish up my ginger, the root has already shrivel beyond usage. The only problem is that the ginger cut be quite tough to cut out the portion u want. However, easy to grate. So i just grate out the amt in need and throw back into the freezer.

[cnimed]

b2b3m4:

Due to my large freeze, sometimes i throw in the whole pot and just take out and heat up for dinner.

Wah you are freezer bunny indeed! :shock: I am dazzled by the image of you putting an entire pot into the freezer. Reading about how you take the herbs in and out of the freezer makes me think of a magical Ali Baba bag ... or is it that magical bag that Hermione have in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that holds everything. I have a tiny kitchen, and one week's groceries will already fill up my fridge. Hmmm, but thanks so much for sharing how you do it. I am certainly tempted to go to Courts to look at the freezers now!!

[smurf]

Haha...you can freeze a lot of things, but I prefer fresh produce...coz if put freezer, there is a freezer smell... :lol:

[b2b3m4]

^Can’t be helped. I’m a FTWM, if i do not have these on hand, the temptation to eat out or ta pao becomes very high. Especially with young kids, it is just not economical to cook 2 portions for spicy food like curry. ANd with hubby erratic schedule, it is easier to whip up something at 10pm.

Overall it helps to keep cost down and the kids eat healthier food, no ready to eat like nuggets, fish cake etc. This is especially after watching Jamier Oliver show on school meals and he demonstated what goes into chicken nuggets. :!:
As for freezer smell, no problem with all the herbs in the freezer, i have parlsey, basil, rosemary… And for some food like frozen chicken, i soak them in hot water before cooking.

[kiasu_pig]

Nowadays, a trip to the Supermarket easily blew hundreds on foodstuffs and other necessarities. $50 is so small nowadays; and bills exceeding $200 are common for us with diapers and milk powders on the grocery list. We tried to not \"supermarket-hop\" and concentrate instead on getting big items (e.g. milk powder, diapers, milo, detergents etc) at NTUC and gain linkpoints which can then be converted to cash rebates off our grocery bills later. Threadfin fish, another big expenditure, for the kids' porridges .. oh so expensive .. for that one, we buy at a regular stall weekly at the wet-market for bulk discount... Wow .. and we came to realise that dining-out (at resturants even Subways and McDonalds) can be so so addicting and expensive .. really need to cut down! Money so small nowadays. Haiz.

:stupid:

[smurf]

Hmm, not suppose to soak meat in water before cooking leh...some more hot water... :!:


Put meat in fridge not freezer 1 day before cooking...

I know sometimes I dun do that also, coz last min decision to cook...haha...but I try to plan though I know it's hard!! :oops: