January 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • wssla00
    wssla00 Posts: 1,875 Forumite
    A NSD for me today! Hopefully an NSD for me tomorrow too! I really don't need anything but do need to clear out the freezer ready for the new one that doesn't make a horrible groaning sound arriving on Thursday.

    I do have a problem though- does anyone know the best way to defrost a freezer and how to keep the food frozen until my new one comes on Thursday?

    Any help would be appreciated!
    Feb GC: £200 Spent: £190.79
  • katenut
    katenut Posts: 530 Forumite
    CherryPie that sounds lovely thanks!! We've got nearly all the ingredients so that will be a lovely cheap warming winter meal, can't wait :) xx :beer:
    Trying to jump back onto the moneysaving wagon .... :cool:
  • Starting as I mean to go on, have made my lunch for the first day back to work 2m so I don't go and spend the usual £££ in central-London-ridiculously-overpriced Mr S.

    Still at 0 for Jan here! Though it is mine and OH's anniversary this month which I hadn't factored into the GC so I might up the budget later but will see how it goes for now.
    Mortgage£148,725 Student loan£13,050 HSBC loan£12,221
    AprGC:£/£320
  • I stayed in today but we ran very short on bread and milk so as dd was shopping for herself I asked her to get 16 pints of milk and 4 loaves of kingsmill plus a bag of onions and a jar of marmite in Iceland. Thats is exactly what she got! I did want some willow too but she forgot and it wasnt really important. Had value pasta with asdas pesto and some grated cheese for tea. Just cooked the 2nd chicken I had on my Asda delivery. Luckily I have no need to buy toiletries as I "earn" them on Avon. My lot seem to eat loo rolls tho-they disapppear in the night! I do have a little trick to reduce costs on these-I tend to keep Andrex etc for the downstairs loo and use cheaper Lidl cheapest for upstairs as this is where it gets wasted! Ive run out of cheap ones at the mo so can't do that now. Thinking of booking a slot for Asda delivery for 2 weeks time and adding to the list as I run low on things-that way I won't forget anything and the list won't be a chore. Just got to make dd sarnies for college tomorrow-she love to nip into Greggs and I don't mind once a week but not 3 times a week.
    Starting as I mean to go on, have made my lunch for the first day back to work 2m so u don't go and spend the usual £££ in central-London-ridiculously-overpriced Mr S.

    Still at 0 for Jan here! Though it is mine and OH's anniversary this month which I hadn't factored into the GC so I might up the budget later but will see how it goes for now.

    How about a separate entertainment/special occasion budget for this?
    Annual Grocery budget 2018 is £1500 pa £125 calendar month £28.84 pw for 3 adults
  • CherryPie
    CherryPie Posts: 429 Forumite
    JayJay14 wrote: »
    Cherry Pie - is it just a case of bunging the saus, black pud and other stuff into a dish and perhaps a sprinkling of cheese? If so, you could do it as a one pot complete meal by pouring it over cooked potato wedges and cook through and brown the cheese. I used to do something similar without the black pud, but it would be an improvement to add it I think.

    One of the many things I love about this forum and the people on it, the recipe has already evolved!! Never thought about doing it like this.

    :beer:
    My name is CherryPie and I'm addicted to grocery shopping!!



    Grocery Challenge

    Feb 2016 - £46.73 / £100.00
  • Keybilly
    Keybilly Posts: 20 Forumite
    Disappointed that I still haven't had a NSD this year. Been cooking batches so I'm set up for the week and will enjoy veggie lasagne tomorrow lunch time.
    Got a bit flustered in Mr T's today with the c-card vouchers. The queues were crazy and I added to the angst by not adding my groceries up, also had to ask the cashier to put some stuff back. Due to the no change on vouchers policy, I had to pay £1.06 extra, please to say that I had enough change in my purse. Emptied my purse of all cards last night so I do not pay on them.

    Just to recommend to veggies and lentil lovers out there, I made a really flavoursome dahl yesterday.
    I soak yellow split peas overnight. Chopped onions and garlic in to very small pieces, fried these off. I crushed some cumin, caraway, coriander seeds and black onion seed with a pestle and mortar, fried these too with some paprika. Then added a couple of cardamom pods, a dried chilli (to add some kick) and the split peas then water. The peas do drink up quite a lot of water so for 2 hours (or maybe more) you need to make sure the peas do not catch on the bottom of the pan by watering them little and often. Cook until the peas go mushy then add salt to taste.
    Tip: if you add salt to beans, lentils and split peas at the start of the cooking process they tend not to cook properly.
    As an alternative to the seeds, you could try Cajun spices - this is what the split pea bag advised.
    Or for meat eaters - add fried bacon bits and garlic at the end.

    Happy cooking and saving money.
    Kx
    Keybilly
    Mortgage [STRIKE]£111,000 [/STRIKE]£107,000- under £100,000 by December 2011
    Grocery challenge January 2011 - £50.91 / £50(+5%)
    :j NSD - 5
    Weight loss challenge - January 2011 - 3 / 4lbs Total to loose - 10lbs Gym - 6/Jan11


  • How about a separate entertainment/special occasion budget for this?

    Thanks angel. I include my 'entertainment' spends in my GC- in my personal spreadsheet on the computer I break the GC down into food, pet stuff, toiletries and entertainment, but lump it together when I post on here. You've made me think about whether to have a special occasion line somewhere in the spreadsheet tho! I'll find the best method one day, lol...
    Mortgage£148,725 Student loan£13,050 HSBC loan£12,221
    AprGC:£/£320
  • Cherrypie that sounds lovely and one im sure my DH will enjoy, thankyou for sharing it :)

    Mothership im a newbie on MSE and this thread but love it already for the very reasons you said, Everyone is so helpful to each other and supportive too:)

    A NSD for today and feels good :j
    GC spend Jan so far £165.68/ £160 FEB £189 /£170
    MARCH £0/£170
    Beautiful pictures are formed from dark negatives , so when your having a dark day feel rest assured that a beautiful picture is being prepared for you :)
  • Caltha
    Caltha Posts: 12
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Keybilly wrote: »
    ... Due to the no change on vouchers policy, I had to pay £1.06 extra, please to say that I had enough change in my purse. Emptied my purse of all cards last night so I do not pay on them.

    Kx

    Good luck.
    I've also taken all my cards out of my purse (about a month ago), and its certainly made me think twice about putting stuff in the basket.
    To reduce the tempatation and chaos in Mr T's, shopped at the local and bought yogurt and milk - £5.38
  • lvm
    lvm Posts: 1,544
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 3 January 2011 at 11:19PM
    Hey,

    Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!

    I'm currently trying to get out of a bit of debt and hoping to cut back where possible. I'm really clued up when it comes to mortgage, utilities etc but the only thing I don't really know what I should be spending on is food.

    I know this is horrendous but I have no idea what I'm spending every week or month on food and think this is where I can probably make a big dent.

    I could easily have a nice £4 microwaveable meal from Sainsburys every night then spend another £2 on lunch/snacks/water etc (or even about £5 on lunch at O'Briens!). This would be £180-£200 a month. I don't think I spend this much as I can pop over to my Mum and Dad's for dinner when I want.

    Would anyone be able to tell me how much they spend on food/drink on a weekly/monthly basis? I'm a 24 yr single girl living on my own, no kids or anything. Problem is I don't cook (although just bought a £35 Russell Hobbs 3 in 1 grill thing so could make a start).

    One plus point - I don't drink alcohol at all so I guess this might lower my food bill over the average single person.

    Any help would be much appreciated! Especially tips on how to budget for food stuffs!

    Thanks x
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