May 2012 Grocery Challenge

16768707273176

Comments

  • Thanks to Fozziebeartoo, meg72, MrsCD for the welcomes its the friendly nature of this thread in particular, which has brought me out of lurkdom and into the accountability of daily posting.

    First shop with a list and I did successfully manage to pick up what I needed, basically meat/protein type stuff some cheap tinned veg and some milk and other than a very cheap pizza which I intend to jazz up with some tinned tuna and sweetcorn from the cupboard the total shop was only £7.60 :p.

    Hope everyone has had a lovely bank holiday despite the grey weather.
    Consolidated and under control 42 payments to go.
    :cool::(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(:o;):mad::p:(
    [STRIKE]£7028.50[/STRIKE]£5990.43
    Aim: 35 and Debtfree
  • Kittikins
    Kittikins Posts: 5,335
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    Hello, DD and I went to Bluewater to buy me a bike and despite taking a few snacks, we needed lunch, so thankfully Co$tco was there to oblige with its cheapy baked potatoes! My shopping was very small as well, so all in all I spent £10.98......mustn't keep on buying food when out!!! But we didn't have any bread left at home so couldn't take sandwiches.....that's my excuse and we are pretty full still from the mahoosive spuds :)
  • Florenceem
    Florenceem Posts: 7,819
    Homepage Hero First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    NSD here on GC but I did buy some Portmerion tableware. :eek:
    So looking forward to using it. :D
    I was telling my DD who visited yesterday - I love my new Denby kitchen utensils - well I don't get out much! :rotfl:
    Decluttering Achieved - 2023 - 10,364 Decluttering Target - 1277/2024 March - 1895/171
    GC NSD 2023 - 242/365
    2023 Craft Makes - 245 Craft Spends 2023 - £676.03/£400
    Books read - 2023 - 37
    GC - 2024 First 4 Week Period £11.75/£100 2nd £33.71/£100 3rd £57.13/£100 4th £3.01/£100 NSD - 55
    2024 Craft Makes - 104 Craft Spends 2024 £186.95/£500
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    I love the crazy daisy portmerion stuff. Don't have any though, as I can't justify the expense when a £4.57 smartprice set does the job just as well!! (I would much rather have the prettiness, but I'd be too worried to use it thinking i'd break it!) Very jealous reading about you guys buying it though.

    So, my nsd turned out not to be so. I ended up spending the best part of £30 on random toot. Oh, and a £47 ap order. I should not be allowed to spend money at this totm! Not wasted money, as all the stuff is useful and will be used, but I have no idea where it's going to go! Very cross with myself, but it's done now, so I can't undo it.

    We had tith for dinner, children enjoyed it and ate almost every bit. There's enough toad and mash left for me to have tom for my dinner too. Not bad for a 69p pack of a!di sausages!

    Weds I will have some lo sweet and sour with rice, and then Thursday I'm cooking for the children again. We may have hm chicken nuggets with hm chips/wedges. Then, this weekend is supposed to be a daddy weekend for the children, but with his baby due today, they may stay with me, so I'm not planning too much for the weekend just in case. If it's just me, I'll have use-uppy stuff, but if the children are here, I'll do 'proper' meals.

    Ch have just had watermelon for pudding, and there's enough left for their packed lunches tom, then that's a whole watermelon eaten, and lots more space in my fridge! They love it, but I don't often buy one as I don't like it, and it takes them about a week to eat one!

    PG x
    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 spending
  • Florenceem
    Florenceem Posts: 7,819
    Homepage Hero First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    I love the crazy daisy portmerion stuff. Don't have any though, as I can't justify the expense when a £4.57 smartprice set does the job just as well!! (I would much rather have the prettiness, but I'd be too worried to use it thinking i'd break it!) Very jealous reading about you guys buying it though.

    So, my nsd turned out not to be so. I ended up spending the best part of £30 on random toot. Oh, and a £47 ap order. I should not be allowed to spend money at this totm! Not wasted money, as all the stuff is useful and will be used, but I have no idea where it's going to go! Very cross with myself, but it's done now, so I can't undo it.

    We had tith for dinner, children enjoyed it and ate almost every bit. There's enough toad and mash left for me to have tom for my dinner too. Not bad for a 69p pack of a!di sausages!

    Weds I will have some lo sweet and sour with rice, and then Thursday I'm cooking for the children again. We may have hm chicken nuggets with hm chips/wedges. Then, this weekend is supposed to be a daddy weekend for the children, but with his baby due today, they may stay with me, so I'm not planning too much for the weekend just in case. If it's just me, I'll have use-uppy stuff, but if the children are here, I'll do 'proper' meals.

    Ch have just had watermelon for pudding, and there's enough left for their packed lunches tom, then that's a whole watermelon eaten, and lots more space in my fridge! They love it, but I don't often buy one as I don't like it, and it takes them about a week to eat one!

