August 2008 Grocery Challenge

SavvyStudent_2

Hello all! Got sucked into going to MrA today whilst peckish (I knew there was a reason I order online instead of actually going into supermarkets!) spent £8.13 on absolutely nothing! Mainly snacks for the bf as hes working over the bank hol. Did get some good naan breads reduced to 11p but that was about the only bargain I could see. Currently sitting guiltily eating a £1.50 tiny little tub of belgian choc hazelnuts (fattening AND expensive lol!). The budget is officially blown! <sigh>

Lx

Astonished_2

Hello all, newbie here who is horrified at how much we currently spend on groceries (compared to some of your budgets on here) and that's with us cutting down!!
We used to spend approx £150 per week :eek: for a family of 5 (with dogs, rabbit and chickens) but I have been trying hard and got us down to approx £120 a week - sometimes less - but nowhere near as low as some of you I'd love to get it down to less than £100 a week.

I have started planning meals a week in advance, use up absolutely everything in the fridge/freezer etc and I'm going to put a 'do not serve this man' poster up in the local co-op as my husband is the main offender (no sir, not me!). I try very hard to stick to our budget and then he goes and blows it by spending £20 if I send him for a loaf of bread -so I've 'banned' him from going shopping for anything at all!

I cook from scratch every meal (I'm gluten intolerant so it's easier for me because I can make sure that I know what is in a meal), we grow all of our own veggies, have our own eggs and we are not wilfully wasteful. We eat very little meat, maybe once or twice a week, fish twice a week and the rest is veggie based. I don't like to do a big weekly shop as I prefer to buy fresh food 3 or 4 times a week but I only buy what we need for each meal and I find I spend less and waste less by shopping this way.

I'm going to start saving receipts for all food bought in the next month so that I can get a really good idea of just how much is being spent (and by whom! It's him - I know it is!!) and I will try really really hard not to go over £100 per week which will be £400 for the month - wish me luck!

Any ideas on how to save more would be most welcome!!

Thanks

galadriel

sashanut wrote: »

A bit OT know but just a quickie to let all who were interested - kitty is BACK:T I had already phoned vets/cat rescue etc & was steeling myself to phone the council who collect the ones from the side of the road, was in the kitchen & heard a little meow....there she was in the porch! Missing 5 days but she hasn't been living rough although she has been eating/drinking a lot (& asking to go out again!!)

To get this back on topic I was in the kitchen making minestrone (sp?) from all the bits & bobs in the fridge. Turned out pretty well & very filling with a roll of artisan bread, yummy. Now need to see if I can find anything to make for dinner - big bag of stir fry about to go off so I should use that, trouble is I don't want to make the chinese-type thingy, any ideas anyone?? Could mean another NSD on the cards if i resist the temptation to go to the shops.

BTW my chilli plants are storming along, still green but there are loads of them. I do despair of getting a ripe tomato though, never seem to get any sun for long enough.....

good to hear that sashanut, you must be so pleased :j

SavvyStudent_2

Astonished wrote: »

I'm going to put a 'do not serve this man' poster up in the local co-op as my husband is the main offender (no sir, not me!).

Haha that's hilarious! Might have to follow suit! Welcome to the GC, I'm still in my first month and just blown the budget, but nevermind, we live and learn! I'm sure you can cut your spending right back Sounds like you're doing the right things already!

Lx

pink_princess

Hi astonished welcome to the thread were a family of 5 as well and if you have a look at my sig (the bit at the bottom under the line) you ll see that i have reduced our spend by a fair way and its all thanx to the lovely people on here
i would highly recommend you read the links on the first page posted by angel nikki .
the top tips and recipies are great we don t grow our own veg (yet) and have still got the spends down
you sound as though your doing the right things just a few tips and you ll do really well.
HTH

fluffysox

Been doing lots of grocery shopping today and late last night:eek: :
£22.27 in LIDL. £17.01 in Tesco. £6 in frozen food store and £1.58 in greengrocers (they have gorgeous organic tomatoes at the mo). That's £46.86 :eek: .

My local tesco had peppers at 50p each last night, so I picked up a 3 pack instead- but today the peppers are 32p each:mad: .

Sashanut glad your cat is home safe
Welcome astonished and MrsHayes I'm sure you'll be able to save some cash with this thread.:D .

Off to update sig- haven't quite blown budget yet but getting there:o

OrkneyStar

Hi, Just thought I would share our dinner recipe, in case anyone else stocked up on Tesco salmon a week or so back!

Red Pepper 'Pesto' Salmon en croute

• 0.5 red pepper roasted (I used lidl ready roasted sweet red peppers)- it would not be the same with a raw pepper I don't think!
• good generous handful fresh basil, roughly chopped
• small handful pine nuts
• small handful grated parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 salmon fillets
• packet of MacDougalls Puff Pastry Mix (you will have some left over, or you could just make up 2/3rd pack).
• Sesame seeds
• Olive (or other) oil

1. Preheat oven to 200 (sorry not sure what gas this is).
2. Add pepper, basil, pine nuts and parmesan to a blender and whizz up to a thick puree, add some olive oil if its too thick, and salt and pepper if you think it needs it. This is the 'pesto'.
3. Make up pastry and cut into pieces which will wrap over the salmon comfortably, and lay on a baking tray.
4. Clean the fillets and lay on the pastry.
5. Spread pesto generously over salmon and then 'wrap up'.
6. Brush with a tiny bit of oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Cook for approx 15 mins at 200, then turn down to 170 and cook for another 5.
8. Serve with new tatties and peas.

