November 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • JIL wrote: »
    Now apologies to the thread but I just need to ask some advice and I know lots on here use them.
    I ordered some red labelled fizzy drinks from @pproved foods along with some soups and a couple of other things. The website said they would arrive on the Wednesday, they didnt and arrived today in bashed up boxes. The tins are very badly damaged and theres things missing.
    Is it usually like this? I have done one of them ticket things but I am so disappointed.

    Thanks for any advice

    Just as Meg says:Phone them up! They are very good and I am sure they will sort it out! I have never had a problem with them-it is the courier at fault not Aprooved foods by the sound of it. AF pack their goods very well so it has to have happened in transit.
    Annual Grocery budget 2018 is £1500 pa £125 calendar month £28.84 pw for 3 adults
  • katholicos
    katholicos Posts: 2,658 Forumite
    Another nsd. Today i picked what i suspect to be the last of my raspberries and had them with some home made yoghurt for my lunch. Really enjoyed it. We ate at Mum's for tea, lovely meal.
    Grocery Challenge for October: £135/£200


    NSD Challenge: October 0/14
  • Adelight, probably, but this was bulked with potato, carrot, lentils and pastry as it was. And if we'd eaten less of it we'd have been hungry into the evening, I think. And we're a relatively compact set of people, with sedentary jobs. It mystifies me.

    Curried chicken, potato and lentil pot pie

    Meat from two chicken marylands, or 2 thigh fillets, chopped into bite-sized pieces
    1 large onion, chopped finely
    2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
    2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
    2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
    1 can brown lentils, drained
    2 tbsp curry powder.
    1-2 tsp chilli powder or to taste (fine without any chilli; my kids hate spicy!)
    1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
    Juice of a lemon
    Big dollop of single cream
    1 tbsp cornflour
    1 sheet puff pastry

    1. Saute meat, onion and garlic in some olive oil until the onion is golden.
    2. Add diced vegetables, curry powder and chilli if using. Stir to coat.
    3. Add lentils and stock.
    4. Simmer for about half an hour.
    5. Mix cornflour with an equal amount of cold water, stir to dissolve. Add into simmering mixture while stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until thickened.
    6. Turn off heat. Add cream and lemon juice.
    7. Pour mixture into pie dish or other suitable bakeware. Top with sheet of puff pastry; you may have to cut it to fit. Brush with a little bit of beaten egg.
    8. Bake at 180 until pastry is golden (about 15 minutes if cooking all in one go. I made the filling a day ahead and then added the pastry just before cooking; because the pie filling was refrigerated I baked for 40 minutes on the bottom of the oven to ensure it was heated through)

    I will add the note that a more frugal way would be to use dry lentils; in that case adjust the stock content accordingly. I just had a can of lentils in the cupbaord.

    Also I just realised that there are five shopping days in my November; I do the weekly shop on a Friday and the first one was 1 November. So my $700 is going to have to streeeeeeettttttcccccccchhhhh further than I thought!
    MFW diary here. 1 Feb 2017 $229,371 - MFD Feb 2043 :eek: aiming for May 2028
    14 August 2017 - Refinanced: $220,000
    January 2019 $211,580 Current MFD 31 June 2036
  • Ok so I have found myself with £250 a month to spend for me and 3 children (2 teenagers that eat and eat and eat) plus a dog. This is for everything - is it doable? I used to post on this thread years ago and then my situation changed and suddenly i didnt have to worry any more however life changes and here i am now back to the start thinking can i mange and do slimming world with this much :-( bit scarey really - but what i have learned is what everhappens going forward i am never going to let my spendning get out of control again !!

    My month starts 15th to 15th
    Been stupid but have no regrets starting to slowly sort my finances now the kids are growing
  • Coxy11
    Coxy11 Posts: 4,837
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    Ok so I have found myself with £250 a month to spend for me and 3 children (2 teenagers that eat and eat and eat) plus a dog. This is for everything - is it doable? I used to post on this thread years ago and then my situation changed and suddenly i didnt have to worry any more however life changes and here i am now back to the start thinking can i mange and do slimming world with this much :-( bit scarey really - but what i have learned is what everhappens going forward i am never going to let my spendning get out of control again !!

