January 2009 Grocery Challenge

mothershipton

not doing too well on this challenge as have already spent £105 this week and havent added in yesterdays shop as hubby has reciept. I try and use our local farm shop for fruit and veg but aldi is oh so cheap.

have sister in law coming for a few days next week so will probably overspend if she and my husband are let loose in Mr T. i get accused of being tight when those 2 get together.

ragstoricheswannabe

well its week 2 and i have spent £114. think the thing that bumps the price of my shopping up is buying the gammon joints to roast for ham in sarnies. get the smart price one but still paying over a fiver and not so big with lots of fat on it. anyone know where to get it cheaper. Those with kiddies, are you including nappies and wipes and stuff in the challenge???

searching_me

spent £15 in local shops buying things that will last the week which i think is not so bad ... although i did some baking and dippy me forgot to put sugar in them still taste nice though with a little jam quchie tonight for dinner ... yummmmm off to sort out chips and beans to go with it ... DD will be pleased x

nickynoo08

Someone slap me!!!!! I've spent another £12.79 in mrA's today. I did get myself some bargains, but i'm now left with £6 to last me the month:rotfl:
Somehow i cant see me staying on target this month:rolleyes:. Saying that i really should only need milk and maybe fruit (have plenty of veg in freezer) so i hopefully wont go too much over budget (famous last words)

yummymummy05

ragstoricheswannabe wrote: »

well its week 2 and i have spent £114. think the thing that bumps the price of my shopping up is buying the gammon joints to roast for ham in sarnies. get the smart price one but still paying over a fiver and not so big with lots of fat on it. anyone know where to get it cheaper. Those with kiddies, are you including nappies and wipes and stuff in the challenge???

I am including nappies etc as I buy them with the groceries, but I know they cost me about £13 a week!!! I'm aiming to eventually get down to £125 plus nappies, formula etc. but I think that'll take me a while!!!!

At Mr T's they do Gammon Joints for £4.68 (1 kg) I think. There's not too much fat either. Or I just get their value ham for about £1.30 that lasts about a fortnight.

Sylvan

Gosh, what a lot of posts. I'm quite exhausted after all that reading!

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Kiwisaver... I have lost track of the number of times I have wandered into the NAAFI with a basket and then plonked it back again as there is nothing worth having in there :rotfl: sometimes it does make me feel like folks think I must be shop lifting

:rotfl:Me too. They always look SO suspicious don't they?
Mind you, I think DH's long hair and bushy beard may help explain that.:rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

-there is nothing we need, no room in the freezer anyway, and its still 5" deep in snow out there :eek:

Well, there's your answer - use your garden as a freezer:p (I can remember the family doing that when I was little:D)

Quote:
Originally Posted by elizabunny
orchid-96 I am exactly the same. I love popping into different shops

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Never mind the compulsion its a new up to date version of the consumption(totally different meaning of course)Hope you younguns know what Im on about :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Aye, I suffer terribly from the consumption.
Had a particularly bad day on Saturday. DS5 found the perfect trenchcoat - on Debenhams website. £85:eek::eek: so I decided we'd take him into Darlington to look for one, and that way we could look for our melamine-faced particle board in Wickes as well as B&Q and Homebase... (We spent £91 on him in the end, but for that he got a duffel coat that he insists will see him through vet school (with an extra, zip-out lining), two gorgeous hoodies and a scarf (not to mention the Greggs sausage rolls:rotfl:). So that was 9 shops, 1 market stall and Greggs, followed by Poundland, Poundworld, Savers, Wilkinsons and the Thai supermarket (which I've been desperate to visit since I first saw it in the summer). Then I dragged them to Farmfoods (and found there was a Netto next to it, so I had to go in to see if they were worth visiting - didn't I?:o). 8 litres of milk from Farmfoods for £4, so we didn't have to go into Iceland, but we still had to visit Aldi for the 49p veg and the boys' salami and ham.

Mr M is next to Homebase ("I'll just pop in for a look dear - won't be long"). I spent £39.94 there, but, apart from the yoghurt and the bananas, it was all on offers and whoopsies. How long past their Use By date are eggs likely to stay fresh, if I keep them in the fridge?

We were planning to visit Mr A too, but the boards were 2.4m x 60cm and DH and DS5 are 6'4" and 6'3" so by the time we left Wickes I was driving, with my knees against the dashboard, and the two of them were sitting behind me with their legs almost wrapped around their necks (it was very funny watching them trying to get the seatbelts done up:rotfl:) so we've left that dubious pleasure for next week.

