July 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • LavenderBees
    LavenderBees Posts: 1,718
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
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    Hmmm...battled through horrendous flooding to finally get to the shops on the way home from work, and am beginning to wish I hadn't and had just gone home....£67+.

    Yes, I stocked up on rice and curry sauce, and got toilet rolls, cat litter, plant food and foil, and all stuff you can't eat....but £67!?!

    One problem is that after 1.5 hrs trying to go a normal 20 min journey, and being stressed by detour after detour on country roads, when I really didn't know where I was, I didn't have the time or energy to go to L1dl first, and get what I could there.

    A lesson for me then...

    So £30 to last 4 weeks...:rotfl: Easy! :rotfl:

    Oh, help!!!!

    LB xx
  • jumblejack
    jumblejack Posts: 6,599 Forumite
    edited 28 June 2012 at 9:05PM
    Hi Flo,
    May I ask where you have your asparagus from?
    It always looks lovely but I find it too expensive to buy unless yellow stickered.
    Do you grow your own or know someone who does.

    I may look into growing some. Years ago, it used to grow under my fence (I'm talking 15 years ago in a different house) but I was suspicious of eating it so would rip our the spears as they appeared :eek:
    If only I'd known how nice it is!!!!!

    Lavenderbees, what an awful outing!!! I would have been so irritated by those detours.
    Regarding the shop total, all is not lost. The greatest lessons often come at the greatest cost so you are infinitely wiser and prepared for next time ;)
    :A Every moment is a gift. That's why we call it the present.!:A
    Grocery Spend Weekly Challenge (Sat-Fri):£30.50/£40
  • JIL wrote: »
    I dont know if you can still buy it but I used tea tree oil conditioner on my childrens hair. (original source or holland and Barrett) Put the conditioner on and leave for a while, then use the nit comb to get the eggs and dead beasties out of the hair. Like you I got fed up of buying the nit lotions and i looked for a natural alternative and it seemed to work.
    The teachers at the school used it as well.

    That's what my friend was told too - Tea Tree Oil Conditioner plus nit comb.
    Florenceem wrote: »
    Had a spend of £9.05. Won't spend for next 4 days as off to stay with YDD. May spend out of some other money but not GC. Mr F is staying home to work and look after the dog. I have curtains to alter for DD.
    We had HM wedges, pizza, asparagus, cauliflower & baby sweetcorn for dinner.

    7462812350_5ba1c086ca.jpg

    Good to see you back Flo. Have a great time at your DD's.
    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/£320
  • elsiepac
    elsiepac Posts: 2,550
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    Ok, no time to catch up properly but HAVE to share this AMAZING veggie "burger" recipe...easy and SOOO yummy... had it last night with giant salad... here goes:

    1 pack halloumi
    1 aubergine (or 1/2 if a big one)
    2 onions (red preferable but white ok)
    1 tbsp soft brown sugar
    2 tsp harissa (I used more...half a jar so 45g as I like spicy!)
    roast peppers from a jar (I use the Mr T cheapo ones at £1.19 a jar, used about 1/2 jar)
    olive oiled
    houmous (4 tsbp ish)
    ciabatta rolls or other, lightly toasted

    1. Slice onions VERY finely
    2. Heat up about 1 tbsp oil in frying pan, add onions
    3. Cook on high for about 3-4 mins
    4. Turn heat down and let them cook slowly...
    5. Make 4 VERY thick slices aubergine
    6. Cook them in tiny bit oil in frying or preferably griddle pan
    7. Remove and set aside when cooked...check onions and stir!
    8. Get your halloumi sliced into 8 and fry in remains of oil from aubergines
    9. When done set aside
    10. Lightly toast 4 rolls (I used home bake ciabatta rolls...worth it!!!)
    11. Get some houmous
    12. Spread houmous on bottom of each roll
    13. Put slice of aubergine on each roll
    14. Top each with 2 slices halloumi
    15. To the onions, add 1 tbsp sugar, harissa and peppers
    16. Cook 3-4 mins until sugar melted and lovely sticky mix in pan
    17. Put on top of halloumi
    18. Place roll tops on top

    Serve with salad....


    AMAZING :j:j:j

    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 27-8-13
  • LavenderBees
    LavenderBees Posts: 1,718
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
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    jumblejack wrote: »

    Lavenderbees, what an awful outing!!! I would have been so irritated by those detours.
    Regarding the shop total, all is not lost. The greatest lessons often come at the greatest cost so you are infinitely wiser and prepared for next time ;)

    Aye, you're right - make a mistake once is acceptable, after that, definitely not.

    Have just seen the news about Newcastle flooding and it seems I got off lightly with my detours home north of Newcastle. Not irritated but actually very frightened. Horrendous weather!

    Hope all who have been affected by todays floods anywhere thay have occurred are ok.

    LB xx
  • Morning all!

    Hope everyone is well and not too affected by all the flooding. It's still beautiful and sunny here so thankfully were yet to see any bad weather.

    Please can you put me down for £200 this month?

    It seems loads after last months, but I want to take into account the AF order I got. Also I start maternity leave next month so I want to finish stockpiling. I've had a list written months ago as a baseline of how much of things I want in (mainly toiletries whilst on offers, dried/tinned foods and house hold stuff where I can store them) to reduce outgoings once on SMP. I'm not doing too back, not too much left to get now. Although I've got my head around the second purse idea, I think with a new baby (our first) I'd probably forget to pay the second purse IYSWIM. Maybe once I've settle with bubba I'll give it a go properly.

