May 2009 Grocery Challenge

cw18

Natty68 wrote: »

Re the mushrooms and freezing them, I sometimes get an abundance of these in the veg box that I use them up so they don't get wrinkly, but then when the other box is ordered sometimes they don't have mushrooms in the size box I wanted. So I was wondering how do you actually freeze them - do you chop them up small, slice them thickly or just bung them in whole? Help!!

Yes, yes and yes

Depends on the size and quality of the mushrooms. The really good quality ones I freeze whole if small, or sliced if larger than I'd cook whole in a sauce.

The lesser quality ones (normally the large value boxes on Whoopsie, or ones I bought and forgot about for a couple of days) I chop up roughly - perfect for bolognese sauce and such

cw18

Have updated my spreadsheet with my spends from Saturday and today....

Elder DS has arrived home from the army for a week again !!! (This time it's re-cuperation leave as he's just had his tonsils taken out!) In theory this means my budget for the month goes up by £14.40, but I'm not going to bother getting it changed on the front page as I reckon I'm on target for coming in well under budget anyway.


Really pleased with myself ATM, as I did something [strike]today[/strike] yesterday I'd never have previously even considered, which has saved me a few pennies too :T

When I was in Mr T last Wednesday, one of the items I picked up was a pack of 12 value white bread rolls. I was surprised they had a date of 11th (was buying them on 6th) as I was sure they normally only had 3 days at best (meaning I used to freeze half the pack) - but it's a long time since I bought them as (until our S'flds closed) our local C00p used to have the Warburtons rolls in clearance often enough to keep us well supplied so couldn't be 100% sure.

Anyway, I used 2 a day Wed, Thur, Fri and Sat - but had forgotten I was out all day Sunday with a sandwich lunch provided. On Monday (11th) I cooked at lunch as my younger GD was here, and then went to make a snack tea using two more rolls after she left -- only to find the 4 remaining ones had gone mouldy!! I was miffed as I had no other rolls (even in the freezer), and I'd been really careful how I'd stored them.

My immediate reaction was to bin them, but then it dawned on me I needed to visit Mr T again within 48 hours to restock on the Muller Corners now elder DS is home - so I put them to one side. So [strike]this[/strike] yesterday afternoon I toddled off to Mr T and presented them to Customer Services - and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily they replaced them for me So I returned 10p worth of rolls (4) and came home with 29p worth (12) :T But these did only have 3 days on them (and that was the longest on the shelf - they also had some with 1 day and some with 2) so I had to put half the pack in the freezer to be sure of not having a repeat performance

So not a huge amount of money involved, but as folks say 'every penny counts'

NualaBuala

Hi folks,

This looks like a great thread. I know it's a bit late but I wonder if I could join in? I've been tracking my spending for the past few months and I think I'm getting better.

Mrsmcawber, please could you put me down for €90 for May? This has to cover groceries (just for me) and toilet rolls, cleaning stuff etc. Toiletries, vitamins and bigger stuff for the house and garden are budgeted for separately. I'm trying to buy healthy food as I need to lose weight but I hate the idea of diets and I'm hoping that just planning proper meals will help move me in the right direction. Unfortunately I find buying healthy food is dearer than living on junk so I'll be glad of all your advice.

So far this month I've spent €20.65 and I'm well stocked up on cleaning stuff, loo roll and the store cupboards are full.

Edit: after all I said about the healthy stuff I realised I'm a hypocrite! I AIM to buy healthy stuff and while I did come home from Tesco with fruit and veg today, I also got yummy Value Midget Gems and Value Choc Sandwich bars. What can I say? I'm a work in progress!

Janae

Hi

Haven't posted for a while but wish I had. I've just updated my spending on spreadsheet and am beginning to feel a bit worried - have got through 2/3 of my budget with 2 weeks still to go. I have done some stockpiling though but don't really want to live on curry sauce, pepper sauce and cheese for 2 weeks:rotfl:
I also had to buy our usual coffee as OH wouldn't drink the one my mum gave us:mad:

So, off to update siggy and I will make sure I catch up with you all daily in an effort to stay motivated and on track:D

Have a good day!

fletch3163

Hi all, not posting much but reading avidly:D

DH went to M&S the other day and spent £6 on bread, sausages and a wrap for his lunch (ach, he's kind to himself). Then yesterday he bought another loaf so all in all that's another tenner spent.

I'm stupidly optimistic this month, as I've usually spent a bomb by now. But, my bank balance is behaving badly at the moment and I can't figure it out. It looks like it's sprung a leak. What I normally do is compare back the same time in other months because I'm quite a creature of habit give or take a day or two.

lightisfading

01001011 wrote: »

I would boil the egg the night before, while cooking rice. Then I have to take it to the office. No fridge on the bus. Then eat in the afternoon. That is some 18 hours. Doesn't seem to be very safe.

If there is no good solution I can find other ways to eat them. Don't worry.

Hard boiled eggs keep quite well in the fridge for a few days - I've never noticed any funny smells and never got food poisoning (I keep them in their shells til I eat them). I also have a couple of small reusable icepacks which I keep in my lunchbox during summer (Wilkos do perfect small ones, the size of the palm of your hand).

scotsaver

scotsaver wrote: »

Hi everyone, having this for Dinner tonight:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=4037268&postcount=448 I've put it in the Slow Cooker and it smells lovely, going to serve it with Steamed potatoes and carrots, shall let you all know tomorrow what the Family verdict was.;)

Just thought I'd let you all know that the above Cassoulet was a real hit with us all, it was delicious. I jointed a whole Free Range Chicken, half went in the Cassoulet and the remainder is being used for Chicken Korma & Rice tonight. The remainder of the Cassoulet has gone into the Freezer and will be turned into Chilli at a later date so all in all I'm pleased.;)

Thanks to tessie bear for mentioning Penne Pasta on special in Asda, I don't normally buy those big bags but at that price I thought is was too good an offer to miss so I hot footed it up there today. Was worth the trip as I managed to get some Whoopsies, packs of mixed Peppers reduced from £1.48 to 50p so I grabbed 4 packs and have sliced them all and bunged them in the Freezer and also got a large Cauli reduced to 20p.:D

Have updated my total as I also bought some other things including Wine etc for visiting friends at the weekend. Have a good day everyone.:D

SunnyGirl

Hi everyone,

Just updating my signature with today's shopping £107.20 which seems a lot but I've bought a bix 80 wash box of Ariel washing powder for £11.99 and a 15kg sack of Pal working dog food for £11.99 as well so I'm well stocked for those 2 things for the rest of the month :rotfl:

It was my DD's 17th birthday yesterday and DS1's on Friday so I was glad that I had a bit left over from last months budget.

MadamMim2013

Only bread & Milk for me today, seriously would consider buying a cow if I had the room!

orchid-96

I had to go to MrTs today to get a couple of bits for someone else (the salmon mainly) and saw my fave cheese (cathedral city) was on offer at the 400g size £3.85 bogof so as I did have cheese on my next shop I picked 2 up and I also got kitchen roll as I have had a big sort of my conservatory today and I need to do the windows..so have added those bits to my sig.....

hope you are all doing well...