Grocery Challenge - February 2012
Comments
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Another NSD for me, pleased with that anyway, two in a row. Horrific month budget-wise as lots of big outlays, but I got an unexpected bonus from work so that's alleviated the panic.
To those who struggle to stay out of supermarkets, I know exactly how you feel. I think mine comes from somewhere else rather than childhood, though I have been proper skint on more than one occasion.
I feel like going shopping for food and trying to get bargains counts as getting hold of myself and my life, like being in control, and it's also almost like a game, where you put your prizes in the fridge, only being good at it is also being good, if that makes sense.
So coming home with seven quid's worth of shopping and posting it on here is my equivalent of dragging the hairy mammoth back to the cave and waving my spear around. It's much harder to say, well, actually, my fridge is full of mammoth and I've got no money so I can't go and triumph over anything today. No prizes for me, in fact nothing at all. I'll just sit here and not do anything except be skint.
Anyway, that's my tuppenceworth and apologies if it's completely garbled.
Bless its not garbled at all, the game, the thrill of the hunt yes
I can identify with that, I think its called winning, at least thats how it feels.Slimming World at target0 -
Spent £91 this week so my total spend for the month is now £261/360.Pay debt in 2012 #278 £2347/£5364
Sealed Pot 5 #1713 £78.57 //Crazy Clothes Challenge #97 £79.49/£100
Grocery Challenge:
Feb £359/£360 Mar £390/£450 Apr £335/£320
May £330/£320 Jun £455/£400 Jul £321/£320
Aug £399/£370 Sep £345/£300 Oct £421/£400 Nov £0/£3200 -
Tonights dinner was an adaptation of a recipe from the Recipe Collection, all but one of the kids loved it. We had some rather lovely chocolate icecream for pudding.
Any way I browned off some pork loin chops on the hob and bunged them in the SC, then fried off an onion and bunged it in the SC. Added 2tblsp mustard seeds, 2 tblsp honey and 300ml apple juice, ground salt and pepper and sprinkled thyme over the top. Put it on low for 4 hours. Served with cheesy mash and vegetables.BSCno.87The only stupid question is an unasked oneLoving life as a Kernow Hippy0 -
Hi all, spent £23.37 at Ald! today. Bought a whole chicken, first one for ages, a large gammon joint, eggs, veg, topped baguettes and a few other things.
I will only buy my eggs from here now as I find them a lot nicer than from other SM's. I also like their cereals, we find them just as good as the big brand names. Only cheaper!
Hugs to all who need one.
S.P.C. 9 2016 No. 062 Banked £337.50
My Gold Stars off Sue. :staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin :staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin :staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin :staradmin0 -
Hi everyone,
Did my weekly shop yesterday, came to around £25. Several 'treats' in there, and some bulk buys too! The treat was a raspberry yop (50p in a$da), and also bought 3 week's worth, at least, of cheese. Oh, the other 'treat' was some streaky bacon and small sausages, as dd wants to make pigs in blankets. I'll put them into a large yorkie with some mash, veg and gravy, and call it a meal, so it's hardly a treat, but it's more expensive than I usually go for a meal.
Dinner today, our valentines treat, was hm pizza and hm garlic bread. Had everything in except for mozzarella which i bought yest. There's enough mozz left over for another pizza, so that's been sliced and frozen. Other toppings were pineapple (rest of tin in freezer), ham (from freezer, already cut to size), sweetcorn (from the freezer!) and grated cheese. Often put other bits on, but not today. As you can see, very much a storecupboard kind of dinner, but it's what they asked for! For pudding, we had the works - strawberry candy floss, love biscuits and chocolate fondue with strawbs and marshmallows! I love doing things like that though, because very often, my dd will turn round to me and say "Wow, we're really spoilt, aren't we?!" She's seven next month, and I love the fact that she realises that that's not everyday stuff. Ok, it didn't cost much to make a few biscuits, melt some choc, etc, but they both really appreciate what I do, and I'm so very proud of them. Sorry, lovey dovey-ness over with now!
Today would've been a nsd, but for the fact that I went and bought my two a card and the strawbs etc. Then, in the middle of making the cookies, realised I'd run out of baking powder (seriously, how does that happen?! I'm so os ms for using it all!), so we upped and went to c00p. dd and ds asked if they could scooter there, so i got about a mile's worth of exercise, and didn't have to use the car again. Lush!
Anyhoo, I'll leave you all to get on now. I need to tidy up the kitchen, and get to bed.
PG x
ps - used my cricut cake to ice the cookies, omg they looked amazing! Can't wait to do a whole cake!Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Hi all
Just nipping on to report the Mock Goose was good, this is the recipe from We'll Eat Again by Marguerite Patten - for those unaware, it's a cookbook based on WW2 rationing and real recipes they used and that Marguerite used to teach people, to be able to make the most nutritious meals from their rations:
[FONT="]WEA Mock Goose[/FONT]
[/FONT] [FONT="]- 1 ½ lb potatoes (My scales said 1.2kg because I had an extra rooty potato that wanted to be used)
[/FONT] [FONT="]- 2 large cooking apples (Mine were possibly too large)
[/FONT] [FONT="]- 4oz cheese (I used 120g reduced fat x-mature cheddar, slightly over 4oz)
[/FONT] [FONT="]- ½ tsp dried sage (Next time I will use more to combat the sweetness of the appleS)
[/FONT] [FONT="]- salt and pepper
[/FONT] [FONT="]- ¾ pt vegetable stock (In my wisdom I used 1 pint. I should have trusted the recipe...oh, and I used 2x Veg Oxo cubes)
[/FONT] [FONT="]- 1 tbsp flour
[/FONT] [FONT="]Method
[/FONT] - Preheat oven to 180.
