August 2008 Grocery Challenge

suzybloo

Had allowed us a budget of £350 for the total month, so far I have spent £77 on 2nd Aug shopping, £109 (DD2's birthday) on August 9th we had visitors and yesterday I spent £53. The midweek incidentals have come to £14.70 over these weeks so I have approx £100 left for 23rd and 30th Shopping. Last week was so much as we had visitors, and normally we would go out for a meal with them -costing about £120 however decided to stay at home and cook a meal - heres what we had:
Starter: Lentil Soup (made with ribs) cost to make 1.08 French loaf 36p
or Melon - bought 2 small ready chopped packages reduced to 50p each,
main course: Baby Potatoes 79p Carrots 40p Broccolli & Cauli 98p Salmon Fillets £5.00 all done in steamer - less mess and could sit back and do very little!!
Dessert:Summer Berry Pudding made with Bread (5 slices) strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries cost 1.85, served with Mackies Ice Cream £1.49
to wash it all down we had 2 bottles of wine from Tescos at £3.49 a bottle, then we had selection of cheese and biscuits costing £4.25.
The whole meal came to less than £25.00 :j and we had the remainder of the soup, pudding and chese and biscuits the following day.
Definately a money saving Grocery challenge!!! and it worked!:T

mandy_moo_1

mornin all on yet another wet and miserable day !!

kaat lady i've only just caught up on the posts. i am thinking of you at this awful time. i just hope you can find some comfort in all the kind thoughts everyone on here has for you. be brave sweetheart, archie certainly looked a happy contented fella, so he will have known how much you loved him (((hugs))) to you xx

IfOnlyItWasEasier :T WOW!!! what a terrific saving on your wedding food, you must be so excited now...only a week to go till the big day!!

Pink Princess sorry to hear of your OH's redundancy....hopefully he'll be able to find something else soon

Denise hope you're not feeling too sore today . it can be so frustrating can't it, when you can't get done what you want to cos you're in pain. you never know, the kids and your OH might tell you to put your feet up for the day, and they'll do all the housework :rotfl:

well, it's absolutely chucking it down here, and i WAS planning to pop to Mr M's to see if he had any decent whoopsies, but as it's a good walk just to get there, i think we'll forget that one unless the rain stops

hope everyone else has a good day, at least we won't be spending too much money today if the weather keeps up like this today

Chell

(((Hugs))) to those who've had bad news recently.

I've just updated my sig as I spend £8 in Morrisons yesterday. I was naughty as I allowed the children to buy crossiants that they asked for to have at breakfast today and also pix and mix rolls for lunch yesterday. They also got grapes to munch on the walk home - isn't it annoying when healthy foods are so much dearer than if I bought them chocolate treats!

I'm not quite sure how I am going to get my shopping this week. DH is back at work and I can't drive/lift much. I might just get what I need daily as Morrisons is within walking distance and I can put a small amount in the pram basket.

I've just been sitting here writing a huge list of meal ideas. Whenever I do my shopping list my mind goes blank. I thought a list might help with meal planning in future.

carolt2

Good morning everyone,
just want to post that the £5 off £30 spend voucher for Tesco is in todays News of the World.:D

OH popped in to newsagent on his way to work this morning and picked on up for us.

If we just spend £25 next weekend this will just bring us over our budget. But I think I will split the shop with my mum as we are pretty well stock up...will see how we go.;)

annie123

morning all:wave:

:grouphug: big hugs to everyone, we all need them once in a while

I was feeling pleased with myself as going to be under this month until I realised just now that this is a 5 week month:rolleyes:
DD is away this week with bf and his family so that will help.

I have had lots of nsd/mini spend days this month...if I pop into newsagents next to where I work to get milk on way home this stops me from buying 'bargains in mr t's etc. I might spend 10p extra on the milk but much cheaper in the long run:D

raided ds1 garden yesterday which is 60' of blackberry's :eek: at the moment..yummy
must get round to helping him clear it, he is not sure where to start.
took me back to when he was younger and we would go PYO but this was much nicer , he made me tea

off to see how many blackberry receipes can I find today....

