November 2010 Grocery Challenge

Skint_Catt

£14 spent for me yesterday (including 1l Baileys Hazelnut for Xmas - £9.50 )
C xx

freakyogre

Sunflower1227 wrote: »

Freakyorge - how do you do the caramelised onions please?

thanks

Hiya,

I just chop them in half then slice them, add to some oil and a bit of butter and soften for a bit. I then add a bit of salt and sugar and just keep them on a low heat until they've started to caramelise. I don't know the quantities as tend to just chuck it all in! I think some recipes say to use balsamic vinegar too, but I don't use it.

It's so yummy as a base for pizza and also in quesadillas. Mmm!

Picklepud

[]Hi - I am amazed at how small budgets seem here. We are a family of 2 adults and 2 children. I have 2 labs also. Excluding their food, our grocery bill weekly, which includes any household sundries also, ie toilet roll, washing up liquid, etc, is on average, £100. I do buy only fresh food -meat, herbs, veg, fruit and muesli. No processed foods, no take aways or ready made meals. Usually shop at Tesco. Don't have a local cheap supermarket sadly where we are.

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 adult eating kids (One extra at UNI) and 2 labs, 1 cat and fish and I spend loads my aim is to get to £100 a week!

Sunnyday - Sorry about your news fingers crossed it gets sorted soon.

This week after listing all in my freezer/cupboards i have had 2 nsd's made a sausage casserole from some sausages that where lurking in the back on the freezer for ages all went down well, it was actually easier than worrying what to give them.. On the way home tonight I was all ready to go to the shops for my first spend of the month and thought no i have a tin of dog food (one is on dry one on wet) which is what i was going for and would have bought loads more and came home... was very impressed with myself... do have to go tomorrow though, normally I would have just gone spent £40odd and not even thought about it... i am proud of myself you all deserve a slap on the back for being such great inspiration.

waddy80

Well I had my first ever Mr S order delivered. Used a £12 off £60 code I had been sent and made up the spend with some wine my dad is re-imbursing me for. So only spent £32.87, and I should only need a few bits for a couple of weeks!

Managed to convince my mum to have us over for tea tomorrow, so thats one meal I don't have to cook or pay for!

Picklepud

Forgot to say thanks for the help with the glut of milk I had made rice pudding with risotto rice... gorgeous.. some cold in the fridge might have to have some in a mo... mmmmm

katenut

I don't know it this has already been mentioned but bread flour is 3 for 3 in Tesc@ - still not as cheap as Mr A but its the only supermarket near us so we're stocking up!

First small spend today, really want to come in under budget this month but think the freezer and cupboards will be bare if we manage it! Need to get DH back into eating the occasional veggie meal xx

Flat_Eric

Sunnyday wrote: »

Morning peeps :wave:

i`m off to update my siggy shortly with spends of £17.47 in MrM.

There are a couple of things on there that wouldn`t normally be included like batteries but i`ve now decided that anything that doesn`t have a proper budget will be included. The wine making bits and bobs will also be included as i was already pondering that one last month.

Usually any bits and bats that are extra come out of what is left in the bank at the end of the month but as there`s not likely to actually be anything left now i need to account for absolutely everything and really tighten our belts.

DH went into work yesterday and the receivers had been called in so as of yesterday he is now officially unemployed for the first time in his life. He won`t get paid the wages that he is due for quite some time and it won`t be much but knowing that there`s nothing going into the bank until the end of the month when i get paid is very scary.

I need to be extra careful and look after every penny. I really need to look at the direct debits too and make sure that none of them will take us overdrawn - may have to cancel the odd one or two but hopefully with a bit of a squeeze we`ll manage.

The grocery challenge is now more important to us than ever before, but fingers crossed and chin up - we should manage ok.

I`m waiting to stock up on dogfood but can`t see the offers coming back on for a while, if there arn`t any this month i`ll do a rollover and get double when i see a good offer. I`ve enough to see us through to the end of the month as i was doing a winter stock up so thats good news

Spiggle - Hope that you`re feeling better now!

SD

So sorry to hear news sunnyday - huge hugs :grouphug: hope something turns up soon.

hex2 wrote: »

Car problems meant I had to buy milk and bananas in the Co-op :eek:

On the postive side I realised a few weeks ago that they do the big reductions first thing in the morning rather than in the evenings like I thought. If I go straight from the school run like today then there are some great RTC like today:

sirloin steaks £2
huge pack smoked salmon 75p x 2
jumbo prawns 90p x 2
chicken breasts (400g) £1.20 x 2

70% off most stuff, including the stuff already on half price offer.

ETA Sunnyday - such a horrid situation to be in. I hope something turns up soon.

Ive noticed that with Co&p - i have gone in some mornings before work for a random item only to find the steak I have been thinking of having for tea but haven't bought is sat there with 50% off :j My local Mr $ seems to reduce stuff about 7.30pm not 15 minutes before they close like I would have expected. I was too early for the cake reductions tonight but good thing really as didn't need them and not good for my waist line !

In other news two spends today have shaved a further £56 off my budget but this bought quite a lot and should be enough to last me until Sunday when I will need to pick up pack lunch stuff (but not much else). I will need to pick up some meat on Friday for my (proposed) chilli on Saturday (this will do us for tea sat and mon). Kind of meal planned but need to give it some firm thought. a job for tomorrow me thinks.

The ham I decided to have for tea tonight was one day out of date but I still used it ! both me and the cat are still here as I type this...:rotfl: it smelt fine.:D will have to pay better attention ... Must use the Butternut squash before the week is out - think I will have this with my lamb steaks and roasted red onion. mmmmmmmmmmmm

kahunababy

Hi, well it's only the second of the month and I have already spent a large portion of this months budget. Two spends over the last two days has shocked me a little so will be reining it in for the rest of the week.

Yesterday I had to pop to Tes3o for some carpet cleaner (kids have had a tummy bug) and I ended up spending £15.94:eek: I did get a couple of little stocking fillers whilst there though.

Today was another run to the shop as I had ran out of butter, again I was lured into buying things I wouldn't have normally got and had a spend of £18.73:eek: I am no holding out for the rest of the week being NSD:)

Tea tonight was a bit of a hash, as the boys and DH are all ill they didn't want what I had already defrosted for them (Chilli) so we all ended up with sandwiches for tea (hence the last min dash for butter). They are getting the chilli tomorrow night though, come hell or high water, as I have already defrosted it:rotfl:

Right I'm off to tighten my belt buckles and hopefully will not be back on here to report a spend for atleast a week, fingers crossed x

4kids4cats

Well, I've just added up my receipts for all the little shops I've done since payday (29th Oct) and as usual I have spent more than I do when I do one big shop. Going to get organised this week!
I had a veg box delivered last week - I had them for years then stopped to save money but I really like it as it inspires me to cook more varied meals. Tomorrow I am going to use the radicchio and the recipe that came with it to make a risotto.

scotsaver

Added up my receipts and logged on to update my total.

Off to the Allotment this morning to get a cabbage, some leeks and check on everything else. When I get back I want to tackle the 2 huge Pumpkins we used at Halloween, plan is to turn them into some soup, a pumpkin pie and some pumpkin muffins.;)

Have a good day everyone.:D