August 2009 Grocery Challenge

Puddleglum

Hi All,
I am back from my week in Scotland and it has been tricky to work out how the family survived with the July grocery challenge given my sudden departure leaving them holding the envelope marked "food money".

MIL wasn't too keen on some of the meals in the freezer and got DH to buy in some things but I think she paid for those so will largely ignore that. So - drum roll......... I will declare for July at £249.11. Just in!:D

August will be a 4week month for us and I still have lots of stuff in the cupboards so will take the opportunity to but the ingredients for the Christmas cake etc.

So please could I set a target of £200 for August please Mrs M.

Many thanks - good luck everyone!

Puddleglum

rosieben

Welcome all the newbies :j MrsMCawber will add you to the list on the front page - it helps if you can post your budgetin big red writing so she doesn't miss you; don't forget to check out the recipe lists on the front page;)

Puddleglum wrote: »

... August will be a 4week month for us and I still have lots of stuff in the cupboards so will take the opportunity to but the ingredients for the Christmas cake etc. ...

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking of christmas - I started on my shopping and meal lists last week, and been working on hm pressies and cards for ages, we are soooo organised

alipops1986

Hey Folks!

I'd like to join the Grocery Challenge for the first time, i'm going to have a budget of £80 for August please.

First shop will be this week, possibly Thursday! X

mooomin

Hi again!

I've now been to Aldi - still have to pop to Morrisons - and here's my haul!

New potatoes 49p
Benefit cereal £1.39
Salad bag 69p
Tortilla wraps for lunches 89p
Fresh coriander 65p
Tomatoes 79p
Mushrooms 99p
Grapes 49p
Brown sugar 69p
Paprika 55p
Mixed spice 55p
Oregano 45p
Noodles 59p
Lemon & Lime pack (4 lemons, 2 limes) £1.29
Chilli 59p (For 3)
Apple juice (6 small cartons) 99p
Spring onions 59p
Bananas 41p (For 5)

Total spend £13.08

mooomin

Been to Morrisons and M&S now, so here is the final list of what I bought there:

M&S

Tortilla wraps reduced 50p
Wholemeal rolls x 4 reduced 50p
Strawberries £1.99
Chocolate eclairs x 4 reduced £1
Ready to eat sliced chicken Reduced £2

Total bill = £5.99 but paid for with gift voucher so total spend = Zero

Morrisons

Butter beans x 3 small cans 29p each
Cannellini beans x 2 cans 46p each
Milk 86p
Breaded cod reduced £1.89
Sausages x 2 reduced £1 each
Cream 54p
Red onion 12p
Garlic 69p
Apples 63p
Eggs reduced £1.25
Hedgehog bread reduced 85p

Total spend = £10.62

I'm off to update my signature now, but before I do, what is the best way to freeze mushrooms and can I then cook them straight from frozen?

Thanks!

Flat_Eric

Afternoon all :wave:

Had a NSD on Friday :j was hoping to have another NSD yesterday but a trip to Sainsburys ruined that !

My shop yesterday cost £32.58 but did get some offers including apples 2 for £2.00 (saving £1.70!) and some spices (3 for 2) that will last ages.

I do sometimes wish however that rather than stuff be buy one, get one free or buy 2 for x amount that it was chepear to begin with i.e half price because when something is £1.80 or 2 for £2.00, what do you do if you dont really need two packs??!!

I took time out and itemised my freezers today and all I can say is OH MY!!:eek::eek:

I knew I had a lot but I had not appreciated just how much! and quite honestly I think I could go the whole month just buying milk and potatoes and not much else so I should have no excuse not coming in under budget this month. I had several UFO items! including a pot of ice cream which I got excited about only to open and find chopped leeks!!!

I plan to type up my freezer list and also tally whats in my cupboards as well and then hope to be able to do a plan for the month!!

mrssnowy_2

kirstenc wrote: »

Shouldn't have to do any shopping til monday, so im quite pleased! I have some veg in the fridge that desperately needs used, so Im thinking PIZZA!

I dont have any passata though so Im going to experiment with some BBq sauce on the base instead!

Try using a smidgen of tom puree-nice

mrss

cw18

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I do sometimes wish however that rather than stuff be buy one, get one free or buy 2 for x amount that it was chepear to begin with i.e half price because when something is £1.80 or 2 for £2.00, what do you do if you dont really need two packs??!!

I normally try and split such offers with DD, but I have to agree it would be nice to just see lower prices in the first place - especially on items that regularly appear on multi-save offers

I took time out and itemised my freezers today and all I can say is OH MY!!:eek::eek:

I plan to type up my freezer list and also tally whats in my cupboards as well and then hope to be able to do a plan for the month!!

I did this at the end of June, and bought very little non-fresh food throughout the whole of July. Only had to buy one drawer worth of frozen stuff for August too, so hope to come in well under budget for the second month in a row.

However, I've now rediscovered why I stopped using my bread machine and started buying bread again...... made a loaf today, which came out of the machine in the last half hour and is already a third gone :eek: A cheap shop bought sliced loaf lasts us a whole week So, as I've already promised DS that I'd use the machine over the summer holidays (while I don't have GDs here wanting 'normal' toast after school) I can see me spending quite a bit on bread flour and dried yeast :rolleyes2

Coxy11

Hello everyone,

Well it's just me, DD(7) and DS2(5) here until Saturday as DH and DS1(10) are off at scout camp for the week.

My total looks horrendous already - have to go until 21st August :eek:. I've bought in several quick and easy bits for this week. Need to plan what I'm taking away with us next week to Norfolk. We are going self-catering so I plan to take cereals and bread for breakfast and a couple of main meals - might make up delia's canneloni plus some meatballs to have with spaghetti. Just don't want to end up doing what I do here all week, only in someone elses' kitchen iykwim?

Anyone tried MrT's family meal deal for £5? Thought I could get a pasta dish/salad/profiteroles for one of our holiday home meals. Don't know whether they are any good (portion/taste wise)?

Have spag bol on the go at the moment. Used a can of value chopped toms from MrT only bought last week - bbe date of 5.9.09!! Will be checking the rest of my tins to make sure I use them all up. My MrT only opened on 19th May as well!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Coxy
xx

poohbear59

I am trying to feed the family on my very strict plan including as much as I can from the garden. We still have no courgettes so I will have to ammend my plan a bit. Today we have blackcurrant pie for pud and blackcurrant jam tarts as an extra. I have about 7lbs of blackcurrants left so will have to make some cordial tomorrow.

I have just found out that ASDA will deliver to me!! We have never had any store deliver here so I have put in an order of ASDA basics.