January 2010 Grocery Challenge

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  • BigMummaF wrote: »
    Fan-Que Helen love-smiley-044.gif& don't disappear cuz with your knowledge, I'll still be picking your brains for directions to where-ever I should be lookin :p
    Question Please..:rolleyes: does MrM change their offers on a Monday? I know Messers S, SF & T are Weds-Tues but not so sure on other stores. Was wondering about taking a little trip to our closest MrM tomorrow [eight miles away :(] & if there is anything I should look out for offer wise. I used to belong to fixtureferret & had access to wonderful lists of who had what on offer, but they changed their payment method & I didn't renew my subs last time :o

    I'm not certain but Morrison's 3 WW soups for a pound was ending on the 17th, which is today, a Sunday, so if all offers change on the same day then Monday it is.
    :pPOO - TEE - WEET :p
  • Sunnyday
    Sunnyday Posts: 3,855
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    Hi everyone,
    well i`m afraid that i`m guilty of not keeping up with all the posts again so i shall have go go back a few pages later to see where i last read up to.

    I am however doing ok :D DH has just rung me to ask where the shopping list is as he is shopping today whilst i`m working and i`ve just told him that all we need is milk :D:D

    I`ve spent most of this months money very early on in the month so we are just topping up as and when, think i`ve improved on last weeks list which was just for milk, dogfood and potatoes, don`t think Dh can believe it lol.

    Helen Jelly - You`ve done a fantastic job, MrsM - welcome back :wave:

    Off to catch up now.

    Good luck peeps.

    SD
    Planning on starting the GC again soon :p
  • ellemm
    ellemm Posts: 11,262
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    nickynoo08 wrote: »
    Secondly to my question. Over the next couple of months money is going to be a bit tighter than normal, hence me wanting to cut back. Do you find you save more shopping in one place (taking a list and sticking to it) or taking advantage of other shops offers (planning meals around the offers)? I'm lucky as we have a lge tesco, asda, morrisons and sainburys all fairly close to us, plus an aldi and netto.

    Personally, nickynoo, I have found in recent months that shopping around has saved me money but I still stick to my list and meal plans. As I wrote earlier, I now spend more in Aldi than I do in my regular shop Morrisons and also have been buying a few things from Lidl if they are on offer.

    Morrisons for me was always and still is the easy (or is that lazy :o) option as it's not a huge store, I know my way around and can get the shopping done fairly quickly but Aldi and Lidl have better veg & fruit prices imo and I have even started buying fresh meat from Aldi which has been fine and mostly cheaper too, so go there first and to Morrisons for what I still want that Aldi don't stock.

    Probably the best advice is to have done your homework, know who has the best offers (for which these threads are of course invaluable) and shop accordingly.
  • Moniker
    Moniker Posts: 626
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    nickynoo08 wrote: »
    Secondly to my question. Over the next couple of months money is going to be a bit tighter than normal, hence me wanting to cut back. Do you find you save more shopping in one place (taking a list and sticking to it) or taking advantage of other shops offers (planning meals around the offers)? I'm lucky as we have a lge tesco, asda, morrisons and sainburys all fairly close to us, plus an aldi and netto.

    Why not try comparing the list on MySupermarket (http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/)? They don't include Morrissons but at least it will give you an idea of which is the cheapest.

    Moniker
  • Abel and Cole have sent me a £10 voucher off a £20 spend for next month so I'm going to save that up and buy some nice fruit with it and maybe a bit of veg. Will wait until after payday so that it comes out of next month's budget.
    Sealed pot member 735
    Frugal Living Challenge 2011
    GC 2011 404.92/2400
  • i've just made lunch out of what i had in and went down so well thought i'd post it here, it's a nick nairn adapted recipe for smoked haddock tart, (without smoked haddock or pastry :rotfl:) being as i made it with what i had here, and opted for pasty free, this is what i used

    lentil/fish/parmesan/coriander 'tarts'

