September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

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  • hi and welcome likabu . Good luck by the bucket load. You are sure to get lots of advice on here and plenty of encouragement. Have loads of fun doing it and dont be too hard on yourself at first.

    GOOD LUCK
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  • Quick question about the coconut dahl - Nikki/Chell?????

    I cannot find the coconut sachets so wondered if you knew how much I would use out of a tin? Can't find it on Pataks site either, I have just told DH I will cook it tom night and invited my parents too :eek: At least it will keep my busy when the forums are closed ;)
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  • Well tomorrow is the big move :www: ---->:www: .
    I live in an attic room with a very narrow turning staircase (which some of you may remember I feel through once upon a time) so it might take a while to get everything out and into the new house.
    I will be living with a friend :D up the road in a little box room :( until January so no bulk buying or early stocking up on early Christmas presents unfortunately. I know the house has an eating together thing going on :D but am not sure how it works so I don't think I will be totally in control of my food budget :( but I may have a smaller one for toiletries and lunches etc so that I can still join in with you all! It will be nice to cook and eat with other people though, my housemates for the last year haven't been the friendliest.
    I do hope she has internet too, imagine if she doesn't. Eek :eek:

    Good luck with the move Sian, I hope your housemates are very friendly and am sure they will want to save money too, so I can see you all now, bulking up the cooking and getting an extra freezer :D:D:D
    PS: We don't want to loose you either so check out that internet quickly...:eek:

    Sorry, not been on much, have been busy working and sorting out my house - very impressed with myself at the moment as I can move and put stuff away and walk in my bathroom and it's all clean and sparkly - got to see how long it lasts but REALLY chuffed I joined the Flylady thread - I've not been as in control for years...

    Anyway, have finally found my long lost 'boiled cake' recipe that I loved and couldn't find anywhere - (cleaning cupboards DOES have it's rewards :D ) so hubby had a slice when he came in from work tonight (he's asleep in his armchair at the mo knackered! has been working 13 hrs a day if you include travel! :eek: ) and he loved it... lots of memories anyway, thought you might all like it, it's sooo easy. (This was still steaming when I cut it, and the cut piece just disappeared when I came to put it into the cake tin? don't know where it went?:rolleyes:

    2809572382_2941618ea7_m.jpg

    ** Just to let you know, I am very lazy and just use a cup where it says cups - just my teacup that is in my cupboard, regular size as far as I know, but I know Nikki has a conversion link on the first page for anyone who likes to be a bit more precise than me! **

    Currant Loaf (or Boiled Cake as I call it!) - this is for a large cake, you can half the ingredients for a smaller one

    1/2 lb butter or marg
    2 cups sugar
    2 cups sultanas
    2 cups milk
    Put into a pan until butter is melted and sugar dissolved and leave to cool (I usually melt the butter and then turn off flame, then add the sultanas or whatever fruit you want and the milk as this cools it down quicker) then add:
    4 cups self-raising flour
    2 eggs
    Mix together with a wooden spoon and put into 2 tins (I just put into 1 large tin, hence you could half)
    Bake in the oven for one hour on gas 3, then turn up to gas 4 for 1/2 hour (I just cook on gas 3 for 2 hours)

    Enjoy!
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    Weekly Grocery Challenge - £95.00 budget / spend £-
  • angelnikki
    angelnikki Posts: 892 Forumite
    bails wrote: »
    I was wondering, and I'm sure it's been raised before, whether we could put a summary of people's families/what's included next to their budget targets? :confused: I'm aware that would be a lot of work so please feel free to shoot me down in flames for even suggesting it :rotfl:I just think it could be a real help to see how others in a similar position to you are managing (perhaps people could buddy up if they fancied?) and would be an inspiration to know that spends really can be reduced over time. Just a thought.

    I dont think this would be a very good idea because of two reasons:

    1) there would be a massive amount of information needed on each of the 300+ GCers to show a true picture of each of their family sizes/ diets/ income/ beliefs/ what they include /etc

    2) I dont think its that easy to compare. No two families are in the same situation; even if they have the same family size, there are many other factors involved in their budgets.

