October 2010 Grocery Challenge

rosieben

We're now into a third post for the GC Recipe index

Here are the 'overflow' recipes collected since early this month (if I've missed any please let me know). When the November thread is up and running I'll have a sort out and put them away tidily


Cheap and Cheerful Jambalaya
Cheese and Lentil Loaf
Couscous with chorizo & chickpeas (ext. link)
Liver and bacon pate
Moroccan Inspired Braised Chicken (ext. link)
Sausage and Potato Roast

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Piccalilli - Diva's pick a lilly
Spiced Apple Chutney

cw18

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

I haven't been thinking about VAT at all but it's such a good point- is there a magic list on the net somewhere which tells you what items have VAT?

Still looking.....

Used to be able to tell from till receipts from some supermarkets (they put an asterisk against them), but that doesn't seem to be the case any more.

The only list I've found so far - and that I stand even half a chance of understanding - is only foodstuffs, and seems to be aimed at the catering industry as it tells them what they have to charge VAT on

It's here if you want to try and make sense of it, as I'm sure a lot of it will cross over into general grocery shopping as well

Herbyme

Spiggle, you are sooooo right, it has been a very long month. I have not done well this month, toomuch work has distracted me (tho also paid for the excess!) and that's a useful lesson to learn. Just the process of tracking my spends is useful. Will do better next month (will have to - no work on the horizon...) Well done to all those that have come in around budget!

JayJay14

VAT on food:-

In general all food is VAT free, raw or cooked, there are some anomalies though.

Chocolate for cooking is free but confectionary is not.
If the chocolate is on a cake then it is a food and therefore VAT free (think jaffa cakes)
If the choc is on a digestive though ihas VAT on it, but not other biscuits without choc (so a tin of assorted biscuits may have VAT at 5% if there are some choc biscuits).
Crisps have VAT but if they are made of wheat (eg wheat crunchies) they are VAT free.

Sweets have VAT but sugar is VAT free.

Edit - and VAT on icecream, it's all the good stuff isn't it.

So if you are buying food of almost any sort, that isn't snacks or confectionary, in a shop there is no VAT, but if you buy food in a cafe or takeaway you will pay VAT. It used to be VAT for eat in food and exVAT for takeways but it's all VAT now.

Hope I haven't confused you all more.

cw18

The list I'm looking at says Juice & Juice Concentrates are 'standard rate VAT'. I take this to mean things like pure orange and cranberry juice (which I use), and further down the table it specifically mentions cordials & squashes which are subject to VAT (but which I don't use)

Also

zero rated - Other food additives such as baking powder, cream of tartar, rennet, lactase & pectin for culinary use
standard rated - Non-food additives such as bicarbonate of soda, saltpetre & other single chemicals for use in brining or other processing of meats or fish (the bicarb being the one of interest to me in this list)

will also need to watch out which section I get my dried fruit snacks from, as
zero rated - Sweetened dried fruit held out for sale as snacking and home baking
standard rate - Sweetened dried fruit held out for sale as confectionery/snacking

and another that's likely to hit me
standard rated - Cereal, muesli and similar bars with honey or other added sweetening matter (I have a cereal bar every break time at work)

and yet another
standard rated - Compressed fruit bars, consisting mainly of fruit and nuts, with added sweetening matter including honey (have also started having a 'compressed fruit bar' at break times, so need to check the ingredients and try and figure if it's vat-able, but probably is)

Craftyscholar

M%S - £6.97

I do need to do another shop before the end of the month and getting close to my target.

[Deleted User]

Declaring today and have saved £69.11 out of my £120.00 food purse for October.Lots of freezer stuff used up, and also from my cupboards Which I am very pleased about.My new month starts next Monday with £120.00 as usual for the month.I have no shopping to get until probably the end of next week as I stocked up on my F&V and milk,bread ect tonight.I am very pleased with this months totals as it means I have used stuff from in my stores rather than buying more in . I shall try to do this again in November as I want to run down my freezer a bit so I can defrost it:j:j:j:j

katholicos

Well done, Jackie O. You are an inspiration to me :-)

muffin_man_7

jackie well done on lowering your stock of food.
I'd like to do this too but i have a few problems

1. the kids wont be helpfull or assist 2. it will take forever on my own i'm not a big eater and 3. HOW will i ever be able to restock

If we all use our store cupboard stuff up to help us come in on budget what happens over next few months when not a lot in store cupboard as we've used it, we won't have a grocery budget big enough to eat for 4 weeks and restock how are most of us going to manage that? i know if i use up most of our stock it would be a very long time before i could say i've got a months worth on stand by
Has anyone considered how they would manage their budget if they had next to nothing in the cupboard, fridge or freezer??? which is why we try to build up a reserve in the first place
Any ideas gratefully received thank you

oh and before i forget again a small spend of £8.88 which brings my total to £116.94p =£3.06p left to sunday so close and yet 4 days to go cutting it very fine???

NickJW

Okay - FINALLY got caught up with posts! I wanted to read through what everyone has written before posting myself. I also need to start posting on the StoreCupboard Challenge - there just seems to have been so much going on at the moment!

First I'll start with the positives

I've only spent £4.20 in Mr S for shopping this week!. On Monday I went to a restaurant to be a 'mystery taster' for a restaurant that we're going to choose for a paid for Christmas lunch (we usually have a paid for Xmas party, but with the recession it's just a lunch now). It was LOVELY - I had Calamari for starters, Steak with chips, mixed salad and bearnaise sauce for main, and creme brulee for dessert. The 3 others in my party chose things different, but it's definately our Xmas party choice!!!

Now the negatives

On Sunday I spent £9.50 on lunch on the pub - worth it though!

Today I spent nothing, because I needed to go to a promotional party for our company after work (I get the next morning off in lieu).

Anyway - I got to work, and I was going to have my breakfast as usual, when my new boss told me that I wasn't allowed to eat today because I needed to make a good impression on our clients!!! She said that I had 'let myself go'...in public! :mad:

Okay - I'm 5 ft 12 and weigh 11 stone, but I have a limited amount of fat mass. But she is comparing me 5 years ago when I weighed 8.5 stone (i.e. - looking very ill!). I had to go do promotions tonight, without food, but I had to drink lots of alcohol! Not a sensible idea....
I got home tonight and had bowl of rice with soy sauce. Yum! (Ahem!)

I LOVE my stews, but if my job is at risk, I had better revise my menu to fit the 'weight loss' plan. It will cost me less, but....anyway....
Personally I don't think that men are supposed to look 'too' skinny anyway!

I'm going to give it one more try next month - I know that it's a 'learning curve', but I'm overbudget..... I really don't like 'losing', and it's starting to become very disheartening for me!