October 2010 Grocery Challenge

Hippeechiq

Yeah - I feel like that too....it's a nice feeling, isn't it?

Rachel021967

I've spent £14.35 at Sainsbury's and £2.60 at the local shop. That leaves £15.07 until Sunday.

angelatgraceland

Hippeechiq wrote: »

I have considered this actually sharron but I've not been able to find any, so I assumed that they don't freeze well and gave up on the idea.

They obviously do exist if you use them though, so where do you get yours from?

I buy frozen leeks in Iceland. When I get my kitchen sorted I will get some of the flour a few of you are talking about but no room for it at the moment. Went to Lidl today and spent £70.03 but I got an unbelievable amount of food for that! DH commented today on how the veggie scrap bin is always full-he keeps emptying it! Well as I said-we are eating a lot more veg and that is the proof. Had a problem finding glace cherries to top my bakewell tarts I made yesterday. Went into Tesco for 3 packets of value peanuts, one pot of cherries and a value roll of foil-what a weird mix! Got some lovely crusty rolls in Mr M for 35p for pack of 6 and a granary loaf on special for 70p. Everything is full and Ive got trouble finding anywhere to put it! We also got the wraps in Lidl-39p ones-the right ones. They had cheese on the shelf mispriced at £1.99 for 400g when it was a 600g pack going through at £3.99. Luckily I got price checked while the till was empty before I went through the checkout. I hate the way they label their shelves-ticket above the product instead of below it like everybody else!
They have a new 200g coffee in Lidl for £1.46 Im trying. The bananas are just 55p a kilo-about same as Tesco. I doon't like their own bread though-but Kingsmill was on offer. Best place for bread is Mr M.
Butter has gone up terribly and anchor is £1.50 for 250g. I got Mr Ms own at 98p-never tried it. They had "Can't believe its not butter" at approx 69p?79p? in Mr M so got a couple of those to go with the fresh bread-total spend toay was approx £77.

Bought 2 big butternut squash in Lidl-I find they a re going into everything.
I freeze mine if I don't use it up quickly.

My cousin gave me £25 today as she sold some of my excess "Avon bargains" for me. So now Ive got a bit more to make up for what I'm "investing" in this order! Sold a fe pots of honey here and there so that helps to cover the cost of DH beekeeping hobby-it never makes profit though as when we have had bad years they had amounted to losses of hundreds of pounds-no honey and 2 beehives dying off. This year has been good foodwise both from the hives, growing food and buying bargains. Being careful with spends and doing a lot of cooking has truthfully saved a fortune.

DD cooked homemade tomato soup tonight and did the chicken wraps from scratch-along with the crusty bread and the bakewell tart tea wasn't too much effort for me personnaly-truthfully I was wornout from shopping!

seductivesmile

Hi All,
its been 3 NSD's for me in a row, although the temptation to walk across to the garage for a choccie bar at work was great. lol, i thought to myself being forced into cycling 14miles a day to get to work since my car still isnt drivable, i'm not going to eat quick fix sugar foods and had some weetabix from my locker instead.
Tomorrow will be a spend day - although i have no idea how much (not grocery) on ball bearings for my steering column, and then on fri i will prob go to the breakers yard to buy my new old door for my car so she is driveable and get the locks sorted so fri is about £50 - argh!
got in really late today as ex and i were working on my car and threw together a quick tea, used up the end of the cooked sausages (from sun) that were in the fridge with half a tin of baked beans, some bacon and toast with a poached egg... gosh it felt so good being so bad. then i allowed myself 3 squares of the HEOUGE bar or dairy milk in the fridge... i love that bar!


hope everyone is good and having lovely weeks and delicious dinners!

SS x

hamish222

Managed a NSD although was tempted by vending machine at work but resisted.

hex2

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

How have everyone else's experiences with shopping online at Mr S been??

It depends on your local store tbh. Mine is great, and they deliver for free Tue/Wed/Thu if you spend £100. I do one big monthly shop so usually manage this, although I have been known to bulk buy tobacco for DH to get it to free delivery.

