January 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • 123budget
    123budget Posts: 171 Forumite
    Thought I had done really well on meal planning and shopping but completely forgot the dogs!!
    Had to rush to local tesco express as poor things had not food in the house - £3.73 spend on small box of dry dog food
    Sealed Pot Challenge 2011 / no. 1205 £110 made]Sealed Pot Challenge 2012/no 1205 target £300
    Jan g/c 355.83/£450
    g/c Feb487.66/£400
    March 411.03/£450
    To feed 5 adults and 2 dogs includes toiletries & cleanining
  • MissOrganised1972
    MissOrganised1972 Posts: 174
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    edited 11 January 2012 at 6:16PM
    Thank you everybody for your input. I love reading through the thread but have had to admit defeat today. I moved across to the January GC (from the December GC) when it was already over 20 pages! I just have not been able to catch up. It has meant I have not really posted or added any of my feedback / answered anyones questions. So, sorry, I am back! I am going to just keep up from today.

    I am pretty pleased with myself. Our budget is a case of necessity rather than just an aim for a figure and so there is not really any room for going over. However, I always do go over my budget & have to 'pinch' the money from another budget! However, I am pleased to report that we are doing quite well this month. I have 2 more weeks to shop for. I had budgeted £30 per week with a little leftover for small top ups, treats, missing items etc. I still have my last 2 week's budgets left! Have used up most of my top up money but will perhaps jiggle my meal plan so that I can use up things we may already have in.

    I averted a couple of culinary disasters earlier in the week. Sunday, I used the 'Belly Pork' recipe from the list of recipes at the start of the thread. I have to say it was naf! I followed the recipe exactly (except I replaced the pears with apples) & I was left with anaemic pork with mushy potatoes & apples! To rescue the dinner I drained all of the liquid & fat from the dish & left it in the oven for another 25 minutes & manage to crispy it up a bit!

    Then, on Monday I cooked a potato & cauliflower curry. I hadn't realised before hand that no liquid was to be added to the dish. It was basically potato & cauliflower mixed in with some spices & both vegetables were still hard when I got to the end of the cooking! I cook as much and as often as possible from scratch but I must admit that I am not very inventive, I always use recipe books! So, I was very impressed with myself! I added a tin of chopped tomatoes, a chopped onion & a can of coconut milk. It was lovely & my carnivore husband thought so too!

    Have topped up on fruit & bread today in M*rrisons. I can usually expect some good reductions on fruit and veg in M*rrisons but not today! :(

    I am now hoping for some NSDs until perhaps Saturday or even Sunday, whenever I can stretch it out until until I do my next shop.
    2017 GC O-£93.46/£160; S-£136.26/£160; A-£130.55/£160; J-£47.12/£160;
    J-£106.63/£190; M-£70.29/£160; A-£197.88/£180; M-£219.35/£180; F-£294.14/£160; J-£168.67/£160
    2016 GC £2322.39/£2285; GC-2012-2015 - £9789.91/£7773!
    for 2 adults & 2 kids (13 & 11) for all food,toiletries,cleaners etc

  • looie
    looie Posts: 706 Forumite
    Popped in to a's after work tonight as I really fancied poached eggs on toast for tea. Spent £2 on bread and eggs - sig updated :D
  • Spent another £46.11 in Mr T this week but did include printer ink. Brings Jan total to £130.86/250 so far. Its a lot less than I would have spent in the past so I'm happy although I know there's room for improvement still.
    MFW 2024 £0/7500 Mortgage £129,500 Jan 22 Final payment June 38 Now £99,801.75 FP May 36 Emergency Fund £17,500 100% Added to ISA 24 £0 Save 12k in 24 #31 £0/20,000 Debt Free 31.07.14
  • mumofjusttwo
    mumofjusttwo Posts: 2,610
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    Spent £30 in Mr M yesterday. I am sure the pack lunches are more expensive than their school dinners as they have quite a lot of fruit. Think I will look at Mr A next week
    January Grocery 11/374
  • £1.15 spent today on a massive bloomer loaf. The Mr T on the way home from work (not my local, which is out of the way) never seems to have whoopsied bread and I needed it for dinner tonight. All of the loaves were around the same price so just picked the biggest one I could find. :rotfl:

    Running low on fresh stuff, but going to try and get to the weekend using up what we have. Might even dig out a tin of peaches for the lunchboxes tomorrow. The tinned pineapple I sent in DH's at the end of last week went down a treat.
  • mumsiemum
    mumsiemum Posts: 254
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    £10.12 spent in Mr Ts - Sig updated
    February 2021 GC £301.45 / £300.00
    March 2021 GC £266.41 / £280.00
    April 2021 GC £53.19 / £300.00
  • Linz4383
    Linz4383 Posts: 319
    First Anniversary
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    Meadows wrote: »
    Managed to accumulated £40 in Sains's vouchers, just sent of for another £20 and should soon have enough points from a site to get another £10 so although I do not usually shop there I can get some nice shopping with the £70 I have, now if I can find loads of offers it will go even further :cool:


    can i ask wot site u use to collect points and get sainsburys vouchers from please :D thanks :D
  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030
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    Tonight's dinner was SC Pork, mustard, honey and apple (GF and can be DF)

    Brown a pack of pork loin chops. I put some seseme oil in the wok and chucked the pork a few at a time in there, they don't take long at all in there. Whip them out and chop into pieces and bung in the SC. Then chop and bung a large onion in the wok and once done chuck it in the SC. This can all be done in a pan with normal oil but I thought I would try this for a change. Next add 2tblsp mustard seed, 2 tablsp or so of honey, 300ml apple juice. You can core, peel and quarter some apples to bung in as well or when you put the rice on you could caramilise the apples. Just before serving stir in 300ml of creme fraiche or serve a dollop on the side of plate. If you are DF then omit this stage. I served this with rice in which I had added peas and sweetcorn.

    REMEMBER TO CHECK THE INGREDIENT'S OF ALL SAUCES ETC. AS CONTENTS CHANGE AND WHAT IS NOW GF/DF COULD CONTAIN IT IN FUTURE.
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • Ninno820
    Ninno820 Posts: 765 Forumite
    Sadly, I'm the mum of a year 10 who went through three years of this and came out the other side unable to cook anything at all. She just seems completely unable to transfer what she learnt at school to our home kitchen. Year 7 son is doing a bit better but still everything has been based on a cake dough rather than a bread dough, even the world's most expensive pizza. I know it's not the teachers' fault, and as I recall I learnt nothing useful of cookery in my school cooking classes. How then did I learn to cook? By becoming a *student* with no *money*. No teacher like necessity...


    Hope I didnt cause offence - completely with you as to how the young peole dont practise the skill until they need to. I have a fifteen year old pupil who produces amazing yorkshire puddings but whose favourite meal is fish finger and hapy faces potatoe with spaghetti hoops - some times I have to admit defeat!!
    44 day challenge


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