September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

LearningToSave.

Choccybix wrote: »

Morning everyone

Bizarre question, but does anyone know what to do with leftover watermelon?? Is it any good in smoothies? I really do not want to throw it away

Any ideas gratefully received x

yep fine in smoothies.....with seeds removed obviously! its what i do with any we have lertover!

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys,
Another NSD for me yesterday:D 2days into my month and 2 nsd's, but will be going to mr a's later and spending;) so there you go:D just going to read posts, back later:D
HWGA xx

catnap53

We enjoyed our day at Chatsworth, but my pocket didn't.

We were there from 10 till 5.30 and still didn't see everything. There was so much to buy:eek: as well as see. I am afraid watching the country sports and activities aren't really my thing, but so glad the weather was fine for those that do participate and follow them, and we liked a glimpse of how the other half lives.

I didn't take much cash, as I wasn't planning on a big spending day. I am not sure yet whether I should have left the cards at home, or be glad that they were accepted in some places.

I now have a half lamb pack for the first time ever, got to sort it out today as I just managed to bag up the bits and squeeze in the fridge. The jams and sauces that normally reside in there have had a night out on the tiles.

Cheese was also past temptation, as were the spices. I was asked if I had a legal use for the citric acid I bought, and all I could remember was it was for a recipe I have seen on here, but couldn't do before . Must look it up.

My other big spend was on a steam press :eek: . I have been thinking about one for a while, especially since my iron broke a couple of weeks ago. I always have to buy cheap ones because they are light enough for me to use, but they aren't very efficient so I end up taking longer, and can't iron for more than about half an hour at a time due to the same back problem that restricts my lifting capacity.

DH said he will pay for it as it will give me less reason to moan at him when I am struggling to keep up with the mountain. I will try it out later today while he is watching cricket (just to rub it in). I may even find that he can be taught to use it.:rolleyes:

Accounting for spends will be meat, cheese and spices from GC.

Will go again next year, but will be more prepared, (BTW, I didn't know that there were so many dogs in the entire world)

Have a nice Sunday everyone.

Zzzz

[Deleted User]

Well tomorrow is the first day of mega savings .:j Today I am going to list all my food in the cupboards and frezzer to see how many meals I can come up with to get me through the next thirty days.I am sure I can live on £1.80 a day, as in the third world there are families living on $1 a day without the benefit of fully stocked cupboards.
I am only using £50.00 and that will be for food only.It will be interesting to see how we all progress. I have worked it out that there are basically three meals a day for 30 days = 90 meals .I have Sunday lunch at my DDs every week, so that takes it down to 86 meals.
I am going away for the week-end at the end of September for three days so that knocks anouther 9 meals off.
Meals now down to 77. Hopefully with a bit of imagination and invention I should be able to cut that by at least 50% from existing food in store cupboards already.
I am really looking forward to this.It may show me how much I am really wasting things buy spending too much on food when I already have stuff in the cupboards.
I did out the cupboard under my sink yesterday and was amazed at the amount of cleaning stuff I had under there that I had bought,put in the cupboard and forgotten about.
I had three bottles of washing up liquid for a start !! Onwards and upwards chums:D

pinkjen

Hi & thanks for your welcomes pink princess & denisefowler.

It's nice to know I have people that are doing the same to chat with about how it's all going & for help & tips.

I spent some of last night writing some great recipes down which are all quite cheap & sound delicious so I shall be trying them out during this month.

x

ShelBell

ZoeGirl thank you

shezza

Hi, can you put me down for £150 this month please. Last month was a total nightmare, and I have absolutely no idea how much we spent on food, as it really wasn't that important, but we really must stick to this now, as we are at a crisis point with our finances .

Shezza

teedy23

Hi all, first post on the September challenge. I,m in at £45 once again. Welcome all newbies, dont set yourself too high a target, or should that be too low, anyway cut down slowly or you,ll feel deprived and go wild.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY.

angelnikki

ZoeGirl When I freeze onions I use MrT's resealable freezer bags and always double bag them

crockpot wrote: »

I cook from scratch and home bake.
Should i worry, admit we do not have much freash veg-use frozen but fruit bowl always full.

Remember that frozen veg is frozen straight after being picked and usually contains more vitamins than "fresh" veg
Sounds like you're providing a very healthy diet to me :T

denisefowler wrote: »

Hi Nikki, try taking out any extra spacings, remove any redundant £ signs next to names that didn't leave a budget, anything like that - it should help.

I already did that I remove the people that havent set a budget by halfway through the month.

Welcome back IOIWE :hello: Hope you had a good time on your honeymoon :kisses2:

Welcome all newbies

Nikki x

PS can people try to limit themselves to one or two posts a day please instead of posting over 10 times. If you want to reply to several posts just do it in one post instead of several. Makes it easier for everyone who has limited internet connection/ limited time to keep up with the thread. thanks xx

If anyone has any Old Style quick questions use the Quick Questions Thread or there's also a Freezing Quick Questions Thread

JayJay14

Catnap - I can recomend letting OH try the steam press - I got one about 5 months ago and haven't done a full load yet!! OH has just finished this weeks, I cleaned the deep fat fryer out so it was a good trade but I will admit that the ironing is the one job I really hate.