December 2009 Grocery Challenge

ifonlyitwaseasier

hello all,

am STILL trying to get rid of this nasty cough thing so the GC has taken a bit of a back seat, did manage to spend £120 in the last two days but as most of that was other peoples cash and gifts the actual total for GC is closer to £30, but i need to double check my receipts for a definite answer.

did spend £8.40 today as OH an i treated ourselves to west cornwall pasty co steak and ale pasty's as we walked round town. we don't have them very often so they are definitely a treat!!

take care all

ioiwe :-)

Kitchenbunny

Another NSD for me today - that's 2 in a row I've been using up whatever I can to make my meals, and also to make some snacky bits and bobs for the party next week - hence not being around as much! Ugh, my feet hurt, but at least I won't have to rush around cooking all day

Hoping for another NSD tomorrow - that'll be 3 or 4 in a row. I feel happy with myself

Kitchenbunny xx

mark55man

just a bit of a weekend top up + a nicer than usual meal for tonight (but still woopsied) so £14.80 at Mr S and Mr W. had a couple of NSD's as quite busy at work so doing quite well pre xmas

Long_tall_sally

Thanyou CW18, Poppyglos, Skintbint & Rosieben for your suggestions for what to do with my surplus sausage meat. I will bear all the suggestions in mind for when I use the surplus, which will probably be next month. I took what I needed for the stuffing out of the freezer this morning, bought some eggs & veg as well & was planning to have a cooking afternoon but have a splitting headache & so far haven't done a thing. Then tomorrow I will probably feeling stressed again at the lack of time to get all the things done that I want / need to! Lol!
Well done fabforty - one week of no spends! Wow! I was hoping to have one NS day today but have already failed at that by buying the eggs & veg, so another £3.94 spent. Will update signature accordingly now.

Keiss_21

Seem to have been spending lots on presents this week but much less on food.

Have got all presents bought now, except for DS1 who has no real indea what he wants...been too busy studying at Uni to think of stuff apparently! I have a few things, but need to get more...he is 20 on Dec 28th, so double trouble (and expense )! He will be home on Monday, so maybe I can pick his brains a bit more then.

Off to have a lie down now ...made 4 doz buns, 3 large banana breads, two tins of muesli slice and 4 Christmas cakes today. Have yet to do the mince pies...but have the pastry made and mincemeat augmented (alcohol, cherries and grated apple added)...just need to get some strength to roll out the pastry now. :rolleyes:

DH and DS got the decorations down from the loft, so need to decorate this weekend too....aaaaargh! :doh:

Have a good weekend everyone.:xmastree:

franby64

£9.04 spent today - milk, cheese, sausages, bacon and chocolate for OH and DS - I know I should have made them buy their own!

Feeling quite organized as I've just made a meal plan up to the 23rd using up the contents of the freezer and hopefully I will not need much in my Tuesday Tesco delivery. Anyway, will try to keep it low so as to save some money back for the inevitable Christmas extravagances.:D

oceanspirit

Bought some bits for a "bring nibbles" party on Wednesday evening and spent £4.66 giving a December total so far of £35.28.

Only £4.72 left in the budget. I know I will exceed that but it will be far, far less than I would have spent pre-GC days.

Jevvers

Hi all, not updated for a couple of weeks but have had quite a good run despite cooking for a family gathering. I reckon we're on £154 and although we're not half way through the month yet we are going away for Christmas so that should save us quite a bit.

I only started the GC in November and I have to say thank you to you all for all the good ideas. So far I have made Twinks' hobnobs, gone looking for whoopsies, batch cooked and started a soup stock bag in the freezer in which I bung all the odds and ends of veg. Oh, and finally worked out where our money is disappearing to! My husband thinks I've gone nuts but he's not complaining

tiggr212004

I hope you dont think Im being cheeky but how do you manage a budget of under £200 for so many people.... I live with my husband, son and 3 cats in newport south wales and we probably manage about £350 a month on food shopping. And that is with me making our own meals and just buying the ingredients. We very rarely have take aways which are included in this budget and never buy any ready made meals but I am at a total loss of how to reduce this amount much more. I do the majority of my shopping in Lidls and Aldis and then buy the itms I cannot get from there in tesco or asda....
I also get the majority of my cleaning goods from B&M Bargains etc or poundland....
And freezer food from Iceland.
Would welcome any suggestions.
Many Thanks
Laura

Jevvers

Ooh ooh and how could I forget, I used mysupermarket.com for the first time last week to buy the stuff for the family gathering and although it took a good 24hrs of tweaking, I managed to get a £65 Tesco shop for just £45 including delivery by using various bogofs and a £10 voucher and then when it came they had substituted the own brand bottle of port for one three quid more expensive (but you still only pay the original price). Get in!!