November 2011 - Grocery Challenge

17172747677110

Comments

  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    SallyHat wrote: »
    I do like it when people mention their meals / dinner plans. It helps quite a bit to 'steal' other people's inspiration!

    Thank you :)

    Have a look on the board for people meal plan lists as well. Great for inspiration.
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • tessie_bear
    tessie_bear Posts: 4,898
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Mortgage-free Glee!
    Forumite
    hi...hopefully nsd on grocery front today....but going christmas shopping so every other budget might take a beating....all good fun though:eek:

    might have some lunch out as well:eek:.....got a stir fry for tea which i really like ...got a few different veggies to add

    welll donr jackieo....i thought borrowing meant the thing was returned to u....if that latter bit of the transaction isnt coming on line id have pulled the drawbridge up as well....i mean i would have politely declined their offer

    take care
    tess
    onwards and upwards
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    morning all nsd today gonna make a stew with a packet of cooked sliced beef i got just after xmas last year figured it was time we used it up, just about to make poached egg on toast :)
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • Jackie-O - I know what you mean about "borrowers", but I can't believe that they have only lived there for 3 years and are seasoned borrowers from you - they must have some cheek!

    My sister in law is a borrower - over the years I have "lent" her thousands which has never been returned, nor has she ever had a job. About a year ago I started saying no to her and now I never hear from her at all, even though she only lives a few doors down. Just shows that she was only using me as I used to see her every day!

    Hoping that today will be a NSD. Breakfast was toast with cottage cheese, packed lunch for kids is chicken, bacon and avocado baguettes, using avocados which I got in a pack of four reduced to 15p in Tescos the other night and a pack of pulled chicken which was reduced from £2.50 to 25p. I am having hm chicken soup out of the freezer - if I feel like it because I am extremely full after having eaten 2 slices of toast and half a tub of cottage cheese - I feel like I could just go to sleep!!

    Dinner tonight is chicken risotto with my reduced pulled chicken and some of my porcini mushrooms which I got for 20p in Tesco, reduced from £3.99!!

    I bought some frozen bramley apples in Farmfoods the other day and am thinking that I might make an apple crumble for afters.

    Have been making my list for Christmas cake baking on Sunday. I have decided to give Christmas cakes as gifts to my friends this year - I am going to get all the stuff on the Tesco 3 for 2 and my local deli had loads of regalice reduced to 3 blocks for £1 the other day so I bought all they had! I am also making pickles and jams to go with the cakes in a sort of hamper thing with cookies and mince pies. I have so far made 6 jars of pickled red cabbage and 2 jars of tomato and chilli chutney and 1 jar of pickled onions. I have a tin of mamade in the cupboard so will make that up into 7 jars of marmalade too.

    I need to do some work now but I am soooo cold! I have put the heating on for an hour or so and then I will start the project that I should have started yesterday!! Working from home makes you lazy - I have turned into a mouse potato!
    Jane

    ENDIS. Employed, no disposable income or savings!
  • My youngest son is Piper and it is not a name you hear, in fact I do not know of any young Piper's and your Piper is the same age as mine :D

    Ah, good :) Nice to know I'm not the only one with excellent taste :D
    Part time GCer, NSDer, Comper and (Bad)Flylady :o
    A big shot is just a little shot that kept shooting ...
  • angelatgraceland
    angelatgraceland Posts: 3,342 Forumite
    edited 16 November 2011 at 11:32AM
    Well I have blown my budget already but this month is my first and a learning curve for me. I have gone for so long now GS with what we have left that following a budget is so hard. I spent a massive £76 in Sains on Saturday admittedly picked up lots of whoopsied items mainly lamb, sausages and rump steak (all very reduced if not would not be bought) that, if we had meat every night would do us 2 weeks. Its funny when hubby was off sick for 8 months in 2005 we only had his SSP plus my incapacity to live on and that left about £20 a week for food and we lived on it and ate ok, but once he went back to work I spent as usual what was left. I need to learn to save and its like something in my head goes bonk in shops and I have to buy - only food not interested in clothes etc. I am 55 years old and I have to learn to save. My oldest son is getting married in Australia in March 2014 and we have nothing towards it. I know if I was to live out of my cupboards and freezer we could manage for at least a month if not longer, but empty cupboards scare me, think its to do with childhood, dad only gave mum money to buy daily and many a night we went to bed hungry as price of something would have gone up and dad had not upped mums money so she had to buy less and there never was anything in the house except that days food apart from seasoning's, and porridge for next mornings breakfast, eventually tea and sugar ( but when you still could buy any amount - like an ounce of tea or sugar - mum had to buy just a days amount of them, or I did as mum hated shopping so as soon as I was 4 shopping was my job, you would have thought it would have made me a careful shopper and I can be when I have very little money).

    Putting everything here is making me face up to the fact that I am no good at saving at all. My bills are paid and what is left I spend on food. I cannot even buy any treats for Christmas that go in freezer as there is no room, so I must clear space in it. I know my past is just an excuse I am a grown elderly woman who should be in control. In a way its a shame hubby gets paid weekly, if it was monthly I would only have the excuse to go to shops once a month but weekly I am always having to pop in for fresh things and I go mad.

    So even though budget totally blown will continue to record everything and see how bad it is at end of month, only good thing is all paid with cash, so not a debt.

