August 2008 Grocery Challenge

WelshWoofer

Hello!
Just a quick update - the past 2 days have been NSDs but today will be different - OH has decided that he's having tea at my house tonight after the gym and he's a meat eater, I'm a veggie and I'm not prepared!!

I was having a spicy quorn fillet thing with sweet potato wedges so I suppose I could get some burgers from ALDI at lunchtime to give to him? As I'm not a meat person I have no idea what they're like from there? Any opinions/advice?

He's moving in for good next month so it'll be a big change and I'll be the one doing the shopping (he'll cough up half of the cash!). It'll be interesting to say the least!

Anyway, I have the left overs of my chana masala for lunch at work today and tomorrow's tea will be jacket spuds and beans and cheese and Fridays is a mystery so far! I'm on the SW diet and I'm trying hard to stick to it - lost 3 1/2 lbs last week (weigh in was last night) so I'm motivated at the moment.
It is quite exoensive though with all of the fresh fruit and veg I'm buying. I've done a menu plan for next week (shopping on Saturday) that has quite a few new things to try for me so looking forward to that!

Anyway, any burger views are welcome!
Take care
R

patentgirl

Herbaholic that sounds great will pinch peas recipe just shows what we can do when we put our minds to it I love fish chips and mushy peas but refuse to pay their prices now but you have opened my eyes up to new changesx

Alexelisey

I'd like to join for the first time, I'm running the month 1st to 31st so I start Friday. As this is my first month of trying the GC (with DH's approval) I'm going to set myself a budget of £200

That's for two adults full-time, one adult part-time and a cat. The part-time adult is younger son who won't be fed unless he contributes to the budget :rotfl:

Also this month I have to start packing my stuff in preparation to putting the house on the market so I shall be trying to use up store cupboard ingredients!

Good luck everyone :j

*hugs*
Alex

ZoeGirl_3

chelltune wrote: »

I never thought of adding the runny jam to yoghurt. It is very sweet so would be nice added to some natural yoghurt that is quite sour. Homemade fruit corners, good plan ZoeGirl.

The muffins sound nice, is it plain or SR flour?

If you want to use SR flour, leave out the baking powder, otherwise just use plain flour.

OrkneyStar

Good morning all.
Lovely washing-drying weather here so theres a load out.
My parcels arrived yesterday (nice new clothes from mum and sis and also some printer ink) and my uncle turned up for a while (he is on holiday in caithness and came over for a day) with birthday money . Hmmm think we might be off later to see if I can get anything nice in the charity shops
Think we need milk and bread so not a NSD today, but thats ok as we have still got just under half this weeks budget left. I have decided that anything left over will be kept in the envelope to the end of the month and then we get a treat with whatever there is (so 50p = food treat, £50 = CD or clothes treat - 50p is more likely than £50 mind you!) or maybe stock up on some loo rolls or other non-perishable!
Tea is macaroni cheese or some sort of cheesey pasta dish.
Have a nice day everyone.
X OS

fluffysox

Hi everyone,
Hugs to KAATLADY hope you feel better soon xx
Congratulations to the new mums xx
Well done to everyone who stayed on track in July, better luck with August to those that went over.

Anyway- we have a couple of apple trees in our back garden. The apples are a little sharp on one of the trees but quite sweet on the other, smaller tree.
I was thinking of making either bags of stewed apple, to freeze and use over time or freezing chopped apple and stewing later. Advice please experts- I'm clueless how to even make stewed apple:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Or does anyone know how to make apple sauce/ apple jelly suitable for roast pork. I have cinnamon sticks in the cupboard and a few empty jars on the shelf. How long would these last- indefinitely like jam?
Last question- when should I harvest the apples, August, September?
Hoping somebody can give me some help- would hate to see the apples go to waste.

mrs-moneypenny

july has been quite a good month for me, well its the nearest ive been to staying on budget.
wasnt about much as puter connection problems,
ive set my target for August and will try to stick to it-we are away on hol for one week of the month but ill still need food month as we are self catering

boredofbeingathome

Morning all, i am the same as you Mrs.Moneypenny, as i will be going away for a week as well self catering. I plan to bake and cook there as well and take down as much as i can..we will not starve.Isn't it weird how much extra consumption there is on hols?

Am very pleased as another NSD day today, will only have to nip out to the GP'S for DS presciption. so far nothing spent on August budget.

Floxxie

Morning all,

I've been in hiding because I failed the July challenge in a spectacular way! Think I spent a quarter of a year's budget..found things that were on offer and bought several of each, which would have been fine if it was food but it was cleaning and washing items - oops.

I have a dilemma as well that I can't figure out so thought I would ask the clever ladies here. I 'pay' for my OU courses through Mr T and his clubcard deals. The courses that I am taking cost a little under £2k each and I still have 5 to go so almost £10k required (£2500 in vouchers :eek:)

Now do I continue shopping at Tescos, despite quite a few things being more expensive than other supermarkets (I have access to Aldi, Somerfield, Co-op and Asda), or do I just chase points at Tesco i.e. buy things that I receive extra points for and buy cheaper elsewhere or do I forget Tesco points, go for the cheapest shopping possible and hope the savings will add up to £2k each time (this bit wouldn't work unless I didn't eat but have to include all options!)

Your suggestions please.

P.S. Will be starting this £2k challenge Jan so I can prepare for whatever is required. In the meantime, I shall go for £250 budget for August.

Floxxie

Kaz2904

Definately do the point chasing thing. Do you shop online and use extra points codes? Would it work to buy vouchers from ebay? I know some people sell them on. Alternatively could you stick up a round robin email at work offering to buy any clubcard points that people don't want?
NSD for me today. Kids are out for a tea with grandma later. My sis is coming over in a mo with my nephew so we'll have lunch but I have stuff in for that.
I'm horrified, DH went out yesterday and got 4 films costing £10.98. I told him I was going to get rid of sky as it obviously has nothing to watch. His answer was that he's not got films for ages (2 weeks tops) but he won't even consider going online to order them- I keep trying to persuade him to do this. It's such a waste of money when you can get these things cheaper elsewhere. Any ideas? I feel that I'm never going to manage to come in on or under budget when he seems to try and scupper my plans at every turn. Sorry, having a real grr moment!