April 2010 Grocery Challenge

vodkawitch1

I spent £15.20 today in Mr S. Only meant to spend about £7 but thats supermarkets for you. bought fruit, yohurts, weightwatchers meals and few other bits, they have so much on offer at mo it is hard to resist.

Maisie_M

Glad to report my budget is going well. Have had 12 NSD this month so far and planning another tomorrow. have spent £103.62 and only have 8 days left so should be well under again.

Have been using quite a bit out of the freezer and cupboards although think I can probably do another month without having to make any big purchases so fingers crossed for a frugal May too.

slowandsteady_2

Hi everyone,

well, im thinking im over my target by probably about £30 now at least.

But its ok as ive decided anyway that i have been unrealistic in my target so im just being easy on myself now and starting afresh on Monday when i get paid.

I went to Mr A to stock up on baby bits while on their baby event and got a few bits there and have ppped in Mr T too for some bits, havent gone mad but definately need to revise the budget when i go through all the receipts on Monday.

Here's hoping for a more productive May!

greent

slowandsteady wrote: »

Hi everyone,

well, im thinking im over my target by probably about £30 now at least.

But its ok as ive decided anyway that i have been unrealistic in my target so im just being easy on myself now and starting afresh on Monday when i get paid.

I think £140 for the 3 of you and the pets for food, cleaning and toiletries is a HARD target to achieve - so the fact that you hvae been is fabulous. Cut yourself a bit of slack and give yourself a HUGE pat on the back instead

4kids4cats

Hi, I seem to have lost the plot! This is my first month so have been saving all my receipts, but I was intending to keep track as I went along too, but I just haven't. Will be adding up all those receipts next week - I am paid on 30th - think I am in for a nasty shock.
I had a horrible shopping trip to Asda this morning. I had almost finished, intending to spend about £40 -50, thinking I had £65 left in my account. Something made me check - only £36! I forgot about a direct debit. I could have cried. So, I put loads of things back and it stil came to £28. Feeling very poor now. But in some ways, it's good because I am really determined to get better at money saving. Going to read as much as I can on these boards as I obviously have a lot to learn

4kids4cats

Yep - definitely lost the plot - just look at that typing. Updated sig - and will add everything up next week.

WelshWoofer

4kids4cats wrote: »

Yep - definitely lost the plot - just look at that typing. Updated sig - and will add everything up next week.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

At least you can still laugh at yourself!
Good luck for the rest of the month!

Billie-jo

NSD for me today :j

Just noticed my star under my name is missing ? is that something I have done or is it something to do with the site maintenance this morning?
I WANT MY STAR BACK - are'nt I sad :rotfl:

Billie-jo

Ohh how did that happen - its back again :j
Perhaps it was there all along and I couldnt see it - I need a drink!

Spiggle

rachelmk wrote: »

Nothing spent on grocerys all week (since Saturday) so quite pleased with that.
I'm going to try to write next weeks meal plan and shopping list tonight ready for Saturday - I only have about £43 left in the budget so will look around for some cheap and easy meals that will fool OH into thinking he's having something more glamorous!
Any suggestions?

Hi rachelmk,

I don't know if it's 'glamourous' but we have had fantastic value out of brisket from the local butcher. Slow roasted (covered) with carrots and onions, and pots added halfway through the oven cooking process and it is delicious. It should just fall apart and be very very tender. I do mean slow though, OH seals it in a pan first, (after frying off the onions and sweating off the carrots in the same fry pan) then ten minutes quite high in the oven and then turned down very low temperature but covered for about 4 hrs. This is for an average sized joint. Others on here may well have an alternative cooking procedure using a slow cooker (?).

The Brisket can be sliced thin or thick and you can add whatever accompaniments you like to glamorise it. For us this is the best value meat you can get starting with a standard roast dinner and then you will find loads of other ways to use it during the week whether sliced thin for sandwiches, put into some gravy in a pie, shedded and fried to make crispy beef, the list is as long as your imagination really. A single joint of brisket fed two of us for five days and cost around £7.50. And thanks to OH skills we did not get bored with it!

Well, I went to MrT yesterday and the budget took a bit of a hit, £40.85 worth to be exact. However, I stuck to the list mostly but did get a couple of extra things, OH reckons it was a good shop and nothing will get wasted.

So, just over £60 to get me through to next Friday. Sig is updated. I will be off to the butcher again tomorrow and as my mouth is watering after writing that above we may well be having brisket this week! We will also need some milk midweek but I think we will make it under budget again. So will have to have a serious think about May's target.

Thanks to all for the support,
Spigs