    2 oz dried green lentils, with
    half an onion and
    half a chicken stock cube brought to boil and simmered for 20 mins. ( i made double - the other half is in freezer ready for next time)
    drain, mix into this
    salt and pepper,
    3 eggs,
    a tin of tuna (drained),
    1oz grated parmesan and
    3 tablespoons chopped leaf and stalk of corriander (from freezer - bought as whoopsie). then spooned into little silicon cake cases and baked for 15 mins until cooked through.

    with the coriander at 15 p on a whoopsie i recon the recipe cost about £1.50 in ingredients, would probalby cost about £2.00 if had to pay full price for the corriander, plus i know that lentils can't be bought from the supermarket in 2oz amounts.

    I make them sometimes for dd's lunchbox, when i do have smoked haddock then this is cooked and flaked and added instead of the tuna. the origional recipe calls for some cream so if i have any in i add a dash of this too..

    using the mini cake cases today i made 21 tarts, and half of them have gone for lunch for the two of us with carrot sticks and hm wedges. dd has eaten extra to the four on her plate and as i am trying to box them for lunches later in the week she is asking for more instead of pudding.. :T.
    nov grocery challenge, £.227.69/300, 9/25 nsd: , 7 Cmo, 10 egm.
    Me, 10 yo dd, and the dog. all food and drinks, in and out, plus household shopping.
  • Nickynoo - I would agree with ellemm - it certainly pays to shop around, particularly if you can bulk buy the offers in each shop that have a long shelf life BUT you do need to obviously take care not to be tempted into buying other things that you wouldn't normally even buy (like I do sometimes!) in each & every shop you shop in. For example, I do half of my shopping in Mr T's but would never buy milk or chocolate bars there as they are always far cheaper in Farm Foods or Home Bargains or Iceland. It can be a bit time consuming though and I can only manage to shop around like this because I currently only work part time.
    Anyway, I have managed to be quite good the last few days & have just updated my signature with a small spend of £6.87 on f & v & bread. I do habe enough food to last the month but my problem is that we normally have spag bol or cottage pie once a week cos these are dead certs in terms of the kids eating them but I don't think I have any mince left but I do have other things so I suppose I should just try the kids with these. E.g the kids are at their Dad's today & there is a huge leg of lamb cooking at the moment just for me & OH, so there will be loads left over from that but the kids have never, ever tried lamb before!
    Grocery aim £450pm.Spent £519 August, £584 July, £544 June, £541 May, £549 April, £517 March, £517 Feb,£555 Jan, £573 Dec, £465Nov, £561Oct, £493Sept, £426Aug,£496 Jul, £528Jun, £506May,£498April, £558 March, £500Feb, £500 Jan, £490 Dec, £555 Nov,£566 Oct, £505Sept, £450Aug, £410 July, £437 June, £491 May, £471 April, £440 March, £552Feb, £462Jan
  • russetred
    russetred Posts: 1,334
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    Just on to play catchee uppie with the posts.Good to hear Mrs M is coming back.A huge thank you to Helen Jelly for an absolutely fabulous job.
    "Sometimes life sucks....but the alternative is unacceptable."
  • poohbear59
    poohbear59 Posts: 4,866
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    Thank you Helen for all you have done.

    This month I still have £125 left of my grocery budget as my brother paid for the shopping when was staying here. I have just seven days until my 'month' ends too.:)
    business mortgage £0))''(+ Barclay's business kitchen loan £0=Total paid off was £96105 PPI claimed and received £13527
    'I had a black dog, his name was depression".
  • helen_jelly
    helen_jelly Posts: 2,982 Forumite
    Thank you everyone for all the thanks, but enough now, you're making me blush lol

    Helen x

    Rowsew - budget added, thanks

    Who mentioned the "fail" word on the other page, hush up cos we banned that word!!!!!!!!!!
    Projects made for craft fair - 40 :)
    1st fair on 13/4/14 :j
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