December 2008 Grocery Challenge

pinknfluffy

Please put me down for £400.00 for December Mrs M - £50.00 extra for xmas and sons 21st. Quick question - Can you freeze cheese, if so how long for and does it taste the same after?

carolt2

pinknfluffy wrote: »

Quick question - Can you freeze cheese, if so how long for and does it taste the same after?

Yes you can freeze most cheeses, i freeze hard cheeses all the time. buy large blocks of cheese and cut into more manageable pieces, freeze and then just take out what is needed, there is a thread on here, will see if i can find it for you.

here it is

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=74468&highlight=can+you+freeze+cheese

hth

ZLS1984

Hey guys, is there a way to make cheese sauce with low fat cheese spread. Its like philli but cheap version. I am on a very low fat diet and fancy come mac and cheese so need a lower fat alternative.

highland_fling_2

hi everyone,
well back from Aldi and the total was £45. included was also a couple of cleaning and toiletry items. think i did o.k. stuck to what i needed and not what just took my eye.
took half the time than it normally does to put stuff away and for first time ever managed to fit everything in my own freezer, fridge and cupboards. :j
usually i am phoning about looking for space in mum's or sister's. hopefully have enough to keep me going for next couple of weeks apart from fresh stuff. but that will only be if i can flex enough will power to keep me away from shops. usually make an excuse that i go in to see if there are any bargains and it ends up with me buying more stuff i don't need.
anyway will try really hard this month.

sharronej

BigMummaF wrote: »

I don't know about anyone else I can make my money work on paper, but then Real Life has a way of biting me on the arsenal just to bring my maths skills into question :mad: It looks like I should have a wad of notes bulging from my back pocket, when in reality I'm head-down-tail-up along the back of the sofa looking for enough loose change to get half dozen eggs

LOL I know exactly how you feel - on paper we should have hundreds left yet in reality I never seem to have any spare. Last month was a bit of a revelation thought because I wrote everything down that I'd spent I found that we had paid an extra two hundred out in bills!

lil_me

Ok, after looking through budgets and finding what we are doing (basically seems like quite a bit of entertaining) I am going to allow £350 which includes all food, cleaning stuff etc for all meals for all of us (2 boys, 2 adults, 2 dogs, lizard and some fish) This will have to include guests aswell. Thinking back I spent over 3 times that in December 2005, embarrassing really.

Good luck everyone!!!

MRSMCAWBER

ZLS

yep..I make a normal white sauce and add cream cheese instead of hard cheese.... and if you want a really light sauce -you can beat some milk into the philli to loosen it off and then warm in a pan or gently in the micro....

catnap53

Came in a little under in Nov at 222.26 and I had made it stretch to today instead of Thursday that was payday.

Settling in to the target again I think, so will keep to 250 for December please Mrs M. as I am not sure if we will be home or away yet, or have visitors or not! (BTW, hope all goes well this week for you)

Went to a brand new Lidl on Friday, can't believe I spent over 50 pounds and bought no meat or meals, just bits and 3 bags of bread flour.

Checked my receipt and none of the offer prices had been taken off the bill so had to go back in and query it. There is no customer service desk, so had to wait until the cashier was free, then held up the rest of the queue while she brought someone over to ask me what things were on offer so that I could be refunded 4.13. I am not even sure if I remembered all of them.

As I had gone on a whim, I hadn't checked with mysupermarket, many would have been cheaper in Sainsbury's. I hope I have learned my lesson.

Zzzz

queen_of_string

£200 again please Mrs M.

I have definitely got the hang of this now. I know this isnt particulalry low for me and DS14 and a cat, but includes all food, toiletries and cleaning and meals out/takeaways. I will continue to use any surplus for stockpiling, not much to put towards that this month but was a lot of weekends in the month and it does include a £24 approved food order which will mean I shouldnt have to buy any snacks this month ( a big saving) and I already have most things for Xmas day (just 2 of us) so no big spend due there. Hoping to have enough left at the end of december for some big plastic storage boxes. (sad I know).

Blairweech

Thankyou for the responses regarding my inability to stay on the GC wagon

I think the main point is that I just need to stop being so lazy and actually COOK dinner to stop wastage. I do freeze a lot of things in single portions and try and prep things in the morning before I go to work e.g. peel and chop veg etc. I also try and plan very quick, easy dinners during the week, and save the fancier stuff for the weekend (I see it as a 'treat'). Also, because I do not have much time to read the GC thread, I lose the support and the motivation

I want to start going to the supermarket once a month for tins etc, then only using local butchers, grocers etc for the rest of the time to buy fresh produce (or maybe doing a once a month meat shop at the butchers to go in the freezer). Plus buying more seasonal food - there are allotments being offered at work, which me and a friend have put our names down for one to share, so I could have my own veg by the summer. That will all be my main focus for the New Year.

So....I am going to clear out my freezer and cupboards, then start that in the New Year. I should be going to my parents for Xmas lunch, so that is money saved there. Don't even need to buy a turkey as I get given one by work

Mrs Mc - I FAILED for November. Again. Sorry . Can I have £80 again for December?

Todays dinner is meat and potato pie (in freezer, made by my Mum), with parsnips (blanched and frozen) and spinach (which goes off in about 30 seconds after being opened)