Had the months household delivery yesterday which came in at £101, we have run out of lots of things so an expensive one. A third of my budget gone, amd another £40 committed for veg.

The co-op £3 chicken offer runs till the 19th (1.45kg Elmwood) so I have been stashing a few of those in the freezer.

dazzle21

Morning everyone! I have been suffering with tooth/jaw ache (wisdom tooth again!) and SPD to boot, so this has meant I haven't wanted to go anywhere and especially not near a shop! Did have a small spend stocking up on some bits for a curry and some cereal/milk (£7) and OH has taken the last £1.20 out of Septembers tin this morning as even though he has soup for lunch he fancies a treat..I've been so grumpy I feel he's earnt it! We still have plenty of food in, but I may brave the shops later as we are in need of (more!) cereal, and I quite fancy picking up a chicken from Co-Op (i need to go to PO and that is a CO-OP!) but whether i get there...another matter, if i do it will be taken from Octobers fund!
Have been suprised how well we've been doing on GC, and I suppose it does really just come down to being organised and planning meals instead of impulse buying, and we still have had takeaways which we have paid for with GC money! Like someone else mentioned we eat alot more veggies now (even if only frozen ones!) and OH has begun to accept that he can't have 2 or 3 large chicken breasts (or whatever!) at every meal and instead I make sure I add something like stuffing to the menu so he feels full and it hasn't cost us ££££. I think it finally hit home when I needed to use up 400g of turkey made it into a curry and served the lot (greedy i know) and OH complained there was too much meat..!! I nearly fell off my chair laughing, as pre GC we would have used this much meat without giving it a second thought now it is simply too much! Hoorah!! Only taken me 2.5 yrs to get him to accept this! Hugs to those who need them, and positive thoughts to you all

Craftyscholar

Co-op yesterday milk, bread and rolls - £3.21

skilly

morning all,5 nsd days so far and a small spend at mr t's of £45.00,i have also cancelled my veggie box this week i need to use up stuff from the freezer.

Winged_one

OH has been pretty impressed with the weird and wonderful meals recently. Actually, they haven't ended up that weird, just wonderful for using up cheap stuff. I had managed to get lamb burgers whoopsied a while ago which he reckoned were the best EVER and I got beef burgers the other night (again whoopsied - the organic range) which we had with fried HG onion, a dollop of blue cheese (which was on special - DD loves it so it means she eats plenty for tea), sliced HG plum tomatoes and country relish. We had potato wedges with it and, as the oven was on anyway, I put the sliced toms into it for a few mins to get lovely and soft, before layering up the bun. WOW!! (We rarely do burgers at home, or even from takeaway - but I'd do this one again!!).

Last night was a chilli which DH cooked Tues night (I put him in a good mood with burger ). And tonight, I have breaded chicken (whoopsied) to roast, with potatoes and carrots already peeled and in pots ready to turn on when DH gets in (I am late tonight). I don't know what's wrong with us this week but we seem ultra organised for a change!

I have a bacon joint for this weekend (and a HG cabbage in fridge too), but I need more spuds for that. I still have loads in the freezer, but we ARE actually using up stuff. I found a batch of chicken stock yesterday, so I think we'll have a risotto on Sat night (probably a mushroom one, as I have loads of dried mushrooms still).

Then next week, I can have IKEA meatballs, spag bol (with garlic bread), chicken korma, and a chinese pork dish, all from the freezer too. I have rice there to make a nasi goreng (or 3!) with tinned tuna. I will use up the strawberries over the weekend in a smoothie (DD has not finished bananas all week so I have a tub of half ones in the fridge).

And I might risk trying to make a minestrone soup as well, to use up some extra cabbage, frozen beans and some of the bacon leftovers too (I got a decent sized joint for a change - nowadays you can't seem to get large bacon joints!). I could also do a macaroni cheese with bacon and mushrooms. Actually, that is great, I definitely don't need to go SUPERmarket shopping this weekend - bread and milk in convenience store, fruit and veggies in F&V shop, more beans from the plot, and I think I only need eggs (which I may get from a work colleague tomorrow, or else buy in convenience store), and everything else can wait a week!! YAY!!