September 2010 Grocery Challenge

Long_tall_sally

Well I am getting very close to my target (again!) although I think I am actually do far better than I was at this point in previous months. I spent about £10 today in the market on fruit n veg, £20 in Sainsburys which admittedly did include a few unnecessaries such as Doritos, biscuits & beer and £7 ish in Farm Foods on milk, crisps for pack lunches, tin foil, orange juice and hot chocolate.

I made some vegetable soup yesterday which was alright but wasn't actually as nice as the veggie soup that my 11 year old daughter made on Monday in school & I used my own stock from a previous cooked chicken so don't knowc what happened there!

Greent - I made sausage casserole using your recipe except I didn't have any peppers or red wine but put in a bit of beef stock and mushrooms instead & it was nice. The only thing is the kids just eat he sausages and wouldn't eat the sauce which was annoying & Oh moaned that there wasn't enough sausage for his liking. I used 6 jumbo sausages from the Co Op which I thought would be fine for 2 adults, 1 teen & 1 11 yr old but obviously not. Still I will make it again so thanks.

I am not sure what day my challenge will end this month. OH normally gets paid on the 26th but as it Sunday I am not sure whether he will get paid Friday or Monday. Whichever way though, I have a feeling that next month is going to be hard as the supplies in the freezer are going down. I have been sticking to my meal planning so far though!

miss_empty_piggy

Been reading all the posts and everyone seems to be doing really well, so well done you. Total spend on groceries is £91.26/£200 so not doing too badly. Thinking about the challenge really does help to stop me spending on little unnecessaries though and I hardly ever go to the supermarket anymore (I used to go EVERY day!!!) No wonder I am skint.

Take care x

ChocClare

laloopi wrote: »

Another 45p spend today as we'd ran out of full fat milk for our baby. It would be more economical for us to all have full fat milk but I can't convince DH to do so.

laloopi, if you save the little milk bottles for your baby, could you not buy a big bottle of milk and then decant into the smaller ones and freeze? I know it's only pennies, but it would then work out the "same" as the milk you and your OH have. I get pint bottles from work - I find them very useful for freezing stock - and they clean out perfectly well with a bit of fairy and some hot (not boiling) water, particularly if you do it as soon as you finish the bottle. Just a thought.

An NSD for me again today. I would say woohoo, but it's only because I forgot to go to the shop to get my contact lens solution. Oops.

cw18

ChocClare wrote: »

I get pint bottles from work - I find them very useful for freezing stock - and they clean out perfectly well with a bit of fairy and some hot (not boiling) water, particularly if you do it as soon as you finish the bottle. Just a thought.

Many thanks for this info. I've been debating whether this would work, as I rarely get through a 4-pinter on my own but buying smaller bottles works out a lot more expensive (to the point I buy the 4-pinters, and if I have to tip away a pint from each one it's still not working out any more expensive than buying a 2-pinter on a more regular basis).

And the 1 pint containers will fit in my freezers much more easily than a larger one, so I see an expensive spend coming up (when I actually have some space in my freezers ) on some 1 pint bottles, followed by less frequent purchases of 4 pints which won't get wasted any more - so hopefully a saving to be made in the longer term :T

katenut

Thought i was doing really well this month, until i was reminded today that i have half a lamb arriving next week to put in the freezer (about £45) - nice local reared lamb, but blows a third of my budget for this month!! Have told DH we are eating out of the freezer for the next week so we can fit it all in

I'm thinking about a yearly challenge next year, as a lot of the things we buy are in bulk. Would love to know how much we spent per year before this challenge though!

Herbyme

Thanks very much loulou for that good advice. I especially like the bit about cooking once and eating three times, I hate meal planning. But I wonder if our freezer is big enough (actually, I know it's not) so may try to get another free one off freecycle, the last one packed up in the end after 2 years so not bad value! Also thanks to someone for the weezl thread tip, will check that out. Did look at the feed a family for £25 site but don't think mine would do seed spread or porridge for breakfast every day, must look at the rest of it tho.

Doing a bit better lately, 4 NSDs altogether (I think! unless I lost some receipts!) but am away this weekend so DH may go a bit off plan for a quiet life!

selloptape

scotsaver wrote: »

Did anyone watch the TV programme on Channel 4 last night "Food" - turns out that the cheaper unwashed Maris Piper potatoes are from the same Farm as the twice the price potatoes - the only difference is the more expensive potatoes have been washed and are all a larger/similar size

This made me smile - my friend used to work at a potato factory, her job was putting the mud onto potatoes that had been washed, I never really figured out the sense of that one, just loved that they all called it a factory and never a farm

Not doing too badly on the spending so far but I think this is because summer holidays are over so I'm not constantly getting my son snacks whilst he's out and about. It's been really motivating reading everyones thoughts so thanks!!

Shysarah

Took my mum to Sainsbugs today to do her shopping for the weekend as my sister her hubby and baby are coming to stay.
I picked up some great reduced/whoopsie pork mince, broccoli, spring onions and a smoked gammon joint. Also some fresh bread for a treat washing up liquid etc got to the check out and my mum insisted on paying so I have no idea what it came to and will class it as a very kindly gift. Am also converting mum to the whoopsie hunt and she got meat and veggies too.

My freezer is stocking up nicely I need to do another inventory in about a week and assess how prepared I am for two weeks laid up post
op.

Oh was also very annoyed... went to my local butcher, asked for some ham hocks thinking yummy cheap meat etc... reply..

'Oh we don't do those anymore people don't eat that kind of thing now' Mmmm I would if I could buy it, were not even interested in ordering me some in!

scotsaver

Shysarah wrote: »

Oh was also very annoyed... went to my local butcher, asked for some ham hocks thinking yummy cheap meat etc... reply..

'Oh we don't do those anymore people don't eat that kind of thing now' Mmmm I would if I could buy it, were not even interested in ordering me some in!

Shysarah - don't know if you have a Morrison's near you but I know they sell these as I've bought them in the past.;)

Dinner tonight will be HM Chicken Fajitas, using a chicken that I managed to get whoopsied and using Peppers grown in the garden and will be making MRSMC's wraps so the only thing I will have paid for is the Chicken.:D

Popping to the Allotment today to see what I can pick for the weekend - have a good day everyone.;)

elf06

Morning all - cant wait for today to end!! I am on holiday next week and it cant come soon enough :rotfl:. I have planned a full weeks meals (as my mum and dad are away so wont be feeding us at all) and have posted them on the mealplan thread so fingers crossed I will stick to it. Not much needing bought for it so even better
Bought a few little bits yesterday totalling £10.12 but I got a reasonable amount for my money (had expected it to cost a bit more) and even got some reduced finest potatoes . Now have all I need to make Weezl's nut roast (which I may do on Sunday) and the fresh stuff to make some new soups for the freezer.
Hope everyone has a good day

(best off and update my sig )