January 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • Long_tall_sally
    Long_tall_sally Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    edited 7 January 2011 at 11:41AM
    Phew, finally caught up!

    Welcome to all newbies. You have come to the right place.

    Feeling a little cross with myself as I bought some Elmwood chicken breasts in the Co Op yesterday which were cheap but not mega cheap (£3.75 for 3) but really did not need them so why did I buy them? I also got some fruit & veg at the market &was really aware that I was just picking things that looked nice etc, ie. as I haven't done a meal plan I was just really picking things randomly rather than with any thought. One of the things I bought was a bag of sweet potatoes & now I am really not sure what to do with them!

    On a more positive note however, the gammon that I bought for £7 a few days ago has been eaten all week & was lovely. Fed 5 of us Wednesday as a roast, 2 adults Thursday as carbonnara & two of us yesterday as cauliflower cheese with gammon. There is also enough fo sandwiches today.

    I do do some things correctly such as buy milk & bread (now) from Farm Foods, use the market or Adi or Lidl for F & V, do a fair bit of home cooking but less so baking, never buy lunch at work, pad out some meals with beas or veg, try & use up or freeze leftovers, & buy whoopsies & offers etc & stock up when I can BUT I know that there is a lot more that I should be doing such as making pizza instead of buying them, more home baking, using what I have in the freezer & cupboards instead of buying more, actually concentrate properly on regarding the budget as a budget & not a record of spends & probably also reduce portion sizes!

    Sorry, I am rambling a little!
    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
  • mrs-moneypenny
    mrs-moneypenny Posts: 15,519 Forumite
    just spent £16.40
    nipped in MrS local had to get eggs wasnt happy as papershop didnt have them and wasnt walking to MrT so ended up paying £3.30 for a dozen:mad: thre was a birthday card and a mag in that total. bargain of the trip was 6 grab bags of walkers smokey bacon for 10p each nice treat for the kids over the weekend
    SPC~12 ot 124

    In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind my friend, try to Be More Kind
  • Phew, finally caught up!

    Welcome to all newbies. You have come to the right place.

    Feeling a little cross with myself as I bought some Elmwood chicken breasts in the Co Op yesterday which were cheap but not mega cheap (£3.75 for 3) but really did not need them so why did I buy them? I also got some fruit & veg at the market &was really aware that I was just picking things that looked nice etc, ie. as I haven't done a meal plan I was just really picking things randomly rather than with any thought. One of the things I bought was a bag of sweet potatoes & now I am really not sure what to do with them!


    I use my sweet potatoes to make the following soup

    ingredients:

    sweet potatoes
    red onion
    butternut squash
    harissa paste - quite spicy use as much or as little as you want
    oil


    chop up butternut squash and red onion and place in bowl add a little oil and the harissa paste,place in oven tray and roast until cooked in the oven.
    when cooked place in a saucepan with peeled and chopped sweet potato and add water or stock to cover, simmer until sweet potato is cooked. blend until smooth and serve.

    this is one of my favourite soups.
  • cookiemum
    cookiemum Posts: 139
    First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Updated sig.- only £1.50 small spend on milk and a couple of nsd so buying everything with cash seems to be working so far!

    Had an industrious night in the kitchen last night - made Nigella's cookies, chicken and sweetcorn soup, a batch of bread buns and bacon chilli pasta for tea. HM Calzone pizzas requested for tea tonight and have a white cabbage lurking in the back of the fridge so may attempt hm coleslaw. I just hope i can continue with good work :)

    Enjoy the weekend everyone.

    February Grocery Challenge £301.46/300
    To feed - Me, DH, DD, DS and 1 dog

  • seasalt_2
    seasalt_2 Posts: 358 Forumite
    Went shopping on the way home from school last night in the end as it was snowing heavily and not sure what it would be like today - in fact it's nearly all melted - but saved fuel in any case (we were at 145.5p last time I filled up - between Christmas and New Year)although offset by buying the kids a pkt of crisps each. Not a lot on the shelves but still managed to spend £35.03 including a book of stamps as PO early closing. Stuck to my list like glue though and have also started a separate housekeeping/groceries purse with just the week's cash in it. No cards! Also keeping a spending diary - everything, not just groceries. Using an empty last year's diary for this - very ms!

    I was hoping not to buy bread anymore as have started making the artisan bread from a thread on here (very quick and easy) but although everyone wolfed it down very happily the first couple of loaves, they are now rebelling and complaining that it has too much of a sourdough taste to eat all the time and doesn't make good toast. Also I tend to bake it at tea time when the rayburn is at its hottest so by the morning it is not quite as nice as it was with soup the night before. Made my own wholemeal bread once a week for years when it was just DD1 and me but OH was brought up on white sliced and the youngest two have rather followed suit. Might try weezl's bread instead and see how they get on with that.

    Hope everyone else has made a good start to the New Year.
    Jan 2011 GC £300/£150.79 (2 adults, 2 teens, working dog, includes food/cleaning/toiletries)
  • franby64
    franby64 Posts: 944
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Photogenic
    Forumite
    Morning to everybody, oldies, newbies and all :wave: I'm what you call an occasional poster but I love reading everybody's posts.

    Spent £4.87 today on cornflour, mushrooms, bananas, clementines and atora to try to make some dumplings for our veg stew tonight (no VAT except bag re-use).

    Th Co-*p also have ICBINButter for @67p at the moment. I managed to resist grabbing the lot though I'm not so shy about bulk-buying bargains as I used to be - needs must!

