December 2009 Grocery Challenge

Flat_Eric

GRRR moment this morning :mad: had to share !

If you have seen my earlier post, you will have seen that I cancelled my home delivery for tomorrow. So I went to my local T**** Me*** this morning and picked out the bits needed for the weekend. All fine. Struggled round like a twit (as jacket spuds 2.5kg on bogof!!)

Go to checkout where lovely cashier rings it through. Hand over numerous point coupons :j

Also hand over money off vouchers that I have been sent. Now I know I can convert them and probably get more for my money but at the moment, having the money off my shopping is more beneficial

So I hand over £8.50 in coupons and only the £5.00 voucher gets applied. :eek: Luckily because I checked my receipt before I had left the store (to see that the other offers had been deducted), I noticed, went back and retrieved my voucher but I almost lost £3.50 which would have been gutting :sad: especially as I am trying so hard this month (being the hardest month of the year) to be good and come in on budget. Moan over !! I am pleased though. Ive bought everything that was needed including the bits I didnt have for the bonfire chilli tomorrow, the chick pea curry im doing on Sunday night. sausages for a meal in the week, pack lunch bits for my OH on Sunday and of course boring bits like spuds and milk and it came to just £18.31 which is good for my budget ! especially as I think thats me sorted for the next week

I would also mention to those posters who home delivery shop that T**** are getting crafty. Have you noticed the internet exclusive offers ??!! Well this week its spend £30, get a box of 15 bottles of san miguel beer for £6. BUT you have to select this item from the relevant offers page AND you have to do it before you check out for the first time. SO if you notice the offer after you have checked out (add it from the right page) then you wont receive the benefit of it AND if you have a lovely £5 off so much spend, you can't use both :mad: Im not sure if this applies to all internet exclusive offers but know in my last home delivery shop I bought the internet exclusive kitchen roll offer but the discount didn't get applied. I guess thats why.

Think I will stick to careful planning (buying just whats needed) and paying very careful attention to what the cashier does !

sorry for the long post !!

have a good day everyone

EDITED TO ADD
to poster who has lovely nectar points to spend. If it was me, I would treat it as excluded from my budget thus total spent after using voucher would be £0.

dazzle21

£250 for December Please! Sorry i'm late adding but we have had yet another cold! Have spent £16 so far this month on nappies, cheese and cold/flu remedies to pep myself up.. Yesterday we were naughty and had mulled cider and krispy kreme doughnuts.. but i'm not including that in the budget as it is our Christmas treat (we missed our trip taking ds to Santa in London as we were all poorly) and we enjoyed it infront of a nice Christmas film Going to read back through the thread now! :T

SunnyGirl

Flat Eric How annoying :mad: I'd be unhappy too. I've never shopped online but was thinking about it, but having read a few things both on this thread and another recenly, I think I'll stick to trudging round the shops I know also that I'd end up spending more online

Glad you got sorted in the end though & your bonfire chilli sounds lovely.

Long_tall_sally

triticale wrote: »

Pasta/pesto/chicken was a huge success. I added a handful of green beans from my freezer. DD(5) announced it to be 'the best dinner ever'. :rotfl:

She has said that before about a few meals though...:A

Gosh I wish my kids would say that about one of my meals. i can almost guarantee that one of them will moan about something at every meal time! My DS even asked me whether the chef I saw on Sunday at the Good Food Show, NEC was going to teach me to cook! As it was the lovely James Martin, I can but dream!

Anyway, have spent another £5.50 on milk and marg sototal so far £146.69 and I know that there are things like passata and chick peas that whilst I don't strictly need, I do usually have some in the cupboards.

thisismoneysaving

I managed that NSD I promised myself yesterday... I'm going to admit, this was totally down to fate and not my own will power
I went to the vending machine at work in search of something sweet and it was 'out of order' AND went to Aldi for a browse after work and got there ONE MINUTE after closing time (8:01... I thought it closed at 9!!).

I got a coffee before work this morning for £1 which was in my purse and that will be my only spend today. Isn't it cold!! brrr... I'm freezing!

Do any of you guys like Reggae Reggae sauce? It's mine & my BF's favorite. We mix it with cream and make a sauce for chicken and pasta.

Does any one else do anything nice with it?

Ta

oh... that spicy bacon pasta sounds YUMMY - going to have this next week. thank you!
x

EC12345

Thank you people for the advice about the nector points. Am not going to count it towards the grocery challenge. The shopping came to £72.74 and the freezer is full. Hopefully this will last a good couple of weeks - if not more.

Thank you.

mummysaver

Hi there! Please can you put me down for £400 again this month

Hoping that things will all go smoothly on the food front, have full freezers, turkey is ordered though not yet paid for, and veg will just really be usual stuff we eat anyway, pud maturing in cupboard, extra cheese biscuits/chocs/nibbles stashed away already, so fingers all crossed that Christmas won't cost a fortune. Plus kids are away at their dad's for the week after Christmas, so bound to be cheaper with just me and the animals eating here!

SunnyGirl

Thisismoneysaving MY DS1 loves Reggae Reggae sauce & puts it on most things :rolleyes: but he is a 17yr old with hollow legs so it's good to him on beans on toast :rotfl: My DH quite likes it on cheese on toast & I sometimes serve it in wraps with cooked chicken strips like chicken fajitas but need to do a yoghurt dressing for DD, DS2 & DS3. I love the idea of serving it with cream for a lovely sauce - thanks

Well done on your accidental NSD yesterday I hate days like that. At least you didn't go shopping to cheer yourself up

Long_tall_sally

thisismoneysaving wrote: »

Do any of you guys like Reggae Reggae sauce? It's mine & my BF's favorite. We mix it with cream and make a sauce for chicken and pasta.

Does any one else do anything nice with it?


x

I've never heard of it! Is it like a caribbean jerk chicken sort of taste?

Coxy11

Afternoon All,

Thanks to those who suggested alternative recipes containing beef mince. Will definitely give those a go.

Have just discovered that we have a MrL only a 7mile round trip away! (have only lived here 5 years!). To explain, there's a MrT Extra 200yds from my front door, and a decent sized MrS about 400yds from home, so don't need to venture too far for my shopping.

Can I ask what other posters would recommend from MrL? There's me, DH, DS1 (10), DD (8) and DS2 (5). Anything family meal orientated would be great. Just don't want to have a wasted journey on Monday. It's my only free morning next week, so want to use the time wisely!

Thanks peeps.

Coxy
xx