May 2010 Grocery Challenge

LINKYPIE2009

Hi all - been a bad few weeks so i shall rejoin in June...fit and raring to go!

Will keep reading tho...hope you are all well xx

cookiemum

Mr A delivery yesterday so current spend £124.49.

Sunnyday- thanks for the tip off re M & S Steak - very handy. Will pop and pick some up later but can I resist the Percy Pigs! Why do they keep bringing out different varieties?!!

tessie_bear

hi...i used the asda price guarantee and found out asda was the cheapest place to do my shopping which is reassuring

already i have made a chilli a spag bol put some tom sauce to cook in the sc and put some washing out...im off for a lie down:p

i am going to make a nana cake out of some manky bananas i got in asda for 20p last night...my son saw them and thinks iv gone mad....the things we do to save money

have a nice day
tess

Long_tall_sally

Popped to the co op this morning to see what their new offers were as they change on a Wednesday. Got some BOGOF Doritos & some half price stir fry sauces & half price cheese but the rest really was just reduced veg, chocolate bars & desserts for the kids. Still need to go to Sainsburys tomorrow for gluten free stuff & Aldi for other fruit & veg.

MrsWoolfe

Hello All!

Well made productive use of one of the days this wkend and did an inventory of the freezer and two of our cupboards though I know what's in the third cupboard anyway so planning our meals should be far easier.

Scarily enough seeing how small our kitchen is I reckon we could almost squeeze 2 months worth of meals out of what's there with only buying in bread.milk,eggs and some salad bits each week...really need to run down the cupboards and freezer rather than keep buying new food in!

So far have spent £7.55 of our budget over the weekend and will be heading to shops tonight to pick up more salad, and the couple of bits we need for this week, hoping to keep the spend under £20...wish me luck!

MrsWoolfe

bevan840

First spend for the month

£31.60, few bits and bobs for DH but shop was mostly for me as he is away next week which means majority of the grocery budget can go towards food for me Makes a change as when he's home I shop for him and the boys and I live off pasta

Does anyone know if I make a egg mayonaise sandwich (boiled egg squished with heinz salad cream) if it is safe to put in the freezer? I make my sandwichs for the week on a sunday and put them all in the freezer till I need them but unsure if I can do it with egg *shrug*

My pea's and blackberry are growing lovely Can't have the fruit from blackberry for the first year so will have to wait till next year for the apple and blackberry crumbles/pies I think I might of killed 2 of my strawberry plants though will keep an eye on them for the next week and hope they live Dad said you can't kill strawberries :rotfl: I can

Will need cat litter by weekend so will be another spend then

Winged_one

OK, I am going to admit to, not failure, but a need to re-address May already. MrsMacawber, can you please change me to €600 for this month? Sorry.

Between LOADS of visitors around the funeral - houseguests and a gathering of my siblings one evening - and the manic-ness that was our lives around it all for the past 10 days, I have ended up spending more than I wanted. But I also included the money I spent on a work trip the Brussels (gin in airport, lots cheaper than at home, and a supermarket trip mainly for cheese to bring home but also some food for me - apple, pain au chocolat, fresh OJ - rather than a restaurant dinner) and the trip to off-licence for beer - I normally include alcohol in my grocery budget.

I ended up going to M&S on the day my grandad died and getting packs of chicken breasts, mushrooms, 2 tins chicken soup, carton cream, bag rice and bag spuds. To bring to my gran's house- just in case. And no, no-one had thought about dinner (even though there had been a contingent out doing a "food shopping" that afternoon - it was all alcohol, cakes and some sambo stuff). So I made chicken and mushrooms with sauce, some ate with rice and some with spuds (I knew my diners:rotfl:). Which went around 8 adults and a child - it really was just as well, as Gran, aged 90, needed some proper food.

Then, I had houseguests, and other visitors, to our own house. So feeding extra mouths at odd times (including a demand for pizza at midnight on the night of the funeral - brothers!! But I had a Lidl one in the fridge!!).

There was no beer in the house at all, so I had to get a carton (I usually buy a carton of the Belgian one DH likes as it work out lots cheaper and lasts us a few months).

And there were lots of stores that I needed to get over the weekend too. I had to go to M&S again for a couple of things but because the "dine in" was on, I got 2 of those too (but did save over €40 on the original bill, down 1/3). Had the chicken dinner with 2 packs of spuds and 2 packs of desert with my bro on Sat as an easy option when all were shattered. And have the bacon to have this weekend with a cabbage (thought we still had a HG one, but that was no longer edible, so will buy a spring one in F&V shop on Sat).

I have allowed €284 for the rest of the month. Which is not loads but ok. We should be away for 3 days next weekend, either in London if ash is ok, or else in MIL's. I actually have a load of dinners already in the freezer to use. So really, all I will need is lots of fruit, some veg, bag spuds, milk, yoghurts, bread, and a bit of meat and cooked meat, to see me through. I think.

Menu plan for this week is:
Wed: Chicken fajitas
Thurs: Lamb chops
Fri: 2 single portion dinners from freezer (DH away)
Sat: Not much as out for FHC party in afternoon - maybe scrambled eggs
Sun: Bacon and cabbage
Mon: Lamb rogan josh
Tues: Gorgonzola pasta
Wed: Meatballs, tomato sauce and pasta

So should only need a cabbage, milk and bread this week - €10. Will stay in the small shop for that to avoid temptation!!

All in all, looks bad but I am OK with it in the circs. And I am still reasonably OK for the annual amount anyway. (And it means that, by eating very cheaply abroad, I saved some of my subs money which can go back into the purchases if I really wanted to, but I'll put it towards London short family break instead).

ASC

Must try harder. We ended up having a BBQ on Monday (despite rain and sub-zero temperatures, thankyou DH) so I had to replace the rolls I’d used up for brunch. Together with more sausages and chicken that’s another £7.31 in Mr T. I did finally manage my first NSD yesterday though!!!

Currently trying to decide whether to roast a whole chicken for dinner or just a couple of portions. Suspect it will be the latter as I feel pretty rubbish and I’d hate to waste the leftovers because I don’t have the energy to deal with them tonight. Will probably end up with mash rather than roast from the rather ancient potatoes that are left but I am NOT going to the shops today.

Off to make a cuppa and put on the BM. Good luck everyone.


A x

lilian1977

£1.24 spent yesterday on a sandwich and bottle of water in Aldi for OH as we were going to the cinema (free tickets) - I'd brought a 60p Splendips from home and filled my water bottle at work so no spend for me. Sig updated.

katenut

Hi everyone, hope you are all well. Have been away for a couple of weeks, and haven't got time to catch up on all the posts so hugs to anyone who needs one!

Can you put me down for £150 for May please? I'm really getting the hang of this now, the freezer and cupboards are half stocked so in theory I can do this! xx