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June 2010 Grocery Challenge
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Too late to add my spend today, so will do it tomorrow after I've bought some tinned toms
Oct10 £266.72 /£275 Nov10 £276.71/£275 Dec10 £311.33 / £275 Jan11 £242.25/ £250 Feb11 £243.14/ £250 Mar11 £221.99/ £230 Apr11 £237.39 /£240 May11 £237.71/£240 Jun11 £244.03/ £240 July11 £244.89/ £240
Xmas 2011 Fund £220
thanks Hippeechiq for info re canned goods. I have always kept quite a few in my cupboard under the stair. I was really trying to work my way through all these goods as I had convinced myself that I did not need to have a wartime mentality any more. However your information has set me back on my heels and I am afraid now not only will I not be getting rid of stores but may also increase them. Better safe than sorry and tins last for ever.
Will have lamb steaks and new potatoes and fresh veg for dinner tonight.
Called into A**i last night and spent just under £18 but got lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg, milk, and a few basics. So feel I got value for money.
I got some lovely bread at the car boot on Sunday (it's a speciality bread stall that does German breads) and as we got there when they were packing away, they only charged us £1.00 each. Bargain! Sliced and frozen ready for when I fancy a slice.
Also went to Aldi and got some cherries, a melon, a pack of peppers and a yogurt. The peppers were stuffed and frozen the same day so I have some nice quick meals ready. Oh, also went to Tesco for a couple of jellies, some garlic salt, peppermint teabags and some lipbalm.
I will need to get some milk on my way home (staying at my dad's until tomorrow at the moment and will see how I am them). I shouldn't need anything else and won't be able to go and get it even if I do!
Not really grocery related, but thought i'd post a pic of the boot I have to wear following my operation yesterday. It's much bigger than I was expecting!! Sorry, I can't seem to resize the picture, so please let me know if it's too big and i'll delete it.
Doing OK this month I think, fell off the wagon a bit earlier this month but managed to claw myself back to where I should be. Need to keep reading this thread, I dont post often but it inspires me to cook from scratch more
I use tinned fruit in jellies and at the bottom of trifles (strawberries, raspberries, fruit cocktail, pineapple chunks), so making a "coloured" trifle - using red jelly and pink custard for red fruit and so on. I stone tinned cherries and put them in a pie, and I make flans with mandarins. I'd also make pineapple or pear upside down cake with a cherry in the middle, and I have a cut-and-come-again cake that uses tinned apricots or apples. I'll also have tinned fruit with jelly or cream or ice cream as a pudding. And if it's tinned in juice, I have the juice for breakfast. (Syrup goes down the drain now but when I didn't have to watch my weight I would have drank that too.)
MY WINS
£3,541 CASH; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets
I too used to find it quite frightening and would never stick to it, but practice makes perfect and it's having a great affect on my spending - and my diet and fitness. I find 3 good, proper meals a day, with puddings with 2 of them, fills me up good and proper. So I'm winning all around now.
Again, this was another thing I struggled with and, again, practice makes perfect (or not, as the case may be, but it's fun trying). I'm on my own so often batch cook now. I didn't have a freezer when I first left my husband so couldn't make the most of it. Now I have a giant freezer and it's always full of home made ready meals. The first ones were awful and I hardly ever felt like them and would end up getting a takeaway anyway. But, as I say, once you get into the swing of things, you learn from mistakes, don't beat yourself up, and get there in the end.
A 4 week mealplan was what often put me off. I couldn't think of enough variety to make something different every day for 4 weeks and it was really scary. So I started with baby steps - did a one-week meal plan just before I went shopping, wrote a shopping list for what I'd want for the meals, then went through the freezer and cupboard crossing off what I already had in. Now it's easier, as soon as I open the one in the cupboard, I put a new on on the list, but frozen food tends to go on the list when I've used the last of something.
Now I have enough ready made meal plans for several weeks, but I found doing them 1 week at a time was how I got into it properly.
Ha ha - yes, my first attempts would take all day. Now they take a few minutes.
I'm not a big veg eater, but I do try to have a good variety of some veg - and my list is getting slightly longer. I'll have broccoli and cauli with one meal, say, baby carrots and baby broad beans with another, green beans and mushrooms with another, and peas and sweetcorn with another. This is a BIG step forward as I used to have peas and sweetcorn with everything. Sometimes I'll do a green medley and have broccoli, green beans and peas. But the one thing that annoys me is I have to have just frozen veg as fresh goes off too quick as I'm on my own.
Hear, hear - yeah. Baby steps. :T Give it a go and let us know!
MY WINS
£3,541 CASH; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets
I'm going to have to start going to local greengrocers. Tesco always has offers on strawberries, but they're nowhere near a 500g pack. :eek: I can see I'm going to have to start making more of a trip of my shopping, er, trip.
MY WINS
£3,541 CASH; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets
Did my final shop for June on Saturday and was delighted it only came in at £34.14 against a £40 budget. I've done really well this month, declaring for June at £134.56. :T
This gave me a savings pot for June of £25.44 just from the grocery challenge. I did buy a DVD and I did get some bakeware, but I was still "in profit" by £2.86. This is such HUGE progress as I'm usually overspent by close to £100 per month.
I'll be starting again this Saturday (pay day on Friday), and it's another 4-week pay-day month, so Mrs M, please put me down for the same again for July - 4 x £40 = £160. Many thanks. If I manage another good month, I may reduce my weekly budget in future to £35.
MY WINS
£3,541 CASH; £50 to spend on chocolate; Harlem Globetrotters tickets; Jesus Christ Superstar tickets + 2 t-shirts; Guardians of the Galaxy goody bag; Birmingham City v Barnsley FC tickets; Marillion tickets; Dancing on Ice tickets; Barnsley FC v Millwall tickets
I'm working on about £7 a day i'm £18 in credit today, then by Friday will have another £21 to spend. Really fancying new potatoes so off out to get them,and may have a look at the tinned tomatoes and buy some ready for the shortages!
I've fallen totally for the carrot cake on the cheap family meals site, finished it for breakfast and new cake in the oven!
enjoy the beautiful weather all
poppy x
Me, 10 yo dd, and the dog. all food and drinks, in and out, plus household shopping.
Ouch! Wish you a speedy recovery freaky
Oh yeah :rotfl: - never mind
:T Very well done!
It's fab, isn't it? And so easy to make, too! And so easy to eat
ETA: Grocery spends today and yesterday total £11.50 - total so far for June £234.59
Lets hope todays budget doesn't send the prices of everything sky high
Oct10 £266.72 /£275 Nov10 £276.71/£275 Dec10 £311.33 / £275 Jan11 £242.25/ £250 Feb11 £243.14/ £250 Mar11 £221.99/ £230 Apr11 £237.39 /£240 May11 £237.71/£240 Jun11 £244.03/ £240 July11 £244.89/ £240
Xmas 2011 Fund £220