MRSMCAWBER

OOOOHHHH Annie

what a coinsidence...look what i have just made ...
Just popped back as i have priced it up for weezels thread and the whole thing cost 85c :eek: :j


Grated blackberry bake :T ....it would be rude not to share the recipe wouldn't it

I have just tried the tiniest sliver -purely for research purposes and so you guys don't waste your GC money making something not nice ..and ekky thump its gorgeous :j if only i hadn't frozen the jersey cream :mad: :rotfl:

GRATED BLACKBERRY BAKE RECIPE
grease and bottom line an 8" spring release tin
pre-heat oven to 200c/400f/gas 6

• 350g blackberries - I used 1lb as thats what i picked - free
• 175g granulated sugar-i used 120g and its plenty sweet enough-10c
• 275g plain flour 15c
• pinch salt -0
• grated zest 1 lemon -had 1 in
• 175g butter or block marge -have some whoopsed so -20c
• 100g golden caster sugar -25c
• 1 medium egg beaten -15c

1. prep blackberries n rinse -drain well
2. place in a pan with 2tbs water and simmer for 8 mins until softened
3. add sugar and increase heat until boiling -cook for 4-5 mins -stirring regularly -until thick - Mine took longer as i used less sugar -so i removed the blackberries and reduced the liquid on its own (thats it in the pot it has gone like jam -so im going to put it in HM nat yoghurt -2 puds for the price of 1 :T )i didn't add it back to the fruit as i reckon it would boil everywhere;)
4. leave the fruit to cool
5. sift flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the fat -to resemble bread crumbs
6. stir in sugar and add egg and mix to form a dough -chill for 1 hr or freeze for 10 mins to firm -
7. cut the pastry in half and grate one half over the bottom of the tin and press down slightly- i only chilled half..the other half i put into the tin and pressed out (like shortbread) and i squished it up a little at the sides (to keep the filling in)
8. spread over the fruit and then grate the other half of the pastry over the top and take to the edges to stop the filling bubbling out
9. bake for 35-40 mins until golden
10. cool for 5 mins and then remove from tin and cut into wedges and serve warm with custard or cold as a cake

if anyone needs any clarification of my rambles -let me know :rotfl:
Thin when i do it again i might play with adding slivers of almonds, or coconut to the top,,, oooh and just think when you get the odds n sods of marzipan left at xmas... grate that in too :T ...getting far to excited about cake here

Well its a NSD for me today... i roasted off the 5 huge read whoopsy peppers with some tomatoes n patty pan from the garden, oil, salt and cracked pepper whilst i was warming the oven up -so that will be bagged and frozen later..
Im not normally this ahead of myself in a morning ...

Dinner tonight is roast chicken -just about to put it in the oven whilst its on... and then having roast potatoes , hm stuffing balls from the freezer and beans n carrots from the garden

Hubby is definitely gonna have to take me black for more blackberries next weekend..hopefully there will be lots more ready then :T

KAAT_LADY.. so sorry about your sad loss..sending hugs

have a great day everyone..we have lovely weather back again..for now ..off to x stitch :j

BigMummaF

Another NSD for yesterday, but it looks like a NOTW will be purchased today The voucher will come in handy for the frozen veg I seem to be getting thru at a rate of knots, plus some microfibre cloths.....that is my next port of call!

Sometimes reading your posts I feel an absolute dinosaur cuz I'm only just beginning to 'experiment' with new flavours & "modern technology" But then again, I've got our little band this far, so can't have been doing too much wrong:rolleyes:

patentgirl

So sorry kAAT Lady sending you a big virtual hug
managed to spend £23 yesterday on bits ad pieces in Mr Ts so will update total can see me going over again but should be only a few pounds this month I am getting better

dink1

Hi Guys,
Came back from hols yesterday, was thrilled to see how much I had learnt about not wasting things although when you go to a buffet meal all I could think of was how I could do it cheaper and felt angry about people who were putting loads on their plates then wasting it!!!! (sad or what) anyhow I came back and without doin a list went straight to Mr A!!! Arrgh will I never learn. Oh well I did stock up and will only need the legendary (F+V) for the rest of the month! Not bad considering I stocked up with booze and toilets rolls etc. I cannot explain the sense of elation when I packed my freezer and saw my neat rows of tins in my store cupboard. Have I changed into!?!?!?!?! Now back to catching up with all this months posts lol

Angel Nikki/ MRs M - My amount this month is £160 that should last me three weeks! ALSO julys total came in at £280.52 over I know, will try harder this month I promise!

Kaat lady – sorry to hear your news,hugs to you hun!
Denise Fowler – sorry to hear about your pet too, I have chickens and know they are more than just pets.
Pink Princess – sorry to hear about hubby mine was put out of work last month too and it was quite a shock money wise, chin up you can do this and sorry to hear about your member of the family nothing really prepares you but hopefully people will pull together.
MRS M – Hi Mrs M, glad to see you are back with us,I missed you whilst you were away and I hope that you have settled in well.

4Moneysaver

KAAT_LADY, I was so sorry to see that Archie had finally gone. You're in my thoughts.

Jan