September 2009 Grocery Challenge

ifonlyitwaseasier

freakyogre wrote: »

Apologies if this has been asked/answered already, but do people include things like toiletries/newspapers/magazines etc in their total?

I have spent £6 so far on not a lot. £2 was on sweets for the cinema last night (bought 6 bags of various sweets and put them in a big bag - it did 4 of us and I had lots for lunch today ) Cheaper than the cinema prices.

I then spent £4 today on 2pts milk, some doughballs to go with dinner (cooked too long, gone rock hard), some oats (made Twinks hobnobs), a TV guide and 2 newspapers (job day...:()

I must create a signature to keep track of this!

I'll stop rambling now.

i don't count newspapers but i do count toiletries

cw18

Ran out of white bread yesterday morning, so have been forcing DS to have bread rolls from the freezer for the last 2 days as I was determined to start the month with an NSD Had some multi-seeded bread in the freezer that I'm using for toast, but no-one else in the family eats it.

First day back at school for grand-daughters today - and when I picked them up they asked for toast. Explained I had no bread, so they opted for cereal...... which depleted my already low level of milk !!

As such I wandered down to A!di after they left to get both items - and came away empty handed. None of the bread DS especially likes (which is their cheapest), and none of the 1 litre semi-skimmed milk (which is by far and away the cheapest option locally).

Called into Mr M on the way home, and managed to get a loaf of bread for 19p (the chap was marking them down as I got there - but there's no way I'd have paid the original £1.20 price tag :eek: ). Decided milk can be stretched until after the 9am school run tomorrow - just means DS can't drink any this evening, but he has plenty of pop as I stocked up on that on Monday :rolleyes2

I also picked up 2 large tubs of Smooth & Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce (39p each instead of £1.69 - 600g size tubs), which I plan to split into halves before freezing - and combine with some Whoopsied Marscapone cheese I already have in (normally use the Tom & Marscapone from C0-0p, but they've not had any in clearance for months and I only have enough left for one meal!). So that's 4 meals of sauces to add to the freezer at a total of £1.03 (incl the cheese) - or 13p a portion :T

And to finish up the shopping trip I got two tubs of (ready made) Bolognese Sauce for 29p each instead of £1.39. I find it useful to have one or two of these types of things in the freezer as emergency back-up, but only ever purchase in clearance (and have recently used the last one I had)

So a spend today of £1.55 for goods with an original price of £7.36

mooomin

No more spends on food, but definitely toiletries (Sorry, memory like a sieve so can't remember who asked! I read the papers online but do include all toiletries!) I'm off to update my signature shortly.

Myself and Mr Fresian are away to a wedding for a couple of days, so I won't be buying any more food until maybe Saturday (Ideally Sunday!) and have run down the food stocks in the house so all I will be wasting is a scary-looking bag of lettuce.

We have had the Cheat's Chicken Cassoulet (Spelling??) for the last two days and yesterday I made a [strike]massive vat[/strike] pot of chicken soup. We had some of that for dinner tonight and there are two portions (for two) in the freezer and one spare portion (for my lunch when I go back to work) also frozen.

My freezer is jammed to the point of collapse, so I need to work on making some meals from the freezer meat but not having too many leftovers. I can't make a massive batch of chilli until there's more space in the freezer!

Now, MSE advice please! I have some lythe in my freezer which has been given to me (and caught) by my lovely dad. I have no idea how best to cook this and generally do not do a lot of fishy cooking. All recipes/ideas gratefully received! For those who haven't seen my questions before, I'm a competant cook but not always familiar with the technical terms, so make the ideas muppet-proof please

jackiegibbo

freakyogre wrote: »

Apologies if this has been asked/answered already, but do people include things like toiletries/newspapers/magazines etc in their total?

I have spent £6 so far on not a lot. £2 was on sweets for the cinema last night (bought 6 bags of various sweets and put them in a big bag - it did 4 of us and I had lots for lunch today ) Cheaper than the cinema prices.

I then spent £4 today on 2pts milk, some doughballs to go with dinner (cooked too long, gone rock hard), some oats (made Twinks hobnobs), a TV guide and 2 newspapers (job day...:()

I must create a signature to keep track of this!

I'll stop rambling now.

I include everything i buy when im getting my grocerys however i do find it works out much cheaper to do an online shop as you cant be tempted to pick up any extras!!

mooomin

jackiegibbo wrote: »

I include everything i buy when im getting my grocerys however i do find it works out much cheaper to do an online shop as you cant be tempted to pick up any extras!!

Ooh, I'm the opposite. I have timed my Morrisons visits to perfection now and can normally pick up at least one 9p bargain from the Whoopsies shelf :rotfl:

If I buy online I buy more to try and make the price up to the free delivery mark!

kayjay1809

Am rejoining this thread and WILL make my food budget work this month.

Total for September is £300 for two adults and one nine year old boy who eats as much as an adult

jackiegibbo

flying_fresian wrote: »

Ooh, I'm the opposite. I have timed my Morrisons visits to perfection now and can normally pick up at least one 9p bargain from the Whoopsies shelf :rotfl:

If I buy online I buy more to try and make the price up to the free delivery mark!

I never seemed to have much luck finding the whoopsies before everyone else;)

Moniker

Back to work today and it wasn't too bad. I had to pop into the Co-op for some fruit and milk and spent £3-16 but shouldn't anything else till Friday evening when I will do the weekly Sainsbury's shop on the way home from work. Thye have opened a new Lidl in our nearest town but I haven't had time to go yet and the traffic queues are terrible! Maybe after the initial interest things will quieten down and I'll be able to park there.

Anyway the quiche I made yesterday with the chard I picked from my garden was very tasty. I will definitely be using the chard where spinach is called for in recipes as I have lots growing in my veg boxes and the runner beans are still doing well too.

Well off to bed as will have an early start in the morning. Take care everyone.

Moniker

Blairweech

Hi folks,

Spent £0.65 on a can of drink at work, so my total so far is £0.65

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast, with marmalade/jam
Lunch: BLT (free from work), pack of crisps, yoghurt, cake (again, free)
Dinner: Fish and chips, apple crumble (can you guess - it was free!)

helen_jelly

Evening everyone

MrsM - could you change my target to £350 please - I've just looked at the calendar and realised that its a 5 week month for us so there is no way we will come in at £290 and rather than feel let down with myself for not hitting target I need to be realistic. I also didn't realise that I was so low in stock of packed lunch stuff so although I've been stocking up on certain bits I still have more to get GRRRRRRRRRRR :mad:

Went to MrA today and bought the Homepride jars that are £1.50 each or 2 for £1 and also stocked up on cereal bars that are normally £1.60 but are on offer for £1, Comfort [85 wash] was on offer for £3 and that will be watered down, and got some other bits. Castor Sugar - 1kg bags have gone up in price to £1.28 but 2kg bags are £1.83 so got some more of that.

Happy whoopsie shopping everyone

Helen x