    Thank you for all the new recipes - dumplings as posted by Mothership is about as adventurous as I'm getting today but I'm also going to make some spag bol for the DD's and some flapjack [STRIKE]for me[/STRIKE] for everybody.

    I'm only up to £125.11/ £433 for Jan which is miraculous considering I started Jan on 21/12 because I'd run out of Dec money!

    Have a good weekend!
    August Shopping Challenge. 26/8. Budget £250 Spent £256.81.. £6.81 over. So £0.00 a day left.
  • SuziQ1962
    SuziQ1962 Posts: 232 Forumite
    Equilibrium Going to pick up a Haggis today ready for Burns Night , Thanks everyone for prompting my memory . Does anyone have any favourite way of doing your Neeps and Tatties ?
    I have mine with mashed neeps-swede cooked until soft drained and mashed with butter salt pepper and a little cream,mashed tatties -again with butter salt pepper and a little cream,and a wee dram or some nice red wine to wash it all down,I have veggie haggis and microwave it in a covered dish-works fine for non veggie too and keeps it moist
    "Sealed Pot challenge" member No 1099 2011/£26.00:j
    Crazy clothes challenge 2012-Budget £28.90/£100:eek:
    January 2012 Grocery challenge £378.27/£240 :eek: :eek: :eek: :mad:
    14/16 NSD in January:mad::mad:
    2012 Weight loss challenge -5lbs :j
  • Billie-jo
    Billie-jo Posts: 1,221 Forumite
    Hi Billie-Jo , Im intrigued by Lobby , what is it ?

    Lobby is local dish to Staffordshire. Its a stew/soup type dish that tastes better the next day, very warming and we often have a large pan of this ready for when we come in when the weather is cold and wet.. Its a dish that contains more meat when you can afford it and more veg when you cant. :D I remember my granny making it and if it was near pay day you would be lucky to find any meat in it:rotfl:

    11b - 1.5lb of stew beef (I use skirt beef) cut into bite sized chunks
    2 large onions - sliced
    handfull of pearl barley or rice
    some swede - diced small
    1-2 sticks celery, chopped
    4-5 carrots cut into thinish rounds
    4-5 potatoes cut into chunks.
    Stock or 2 beef stock cubes

    put the meat, onions and pearl barley/rice into a large saucepan, add the stock or stock cubes and enough cold water to cover, bring to the boil then turn heat down and cook slowly until meat is tender.
    Now add the veg and some seasoning and add more water to cover if necessary, cook again until the veg is cooked. Stir occasionally.
    Serve in bowls with thick crusty bread. It can be frozen as well.

    I cook this in a LARGE saucepan on the top of the cooker(usually last us 2-3 days) but it can be done in the pressure cooker or a slow cooker. (mum always did it in pressure cooker)
    We eat about half of the lobby and then add a tin of tomato soup to it for the rest.

    The recipe above is what I do but you can alter it to fit any veg you want using up and I suppose you can use lamb as well. Have done it with chicken but didnt like it as much but maybe thats just us.
    MARCH £62.38/250
  • just had this through on an email:

    This year’s Change4Life activity – the Great Swapathon – will give mums and dads tips, help and advice to help them make 2011 the year they get their families healthy.

    Families are being urged to swap at least one unhealthy habit for a healthier one. The Government is aiming to deliver one million swaps from unhealthy to healthier lifestyle choices, among families and adults in England.

    Through the Great Swapathon, families can get access to:
    • a £50 book of vouchers for money off healthier foods and activities;
    • recipes for healthier alternatives to favourite snacks;
    • recipes for family options for each meal time; and
    • nutritional and activity advice.

    £50 voucher books will be available in the News of the World on Sunday 9 January and from selected Asda stores from Saturday 15 January, while stocks last.


    ASDA own brand includes lean meat cuts, king prawns, apples, clementines, grapes, baking potatoes, root vegetables.
    Birds Eye - packs of Sweetcorn, Country Mix, Select Mix or Green Beans
    Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
    Unilever / Flora Light & Hellman’s Light
    Nestle - Pure Life Water and Ski Yogurts - low fat varieties
    Britvic / Robinsons No Added Sugar Squash and 4x200ml My-5 Fruit Shoot
    Molson Coors / Cobra Zero Alcohol Free Lager
    Mars / Uncle Ben’s Wholegrain Rice
    Warburtons - Wholemeal Loaf
    Tumble Tots - play sessions
    JJB Sports - sports footwear
    Weight Watchers
    Haven Holidays
    Play Providers Association
    Fitness Industry Association



    going to buy the news of the world this weekend for the voucher for free make up kit to redeem at MrT


  • Ive been reading the site for a while, but never actually posted, but this is going to be the year we stop talking about sorting out our finances and actually do it!! I usually try and stick to a food budget of £100 a week, for me and DH, DS(4), DS(2) and DS(6m), and if I keep it under that im really pleased with myself...but clearly I can shop for much less than that!! Yesterday I sat down and planned our meals for the next 2 weeks and ordered the shopping, someone told me it will save us money to only shop every 2 weeks...but we will see! Please put me down for £350 for January, thats a lot less than I would normally spend but I am going to have a more detailed look on this site and come up with some more ways to save...im also doing the pound a day challenge which will be a nice little extra at the end of the year!!
    January grocery challenge- £338.09/£350
    £365 in 365 days- £25
    January NSDs- 9
    Money made on ebay- £16.89
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