October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

Blairweech · 19 October 2008 at 1:06PM

Have not caught up on the thread yet, but just wanted to make everyone aware - be careful when doing your shopping, I notice that a lot of lines in Mr T are priced 'per pack' now, with no sign of a per kg price anywhere :mad: (When I weighed them, they were almost double the price of those which were priced per kg). Another way the supermarkets are trying to dupe us.

cw18 · 19 October 2008 at 1:55PM

I've taken to weighing the 'market value' bananas to make sure it's worth getting them rather than the loose ones -- and I have to do it every time, as one day the packs were all around 800g, but a few days later they were closer to 950g !!!

Coolmum66 · 19 October 2008 at 2:08PM

Orkney Star - with regards to Cravendale milk - have you tried the Tesco own filtered? My son gets through milk like there is no tomorrow!! We used to have Cravendale - then I saw the Tesco own at about 20p a carton cheaper - and sometimes on 2 for £2. Bless him - he tried it and said there is no difference (I don't drink milk so couldn't tell!)

Hope this might help you - and save you some pennies!!

Coolmum. xx

cw18 · 19 October 2008 at 2:21PM

My DS would go for filtered by choice, but can't tell the difference between Cravendale and Tesco (and at 17 he can certainly read the labels

)

But he knows that finances mean he only gets when an offer makes it cheaper than the cheapest "normal" -- so on Friday he asked where I'd been as two bottles of Cravendale appeared in the fridge

Had been 'electrical window shopping' (looking for a new freezer) on the complex our closest Sainsbury is on. Nipped in just to check offers/recipe leaflets, and Cravendale was 2 for £2.50 making it £1.43 for 4 pints (and even our local Aldi have just put milk up from £1.40 to £1.49 for 4 pints........ so Cravendale it was this weekend !!)

OrkneyStar · 19 October 2008 at 2:24PM

Coolmum66 wrote: »

Orkney Star - with regards to Cravendale milk - have you tried the Tesco own filtered? My son gets through milk like there is no tomorrow!! We used to have Cravendale - then I saw the Tesco own at about 20p a carton cheaper - and sometimes on 2 for £2. Bless him - he tried it and said there is no difference (I don't drink milk so couldn't tell!)
Hope this might help you - and save you some pennies!!
Coolmum. xx

Originally Posted by cw18
My DS would go for filtered by choice, but can't tell the difference between Cravendale and Tesco (and at 17 he can certainly read the labels )
But he knows that finances mean he only gets when an offer makes it cheaper than the cheapest "normal" -- so on Friday he asked where I'd been as two bottles of Cravendale appeared in the fridge

Thanks coolmum, yes we have tried it, and yes we found it equal to Cravendale quality wise AND cheaper, however our Tesco does not stock it (or Cravendale full fat) and I have to get it from the bigger Coop/food centre (also 13 miles away like Tesco). Our small local Coop only does the semi skimmed stuff. As we live on an island we don't have the option of trying other bigger Tesco stores (or Asda or Morries or Sainsbugs). Thanks for the suggestion though

. TBH we have cravendale 50% of the time and local milk the other 50% but if I could get the Tesco filtered stuff we'd buy enought to do the week at the once weekly shop! I prefer Cravendale simply because it keeps for longer (prior to opening I mean- once its open it surely goes!) so I can buy all the weeks milk at once, and still tastes nice (not like UHT). GC island style is a lot harder in many ways :rolleyes: but I love living here so just have to take the rough with the smooth.
xx

belfastgirl23 · 19 October 2008 at 2:40PM

Well alas a much more major spend last night than I expected. Had dinner for friends all planned but the b***y avocados I'd bought refused to co-operate and are still rock hard so had to go out and buy guacamole (no ripe avocados to be found anywhere) which cost £3.58! On top of that we were out of tinfoil (another £3.56 and that was the cheap one!). the other £10ish of the spend I had budgeted for though. Anyway total spend of £17.86 bringing me up to £142.05 in total out of £160 budget. I shouldn't need anything more till next weekend hopefully, and then just F&V. I would ideally really like to make this month stretch into November and then cut well back for it, but not sure yet if i can manage it - our delivery isn't till 5 November in any case...so 2 weeks and more importantly 2 weekends to go.

Off to inventory the cupboards

since it's such a miserable day. Hope it's better where everyone else is.

Oh and I am reading but the internet is too slow to allow for thanking - you are all thanked!

Cornishpixie_2 · 19 October 2008 at 2:58PM

I used to shop online but got so fed up with them not accepting codes and the price hike. So now I send my husband with a list to Mr A. If you meal plan, go with a list, stick to a budget. It also helps to think you can free up some of your time, to do other stuff for you.I have gone complete opposite and now hate shopping. Also if you built up your stock cupboard, you will only need to buy meat, fresh produce fruit and veg each week. Good luck:D

rach · 19 October 2008 at 3:45PM

I'd like to declare at [FONT=georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif]£229.88 as my month finishes on Tuesday (payday) and I won't need anything else before then. My first proper month so not too disappointed at going over especially bearing in mind I've still got enough food in for at least 7-10 days before I need to do a proper shop. So I'll aim for £200 next month.
[/FONT]

phizzimum · 19 October 2008 at 4:29PM

I make sure I have at least one loaf of bread and pint of milk in the freezer so that I don't have to pop to the supermarket. If you do have to don't pick up a basket it will only encourage you to put more things in. with your purse in one hand there's not a lot you can carry one handed!

cw18 · 19 October 2008 at 4:30PM

I'm getting brave in my mission to reduce my grocery bill :eek:

A few times recently I've seen a specific meat product in a local Whoospie section, but not had the courage to pick it up as I've never had it before myself. It was there again an hour ago -- and at 75% off rather than the 50% I've been previously seeing it at.

Going to have to make sure it's well hidden in the fridge though, 'cos if DH or DS see the pack I know they won't even try tomorrows tea.

So tomorrow's tea will be Stuffed Braised Lamb's Hearts -- using the recipe on the pack.

The recipe says 4 hearts to serve 4-6, so I'm going to cook the two I got (for a whopping 23p the pair) between the three of us. It will also use up the bacon that's in the fridge that needs using, and it also needs Sausage Meat -- of which I have a Whoopsied pack in the freezer I've not been pulling out, as it's really too much for just three of us since I've been downsizing portions.

So I'll use some of the SM for tomorrow, and then bake the rest up on Tuesday -- which just means I need to find some room in one of the freezers for some chips by Tuesday, as that's what we always have SM with. It's also a family favourite, so doing that on Tuesday will serve as a "reward" for trying something new on Monday :T

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October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

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