DH had spent £17.18 at Mr T's on Friday (Crusty rolls, butter and cheese, cheese and cheese!) and DSs took £3 for food, we spent £53.01 on Saturday and DS5 has taken £2 today, so new total is £110.23. The cupboards and freezers are crammed, but there's room in the fridge...

Pity about the whoopsied cream though. I could have bought another 6 tubs if I'd known I could freeze it! (I did suggest using them to make butter but DH looked so horrified I had to dismiss the idea.)

What is it with red split lentils? I can't find them anywhere at the moment. Is there a shortage?

angelatgraceland

jtb2412 wrote: »

Afternoon everyone, will update a bit later but i've got a quick question ....... what (if anything !) can you do with a chicken carcus that has already been cooked and then frozen. I've just found 2 in the bottom of the freezer that I think MIL put in there when we were away on hols last year. I'm not sure if I can defrost them and put in slow cooker for stew (they look like they've got a bit of meat on them). I'm pretty sure they were fresh chickens to start off with (she doesn't buy frozen).

If I have to throw them then so be it but i'd rather not until I know whether I can use them or not (I've always used the carcusses straight away so not entirely sure about using them after freezing).

They may well be ok recooked but personally although Im frugal, as you dont know exactly when they were put there etc Id be safe and bin them. Hardly worth taking any chances over.

Mrs M - I use my eggs 2 weeks past their date.

Frugaldom

I need to adapt the way I am calculating my grocery challenge spends because of the stockpiling. Would anyone object to me taking it as an annual total and then averaging it to get the monthly total? Some things I buy enough to last me all year, others just enough to last me until I get into town and any other available bargains get bought as and when available, which isn't that often about here It means that I'll need to stick to the grocery challenge for the full year again, to get my true average monthly spend, but I don't mind doing that as I've already been here for a year already.

Total spend to date - £100.40

I'm over in January already. :mad: This has just been on basic essentials, bulk buying and offers. (Half price Shreddies, 750g storebrand Fruit n Fibre 99p x 4, half price cheese £1.99 x 4, half price rolls x 2 packs... you get the picture). The prices are going haywire - basic single serving noodles were 8p per pack last time, today they were 16p, so I didn't buy any! A great deal of what I buy has almost doubled in price or else disappeared from the shelves completely, so I suspect things are going to get really tough during 2009. It's either that or all the prices are being bumped up so they can make it look like they're reducing them at some point in the future!! :mad: To make things worse, I'll still need to buy fresh produce when I need it, and I have an AF order submitted to stock up on sauces etc, so quite a bit more spending to do this month. The only really good bargain I've found so far was S0merfield selling off all their Christmas wrapping paper at 10p per 3M roll, so I bought 10 rolls and don't care what anybody thinks about it if they find out. :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

elizabunny wrote: »

I have a ham hock and some veggies in my slo-cooker today -hoping to stretch that so I can freeze some if possible. The Pea and Ham soup I made yesterday will stretch for 3 days and I made some Lamb and Lentil Soup today from yesterday's leftovers, I will freeze this and hopefully it will do for 2 days. The breadmaker is on, so that will be a nice fesh loaf for DH sandwiches tomorrow.

So if I do shop today I will have to make a very pennypinching list and stick to it :rotfl: :rotfl:

Ive got hock in my freezer I believe-what did you do with it/how did you do it in the slowcooker? Could you tell me please?


Just made parsnip and apple soup with a bag of the parsnips I bbought today and 2 marked apples from the fruitbowl. Just had some with some of Mr Ms garlic bread(on offer)it was delicious.
Now cooking 2 nut roasts-that iwill be for tea for those who want it and they were from my approved foods order today at 50p each. Also bought lots of smash so I can be lazy when I want now! Just need to boil some veg to go with it. The out of date stock cubes tasted fine(for anyone who ordered any)and these were used too. Also tried the Bakin Boys choc cakes-lovely and moist-nowt wrong with those! Very pleased I ordered now.

nimbo

oh wow it looks like i will actually do this this month....

i'm doing the challenge from pay day to pay day, and i have just over a week to go, a full freezer, and £35 left to spend....

i'll blow it all next weekend as i'm going t a local shop called marrens, that sells fantastic food at super prices, (yoghurst that are 20p, the muller corners....) fantastic meat half price.... all sorts of odds and bobs from different supermarkets that is a fraction of the prce.... but i consider it an investment as i'll stock my freezer and cupboards for ages!!!!