August 2009 Grocery Challenge

fedupandskint

£10 spent today on dog supplies, a bit of whoopsied lettuce 75p, fish £2, leeks 40p and prawns 3x30p and potatoes massive bag.

Off to update total now and aim to not spend again until Sat

kirstenc

Hi guys, no spends today (yay!) but I thought I would pop in and say hi.

I made some of the spicy potato wedges from the recipe page tonight, and they were gorge! have plenty in the freezer for extras with other meals (making burgers tomorrow night so they will go quite well with a bit of salad!)

it was fajitas for tea tomight, one of those kits, that i got for about £1.29 as it was pretty much at its dates!

oceanspirit

After a lot of deliberating I had just decided to delay my usual Thursday shop until Mon/Tues next week, only to find that the salad leaves I have grown from seed and were looking to harvest the first few this evening have been replaced by stalks and a large green caterpillar! AAAAAH! He's eaten a lot in a day ...

So, I don't think I have enough greenery to see me over the weekend and will do a small shop probably tomorrow whilst I'm out to save fuel.

Last month whilst preparing for the Grocery Challenge, I worked out how much money I was wasting by throwing food away and was horrified by the amount. Thanks to the Leftovers thread I have changed the way I make decisions on what to eat each day ie instead of the avocado I was planning to have with salad for this evening, I had the leftovers from a tin of cannelini beans and the remaining half of a small tin of sweetcorn instead. The avocado still felt reasonably hard so it will survive a few days more whereas the beans really needed to be eaten or binned today.

I am still keeping tabs on what I bin and this was one of the reasons why I didn't want to shop on Thursday as I still have plenty of fruit and storecupboard, just no veg, but had I shopped I know I would have bought too much to make the fuel worthwhile (26mile round trip).

penguin83

Evening all, my first spend of the month today. Had an email from Mr S offering 10.00 off 50.00 so have a whole load of stuff coming tonight and total spend is £48.67.

No fresh stuff in the order so need to pop out tomorrow for a bit of meat/eggs etc to last the week.

So far so good! x x

elly2

Went to Mr T's today, mostly got cat food/litter, puppy food ,some fruit, pull ups for DS but as usual nothing which could make a full meal, well unless we all start eating pet food :rolleyes:. Total bill came to £43.91 but £5 of this was for my dad and another £3 for my sister in law. so will round it up to £37 (any change goes into my saving pot ), so with the £3 for bread that me neighbour picked up for me i have spent half of my budget I really need to do a meal plan and work on some form of shopping list I think my problem is i have quite a bit of food already in but lack motavation/insparation and just reach for the same things day after day, will pay a visit to the recipe board tomorrow .

Maitane

Today I realised why I joined the grocery challenge. I am now up to £94.83 from a monthly budget of £160. Gulp.

Although, I must say in my own defence, that includes all the toiletries you can imagine, new pillows, entertaining my visiting mother and stepdaddy, new kitchen stuff, loads of frozen meat, fish and vegetables, birthday cards, chocolates for birthday pressies (and as a thankyou to my tireless A&E nurses and consultants at work) and the inevitable wine.

Oh and because I'm rubbish and can't resist chips at the hospital canteen..:o

Anyway on to my point, I never realised quite how much having to admit what you've spent, as it's a challenge, makes you work harder at not spending stupidly. How pleased am I! :T

Plus thanks everyone for the great ideas for stuff the picky Mr Maitane will eat.

dizzycow

Just picked up a few bits after finishing my shift agt Mr T, mainly for tomorrows picnic - weather permitting. Unfortunately came to £13.86!! :mad: I don't know how I do it . Anyway at least we shouldn't have to spend anything else whilst out, just pray for sunshine. Off to update sig then off to bed!

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys,

Still awake :eek:as mr and mrs keep waking up and calling me :eek:so I thought I might as well post now:D

Went to lidl's yesterday and only spent £4.30, not much, but did buy more than I went for, but all needed;)

Bread .65p

Mozzarella x 4 = £1.08

Cornish pasty:o .79p but they are lovely and big enough for mrs and my lunch so only 40ishp each;)

Egg mayo filler .99p I know it's prob cheaper to do myself but love their's and get 4-5 sandwiches so not too much damage to the budget:D

Bananas .79p:j:jmy fav:D

Wow, alls gone quiet downstairs :Tso will try and get some sleep, I'm cream crackered:rotfl::rotfl:

elf06

Spent more than I wanted last night before work (will do proper update later) and at a guess I think I am about half way through my budget Anyway I should be able to keep it in check for the rest of the month (I hope).
Got a BBQ at the weekend which I still need to buy things for but thats a different budget so just need to show restraint and only buy what I need!!
Did manage to get some beer bargains for it at the weekend tho - 10 cans stella for £6, 15 btls carlsberg for £4.99 and approx 12-15 stubbies for £2!!!!!

Flat_Eric

Morning all :wave:

I have not spent any money in the supermarket since Saturday. :j Unfortunately I have had other spends so cant report any NSD but foodwise, Im using what I have i.e no New Covent Garden soup for me yesterday with lovely crusty bread plus naughty pudd, instead jacket spuds with cheese instead which I had plentiful of!

Im intending to make a chick pea curry tomorrow. The recipe calls for 2 tsp whole cumin? I have cumin seeds - is that the same thing???

I have all of the ingredients for my curry apart from some fresh chillies and fresh corriander so do I ?

(a) go to the local somerfield near where i work and pay over the odds for what I want but buy just what is needed

(b) pop into the tesco metro / sainsburys where the items I want will be cheaper BUT I will end up spending more as there are more offers etc.

I begrudge paying over the odds for something - for example pack of chillies in tesco, 59p, pack of chillies in somerfield 80 pence (if i recall correctly?) I never know what to do for the best? How many times have I gone in ??? shop for one thing and come out with £30 of shopping??

I have my menus planned until sunday. Apart from the bits needed for my chick pea curry, I have everything needed apart from some meat for my casserole which I will be making on Sunday. A small shop on saturday for spuds, milk, eggs and sarnie chicken for the OH will be all that is required (I think/hope!)

Doing well so far this month!

Also decided no naughty puddings anymore - just the occasional treat at the weekend. good for waistline and pocket!!