July 2009 Grocery Challenge

poohbear59

We have only 3 days to go until payday but last night I overspent on my budget. I bought a 20kg bag of basmati rice from the Indian supermarket for £19.99. I have checked prices and it is much cheaper than Tesco. I have also had 6 adults and sometimes seven here this month so I think I have done very well on my very frugal budget.

annelouise_2

G'day all,

Just wanted to dip my toe in the MSE waters again now I have settled into my new life down under.

Have been here in Darwin,Northern Territory,Australia for 5 month's now and am sad to say they do not know what a bargain is.

At Woolies and Coles (Tesco,Sainsbury's lookalikee) you get a bargain with 20 cents off meat that need's to be used that day...No stripy/basics bread under a pound either..darn it.

So as everything has to travel days and days to get here our prices and selection are somewhat high and limited but the sun shines for 9 months of the year so there's an up side.

I have had an expensive 5 month's with 2 new cars,new 5 bed house,pool,quad bike and computer - the heat addled OH's brain that's all I can say and as a dream house we had to have some dream furniture to go in it!

So this month with OH away for 4 weeks the kid's and I are doing a 4 week budget of $120 equal to 60 GBP.That includes 1 adult,3 children for all food inc packed lunches and snacks - no toilietries.

I have a 3 week menu plan and loads of bread and a fair bit of meat in the freezer and loads of leftovers that get left when OH is here.So the plan is eat from the store cupboard and freezer and collect extra's in my ziploc bags for treat's with lot's of Twink's and fairy buns to pad it out.So I won't post my budget formally ,I'll just keep checking in.

I have 6 tomato plants with scores of tom's on, the first went red last night....and a pepper plant with 4 orange peppers on and a load more flowers.This is with grateful thanks to MrsM for getting me the gardening bug whilst in Spain.

Twinks are a massive hit here at Morning Tea which infact is a coffee morning! - upside down I know.

Now back to read the last 20 pages.

annelouise

boredofbeingathome

Get out of those Pj's and get down to the library.Lol

elantan

i know i really should bob i just so cant be bothered ...i get like this when i have done too much work ...am doing 74.5 hours overtime this month ...far far too much to do but with there being a change in management and the previous manager leaving the new one in the !!!!!! the team have all pulled together and cancelled un needed annual leave and doing overtime to help out ...i tell you i wont be doing it again it's too much for me


have a friend coming over to give me a mssage later on ...cant wait i think it will put me back to sleep lol


how are you bob ? hubby was chatting about you all the other night ...i think he misses you all lol

nickynoo08

Total disaster for me this month. I was doing really well till end of last week but then realised (a bit to late i know:rolleyes:) that i had not included any extra spends for OH birthday or the fact that i've got 2 very hungry 12yr olds and an 8yr old plus my ds2 to feed for the rest of the month and next. Thankfully they'll eat practally anything but i was just wondering what delights - cheaply and healthily of course;) - you were making for your lovely offspring while they're off school for the summer. I've got plenty of sweet ideas - cakes, marshmallow squares, flapjacks, ice cream with fruit etc but i'm stuck for quick savoury ideas - mainly lunches. Sarnies are fine but they'll easily get bored of them and pitta pittas are also good but what else? All ideas welcome. Thanks

annelouise_2

We like -

Toasted sandwiches
Wraps
Jacket potatoes with fillings
Pasta salad
Crumpets
HM soups
Bacon and egg rolls
HM pinwheels or sausage rolls
Beans on toast
Cheese and crackers with pate/dips
Omelette
Quiche
Pasta with pesto and cheese

Hope this helps

annelouise

Coxy11

Hi All,

Declaring July at £408.72 which is a little over budget, but I did decrease to £400 from £420 this month so a victory of sorts.

I did the first shop of August yesterday. Had a chronic headache and took myself off to bed after lunch only to wake with a start at 3.30pm which is hometime. Awful feeling knowing that the three children were waiting in the playground for me. Anyway, couldn't face cooking so we had McD's then I popped to MrT for a small shop of cereal bread etc., and again this morning for a more purposeful large shop. Total spends for August currently £79.67.

MrsM - please put me down for £400 again in August. Thank you.

MrT have 1kg utterly butterly for £1.12 (half price) against the 500g tub for £1.10, so might be worth buying if you're like me and planning lots of sandwiches over the holidays. Also had Pizza Expre$$ pizzas for half price.

nickynoo08 - I just bought a savoury pastry case in MrT for 65p and am planning to do a quiche with cheese, ham etc. I'm rubbish at making pastry so will see how this turns out. Also planning on cooking Spanish omlette (eggs, peppers, potatoes) for lunch - can also be eaten cold.

HTH. Off to update sig.
Coxy
xx

Shortie

Hi all, I've been a bit lax about updating this thread, sorry - it's been fairly busy recently. xx

So before the end of the May / June month, we spent just over £16, I can't remember the exact figure so I'll call it £17.

Please may I declare June/July as £229.44

I'd also like to announce £240 again for July/August. Thank you

That said, I've already been shopping.. a bit tooooo much... whoops

So a Sainsbury's shop for £15.14, and two Asdas shops for £59.80 and £25.31. I'm not sure what I really have for the money though....? A month's worth of nappies and wipes, a month's worth of dog food, lots and lots of squash, I've stocked up on pain killers of Mr Shortie & myself, and the boys... lots of eggs, bread & milk for the freezer, plenty of cheese, the month's washing powder, a other little bits

Anyway... off to update sig now

nickynoo08

Thanks for your ideas annelouise and coxy, i've just done a quick list of meals based on some of your ideas and should now have enough for a few weeks. Best thing is i've already got most stuff in so i wont need to do any extra shopping.

taka

Ohhh its getting close now - Another £1.96 spent yesterday so only £10.21 left for the month :eek: It should be ok (we need a crossed fingers smilie on MSE :rotfl:) as its only really fruit and veg left to buy and even I can't get through that much F&V in the next 10 days with the 10 tonnes that I have in already.

PS Thanks to the person who mentioned the cheap Lidl cheese! :T I now have enough for the next couple of months! :j