Yum.
I made double 'pesto' and will thin down with a little oil, to serve with pasta tomorrow night.
Not too expensive (esp with the peppers so cheap right now).
hth someone.
On another note today was another NSD.
x

*BigBird*

Hi all. How does everyone account for their MrT clubcard vouchers? Do you include them in your budget for the month, or have them as additional money to spend? I have just under £6 left for this month, which isn’t enough to get me through next week. However I also have £13.50 in vouchers which will be plenty to get the things I need. But it kind of feels like cheating if I spend those and count them as extra money, as they will the only reason for not going over budget .

What can I do with elderberries? Spotted some whilst picking blackberries this afternoon and not sure if it is worth going back and picking them? I remember picking them when I was a kid so my Mum could make wine with them:beer:, but I’m unlikely to do that with them. What else are they good for?

Welcome to the newbies schueys_girl, I found Sophie Grigson’s “First Time Cook” book really useful when I first got my own place. She covers even really basic stuff like how to chop onions as well as the recipes - and for the recipes, she also suggests ways you can change the ingredients to make a different meal using the same method. I think she also gives some tips on things to have in your store cupboard. If you can get hold of a copy from your local library or as a gift, I’m sure it would give you some good pointers to get you started. Not sure how MSE the recipes are, but I’m sure some of the lovely people on here will be able to give you some tips for cutting costs.

Sashanut, so glad to hear your puss-cat has come back. One of ours went AWOL for a week a couple of years ago and it was awful. Stoopid thing had gone and got locked in a neighbours house while they’d gone on holiday!:rolleyes:

On a sad note, my tomato plants have died I suspect they have started to rot cos it's been so wet and horrible here for weeks. I thought there may be a design flaw with the grow-bag - it said not to cut any drainage holes and I wondered how it would cope if we had loads of rain and the compost got very wet. Has anyone else had problems growing things in grow bags? My garden has been a bit of a graveyard for veggies this year, so I'd like to try to avoid the same mistakes next year if possible.

MRSMCAWBER

Evening all..

Super duper happy bunny here

Hubby got knocked off from work early so we decided to do the NAAFI and Blackberry pick today... got seriously prickled getting said berries mind :eek: -anyhow I have just over 1lb..and there are still loads on waiting to ripen....(they will be mine-eventualy )
So we then tootled off to the NAFFI -still no tesco bread flour :rolleyes: and no whoopsed milk it is over €3 for 3 litres normal price -so i picked up -

1. 2 x 1lb pack sliced beef -down to €1 each from €4.99 :eek:
2. and 2 tubs longley farm pouring cream (to go on the nana n ginger cake ) -@ 50c instead of €1.35..

So there we spent €3..should have been €12.68 :eek: "saving" €9.68

then we decided to go to the other NAAFI... :j tracked down some tesco bread flour and went to get it price checked as last time i got it , it was down from €1.49 to 74c... well blow me down if when she checked it the price came up at 37c a bag :j so i got all 13 bags - i was going to get them anyway..but at that price they went in the trolley double quick -it means including yeast etc my loaves will be coming in at 16c or 12.5p a loaf :rotfl: ..apparently they are stopping tesco supplying them so are clearing out their products..
then i picked up

1. 3 x 3litre bottles of milk @ €1 instead of €3.45 -"saving" €7.35
2. 2x500g packs raw turkey breast strips @ €1 instead of €4.41 -"saving" €6.81

so there we spent €11.30 when it should have been €40.03 "saving" €28.73

So today i have spent €14.30 -instead of €52.71 -saving €38.41

Nearly all of it is for my new month that starts on Monday -but im going to take it out of the last of this months budget -so I am declaring this month at €90.85 out of my €100 ..hopefully it will give me a good head start for next month :j

On another subject...look what i fetched out of the garden tubs today:T

I have just turned some of it into a chilli pasta dish for dinner -nomnomnom..

I think tomorrow is going to be spent stewing the apples and blackberries and roasting the veggies off for the freezer:p

right enough excited babble about flour :rotfl: off to my x stitch i go..have a great evening everyone and hello to all the newbies

Woohoo BIGBIRD..
Next time ignore them n punch holes in the grow bag....they suffocate if they get too wet -the roots can't get any oxygen because of the water

wendywitch

Haven't been on for awhile as I've had my wisdom teeth out at the hospital and I'm saying at my parents to be looked after
I've come to the end of GC month (next payday is early due to the bank holiday) and I'm over just as I thought I would be but I do have a stock pile of toilet rolls that should last awhile.
I don't know what to put down for the next month. Do I put £200, £250 or in between £230? What do you guys think?