    This includes food/drink for me and OH (for brekkie, lunch and dinners), household stuff and toiletries. This month I think I'll include cat food/litter and any treats we may get her. Although after this mornings performance there's no treats on the horizon lol!

    Just a quick question if I may? For those of you with little ones, how much do you think you spend on nappies, wipes etc a month? I've stockpiled 1096 nappies with lots of coupons, offers etc and loads of wipes. Plus every now and then buying some cotton wool or baby bath etc, but just trying to see ahead how much roughly for a future budget. I appreciate everyone uses different nappies etc, I do have reusable ones to try at some point too, but just how much do people "allow?"

    Hopefully a NSD here. I do need bananas, seem to being vanishing awfully quick these days, maybe the cat is eating them? But I'm hoping I can go to the market tomorrow and get my fruit/veg there rather than going to sm today and being tempted :D

    Hugs to all that need or want them. Hope everyone has a good day, happy Friday folks xxx
    :j Baby boy arrived 22nd August 2012 :j
    :jSecond menace arrived safely 13th February 2014
    :j
    Debt Free Wannabee 2015
  • Aldahbra
    Aldahbra Posts: 317
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    KatyReed+5 wrote: »
    but also includes a £24.00 spend on 2 bottle of nit stuff for the kids

    my DD got nits which I couldn't get rid of. I tried all the stuff in the pharmacy. Eventually I got rid of them by buying the cheapest conditioner I could find. I covered her hair with conditioner and then combed it through. Twice a day at first and then daily for some time. The conditioner worked as it stopped the little blighters running away from the comb.

    My DD couldn't stand the smell of any of the teatree products. Also some of the nit treatments smell vial. We tried one you use all night but we all woke up with really itchy heads and were showering about 3am.
    jumblejack wrote: »
    My elderflower and rose petal cordial results are in......

    Sorry about the weird sizing of the pics. I don't know what photobucket is playing at!

    If they are too big, I will happily remove them :)

    The pictures are fine. But what is the cordial like? From your pictures I'm tempted to try making some. Does it taste OK?
    elsiepac wrote: »
    1 pack halloumi

    I have no idea what this is.
    "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
    ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
    Weight loss challenge:j: week 1 :(
    target 8lbs in 4 weeks
    Grocery Challenge June: £100/£500
    left to spend £400
    Declutter June: 0/100
    NSD 6 June/6 July: 0/2
  • Aldahbra wrote: »

    I have no idea what this is.

    Hallumi is a Grrek cheese, it's quite salty and rubbery texture. Really nice grilled or BBQd
    :j Baby boy arrived 22nd August 2012 :j
    :jSecond menace arrived safely 13th February 2014
    :j
    Debt Free Wannabee 2015
  • jumblejack
    jumblejack Posts: 6,599 Forumite
    Aldahbra wrote: »
    my DD got nits which I couldn't get rid of. I tried all the stuff in the pharmacy. Eventually I got rid of them by buying the cheapest conditioner I could find. I covered her hair with conditioner and then combed it through. Twice a day at first and then daily for some time. The conditioner worked as it stopped the little blighters running away from the comb.

    My DD couldn't stand the smell of any of the teatree products. Also some of the nit treatments smell vial. We tried one you use all night but we all woke up with really itchy heads and were showering about 3am.



    The pictures are fine. But what is the cordial like? From your pictures I'm tempted to try making some. Does it taste OK?

    I have no idea what this is.
    Cheers. The flavour is fantastic! Elderflower is very unique and distinctive, both the aroma and the flavour.
    It is soooooooo easy to make. Basically bung in a pot of sugar solution with the juice of a couple lemons (i use bottled lemon juice, 39p on offer at Ts for the equivalent if 8 lemons ;)) and steep for 24hrs then strain into bottles.

    Enjoy! The elderflowers won't be around for much longer as they are now beginning to die off for berry production (I am also gonna share some ways of using those up too when they are in full season ;)).

    I am so going to use up nature's larder this year around me. Foraging will be a regular feature of the kids education, a couple of afternoons a week or weekends as I think it's good to know which things are edible and which are not. We are all trying to stretch our budgets but you cant get better than free, fresh and organic (there is no trolley rage along the canal side/countryside either:j) I'm learning loads everytime I go out which is wonderful.

    A book I'd definitely recommend as an introduction is Richard Mabey 'Food for Free'. I keep a pocket sized version in my bag all the time. I even take it on holiday. I will very likely be looking for the edible seaweeds next time I go away 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
  • prophecy_grrl
    prophecy_grrl Posts: 670
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
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    edited 29 June 2012 at 7:28AM
    Hi all

    July GC is £150 - 5 week month for me, and £30 p/w is my aim. Came in at £70 odd under for June, and will be trying to use up all supplies in July too ready for house move - have been eating some v strange concoctions as a result, and freezer is now almost empty so anticipate a bigger spend in July.

    Thanks for inspiring me all!!

    p_grrl xx
    *** PROPHECY_GRRL***
    *** DEBT FREE AS OF 17/10/11 - I DID IT!!! ***
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