September 2010 Grocery Challenge

katholicos

Today we nipped into Co-op and to our delight, found lots of enormously reduced fresh produce. 3 x bags of peas ready for podding at only 15p per bag...2 packets of french beans for 15p each, bundle of celery for ...yup, 15p...fresh mixed veg, bags of washed and ready to eat salad and even a tub of blueberries for only 15 p each. I didn't even end up paying for it all, Mum did :-)

We ate lunch at Mum's today too and i just fancied something sweet so i made myself a syrup sponge...3 mins in the mike. Less than 3 mins to eat. Yum!

I'm growing lots of veg but the season is coming to the end for a lot of things and well, prices like this just can;t be overlooked, especially considering most of it can be frozen.

scotsaver

Morning everyone and hugs to those that need them.;)

JulieGeorgiana - if I have any spare left at this time of year I would buy "extras" to put aside for Xmas.:cool:

Had a busy weekend cooking and baking, getting so much stuff from the Allotment as everything coming to an end so been busy turning things into meals that can be put in the Freezer or used straight away. Menu plan was changed from Friday due to what I picked at the Allotment, had friends over for Dinner on Saturday and there was so much leftover for yesterday so we are having our Sunday roast tonight - Chicken and all the trimmings.

Making a start today on my Xmas Cake, Xmas Puds and Mincemeat - had the fruit etc soaking overnight - the Kitchen smells very Festive.;)

Have a good day everyone.:D

JulieGeorgiana

My husband and I decided that since winter is approaching... I would spend the extra money on dried beans and lentils (13 different packs for £10 actually) as during the winter we like stews and soups... and these bulk out food nicely... and with so many different packs... the variety would mean more soups over the winter!

I think my husband liked this idea just because he is fed up with lentils and barley (which is all I have in)!

Also... I am going to make some refried beans with pinto beans (my son loves this with tacco's and it costs a packet!!) so lets see how much money I can save next month by stocking up this month!

Thank you everyone for suggestions x

suzybloo

Morning folks, spent a total of £8.27 yesterday on rolls, milk, bread and bacon but should have a NSD today as everything is sorted for todays meals etc. which is great as I could not face a trudge round Tesco - ohn how I dislike that shop so much!

greent

EvieSaver wrote: »

I love reading all the comments on here. Makes me feel normal!:j

:rotfl::rotfl: But I know *just* how you feel!

Spends going up higher than anticipated this month for 2 reasons:

• Mr T sent lots of vouchers (4 x£10 off £30) in the post and have given me till spits (2 x £6 off £40). I've used these for stocking up on things like the pasta, though (still have 2 x £10 + 1 x £6 to use) Worst case scenario I'll buy some presnts in there to use them (not inc in GC)
• DH is living 'up North' in the week and I wasn't including his food spends after speaking to accountant's assistant. However, after speaking to accountant last week I need to do his expenses differently, so should really include his grocery spends in our budget (means I may go over this month, as budget was reduced to take account of him not being here) This week I've sent him off with a food parcel of sorts (non chill stuff) to stop him buying some bits - he wont look for deals or be buying in large enough quantities (things llike crisps)

I'm going to Mr T's today to use a £10 voucher. Have written a list and prices and it comes to £30.70 - will see if I can stick to this!! I have been quite good on the voucher front in that if I have spent more than the voucher needed (by say more than £1.50) I've put stuff back/ given it to the cashier.

Next month I shall start stocking up on the VAT-able items :eek:

CupOfChai

I so agree with those who don't get people who don't get it about this. I know someone who has actually told me they don't have much money and has to watch the pennies, yet they only ever seem to buy ready meals or top branded or "Best", "Finest" etc everything! I just look at it and think "What are you doing?!"

Winged_one

I managed to spend just €45 this weekend. I had €13 in vouchers to use (money back on my points), therre were a load of BOGOFs on things I buy anyway, I got a few things for my gran that she asked for and she overpaid me (I argued but she insists and if I don't accept, she won't ask for what she needs - I usually manage to undercharge a bit) and I got a pack of whoopsied lamb burgers for last night (half price at €2.24).

The free range eggs, sambo ham (large packs), and werthers (for the car) were all BOGOF (and I actually was going to get eggs and ham anyway, and needed sweets next week). I also got own brand choco rice and a chicken chasseur packet mix half priced (whoopsied). And the fresh pasta parcels were on a good deal (buy 2 for €6, saving €2) - they were the good ones, and had long dates on them so well worth it for us (we like to have these in the fridge for easy dinners on mad nights, or for DD's dinners when we are late and eating later than her).

We will need bread and milk during the week but probably about €5 worth.

We had tomato linguine on Sat night, using tomatoes from the garden and garlic dough balls I had left in the freezer (half a whoopsied pack from Sains a couple of months ago). Yesterday, we had ham toasties for lunch, to use up the last 2 slices of ham which were dated Sat ( cooked for safety), a garden tomato and some cheese. I made a brocolli and gorgonzola soup using what I got in the plot and the remains of an open pack from Lidl (DD likes it as part of cold teas some nights, but she wasn't going to finish it all). We had the burgers with homemade potato wedges for dinner, and I made a strawberry smoothie for DD and I for dessert, using strawbs from the freezer, 2 mushy old banans, the end of the carton of apple juice DD had started in the morning and a scoop of icecream,

Tonight, we are having a chilli DH made last night from mince in the freezer.
And the rest of the week, we will be eating mostly from the freezer - I will make a risotto verdi one evening using pea stock from freezer and fresh peas I got on Sat morning, but otherwise it will be meat dinners. I am slowly finding gaps in the freezer so that I can start re-filling with batched dinners.

Winged_one

O forgot to add, just seeing JulieGeorgiana's post, that I managed to get a nice collection of borlotti beans already dried off from the plot on Saturday - I put them on the windowsill for 24 hours once I podded them, just to make sure, and then I put them in a jar in the cupboard instead of freezing them like last year. All ready for winter stews.

And I got another stew worth of older peas, which I did freeze (I think I have about 7/8 now frozen), as well as enough smaller ones to use in the risotto on Thurs (to cheer DH up after his morning in the fracture clinic).

nat21luv

im quite disappointed...ive been to london for the weekend and had to rent out a car and pay for the petrol(not included in my grocery amount) so that hit my purse hard then had to order room service in the hotel as the restaurant was closed by the time we checked in, 24.90 (12.39 for a burger!!!:eek:) this was included in grocery and then of course the other half neeeeded to get some 'stuff' from the shop(luckily for me the nearest shop was a lidl!) so we ended up spending. so my totals over half and its only the 13th

nat21luv

...i forgot about the 15.80 spent on fish and chips in dartmouth on friday