November 2008 Grocery Challenge

tango

Ok this will be hard but £660 is my budget

Money_saving_Diva_2

Just a quickie - found this site after watching them discuss it on TV..

Grandmas cooking recipes and videos to watch as they do it! You can add your own recipes etc too which I think is fab, and I bet we have some great family recipes that could be shared!

HERE

Diva.x

symesd

Get your friends who are not so skint to buy all there shopping items from the BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) deals and give you all the BOGOF free stuff - they get there normal shop & you get all the free stuff. You need to have some good friends I know, I am lucky to have one or two who do this for me when I am really desperate. I have filled my freezer a few times doing this. There are loads of supermarkets doing BOGOF offers.

If not got friend who will do the free bit, just go with a friend get the bogof deals & split the bill at the end - at least you can half your shopping bill that way.

Good luck, I know how you feel I have a family of 5 (2 adults & 3 kids) we have to manage on about £120 a month and it is a nightmare, but we are using a lot of old fashioned family recipe's to make things go further and they're actually quite tasty.

Our favorites are - Spagettie Bol with minced pork (this is much cheaper than beef and actually tastes better - not as heavy,
we have a lot of minced pork with pasta & tomato sauce with sprinkles of mozzarella cheese on top to add a little extra,

we also love potatoe cakes, always have ready made batches of mashed potatoes in the fridge/freezer, i buy large bags of bogof potatoes when on offer & cook & make mash then freeze take out when needed, add a bit of cheese ,milk & butter and a little plain (basic) flour and hay presto tasty cheap potato cakes - my kids love them with beans or hot dog sausages or just on their own, they are very filling. Baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings on too.

pasta bakes - tomato's(store cupboard must - basics are only cheap and taste the same) ad some garlic paste from fridge tube.

We also love to have cous-cous with lots of vegetables (finly cut & roasted) then added to the cous-cous.

Also if you go into the shops later on in day you can get loads of stuff reduced to silly prices, which most of them can be frozen to use later, I also like to get cheap root veg that has been reduced, cook up in a bit pot, blitz up into a soup & keep this in firdge or even freezer & reheat when hungry, soup always makes you feel better and fills you up & is really good for you - you can eat as much as you can make.

I have gone on enough now hope this helps

eveie189

OMG I can't believe I am not even one full day into GC and have already spent £6.59. I haven't even bought any groceries just fish and chips as a treat cos I passed my driving test. Well at least I won't have to pay for any more lessons out of my extras budget.

Katie

trixietoes

As the other posters have mentioned, eek out mince with lentils (I have just tried oats too now but not tasted it yet).

Veggie shepherds pie is lovely and made with lentils, grated veggies (whatever you have) tin of value tomatos, veggie oxo cube, and then season to taste. All topped off with yummy mash, Cook as per cottage pie. My OH was adament he hated lentils and this is now a firm favourite. I tend to cook up double of both lentil mix and mash and freeze separately. Both cook up lovely.

Go for the reduced items and utilise your freezer, it is a god send. If things are about to go off eg fruit I cook them up, freeze and they are ready for fruti pie filling.. the last lot was a apple, nectarine and raspberry mix... odd but was nice.

Rubber chicken is a must... 1 chicken can make upto 4 meals (some even more). I did it for the 1st time this week and was amazed.. and had a really nice feeling doing it, as having achieved something. (there are 2 of us BTW)

1 - Roast chicken with veggies & roast tatas
2 - Chicken rissotto (made with chicken stock after boiling up the carcas)
3 - Chicken, bacon & Sweetcorn pie (had a go at making pastry for the 1st time too)... this made enough for 3 pies so the other 2 lots are in freezer for next time
4 - Small amount of chicken kept behind (in freezer again) for topping for HM pizza.

I recommend spending the time reading all these threads as I have done the past few weeks and taking on board all they say, it is mind blowing what you can save and how... some really simply too.

Read the threads on cleaning with bicarb and vinegar.... this, I do now and save a fortune in the shopping

Good luck please keep us updated xxx

candygirl

Well done EVEIE on passing your test:T :T :T
I've had another NSD today, so that's 3 in a row for me, and am eating the freezer contents before buying new stuff.When DD moves out next week I am gonna be extra frugal,as needs must at the mo;)

echelon101

Bleeding heck!

Went to Sainsburies today and bought some food cost me £14.87. It didn't feel like I was getting a good deal on anything, except maybe their ketchup. No wonder they are down in the dumps. Oh well, doubt I will shop there again unless I have to.

fluffysox

Hi everyone,
Been suffering from a total lack of get up and go today, but have spent a little time adding up my finances in order to budget for Christmas. Thanks to moneyexpert site, I'm in a much better position this year and there should be no debts to pay off in January.
Have made a start to November's budget yesterday with bargains from greengrocers and cooltrader coming in under £9 and Washing capsules from Tesco under £3.
Well done to everyone and thanks for all your support:T .

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi MrsMcw

Please put me down for £75 weekly but this will include diesel as well.

Thanks

PP
xx

Dontpanicyet

Hello All

Could I please be put down for £280 this month (same as last months)

Thanks and good luck to all