February 2009 Grocery Challenge

cw18

:mad: seriously unimpressed with my elder son !!

He was home from the Army (stationed in Germany) for 7.5 weeks from mid-November (mixture of compassionate and Christmas leave), and informed me as he went back that we shouldn't expect him home again until Easter(ish). But DD got a message from him this morning (MSN or Facebook - not sure which), saying he's coming home for a week on the 12th of THIS month !!!!

He has my email address, as well as my home (with answer machine) and mobile numbers -- but doesn't think to let me know directly. The house is a total mess (worse than normal) due to me being part way through a major blitz of it (why does a clear out make things look worse ), and I'm fully booked for other things all this weekend (and then have my GDs round school during the week) so can't do much about it between now and his return -- but I'm sure he'll be expecting both somewhere to sleep and food to eat while he's home!!! And I know from his last visit the consumption of milk will more than double, despite his being home only meaning a 50% increase in headcount :eek:

So now I'm in the position of having set my budget for just 2 of us for this month (a week with him home would mean I'd have set it about £13 higher - but I'm not going to adjust it, I'll just discount an overspend of up to that much if needed), and also having my meal plan totally knocked out as I was intending doing as many meals from freezers/store cupboards as possible -- but a lot of the options I only have enough in for 2 people, so I'm probably going to have to do unplanned shopping for the three of us

trigger2

Have just posted this on the Shop Dont Drop board, at tesco I picked up a box of 48 summer fresh 2 in 1 washing tablets reduced to £1.80 from £2.99, they are on the website at this price too. Thought this maybe of interest to someone

regards

trigger:j

dizzycow

Having complete nightmare today. having spent ages getting my online shop with MrT just right and choosing all deals etc, etc, have had phone call to say mrT won't be delivering today!! I had it all planned was going to do loads of batch cooking this afternoon. Also DS Birthday tomorrow and had ordered extra bits to bake special birthday cake. Arghhh! Would'nt mind but there isn't even any snow left here:eek: .
Will now have to go to Mr T tonight which I didn't want to do as I always get tempted & go over budget.

Ok rant over, better go and see what I can scrape together for tonights dinner, not joking we have run out of just about everything - including loo roll (almost) sorry tmi.

TrixieB

dizzycow wrote: »

Having complete nightmare today. having spent ages getting my online shop with MrT just right and choosing all deals etc, etc, have had phone call to say mrT won't be delivering today!! I had it all planned was going to do loads of batch cooking this afternoon. Also DS Birthday tomorrow and had ordered extra bits to bake special birthday cake. Arghhh! Would'nt mind but there isn't even any snow left here:eek: .
Will now have to go to Mr T tonight which I didn't want to do as I always get tempted & go over budget.

Ok rant over, better go and see what I can scrape together for tonights dinner, not joking we have run out of just about everything - including loo roll (almost) sorry tmi.

Probably not had their deliveries and can't fulfill many orders. Is it an option to print off your online shop list somehow and then be really really really strict and stick to it in store? Or give your list to someone else to do for you

trigger2

dizzycow - when I have to, i take the amount of cash the order comes to (more or less) so that I cant overspend too much, it works for me !

regards

trigger

laurasbump

Bought baby milk for £7.91.

Also bought milk, bread and veg from M&S but used my OH's M&S card vouchers (£8 collected from xmas pressie buying) so I'm not counting it.

Have ordered a shop from MrA for Saturday evening and substituted many of my usual brands for own-brand. I was tempted to change the baby's formula to a cheaper brand but he seems to be doing well on the one he's on. Wish I was still breastfeeding, then I wouldn't have to spend £30-40 per month on milk.

tessie_bear

hi...just a quick update on my snowy day baking...made a whole army of gingerbread folk from the recipe on the first page of the challenge......really good recipe and the house smelt fab....baking gingerbread wafting through my house....im a domestic goddess :cool: the gingers would be very nice for kids packed lunches u could stick on smarties and sweets if u wanted to....the recipe made loads they must be so much cheaper than shop bought ones....iv just read home bargains have reece peanut butter cups for 15p so i might run the gauntlet of the snow to get a few of those...yum yum tata tess

dizzycow

Thanks Trigger2 & trixieB for advice am currently trying to pull off copy of original order, well definitely pay by cash as well, that way I will not overspend as I couldn't face the embarrasment at the checkout:rotfl:

mummyyof5

Another NSD today in my house,all children at home,middlies school closed and DD1s salon closed.
OH still had to go to work as he is on tour now till Monday
Must find something for tea now "wanders off in general direction of freezer"

MoneyMission

I had MrS due to deliver here on Tuesday but they couldn't come because of snow (we did have a good foot of the stuff). So, I went myself yesterday (I can get through the snow but apparantly they can't!) and really did well. I don't think anyone had managed to get to the shop for two days (there really was a lot of snow our way and we're all a bit southern and soft about the cold here) because loads of bakery and meat was massively reduced. I went well over my £70.00 a week budget (spent £114.00) but got heaps and heaps for the freezer. Expect my next few weeks budget to be in around £50.00. Yey.