    I am not only keeping a record of spends ( everything not just GS) but a list of everything I buy as well in the hope that looking back over the month I can make a list of the things I must buy and things I must leave on the shelves, whoopsied or not.

    hanging her head in shame

    I think it would be a good idea to set up a direct debit into a savings account on a weekly or monthly basis. that way you cannot spend that extra money on food and it will just be a reguar payment out of your account which you will get used to just like your bills! You could set up 2 accounts-one for Australia and one for other treats/Christmas . It sounds as if money isnt the problem but putting it aside is!
    Now- you are not ELDERLY! you are 2 years older than me and I am middle aged. Don't be down on yourself in any way-you stock up well-just "expecting world war three"? That is what my DH says about me and ?I do the same as you but its limited as I have always saved in the manner I am suggsting to you. I did once have 3 monthly saver account wiith the big H. Maybe you need to do a stocktake of your cupboards and carry a list called "do not buy" of a few items your are overstocked on. It does help! I do think that hoarding is the flip side of the GC sometimes but I too have my reasons from the past which I blame my overshopping on-I have it more controlled this year though than in previous years. You are not alone and there are many causes-BOGOFS being one of them. Halfprice is much better as you can buy just one instead of two! Before I go to the checkout I now try to "put back" a few items from my tolley of things I know I don't "need". It is my new strategy!
    JackieO wrote: »
    I have learned to say No to my neighbours who are 'borrowers .It used to be cash 'to get them through till their next giro' Then as my DD said 'Mum you live on your own,you are a widowed pensioner and you manage to live o.k. there are five of them next door all without work and no inclination to get any They have more cash then you why are you being their 'standby' between their giro's '.Well tonight was the last straw 6.15 p.m. one was on the doorstep wanting to borrow a loo roll.Now a fortnight ago they 'borrowed one and it never was returned so tonight i said sorry I am short myself .I felt a bit mean afterwards but then thought well I would no more dream of borrowing than fly in the air . I live in an area where there are jobs ,o.k. maybe only shop work and unskilled stuff but in the three years they have lived there not one has bothered to find a job, the Dad is seemingly fit and healthy but says he gets more by not working, and the three young girls 19,20 & 21 have never apparently been in work since leaving school.Now I have no problem with folk who are stuck and can't find work as I know sometimes it is difficult but I think its a bit cheeky expecting me to fund their laziness.How can you not know you are short of loo roll at 6.15 at night I grew up with rationing and often our loo roll was on a nail and bit of string in the outside loo.:mad:Maybe I'm getting old and cranky but enough is enough I think.I am careful with how I spend my cash and make every penny streetch.
    O.K. rant over I shall return to being a sweet-tempered little old lady again:D:D:rotfl:
    Well done all of you who are getting through the tough times and to the 'newbies' its all about 'baby steps':beer:

    Well said! Two of mine are unemployed but do manage to get short time work/temp work-warehouse work-anything they are offered. There is no sympathy from me for lazy blighters! I don't believe in regular lending-they just become dependant on it week in week out and you may never see it back. Your DD is spot on-sometimes someone outside of the situation can see these thing more clearly. I rarely lend and never borrow myslef-there are only a handful of relatives Id lend to and even then I don't like doing it. If they are desperate on a one off occasion I'd be more likely to give than lend but not to neighbours like yours. Look after yourself in this instance!
    Annual Grocery budget 2018 is £1500 pa £125 calendar month £28.84 pw for 3 adults
  • Today in my SC I have a Sweet Potato Balti.

    500g sweet potato-chopped, large onion-chopped, 400gm chopped plum tomato, couple garlic cloves (to taste), 2 tblsp Balti curry powder, 150ml veg stock, 400gm butter beans, 1 red chilli- sliced, 75gm frozen spinach, coriander.

    Put sweet potato and onion in pan and caramelise. Meanwhile put the other ingredients into the SC. Add sweet potato and onion. Serve with rice and yoghurt mixed with cucumber and mint.
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • his_missus
    his_missus Posts: 3,363
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    A trip to poundland for some "emergency" lunchtime munchies (cupasoup type stuff) amounted to £3 but also treated myself to a piece of flapjack from the bakers for 80p. Bought a puzzle book for a friend who's having an op later this week and a few bits for DH's stocking but not counting those as part of my grocery budget.

    Hope you're all manageing to keep within budget, I'm just trying to not go over budget by too much more:o
  • rosieben
    rosieben Posts: 5,010
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Today in my SC I have a Sweet Potato Balti. ...

    another great recipe, its in the index now :beer:
    ... don't throw the string away. You always need string! :D

    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Head Sharpener
  • :rotfl:We had very strange meals tonight! Ds wanted spicy ckicken strips with waffles and beans, dd and dh had greggs sus roll and oven chips(Iceland sell greggs saus rolls-frozen-exclusive to them) and I had porrige made with water and stewed apples from the freezer without sugar! I feel like an angel for thaT1 I will sin later:rotfl:
    Spent £20 something in Iceland-I will sort out signature later on. Still watering down the milk-now I need to watch I don't buy too much.
    Annual Grocery budget 2018 is £1500 pa £125 calendar month £28.84 pw for 3 adults
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 606.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.7K Life & Family
  • 247.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards