August 2009 Grocery Challenge

oceanspirit

Hello everyone,

Weekly shop came to £20.12 today. I stocked up on loo rolls as Andrex big rolls on offer - should keep me going for a couple of months. I'm doing well with the food shopping as I'm buying mainly whoopsied fruit and veg (whoopsied organic bananas cheaper than value ones today) and wasting virtually nothing except a few little bits of fruit. Must try harder on that one as I shouldn't be wasting anything at all.

I shall probably spend a similar amount next week as I've a friend coming to stay for a few days. Looks as though I shall easily come in under budget this month however store cupboard and freezer are getting low so next month will be more of a challenge.

Just something to watch out for - a whoopsied melon has appeared on my till receipt as full price. I would never have bought it at full price because there were other cheaper options. I have the label so will take it along with my receipt next week and see if they will refund the difference.

mooomin

£3.03 spent today on milk and a reduced ciabatta from Sainsbury's. Very tasty it was too!

I made a pasta dish for dinner and there is LOADS left, can I freeze pasta?

Flat_Eric

Ok, confession time.....

lots of spends today including the dine in for £10 meal from m&s but its been put to good use....

It can be seen from my signature how my budget has jumped from having lots left to having very little left but my spends include non food related items including 9 tubs :eek:of toothpaste which were on 3 for 2, my oral b toothbrush heads which had a 1/3 off , a top that fell into my basket in sainsburys :rotfl:and the economy gastronomy book (55% off on amazon )

I have kept proper track however so at the end of the month, I will be able to see where the pennies have been spent and will hopefully still have come underbudget for the food once I repay the money for the top etc. and filed the relevant spends under their proper budgets.

Have been invited to a family bbq at the weekend. I have offered to take some bits but ITS ALL what I have already so no need to spend..... and an excellent way to use up all those spuds (thanks by the way to all who replied to my previous message)

Have resisted yet another home delivery order this weekend as despite how hard I try, there will still be items that get added to my basket that i dont need. Think i should stick with myone visit to my local supermarket at the weekend to buy those items on my list. The supermarket is only small which actually I think is better because less choice means less temptation and thus less opportunity to overspend. Also I try to do it really quickly i.e. get in and out asap without dawdling finding stuff to buy!!!

ellemm

Tashja wrote: »

I am only doing half the onion marmalade tonight on account of MrT growing his red onions with Napalm.

I will do the rest tomorrow.

T xx

Tashja:I did my red onion marmalade last night, following the recipe and instructions to the letter - cooked slowly for nearly 3 hours and it was still a bit on the runny side. Decided to pot up anyway in the hope it might thicken a bit overnight but hasn't so wondered if I can put it back in the pot and cook a bit more - will that help do you think?
I suspect I had the heat too low hence it look so long

spendaholic

I'm off to Tesco tonight. Really need to come in under budget today if I can. Fortunately I have £7 in vouchers so perhaps those will help.

BigMummaF

BigMummaF wrote: »

Another Spesh for tonight is Meatloaf.
In a bowl & using my little stick blender:-
1lb pork sausagemeat, marmalised to a smooth pate
1 grated carrot **Go easy with this
1 pk value sage & onion stuffing, NOT mixed up but straight from the packet
good sprinkling dried parsley
1 lg egg

Editing Weds post on Fri to say.....be careful of the carrot! Our 'savoury' was really quite sweet Will add another post on the end of today's bit too, so all can see

We had this cold with mash, peas & sweetcorn but there was a definite sweet twang to it. The only thing I could think to make it was the carrot, so next time I'll make it a smaller one Guess the one I used was 20cm long & maybe 3cm round the thickest part if that's any help. Have to admit that I kept slicing bits off it each time I went into the kitchen so it did all go, but could imagine it as a cold cut with a nice salad for perhaps a lunch dish too.

penguin83

Afternoon all, did my weekly shop on Weds (I only go to the shops once a week) and spent 119.96 bringing my total for the month so far to 261.97, plenty in the cupboards though and it included nappies for my son. Hopefully next weeks spend will be a lot less as it should only be fresh stuff that I need x x x

russetred

On to update my siggy.I managed to keep the spend to £21.35 for the week which as quite an effort for me.No shopping unless it was vital and there wasnt an alternative.I made a vast batch of cottage pie filling with tons of veg,loads of free mushrooms as we pick wild ones and green lentils found at the back of the cupboard.OH said "this savoury mince thingy's really nice...I suppose I better not ask what's in it?" Really pleased with that as I got 10 portions from 500g mince and they were biggies!HM chippies tonight with reduced battered haggis and sausages so lazy night for me tonight and I'm sure there's some beer in the fridge requiring my attention.Have a good weekend.

Tashja

ellemm wrote: »

Tashja:I did my red onion marmalade last night, following the recipe and instructions to the letter - cooked slowly for nearly 3 hours and it was still a bit on the runny side. Decided to pot up anyway in the hope it might thicken a bit overnight but hasn't so wondered if I can put it back in the pot and cook a bit more - will that help do you think?
I suspect I had the heat too low hence it look so long

I would give it a go !! Mine is the opposite and I can't actually get it out of the jar because it is so sticky wondering myself wheather to reheat with a drop more vineger !!??

Tonights pudding is blackberry and apple pie because I took the kids blackberry picking today and forund some small windfall apples. Not got loads but do have enough for a family pie :T

Not sure on main course yet :rolleyes: Also spent 89p on a bag of sugar so will add to siggy.

T -x-

earthmother

Well, I'm halfway through my month and, thanks mainly to the Mr T vouchers, both my freezers and the fridge are full. I have at least a weeks bread, cooked meals for the rest of the month, and fruit & dairy for about a week. Add to that the 2 buckets worth of spuds we dug up from the garden, and the chiller drawer full of home-grown runner beans, and I'm feeling quietly confident.

Noticed a big basket of help-yourself windfall apples in the next street the other day but didn't have time to stop, so will pop back over the weekend and see if there are any left - if the tree was anything to go by they look to be nice, so it's apple pie season - yay (fast coming to the conclusion I need a third freezer just for home-produce, lol)

So I have about £60 left to finish off - I've split it £20 for next week, £40 for the last (as the milk etc will have run out by then), and we'll see how we go