    My month starts 15th to 15th

    Hi tinkerbell73 - welcome back to the thread. I think £250 is doable. Make sure you read the advice at the beginning of the thread - lots of great tips there. Loads of really lovely people on here will give you help and tips if you need them. Sorry you've had a rough time (((hugs)))

    Coxy
    Cross-stitch WIP: Durene Jones Haberdashery Shop 365 1p challenge member No.6 Read 24 books in 2024 - currently reading The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill 1/24
  • Another £2.60 on fruit and a couple of bits last night
  • mummyyof5
    mummyyof5 Posts: 1,839
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Managed not to part with any money today despite buying 2 4pt milk..satsumas and 1 Pepsi max..my mum gave me her £3.50 Tesco voucher...never uses them apparently(insert confused smilie???)...handed over the 45p and she wouldnt take it:T..so thats a NSD for me xx
    Feeding 6 Adults 1 Teen a 8 year old with hollow legs and a very fussy 5 year old. Also 3 cats and 3 fishies
    To include all Food,Toiletries and Petfood.
  • Make-it-3
    Make-it-3 Posts: 1,661 Forumite
    Just recovering from all the Diwali spending. OH isn't very good with receipts and pays cash so its difficult to tot up how much it cost us food-wise - so I'm just going to add a round £50 to my total.

    Also did a weekly shop today of £23.12. So all in all we are at £148.64/£200 or thereabouts.

    Unlikely to be able to survive on £50 for the rest of the month, but hey I knew at the beginning of Nov this would be difficult one.
    We Made-it-3 on 28/01/11 with birth of our gorgeous DD.
  • CompBunny
    CompBunny Posts: 1,059 Forumite
    Hello!

    I haven't posted for almost a week :eek: Naughty me!

    Did a £20 T£$co shop on Saturday. Looking at my bill is was shocking how little of it this week was spent on actual day-to-day food! The bulk of it was some vitamin c effervescent tablets (3 for 2 yay), loads of biscuits for family coming over on sunday, a couple of extra mugs, tea bags etc.

    I'm concerned that will won't stick to our budget this month, although we are in the very fortunate position of being able to afford it if we go over. We are just trying to save for our wedding before my ESA/IB inevitably stops as when it does we will be on £0 at the end of each month.

    Thankyou for your suggestions with the quick herb bread. In the end I halved the quantities and used the silicon loaf tin, filling it up a little and using the excess batter in some mince pie foil wrappers I'd saved! It was gorgeous.
    th_2012-11-08_20-59-13_879.jpg th_2012-11-08_20-59-53_45.jpg

    I also made a quick potato and red onion soup. 500g potatoes, 1 red onion, a couple of handfuls of frozen carrots, 1.5 pints veg stock and some garlic and garam masala. Microwaved potatoes and carrots to cook more quickly whilst softening onion and garlic in pan. Added cooked potatoes, carrots and stock to the onions in the pan, threw in some garam masala, whizzed it up with a stick blender and simmered for a bit. Sooo good with the herb bread, made a thick soup just the way OH likes it. Pleased with myself as I don't often make soup.

    Inspired by those successes I then went on to try sweetcorn fritters from the frugal queen blog and hummus, as I have tried both in the past and they weren't particularly nice. These were different recipes and turned out well, very tasty! th_2012-11-13_17-58-17_742.jpg
    GC2012: Nov £130.52/£125
    GC2011:Sept:£215
    Oct:£123.98Nov:£120Dec:£138Feb:£94.72

    Quit smoking 10am 17/02/11 - £4315 saved as of Nov'12

    Engaged to my best friend 08/2012:heart2:

  • A small Tesco spend of £2.71 on butter, milk and tomato ketchup. Shouldn't need anything else for a couple of days now!
    Because it's fun to have money!
    £0/£70 August GC
    £68.35/£70 July GC
    January-June 2019 = £356.94/£420
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