    PG x

    I did think hard about buying the new tableware. I have not had any new stuff - well can't remember when - certainly not since my 2nd marriage 14 years ago. I have been happy to move into Mr F's house - all the furniture etc was here. Now I feel I want to put my stamp on our house. I have also had the experience of sorting out my Mil's possessions - things which she never used - just sat in sideboards - what is the point of having nice things if you don't use them? So yes - Mr F is clumsy - it is possible some of my new stuff will get broken sometime. I may be the one to break something. My view is - I have the money - not borrowing it or putting on a credit card to buy my new tableware. Ski again! :rotfl:
    Decluttering Achieved - 2023 - 10,364 Decluttering Target - 1277/2024 March - 1895/171
    GC NSD 2023 - 242/365
    2023 Craft Makes - 245 Craft Spends 2023 - £676.03/£400
    Books read - 2023 - 37
    GC - 2024 First 4 Week Period £11.75/£100 2nd £33.71/£100 3rd £57.13/£100 4th £3.01/£100 NSD - 55
    2024 Craft Makes - 104 Craft Spends 2024 £186.95/£500
  • jumblejack
    jumblejack Posts: 6,599 Forumite
    edited 7 May 2012 at 6:45PM

    JJ - Could you post your microwave pud recipe - sorry if you already have, thanks :)

    Pix



    JJ's 2 minute micro puds:

    Method:

    In a bowl, mix the following ingredients in the order below:

    2oz fat (butter, margarine, spread, suet, etc.)
    2oz sugar
    1 egg
    2oz self raising flour

    Cook for 2-3 minutes on full power in the microwave.

    Serves 4


    Variations

    1) Chocolate sponge:
    Substitute 1/2 oz of self raising flour to cocoa powder

    2) Syrup sponge:
    Put a thick layer of syrup into the bowl before adding the cake mix.
    Turn the servings upside down when served.

    3) Banana sponge:
    Mash a banana into the mixture.

    4) Lemon drizzle sponge:
    Add the zest of a lemon into the mixture.
    Once cooked, sprinkle a generous layer of sugar onto the hot sponge and then pour the juice of the lemon over the sugar to soak in.

    5) School dinner sponge:
    Add a handful of dessicated coconut to the mixture.
    Once cooked, smear hot jam into the top and decorate with a sprinkling of coconut.

    6) Lemon curd/jam sponge:
    Add a layer of curd/jam into the bowl before adding the mixture.
    Turn the servings upside down when served.

    7) Coffee sponge:
    Add a teaspoon of coffee powder when adding the flour.
    (You may also add walnuts if you have any in!)

    8) Fruit sponge:
    Add a handful of dried fruit to the mixture.
    (Optional, smear the cooked sponge with warm apricot jam)

    9) Caramelised apple sponge:
    Use up an apple or two by cooking in a pan with a good knob of butter and some sugar. Once softened, pop the apples and sauce into the bowl before topping with the mixture.

    10) ...Tidy up/experimental sponge:
    Add whatever needs using up: fresh/tinned/dried fruit. Experiment with spices.... Try ginger with lemon zest, etc! Add poppy seeds for texture. Seriously, you can really get away with some whacky ideas with this method.
    (the next one I'm trying is a nuts n 'nanas sponge using peanut butter as half of the fat and mashing a banana in the mix too!)

    Go wild and have fun!
    :A Every moment is a gift. That's why we call it the present.!:A
    Grocery Spend Weekly Challenge (Sat-Fri):£30.50/£40
  • chelseabun_3
    chelseabun_3 Posts: 699 Forumite
    Didn't get any baking done today after all - we went for a walk instead, in the rain! I did an AF order, with free delivery, so very happy about that! We also did a bit of shopping in Mr M, so I need to update my sig. Spent £31.16 on AF, most of which will come from the 2nd purse, so not out of the GC budget. Spent £19.41 in Mr M, including some YS veg for tea, which I did with lamb burgers from the freezer. Very nice too!

    Have a good evening everyone! :)
    CBx
  • mrs-moneypenny
    mrs-moneypenny Posts: 15,519 Forumite
    dinner was hm mushroom soup
    tea was leek and sweet potato pie with new pots and brocolli followed by a delish choc pud following jumblejacks lovely micro recipie - i slightly adapted it by putting some nutella in the bottom of the bowl first
    thanks for the recipie JJ
    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
  • jumblejack
    jumblejack Posts: 6,599 Forumite
    edited 7 May 2012 at 8:51PM
    Aaaargh. :eek:

    Just got my scales out to try out the nuts n 'nanas cake and MY SCALES ARE BUST!!! Must have knocked em coming back from mums as I've been taking em each time I visited. They were ancient anyway and extremely cheap. I needed some new ones as they are inaccurate for large weights.

    Anyhow, I tried to gauge by eye alone but the results were a flop. No where near sweet enough for a pud so will get replacement scales and try again :rotfl: :o

    (On a good note, when I got to Mum's, she had prepped n cooked tea early:T
    She's a star!!!!!! Looks like I am out of a job. :D It smelt lovely too. :))
    :A Every moment is a gift. That's why we call it the present.!:A
    Grocery Spend Weekly Challenge (Sat-Fri):£30.50/£40
  • MissOrganised1972
    MissOrganised1972 Posts: 174
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 7 May 2012 at 9:38PM
    Kids wanted to bake today. Just getting to the age when I can let them get on with it (with me busying myself in the background):rotfl:! However, when it came to it I didn't have enough sugar & the more I looked for recipes, the more additional ingredients I could have talked myself into buying! So I was very MSE & gave DD1 (age 8) the role of cooking dinner (warm potato salad with asparagus & bacon-following the recipe on her own) & DD2 (age 6) the responsibility of making DH & me a cup of tea! They were pleased with that & it meant a NSD for me!:T

    Back to work tomorrow :(

    :)
    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

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