November 2009 Grocery Challenge

candygirl

Im having another nsd day today, amd am making spicy carrot n lentil soup n chana masala:p:pStill need to empty cupboards for next week so am not buying anything:D

SunnyGirl

Just updated my signature with todays shopping - £66.20 so pleased. I should come in under budget this month which would have been impossible this time last year before I joined this forum :T :T I could spend less I suppose if I only bought the food to make meals with but the kids all eat chocolate biscuits, biscuits, crisps and lots of fruit (to balance out the rubbish!). I've experimented with making all sweet snacks but it seems to cost more so I bake a few things each week (muffins, weetabix cake, Twinks hobnobs & the odd victoria sandwich cake) and supplement the bought stuff this way.

It's interesting how we all spend our budgets - some of us buy snack foods, some buy takeaways & some stock pile - but the main thing is that we're all trying to keep control over it all :T

Kerfuffle Have you had a look at the Menu Planning thread for ideas? Here is this weeks and a new one usually starts on Thursdays - thanks to Penny Pincher getting us all going! :A I have got loads of ideas from it and people are always pleased to share recipes & ideas.

XSpender

Just back from my last visit to Mr S until the 30th November.(Insert determined face smiley:D) It has to be there is no money left in the budget and I have meal planned for a fortnight with what I have in the freezer and cupboards.

Spent £12.55 but got a 75p refund at cust services for some wine gums I bought last week that went through at full price and should have been half price:eek: I also got some points added on for when DH paid and I didnt have my loyalty card.

I did spend a bit more than I expected but bought a box of surf with a 1/3 off as it seemed a better deal than the tablets I was going to buy. DH also decided he needed some more shaving foam this morning and I bought some crisps because he had my last £1 this morning to get some at work out of the machine at 50p packet. Double:eek:

The basics onions were good at 59p as there is a lot and for once they are a good size.

candygirl

Aaaarghh I ended up going to Morrisons and spending £21, but have come back with enough stuff to last till next week:oHave just made a massive chick pea n spinach curry that's gonna last for days:p:p

rosieben

Sorry to hear about all the poorlies, hope you're all feeling better soon; hope the rain stops soon too :rolleyes:

I'll be shopping tomorrow for meat and a couple of bits I forgot on yesterday's mrT order my budget is totally gone this month, but I'm checking stocks and just about got my kitchen and store cupboard organised now so I can get back to meal planning for next month. I need to think about christmas food shopping too, so far I've bought a jar of cranberry sauce

Take care

scotsaver

Hi everyone - well I've updated my total after my spends today, been to the new Morrisons and was really impressed, laid out really well and the fruit, meat and fish counters all looked great.;)

Picked up a few of their offers like Pringles £1.99, buy 1 get 2 free, Ragu £1.65 buy 1 get 2 free (usually make my own but at that price you can't go wrong), Dowe egberts 200g coffee at 2 for £6, Crunchy nut cornflakes less than half price at £1, Cadbury choc fingers BOGOF. Also picked up some fruit, veg etc and was overall really pleased.:D

After trying to cram everything into cupboards, freezer etc I now realise we will have to eat out of the Freezer between now and middle of December when I want to stock up for Xmas so have meal planned around what we have in there.

Dinner tonight is Pasta with a HM tomato sauce (keeping the Ragu's for when the kids have friends over:o) and a nice bowl of salad, need to use up baby plum tomatoes I bought in Lidl last week when they were on special.:p

huston_kw

I'm having a NSD today (ill) and I've joined the store cupboard thread, so spent so far this month 160ish.

We had tomato pasta dish for lunch and we having fish, potatoes & peas for tea with HM apple & blackberry crumble and custard for dessert.

Jevvers

A rare NSD for me, hurrah! Made twinks with DS which turned out great and made bread but I obviously put in far too much water because it turned out really soggy. However, rather than waste it I have made dumplings out of the middle and used the bottom crust to line a pie dish. I'm going to fill it with some hotpot out of the freezer with some added stock and stick the dumplings on top. Bit off piste, I'll let you know how it turns out!

Oh and I received a £35 cheque from doing some market research last month so I'm up on the day

Savvy_sewing

I fell off the wagon a while ago. Dont think I have joined in much since my family went in different directions, nearly 7 months ago!. I did a search for the thread,as I need to curb my expenses. Remembered that there are brilliant recipes etc here. So plenty of reading ahead for me again!
Realised that I havent had a proper shop in months. Its been grab it when in the shops helping the twins!. Means that I have lost the plot completely, and most of the spending has been on the twins. I was in Iceland this week for twin1, (she is ill) and spent £23.50. But only £3.00 of that was for me. That was Squash, eggs an gravy granuales!!
I am beginning to run out of the most used items, soy sauce, tomato puree, tinned beans, tinned tomatoes, frozen veg, mince, etc etc. So its going to be thinking out of the box and hoping that I can do a bit of a store cupboard challenge too.Will join in in December. I think. But will tag along for the rest of the month for some much needed inspiration.

Jevvers

By the way when in tesco yday buying hobnob ingredients I noticed that 500g of their own brand oats were 42p, which is cheaper per kg than the 1kg bags at 99p.