May 2010 Grocery Challenge

JayJay14

Spiggle wrote: »

Thanks very much MRSMCAWBER, :A

I'll bear in mind your advice on the courgettes. I'm probably generalising far too much so forgive me but if you can grow peppers successfully in pots outside in Germany then they should be fine on the south Wales coast too. :cool: I'm thinking in terms of ripening of course.

We have a full bin of good HM compost (the other one got spread around the garden a month or so ago) and so I will use a fair bit of that at the base of the pots for both weight and food. Great tip though so thank you.

Have a great bank holiday,
Spigs

Spiggle - We had really good results last year with bushy cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets. Did the same with strawberries. We will be doing them again this year. I'm going out today to get some plum tom seeds to add to the collection.

meanmarie

Afternoon all,

Really bad to-day....have spent €81.76 of my budget but will be really careful for the rest of the month....off on holiday on 30th so am gaining a few days there!

Lovely to see you posting again Mrs MC, you were missed

Marie

snowball2103

First spend of the month yesterday at Mr T's, spent £96.18. Almost quarter of the budget gone but I bought dishwasher tablets on offer (didn't need them but too expensive to buy at full price), 300g jar of coffee for £5. I also bought the £2 chicken which I used half of last night with a reduced price cesar salad, the rest is going to be used in a stir-fry tonight. Was feeling almost virtuous until I discovered the bottle of wine that I thought was priced at £4.49 was not half price but £8.99 :eek:.

Snowball

becky170

Spent £22.15 in tescos today, which was far more than planned! Decided to try out some different recipes as I've got into a rut with what I'm eating, but it's turning into an expensive challenge!

mummyslittleboy

Hi

Can I join please really need to cut back on what we are spending as I seem to be constantly broke at the moment :mad:

No idea what we spend a month so I would say £250.00 for the month and hope it is no more but its probably going to be a lot more still will shock me into saving being more carefull. I do need to go to Asda today so will be very careful and going to do a list so i know what we need.

starflower_2

It's been far too long since I've been on here but I need a kick up the butt so I'd like to join the May Challenge please, decided to go for £200 . Not much for 2 adults, 3 kids, but the freezer and store cupboard are pretty well stocked, so should only need bread/milk/fresh fruit & Veg for a couple of weeks before another big shop in the middle of the month.

Spiggle

JayJay14 wrote: »

Spiggle - We had really good results last year with bushy cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets. Did the same with strawberries. We will be doing them again this year. I'm going out today to get some plum tom seeds to add to the collection.

Thanks JayJay,

We've got three of the cherry tumbling types but will put them in planters due to a lack of brackets for hanging baskets!

I like the idea of hanging baskets with strawberries, yum! Will have to work on OH. Thanks and good luck with your seed hunt.

Oh while I'm on the subject (and someone may say this is the wrong thread but ) does anyone have any ideas on storing peppers? If they could be done in oil, frozen or something else then that would be great. I'm sure they could be pickled somehow but I have a huge aversion to vinegar and pickles I'm afraid.:o

Thanks for all the wonderfully helpful replies,
Spigs

kitschy

Eeeek, first spends £25.18. :eek: This is my first full month on the challenge so I fear I may have massively underestimated my spends, but it will be a good learning curve!

Off to update siggy......

longtermlurker_2

Hi, please could I join in. We have been spending £500 a month on shopping and as a start I want to get it down to £450.

Sorry if these are silly questions or already been answered but do we include pet food and things and presents we need to buy?
I did a shop yesterday, do I include that or start from scratch as it's the first?

I do internet shopping so I very rarely get reduced stuff:(
The recipies look great and I will definitely try to cook from scratch more.

Keiss_21

Spiggle wrote: »

Oh while I'm on the subject (and someone may say this is the wrong thread but ) does anyone have any ideas on storing peppers? If they could be done in oil, frozen or something else then that would be great. I'm sure they could be pickled somehow but I have a huge aversion to vinegar and pickles I'm afraid.:oSpigs

Hya Spigs, are these sweet or chilli peppers? You can freeze both quite easily, I don't bother with blanching, I just chop up the sweet ones, ready to put into sauces, soups, pizzas. I spread them out thinly on a tray/chopping board covered in cling film and freeze them before bagging up later. The chillies you can air-dry, having them as decorations about the house and/or freeze them whole. Hope this helps

longtermlurker wrote: »

Sorry if these are silly questions or already been answered but do we include pet food and things and presents we need to buy?
I did a shop yesterday, do I include that or start from scratch as it's the first?
I do internet shopping so I very rarely get reduced stuff:(
The recipies look great and I will definitely try to cook from scratch more.

longtermlurker - what you include is up to you. Some only include food, others add the household & toilet stuff. Others also add pet and wild animal food...it's all up to you how you work it. I include all food, household stuff and toiletries, as well as the dog and wild bird food. I also include the seeds and compot I get for growing food in the garden, but not the flowers...does that make sense? I aso don't include meals out as they are such a rare occurence and are usually part of a special celebration.

A spending day today, Mr T is delivering later, so will add the total spending today once I have all the receipts.

Enjoy the weekend