January 2009 Grocery Challenge

scotsaver

jtb2412 wrote: »

Have just had some good news ! :j The lady who we share an allotment with has said we could have another 2 beds (which now in effect makes a whole 1/2 plot !) ........ so, even more growing space which should cut our food bill down tenfold in the summer months ........ hmmmmmm, now what extra to grow ??? :think:

That is good news, lucky you, I'm not brave enough to undertake an Allotment but have grown a few things in the last couple of years and then this year grew potatoes for the first time and I'm hooked. Couple of months ago I dug up a large Flower bed at the bottom of the Garden and I've drawn a plan of what I'm going to grow this year, also planning to utilise more of the Pots like MRSMC does as she had a lot of success that way. I managed to pick up loads of seed packets in September when Wilkinsons & Woolworths were selling them off at 10p a packet. I've also got an established Apple tree, blackberry bushes, raspberries, blackcurrants and Rhubarb that we've had for a few years so always had plenty of fruit, just need to get into growing the Veg/Salad a bit more. I'm sure there are others on here that grow their own so maybe this year we can all support one another and shouldn't be considered off Topic as it's part of Grocery Challenge, will also be nice coming up with some different recipes.:D

Off now to sort Dinner, having a Happy Chicken which I'm going to stretch, always buy a large one so having Roast today, Chicken & Ham Pie tomorrow and then if there is any left, Curry on Tuesday night - will then use the Carcass to make some Stock for soup.;)

Have a good day everyone.:D

mardatha

I spend about 30-35 in Asda online every wed. Biggest things there are 3 x 6pt cartons of milk....use a lot of tea bags.... lot of yoghurts for OH... 3 Warburtons loaves, cream, porridge, cheese, cold meats for sandwiches, eggs, bacon, veg, cat food. Any good offers I just grab it.
Then I always seem to pop into Iceland for bacon, into Lidls for fruit, biscuits, etcetc. And see odds & ends .. fatal !!
AND THENN, I get all my meat & soap pdr from Costco...:eek: once every month or so...

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

could you cut down on meat a bit and sub with a veggie meal once or twice a week instead?

Diute milk or make up some milk powder to 1 pint and add that to the milk...spins it out a bit.

1 tea bag for 2 cups of tea? Double the amount/twice as long then.

Don't buy biscuits, you could do some twinks hob nobs (in remoska!)

Could you make your own yoghurt? long life milk and a starter, you could make loads for a fraction of the price of the little pots.

Would you consider making bread in your remoska?

You could get sa little bacon joint and cook in remoska then use for sarnies in place of cooked sliced meat.

Aldi is good for veg as is lidl,they have items for 39p a bag every week, last week it was spuds, sprouts, 5 lemons, parsnips etc...

have you got any dried pulses? a soup would be nice especially at this time of year. Good luck!

Captain_Bluebear

hello all!

i've been reading these threads with interest for several months but not taken the plunge yet. any chance i can join in this month please? a few days late but not spent anything this month yet. just me and 14 yr old twin sons here so i think i could manage £100 for january (cupboards groaning with baking stuff and loads of other foods!)

really looking forward to this! thanks for the challenge:D

D&DD

Hi Mardatha I'd suggest if you have space for it in the freezer getting your Iceland shop once every 4 weeks instead of weekly
I use farm foods and would spend a fortune in there each week if I went so limit myself to once a month instead *with vouchers of course*
Try doing the Asda one fortnightly and top up then on fruit and veg in Lidl's
I fell into the habit of once a week from Tesco's but with good planning now I can stretch to almost 2 weeks (usually about 10 days)

sandiep

Double up when cooking. I do this a lot. So make up spag bol with 1kg of mince, you've got one meal for the night, and two really really easy meals all ready in the freezer for those knackered nights, and evenings you know you're likely to end up with takeaway or something because you're time pressured. You take a tub out of the freezer before leaving for the day, then 10mins to boil some pasta and reheat the mince. Sorted & Healthy!!

There are loads of meals that you can do this with, and it takes no longer to cook 6 portions than it does 2.

Don't buy biscuits, crisps, fizzy drinks, etc. If you're anything like me you nag yourself silly for eating them, so don't buy them in the first place

sandiep

My Best New Years Buy -
4 Bags of watercress at 1p each. 4 big bowls of soup!!

mardatha

ta DH, yes I got lentils & barley and broth mix and I make nice soup. Never ever tried big joints then slicing, might do that... and the making yoghurt idea is fantastic, IF I can make it taste nice. OH is fussy...Re HM bread, this will sound mad but...I have loads of pkts of breadmix, told OH we can make own bread now, save £££s, he said "Oh no, it wont fit in the toaster and I hate funny shaped bread" !!! so I just let it be. But there are times when a womans gotta do wotta womans gotta do and he might need to lump it...:)

fatcattaff

Aldi shop: £8.04 included the following bargains -

Clementines 0.39
Lemons 0.39
Freezer bags x 2 (1 med, 1 small) 0.95 per box
Tom Puree 0.29

Farm Foods came to £7.04 including:-

Milk £1 for 2 litres (the bottles in most supermarkets are 2.27 litres, but this is still a pretty good saving and you can easily fit 3 bottles in the side of a standard fridge).
4 pack of tuna chunks in brine for £2.75 (Tesco's own were around a pound dearer).
Robinsons Apple & Blackcurrant Squash, big bottle £1
2 unbaked baguettes 39p.
They also had 2 Kingsmill 50/50 loaves for £1.79 or something like that...but we have bread in the freezer, so it stayed on the shelf, tempting though it was!

I then spent £28.03 in Tesco for general shopping but that included soap powder, slipper socks and some Wall.e pjs for my cousin in Aus, so wasn't too bad. I managed to get value potatoes and value cheese, but Bargain Trolley said they had Just Right cereal reduced, but it wasn't. That'll teach me to cross reference with the store site before I trek out there.

That should be half a weeks shopping (perhaps a little more) putting me on goal for my £80 a week shopping bill. Hurrah!!!

mardatha

also like what DD&D is saying re reducing shops - why didnt I think of that ? Because I'm an eejit ? (dont answer that one ) TYooo !