    My budget is for me, exOH and DS(2) and includes food, household & cleaning stuff, toiletries, nappies & wipes. It is £75/week but I know others on here with the same family size have budgets of half that. I wont be reducing my budget any lower because I dont feel I would be happy eating any differently than I do now. I buy value where I feel appropriate but also buy free range, etc too. We dont need to reduce our budget any more than we have.

    I have put the information in my sig as I have no problem with people seeing what size family the £375 is for but I would need to write an essay to explain fully why I am spending that amount IYSWIM.

    I would hate to see someone on here feel that they had to survive on £40 a month just because someone else does. This is not a competition but a personal challenge to lower our grocery spends to a level that we, personally, are happy with. ;) :D

    Nikki x
    :A
  • likabu_2
    likabu_2 Posts: 408 Forumite
    hi and welcome likabu . Good luck by the bucket load. You are sure to get lots of advice on here and plenty of encouragement. Have loads of fun doing it and dont be too hard on yourself at first.

    GOOD LUCK

    Thanks for the welcome.

    Our grocery budget will be including 3 packed lunches every mon-fri (for me, oh and ds1) Ds2 starts nursery and will be picked up by his childminder who makes lunch for him.

    £10 a day is seeming rather a lot now I have thought about it but I have no real idea how much we have been spending to compare it to.

    This really is the trial month!!

    Lisa
    Brassic!
  • Hi

    I like to join the challenge
    In fact this month I decided to carry on
    - control my budget grocery
    - eat good food while trying to lose weight
    - Try to declutter the disaster zone I call home

    In August
    - I managed to stay in the limits of my budget : 120 spent only
    - Lost 6 pounds
    - Managed to free space in my cupboard, freezer ( some food dating back from 2004 - don't ask), drawer. I did throw a lot of rubbish. I also joined Freecycle so I hope some of my things will be useful to someone else.

    So for September
    - My budget grocery is 100
    - Hope to lose 6 pounds
    - Carry on the declutter. Schedule one week-end to take care of the study

    Reader88
    What is irony : be poor like Cresus or lucky like Job ? :confused:
  • fertyskids
    fertyskids Posts: 138 Forumite
    Hello everybody.

    its great to be in septembers challenge. ive still got students and will have for most of this month. i gave them sausage casserole with rice tonight they were not impressed. last nights offering was pork steaks with new pots and veggies again not good enough for them. im starting to get annoyed. this is good food. oh well....

    anyway my budget is £350 this month thats for me OH, DS 13 eats huge huge amounts, DD3 and DS1. Also 2 Student boys who also eat huge amounts. This will increase when my sister and her boyfriend come to stay for a few days and i may have 4 students instead of 2 for one of the weeks. i also have 2 cats and 2 fish to feed !

    My budget includes everything, grocerys, cleaning stuff cat food. lunch boxes for 4-6 people 7 days a week. i even include alchol for hubby and some of our treats! i will put this in my siggie but thought id post it here first as someone was asking for it.

    Hope your all well. karen
  • Please can I set my budget at £200 as usual for September, I will post my final total for August on Sunday. Thanks MrsM for keeping it all together....:confused:
  • Chell
    Chell Posts: 1,683
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I can't catch up, I've only been offline for a day or two and there are so many new posts.

    We went to Cadbuys World yesterday, thank goodness we took some food and drinks as it was so expensive. We bought four hot chocolates which came to a few pence under £10!!!! We had to leave early as I became poorly, I've got mastitis - ouch!

    On the list at the beginning I am down as Chelltune, I changed my username to Chell as I didn't want the my posts on here appearing in the search engines when someone searched for my website. Can I be put down for £60 again. I will have spent less this month but we weren't always at home with it being the holidays.
    Nevermind the dog, beware of the kids!
  • TheBees
    TheBees Posts: 601 Forumite
    Hi everyone

    We've been off the grocery challenge for a couple months due to changing jobs, going on holiday etc but would like to get back on track for September. Please put us down for £350.

    Thanks
    TheBees
    Mortgage Free in 3 part 2 challenge - pay off £9000
    Sealed Pot Challenge 416 - target £500
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