August 2008 Grocery Challenge

saffouri

Just popped in to update sig - have even included most of the groceries I paid for when I was in the US visiting my parents just now - the few odd food 'presents' I'm including as holiday money. Good news is out of the 11-day trip I only went out for a meal once and that was a breakfast.

Even better news money-wise is that when I got home I found out from DH that his parents have generously given us money to help pay for my trips out to the West Coast, as I've gone more frequently now that my Dad has been getting weaker and has now moved into an adult family home. So that's a relief for my credit card!

While in Seattle my brother and I went out to pick blackberries (they are everywhere, and free!) to make blackberry jam. I've brought a few jars home and it tastes fantastic. So now I've caught the canning bug. Any suggestions on what's in season and would make good canning at the moment back in Blighty? Or on u-pick in the South East?

Thanks,

saf

findingmyfeet

afternoon all,
not been posting for the last couple of weeks, been really busy at work again and of course kids still off school so hard to force their fingers off this keyboard!!!

Anyway just updated sig. total looking good but still a week to go for me , should do it an absolute miracle for the summer hols. Bit disappointed though with the savings- havent got any !!! Several unexpected bills have cropped up( car etc) so money has had to be used for that, still its paid for in cash and that makes me feel so smug.

Over last few weeks spending has been aldi £55.13, morrisons 158.78 (but lots of tins to carry through to next month) and £3.59 at local butcher. Will catch up on a few pages reading this evening.

bye bye for now

findingmyfeet

im back again, sorry -- forgot to mention my local cards shops have all their christmas cards in already. So that got me thinking.... happens now and again.... Never had a xmas on the grocery budget, how much planning do you lot do? I do have a small pot with £55 in so far to pay for extra food but i also thought about starting a box of tins etc. too. Any one else do this sort of thing? Never been organised before usually fly out at the last minute stand forever in a mile long queue and pay several hundred quid for nothing special. All tips and suggestions gratefully recieved. ( am i starting too early ?...i wonder...)

thanks x

Frugaldom

It's never too early to start Christmas - I start gift shopping in the January sales and stockpile anything grocery related that comes on offer throughout the year.

I'm infor September - budget of £50 but won't declare my dreadful August overspends just yet in case there are more to come this week. :eek: I blame it on the bad weather as nobody has felt like eating salads on cold, wet miserable days, and the homegrown veg miracle never materialised. I have potatoes by the bucketload and plenty of lettuce, but anything that involves ripening in the sun... what happened to the sun?

Barneysmom

Hi just popped in to update my sig, I should declare today, gut I'm trying to hold out till next weekend, meaning over the last few months I've 'gained' a week somehow. I think I'm becoming more frugal :cool:
Got just over 3 quid left and that will buy bread and milk.
Doing some pork ribs tonight with potatoes out of F-I-Laws garden, he gave us carrots onions and green beans too.
I don't think our spuds will be ready till around Christmas time, but the herbs are looking really good.

JayJay14

For those of you who have managed to grow tomatoes but they will not ripen I have a sugestion that we use to do when I was a kid - *** years ago.

Check the green toms making sure that they are as perfect as pos. Then wrap each one in a paper hankie and put them in a plasic box, old marg tubs used to do fine. Just nestle them in until the box is full, put the lid on and put them in cool place, a cupboard will do.

Then you just check them every few days and take out those that are ripe and put the others back. Any that go off just take out and bin, as they are wrapped individually they tend to not spread the lurgy.

They last for ages like this as they retain the moisture. If you leave them in the sun they tend to do wrinkly, though they do ripen more quickly. You might find that they last for quite a long time (we nearly got to Xmas one year).

cammumof3

Hi all

Have just updated my sig to include the nappies hubby brought, was so glad he didnt do a shop.

We are going to a friends house for bbq for dinner today, so thats 1 meal i dont have to pay for. yippee.

I am saving for christmas, I have 22 pound so far wilkinson stamps. If you fill a card of 19 pound you get 1 pound free.

All my bogof's and whoopsies are for christmas too, as well as my 2 pound pot and my sealed pot challenge.
But I do start buying a few extra tins,packets etc a few months before christmas. (I hide them in a box under the stairs) and forget about them my self, good job as I may eat them in the evenings when the kids are in bed.

Off for a nice bbq
speak again later
Caz

meanmarie

Afternoon all,

NSD for me to-day, have €25ish to see me through until Sunday, should be ok, as have been using stuff out of freezer and garden to boost what I bought...have decided never to take a six week holiday in May/June again, didn't plant anything that was going to be trouble for DD4, as she is not very well up on gardening, so no squash or courgettes and I really could do with them, have finally converted family to squash but really only buy when they are cheap, also having rhubarb crumble and custard...because I like it

Findingmyfeet, you are not a bit too early to start buying things for Christmas....there is a thread on here but would you believe it I can't remember what its called but I'm sure somebody cleverer than me does and it is great to help in the next few months, both for gifts and extra food ideas.

Marie

nicki_2

Another NSD for me... wondering if I can get away with not shopping tomorrow as well? Depends on what I decide to cook for tea (if I decided to do a stew then I want to go and get some fresh veg, but not much), the weather and whether we run out of milk :rolleyes:

OrkneyStar

findingmyfeet wrote: »

im back again, sorry -- forgot to mention my local cards shops have all their christmas cards in already. So that got me thinking.... happens now and again.... Never had a xmas on the grocery budget, how much planning do you lot do? I do have a small pot with £55 in so far to pay for extra food but i also thought about starting a box of tins etc. too. Any one else do this sort of thing? Never been organised before usually fly out at the last minute stand forever in a mile long queue and pay several hundred quid for nothing special. All tips and suggestions gratefully recieved. ( am i starting too early ?...i wonder...)

thanks x

We don't really do big Christmas meals (was 4 adults and DS last year) so TBH its just like a slightly bigger normal shop to us. We often get sweets as presents so don't buy too many of them either. I think I will just budget maybe an extra 50% on top of normal weekly budget for 2-3 of the December weeks.
I think if we did do big Christmas then I would 1. stock pile non-perishable grocery items. 2. save stamps or a separate money pot for perishable bits.
IMHO people often go OTT at Christmas and I think it will be a challenging time for GC'ers, making sure we get what we need but not wasting (not suggesting anyone here will deliberately do that but its so easy to get carried away isn't it ?).
Today was a NSD , so will just add that on to signature.
x OS