- Scrub and slice potatoes thinly. (don't peel - retains more nutrients)
- Slice the apples. (as above)
- Grate the cheese.
- Grease a casserole dish. (I didn't bother, it was fine!)
- Place a layer of potatoes in it, cover with apple and a little sage.
- Season lightly and sprinkle with cheese.
- Repeat the layers [FONT="](enough to do this twice then move on)[/FONT] leaving potatoes and cheese to cover.
- Pour in ½ pt of the stock. (my version was 3/4 pint here)
- Bake for ¾ hour. (I did an hour due to having lore ingredients)
[FONT="]- Blend flour with remaining stock.
- Pour over the dish.
- Bake for another ¼ hour.
- Serve as a main dish with a green vegetable.[/FONT][FONT="](I had it with 100g of my whoopsied chicken as it smelled so good after I massacred it...there was chicken everywhere, first time I've ever done it. Rest of the week it will be with broccoli and green beans)[/FONT]
My notes are in pink, however to sum up, next time I will use more sage, slightly smaller Bramleys, and the correct amount of stock, regardless of any additionals. Overall, I was quite impressed :j - My first recipe from this book.
LC
I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing [email protected] views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-130 -
spent £6 last night teabags, milk and chocs for the cinema. Need to go to shops today but will only buy what is on my list.0
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Good morning everyone
Just popping in to say hello. My monthly total will go up later when my Mr T delivery comes ( I could have probably gone another few days but Wednesday afternoons only cost £3 delivery and I had £16 in vouchers about to run out) One of the vouchers was £12 off an £80 shop and the freezer was running low so I have filled that and topped up my stores to bring it just over the £80. Theres only 2 of us at home now so this will easily last until next month now apart from bread and some veg.
I know what you mean about not being able to go bargain hunting. I have vouchers sat in my purse if I spend certain ammounts but there is only so much money and so much that we can eat (and fit in the cupboards) but I still feel that I am missing a bargain.
I have started rotating my stocks by putting the new tins at the back of the tin cupbaord and moving everything forward as I use them and my jars and packets cupboards move down new stuff on top shelf old on bottom so I know what needs using (this helps cos I'm not that tall so have to get a chair to reach the high stuff too)
Having good stocks of food in has been good this week cos we have both had a flu/cold type thing and neither of us needed to drag ourselves to the shop so hopefully we won't pass it on.
Anyway enough of my ramblings
Have a good day everyone
Cuddles:)🎄December 🎄 NSDs 11/150 -
Hi again, can I sign up for a challenge of £200 to cover 15th Feb to 14th March please. That's for all groceries, cleaning products, toiletries, cat food for three and dog food for one big 'un. Last month, in my first ever challenge, I tried to manage on just £100 for the month, but I failed quite miserably and spent £172 - and our cupboards/freezer were quite well-stocked when I started.
Although I failed in my spending limit, I won in other ways. The challenge taught me to shop in new places, know the price of everyday items, discover what is actually essential in our household, and it helped me to see where we tend to be wasteful. I'm reasonably confident that with my new-found wisdom I can keep the pair of us healthy and happy for £200.
Went to Mr T last night because our dog food was on offer and the cats now prefer T's own-brand food. Made sure I had enough of each for the month, plus a month's worth of half-price Flora and a few other staples which were on offer. Those essentials came to just over £40, meaning I could use their £5 off voucher. So off to a good start!
Good luck to everyone with their challengesLBM Dec 2011. Aimed, but failed, to clear all unsecured debt by Feb 2019. Finally free of unsecured debt 21st May 21!
Debt Dec 11: Unsecured £69,579 + Mortgage £59,948 = £129,527
Debt May 21: Unsecured ZERO! ZILCH! Mortgage £22,3320 -
Morning all!
Just a quick post as wanted to let you know about my money saving valentines day! Instead of cards etc I bought the ingredients for the tiffin on the recipe thread. Before the LB moment we would regularly go out for coffee and tiffin so DH was really chuffed that DD and I went to the effort of making it! So the kids had it for their pudding with the left over !id! Ice cream and we had it as a snack. Then we had a lovely beef and beer casserole with all the 30p veggies from Horrorsons. I did, of course, add loads of lentils so there's enough for tonight too!:)
Thank you to the person who recommended the £2.99 a!di merlot, we really enjoyed it! :T
And thanks to all your recommendations, I have spent my £20 ama£on voucher (for a 30 day l0vefilm trial) on a slow cooker, it was half price so ended up putting a fiver towards it! Will be making your pork recipe tiger feet!:)Make £2020 in 2020 £178.81/£2020
SPC 13 #51
Feb Grocery Challenge £4.68/£2000
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