July 2010 Grocery Challenge

cw18

Hammered the grocery stores today.....

Started with Mr A - small spend of £4.74 (£3.24 of which was pop for DS - his favourite is an 'own brand', so I stock up when I get there)
Then Mr T - managed £14.09 here
Picked up some bits as I left work (Mr M) - came to £10.77
And onto A!di for milk - £3.27
Then went back down to work before close to do a Whoopsie hunt (and get the salad stuff I'd forgotten all day) - another £6.25

By the time my spreadsheet's done it's calculations to move staff discount and odd pennies into my sealed pot, this means £39.29 spent from my monthly budget of £106 :eek:

But I have enough frozen veg for 8 meals (don't use it every day, so should last at least 2 weeks), stuffed pasta to make 30 portions (10 different flavours in total) and chips for the month (normally once a week). If I can find somewere suitable to keep them, I reckon the spuds will also last me 10-14 days (we have a lot of pasta or rice meals, as DS isn't keen on potatoes), and I'm hoping I have enough milk for at least a week (normally get through 8 pints in 4 days thanks to DS, but bought 12 pints and he now has his pop to 'supplement' it )



Got some good Whoopsies though......

My first shop at Mr M netted me a pack of mini scotch eggs reduced to 19p from 83p, and a penne pasta bake (for DS on a night he has to 'cater' for himself) reduced to 49p instead of £1.99

My second shop there included several types of bread, a jam & cream sponge cake, a pack of 4 cream eclairs (DS has just about managed to shoe-horn what he hasn't eaten of those into the fridge), a pack of Rolo Donuts that I've been wanting to try, and two large tubs of double cream

But the best bargains were 2 minted lamb chops (235g) which should have been £3.33 for 49p, and a beef rib steak (635g) which should have been £6.65 for 99p Those have been shoe-horned into my freezer, and will be kept hidden until after DS moves out in September (something for me to look forward to )


Question for those of you in the know...... can I freeze double cream 'as is' (thinking of using ice cube trays/bags, so I have small amounts when I want it for cooking or to put in my 'once in a blue moon' coffee)?

ilovetea

Hello:wave:,
please can you put me down for £100 for July please. Have tried this challenge before but gave up before the end of the month.Ths time I'm going to do it!.
Thank you ,

ilovetea x

Kitchenbunny

cw18 wrote: »

Question for those of you in the know...... can I freeze double cream 'as is' (thinking of using ice cube trays/bags, so I have small amounts when I want it for cooking or to put in my 'once in a blue moon' coffee)?

I did that with some cream at Christmas, and when I made a coffee for my friend with one it all separated and wasn't very nice I put the cube in frozen though, so it might be different if you defrost it first. Anyone else with any other info/experience there that may be able to help?

My first NSD in ages! That is a morale booster in itself. Here's to many more.

KB xx

katholicos

Well, i haven't spent any money, but i did visit my parents and mum gave me a £5 voucher for Morrisons, so i did use it to buy some cheese that was on BOGOF and four baguettes that were marked down to .9p each, and DD put some things in the basket so that used up the remainder of the £5 voucher.

Still, it was a NSD and i haven't spent anything and got some free cheese basically, so i think that is a jolly good start to the month!

one_bill_at_a_time

Hello - can I join in please? My groceries seem to be the thing I overspend on most each month. I'd like to set myself a budget of £150 please.

Thanks for the obvious work and effort in this thread.

seductivesmile

Hi,
Instead of doing Payday to payday, i am just going to set a budget of £20 a week please!
i hopefully will be able to get thru july without spending too much, starting my week on the 4th, and will be able to save a few pennies towards a new bike!
Dad gave me a load of veg from his garden so thats a good start! and tomorrow i am going to list whats in the cupboards and freezer ready to shop with!
SS

muffin_man_7

Cw 18 the question re double cream can it be frozen it should say on container the one i get from mrA says whip before freezing so when i've whipped it just put in cube trays or pipe rossettes on a tray open freeze then putin my L&L boxes and it goes sraight on jelly then when defrosted serve do no add to anything hot while frozen though apart from bread cakes and muffins cream is the only other thing i do freeze hope that helps

suelizab

can I join please, £260 for july - 2adults one 2 yr old.

WE usually say £200 but spend loads more. Going to keeps tabs this month so hopefully it will come down ready for Augast, thanks

recovering_spendaholic

CW18 - I have never been able to freeze cream successfully - I have whipped it and frozen it and it still split but just having a quick look through google it seems that if you want to freeze it you have to whip it and add sugar which stabilizes it. Muffin man - you may be right about the different brands though.

Had a NSD yesterday:j This morning I went to Lidl and bought one of the titanium frying pans which they had on special for £12.99 - I really needed a new non-stick pan and titanium are soooo much more expensive in other places. While I was there I bought some of their mixed grated emmenthal and mozzarella and a pack of pitta breads so total spend was £14.60. Shouldn't need to buy anything else today. I found a tin of white crabmeat in the cupboard when I was doing my inventory so am looking forward to having that for lunch on pitta and we have pork and red pepper kebabs for tea.

I am so envious of you all getting so many good whoopsies. I went to Asda last night at about 8 but there was nothing good - loads of reductions but only a bit reduced IYKWIM.

I have also got all my jars out ready to make jam but I haven't been able to get any cheap fruit yet. I asked in the greengrocers and he said that he would look out for some jamming fruits in the market so I will go along there later or tomorrow and see if he's got anything. the other day it was £1.99 for a 200g punnet of gooseberries:eek: I really must try and start growing some stuff.

tessie_bear

hi....with regards to freezing cream...i have but on thrawing it defrosts and is rubbish if u heat it ...that said i gave mine a good stir and it was ok poured over fruit hth

i have just come back from the coop...got a reduced chicken and a selection of fruit and veg...so a good trip...am going to pop to asda later to get some drinks and ice cream and lollies...the kids eat them like noones business...but its cheaper than the icecream van

have a nice day
tess