September 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • I have done my first shop of the month and did spend a little more than in the sig. as used some vouchers for a few bits and pieces in the co-op. Took advantage of a couple of whoopsies in there, and also stocked up in Lidl for Wrights flour. I used to get this delivered when they had the free delivery offer, but since fuel has rocketed them don't seem to be doing that. I've just remember another £2 spent on fruit from the CB so it's creeping up already! Next weekend I'll be away on the Saturday so although some shopping will be done at some stage, it won't be much so I should get back on an even keel then.
    Solar Suntellite 250 x16 4kW Afore 3600TL dual 2KW E 2KW W no shade, DN15 March 14
    Mortgage and Debt Free. Unfortunately Pension Free too!
  • lynneee
    lynneee Posts: 877
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    I had another NSD yesterday! Also sorted through the fridge to ensure nothing was going out of date and organised some of the cupboards. I seem to have so much food! So trying to meal plan with what I have, got up to wednesday so far, my baby boy wants all my attention this morning! :D
    mortgage £800 overpayment 2022. £600/£2400 2023 🙂 savings £1853/£1800 😊
  • sproggi wrote: »
    I am now trying to imagine just how much loo roll you got for £43:eek::rotfl:

    Sproggi

    However much it is my kids could use it up in a week!!!

    I have spent £88 of my £300 so far - £27 of that was on an emergency trip to the supermarket at midnight on Friday night as DD1 was flipping out because the puppies had wee'd in her room and she said that she couldn't sleep until I had disinfected all the laminate (strange that - she can normally sleep when it is like a total sh*t tip but....) so for some peace I went to Tesco and ended up buying a load of cleaning stuff which was BOGOF, so shouldn't need to get anything for the rest of the month and beyond.

    Have just finished my first meal plan of the month and have enough stuff in stocks to do until 16th, with a small top up shop for veg, fruit and milk.

    I made paradise buns last night for lunchboxes this week - they were lovely and really easy to make and easy to transport too -

    Paradise Buns (makes 12)

    2 eggs weighed in their shells and then this weight of each of:
    self raising flour
    caster sugar
    margarine

    Beat together with an electric whisk until pale and thick and then add:

    2 tbs of dessicated coconut
    2 heaped tbs of dried fruit (I used raisins and dried cranberries as that was what I had in, but you are supposed to use dried mango and pineapple)
    splash of lemon juice and a few drops of lemon or vanilla extract.

    Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 15 minutes at 170 fan or 180 regular oven.

    DD1's friend brought me 2 GIANT jars of Nescafe yesterday to thank me for letting her stay over on a Saturday night when they all go out clubbing, which I thought was very kind of her - mind you she does drink loads of coffee so....!!

    I also did some work for a friend preparing their CV and helping them with job applications and she brought round 2 trays of her eggs, plus a giant cauliflower and a cabbage so that was a nice bonus too!
    Horrible horrible weather today so I am hoping to stay in and have a NSD.
    Jane

    ENDIS. Employed, no disposable income or savings!
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179
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    morning all nsd today gonna make chicken casarole and mash for tea, gonna pop it in the slow cooker now gonna stew some olums later aswell becaus ethey've been sitting for nearly 2 weeks now, gonna pick a few off my tree aswell to give to the kids
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • Have any of you seen this website http://www.crockpotgirls.com ? My friend in the States told me about it and there are literally hundreds of slow cooker recipes on there - some sound really weird but nice!! The recipes are US measurements but easy to follow though - check out the dump cake!!
    Jane

    ENDIS. Employed, no disposable income or savings!
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179
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    this is another fab slow cooking site (also one of her kids are gluten free, and dairyfree so might be helpful if your feeling restricted because of an alergy) i've bookmarked the one above to have a nosey threw later :)

    http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • agiaga
    agiaga Posts: 169
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    So far so good this month - spent £54.96 and I think I don't need anything except fresh stuff (milk, fruit, veg) for at least 2 weeks
    mortgage started 31st May 2011 -£59200
    mortgage overpayment started July 2011 :D
  • Well until reading these posts I had never tried Al*i (which is about 30 steps from the Mr A I use every week!) I decided to nip in rather than face the queues in Mr A and couldn't believe it, I got a pack of 3 peppers and a pack of 3 large onions for £1.30, I usually pay more than for 2 peppers!! And the couple in front of me got a trolley full of food for £40 :T. i will definitley be going there from now on.

    Anyway after the weekend I am now at £62.91 / £240
    1 debt in 100 days: £107.28 / £737.38
    Sept Grocery Challenge: £140.00 / £240.00
  • We went to the supermarket this morning to top on fruit for the DC's packed lunches. We also picked up some cereal bars and a few other bits for a total of £20. That is it until Saturday now. Going to be very firm on this and ensure that we eat up what we've got.

    As things stand now, I'm slightly over budget and will need to spend less than £90 on the weekly and midweek top up shops until the end of the month. I will be more mindful of what I'm buying.

    I've cooked up a huge pot of meat sauce - half for tea tonight and what ever is left for my lunch tomorrow and then the rest will be frozen for one of next week's meals.
    CC1 £5999 Total Debt March 2021 £5999
    NSDs March 1/20
  • 1836laura
    1836laura Posts: 2 Newbie
    edited 5 September 2011 at 10:06AM
    Our budget for September (starting today - 5th) is £300.

    We need to reduce our household spend as we don't seem to have a lot of disposable income at the end of the month and I think we spend too much on food shopping so this could be a big saving.

    I am budgeting £300 for the rest of this month and this will include all food, cleaning & laundry products, nappies & formula milk.

    Also, I am not working at the moment so things are particularly tight. I start a new job in the beginning October but September and October are going to be tight months for us.

    I have tried online shopping to reduce costs before, but still seem to end up with surplus food that is wasted (as sometimes we will skip a meal if we make other arrangements such as visiting family/friends for dinner).

    I have now decided to buy food every 1-2 days as required and try to make meals that use the same ingredients to minimise waste.

    Tonight I am going to make spaghetti bolognese. I am using a multi-mince recipe from a website (not sure if I can list it here?) and use half of the recipe for spag bol tonight and the other half for cottage pie tomorrow or Weds night.

    I already have most of the store cupboard ingredients for both recipes such as tinned tomatoes, spaghetti, potatoes and herbs (not fresh like the recipe suggests, but I'm trying to save money so going to use dried... hopefully it will taste ok!).

    So all I need to buy today us 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 garlic bulb, 1kg lean mince beef, beef stock cubes, 100g mushrooms and 2 spring onions. I have checked the prices on the T website and it should cost £7.92. As there are only 2 of us (plus a 10 month old), I am planning to freeze half of each recipe so it should make 4 meals costing 99p a serving.

    Wish me luck!! Am going to figure out how to do a signature now to track my progress... :) x
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