May 2009 Grocery Challenge

cw18

tessie_bear wrote: »

i was in tesco this morning and saw a board saying that u could use the morrisons daily paper (mirror ??) offer ( i think its £5 off £30 shop) in tesco....this was in coventry might need to check its national...

Thanks for that Tess :T

It's in the Sun, and I'm picking them up as we have a temporary courtesy bus to Mr M until our local one opens (want to use it to check out their prices before they open so I know what to expect), but it's a lot easier for me to use them in Mr T on a regular basis as I can warrant taking the car there (3 mile round trip instead of 16!)

Shortie

Cornishpixie wrote: »

Hi, Would it help if you did 2 shops per month rather than 1 big one? I started off with 1 big one, but I found I was ordering stuff that I didn't really need like yet more pasta, tins when I had enough in the cupboard.

I'd agree with this, for the last few months I've been doing a whopper shop at the beginning, getting a month's worht of things like pasta, mayo, rice.... and would then get bored of the thing I'd bought half way through the month and had no budget left to buy alternative bits, and would end up totally out of budget....

Yesterday (first day for me of my 'month') I bought a month's worthof 'known certains' like nappies, cat food etc and will each week buy what I need so that we have a good variety and don't get bored and fall off the wagon so easily

Shortie

poohbear59 wrote: »

My menu planning is going to change as I had planned on sausage casserole for tonight and now need to use lots of peppers quickly.

Or you could prep them and freeze them . That's what we do - buy a huge bowl at our local market cheaply and I deseed and chop them up, and pop them in the freezer in a bag ready to use when needed. It's no good for saled once it's frozen but it's fine for cooking into bolognaises, tortillas.....

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all


Hubby has left with a mini list of the 3 bits we will need some more of this week(he will pick them up on his way home) -I know a list for 3 items seems a bit mad -but hubby has the memory of a gnat :pIn fact he nearly left the list -even though I put it on top of his wallet :rotfl:anyway all I wanted was ;-

• 4 litres fresh milk
• 1kg carrots
• 2kg onions..

and that's it :jI have given him €5 so any change will go into the change tin which was atarted in January....which is one of those big sealed tins and it's nearly full -we are just wedging the last few coins in and then we get to start on the sealed up whiskey tube -neither can be opened until the 1st December -hope we get a nice suprise

Only 6 days left of this month so I will add the €5 hubby has taken today and declare this month at €56.60 :jand a lot of the stuff I got is still in the cupboards/freezer :Tand that brings this years spends to €381.28 which is only just over 3 month money in 5 month .
I get €450 housekeeping a month but have set myself a budget of €140 and have stashed the rest ...so I have now saved not quite €3400 :dance:.... hope to spend even less once the veggies go into full throttle... right enough waffle (again) off to update my signature ......have a great day everyone

brownsauce

god Mrsmcawber you are amazing!
just read your signature and i dont know how you do it. Well done. :T
I cant even be bothered to set up a budget and you have managed to save so much money and lose eight stone.
You. Are. Wonder. Woman.:beer:

scotsaver

poohbear59 - well done you on your gifts, I'm in London and my family are over 400 miles away so not much chance of that ever happening to me. I too just deseed and slice peppers, freeze and then bung them into whatever I'm cooking when I need them, had some in last nights curry and still tasty.;)

Dinner tonight is a HM Minced pie, Steamed Potatoes, Carrots & Broccoli. Pudding is a HM trifle, find that I'm having to make a pudding most nights as my 2 DD's are eating me out of house and home.:o

So excited as I've been out in the Greenhouse and my Peppers have finally germinated, was beginning to worry as everything else has been a success, didn't do anything different from last year so must be cooler this year. Anyway, I've got there in the end so all is well, had a good old tidy up in there as I'm running out of room - great fun having visions of all the veg/salad we'll be eating later in the year and thinking of the money we'll be saving on the GC.:cool:

MRSMC - I'm planning to make your Stifado tomorrow - do you think it will work well in the Slow Cooker, want to be able to leave it to it's own devices while I get on with some other jobs.:rolleyes:

Have a good day everyone.:D

EverTheOptimist

Afternoon all

Have just spent another £23.09. still under budget so really pleased and it was all needed, fruit, veg, snacks, yogs, squash etc etc.

And it's the first time ever that i have stuck completely to my list, i always sneak another [STRIKE]couple [/STRIKE] several +++ bits into the trolley. i had so little in the trolley in comparison to usual.

i am picking up lots of tips on here too, so thank you everyone, :A i have no idea what i can or not freeze, peppers are a new one on me, so will be trying that. or how to make meals (that are still edible) by using up items. (i do waste food and it bugs me)

Thanks everyone

ETO

OrkneyStar

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Morning all.
Decided I am not going to buy any more food until Friday, even though I have money. I might get some diesel though, and spend approx £10 on DS (toddlers, bits n bobs).
I have my meal plan, it is not that exciting but will feed us fine .
Was wondering, does anyone have any exciting recipes to use up Mattesons smoked sausage ?
OK, hope all are well and thanks for any suggestions.
x

Well, I know its a bit :rolleyes::rolleyes: to quote oneself, but all I can say is I have bought more food, and washing powder and other stuff!
Its all needed though, mainly FV, yogs, milk etc, and tbh I would have been a bit harsh on DH/DS had I not!
A lot of it is long term stuff to keep in stock so not to upset that I spent lol!
Had a nice day out with DS too and he got lots of cars from the charity shop (and a new talking Thomas one for his b'day...shhhhhh).
x

poohbear59

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

I get €450 housekeeping a month but have set myself a budget of €140 and have stashed the rest ...so I have now saved not quite €3400 :dance:.... hope to spend even less once the veggies go into full throttle... right enough waffle (again) off to update my signature ......have a great day everyone

WOW!! MrsM I am impressed! I wish I could manage to do as well as you. I am feeding 5 adults on £200 per month so I feel I am pretty frugal but have never managed to save so much as you. You should have very special MSE badge!!

Peppers are now chopped and ready for freezing as are the mushrooms. The sausage casserole is now a pork casserole with lots of peppers and mushrooms.

mrspoor

Hi all, haven't managed to keep track with you all for the last week or so, but the good news is that I haven't spent any more grocery money since the food delivery last Wednesday!!:D I've been revising for the last few days (exams tomorrow and Thursday - fingers crossed!!) so haven't really ventured out much, and have been eating whatever needs using up. Made a nice pasta bake for dinner last night to use up a tub of ricotta, and was tempted to nip to the shop for parmesan, but remembering my MSE ways I just grated some mild cheddar on top and it was fine.

Using up some salad stuff for dinner tonight, with whatever comes to hand that seems edible, frozen pizza tomorrow night (after an exam, I am NOT cooking!), and hopefully we'll get to the weekend before we need anything else.

Hope everyone is doing ok! :j