December 2009 Grocery Challenge

Kitchenbunny

I've spent today I wasn't intending to, but I've just managed to spend another £2.75 on some whoopsied mushrooms, 2pt milk and a pack of bacon at £1.49 - not too bad. I'll update my sig now.

Kitchenbunny xx

cookiedough38

a very bad spend today £11 on stuff for a good english breakfast, earn a few brownie points for the new boyfriend so money well spent!

pammyj74

Spent £7.47 today, bought a few whoopsies
4 large sausage rolls were £2 paid 39p,
french loaf was 55p paid 9p
6 large crusty rolls was 55p paid 15p
also a couple of bits for our xmas eve buffet

not included, got my mum a little lap tray which has a gorgeous white scottie on it, they also had a pink one with a cute kitten. My DD fell in love with them so I have to go back and get one for her for xmas

BigMummaF

I am keeping tabs on my spends but have confused myself so much that I've muddled the various groups In my defense I'm also trying to sort out the Offspring AND me muvva too, so I guess I'm not doing too badly
Got a mahoosiff piece of beef today that's made two goodly joints for the freezer. The chap on the market said it's scotch beef; it looks a bit like a topside, is lovely & springy to the touch & if the lamb I've had from him is anything to go by, will be very well worth the twenty squiddlies :T That'll make a roast for New Year's Day & probably Easter, as we're having the second lamb for crimbo that I got back in June
I need to get some pudding rice as I used the last today after getting a 6pt organic full fat milk RTC @ 65p :j Some of the rest is earmarked for the white sauce on a lasagne tomorrow & I may just treat myself :shhh: to a special helping of cornflakes for brekkie, assuming the Offspring will neither snaffle it before then or catch me in the act! Who needs fridge alarms when you live with built in diet detectives :undecided

poppy-glos

hi, i've just watched delia and think she was saying 'field brick' pastry, however, a google, twitter and facebook search so far have come up with lots of people asking about it and no-one knowing.. has anyone seen or heard of it? it comes into my os grocery challenge as i'll use it to use up the leftovers of the xmas pud to make crackers (like filo but better she says...)

found Fuilles de brick on a website.. think thats it??
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3548982/Delia-Smith-recipes-Take-a-leaf.html.
from waitrose, known as brick pastry sheets, 10 sheets for £1.70 ish, keep well in freezer... will be off to look tomorrow

tiggr212004

cw18 wrote: »

Laura, it woudl help if you mentioned who this question was aimed at

But as a view from someone it wasn't aimed at, the following may come into play....

1. pet food is included in the GC (grocery challenge) budget by some people, while others (myself included) don't
2. some people buy as much free range and/or organic meat as they can, while others (again myself included) may tend to stick to using anything we find as a Whoopsie (reduced to clear item)
3. some people include alcohol, others don't (I just don't buy)
4. some include eating out/take-a-ways, others don't (the one meal I've had out this year came from a different budget)
5. some include cleaning products, others (including myself) don't

Thanks for replying, Im new at this.... The message was originally aimed at oldmcdonald but thank you for replying.... I was wondering as with 3 cats I seem to spend loads more on them food shop for the week than I do on me, my hub n son.... Ill have to sort myself out and start putting my expenses on here so I can keep a track of them... Thanks for replying to my post.

Laura

tiggr212004

Hey Tiggr :santa2: My advice is to:-
~not compare your circumstances with anyone else on here or it will drive you mad
~make full use of the recipes & ideas at the beginning of the thread
~don't be shy & ask lots of questions; we've all asked them at some point so you're not alone
~have a real good squizz on the entire site & Old Style in particular, as there's truly an amazing amount of help with anything from smelly laundry to making your own sweets
~& finally, the most important bit is to read & post on here as often as you can cuz there's always someone around to help.
Good Luck! [/QUOTE]

Thanks to everyone who replied to me, especially above... Started to think Im just a mad eater.... Ill save some money from dec-fed on meat as My nan in law gives us meat vouchers 4 our local butchers 4 xmas.... But I do get alot of meat from there only as it is 2 for £5 on trays of chicken and lamb so I can get a meal at least out of a tray.... And even some left overs for my hubby 2 take 2 wrk as he is nights perm...
The main problem we have is that my hubby is sooo fussy sbout what he eats... its only been since he has been with me over the last 7 yrs that he has started eating veg as b4 that he neva ate fruit or veg, other than pots.... Now he will eat stew and tinned carrots... not the real kind!!!!!
I just find it difficult cooking with leftovers as I am limited to the number of veg I can add to a meal.....
Not so bad for me as I am open to most food apart from cheese which makes me ill n our son is good with his food most of the time..... So any suggestions for recipes with limited veg id much appreciate....

Flat_Eric

tiggr212004 wrote: »

Thanks for replying, Im new at this.... The message was originally aimed at oldmcdonald but thank you for replying.... I was wondering as with 3 cats I seem to spend loads more on them food shop for the week than I do on me, my hub n son.... Ill have to sort myself out and start putting my expenses on here so I can keep a track of them... Thanks for replying to my post.

Laura

what do you buy your feline friends ? I have one cat and always used to buy him the pouches. He isn't fussy :j (well most of the time) so I would buy whatever was on offer. So brand names or supermarket own brand. I would always try not to spend more than £2.50 on a box of pouches so would always look out for offers. I tried him this week on the tinned variety and he loves it. One tin will do him a day's meals. previously it was a pouch for brekie, teatime and then one just before bed. (to avoid early morning wake ups !!) occasionally he would get a pouch at lunchtime too !! so buying the tinned variety will definitely save us money. :T

cw18

Laura - unless they're on a very special diet for medical reasons, then I can't see any reason for it to be costing you more to feed the cats that the people in your household Are they on dried or tinned? I've found that dried normally works out much cheaper (as well as being much easier to store, less smelly, and - according to vets when I had a cat, and now for my dogs - healthier as it 'works their teeth')

I have 2 dogs - one's a large Yorkie, and one's a Dalmatian. Had to buy more food for the Yorkie today - cost me £3.99 for 7.5kg, and that will last her 60 days (so roughly £2/month). I'm expecting a delivery of food for the Dalmatian tomorrow, but he's on a special diet - and the cheapest I can find it on the 'net is £138.65 for 3x14kg sacks. Each sack lasts 4 weeks, so this works out at £50/month. So total monthly cost for feeding the two of them is about £52. Before the need for a special diet it was less than £13/month for both of them !!!


This compares to an average monthly grocery budget (no toiletries or cleaning products, no eating out, no alcohol, and no pet food) of £94+ for myself and my 18 year-old son.

scotsaver

No spends for us over the weekend but will be heading to the shops this morning as we need some fresh fruit & veg. Promise to take a list so that I'm not tempted to stray - got plenty of room in the freezer now so getting lists ready for big Xmas shop next week too.;)

Must get some Twinks hobnobs made today as we have run out.:eek:

Might also make a start on Delia's Yule log, usually make most of it and then roll and freeze so that you can just remove from the Freezer when ready to serve and spread over your whipped cream.;) Also got some Sausage rolls to make for the Freezer ready for visitors over Xmas - in fact maybe I should just check my list again as it looks like I'm going to be busy in the kitchen most of today - just want to try and get as much done this week as I can as the kids break up from School this Friday.:eek: How did that come round so quickly?

Have a good day everyone.:D