November 2010 Grocery Challenge

Cherry_Blossom_4

NickJW wrote: »

Cherry_Blossom...if you put the £150 target in big red figures the mods will be able to put you down. It's always good to welcome new people to join in with the money saving cause

Done, thank you

Linda32

Hiya,

I'm trying for £375 this month,
Month started 29th October and finish 26th November

New Total £78.69

This weeks shopping £39.64

New total: £115.33

I'm looking at £75.00 per week, so this total shouldn't be more than £150.00 by next Friday.

Spiggle

jintyb wrote: »

... I've only recently started shopping at Mr T cos they sent me vchrs, but each time there has been a mistake on my receipt, usually to do with linked savings.You've got to watch them like a hawk and check your receipts.;)

Hiya jintyb,

Thanks for the tip about checking receipts from MrT. I read your post and immediately checked through yesterday's receipt again. And guess what? I bought 6 packs of butter at £1.29 each :eek: and only 5 of them got charged for! Yay £1.29 up on the sm for a change!!!!! :T:rotfl:

Chloris wrote: »

... they have what appears to be a good offer on braising steak cubes in the C**p at the moment, 3 packs for £10. I'm new to buying meat for the new slow cooker so I'm not sure how good a deal this is. Might be worth trying a butcher?

Hi Chloris,

I would definately check my local butcher to price compare though you will need to know what the weight of the three packs are first. Initially to me that seems quite expensive to me for braising steak but as I say it depends on the weight.

Menolly, I hope things get better for you soon. :grouphug:

SunnyDay, fantastic news for you I'm really pleased. :T

Good morning peeps and welcome to all our newbies. :hello:

As you can see from the above, I went and did a big shop at MrT yesterday. The total paid was £75.96 :eek: which according to the receipt would have been £91.66 without the multibuy savings of £15.70. I also have to add another £1.29 saving now too!

I got quite a few multibuys including the 3 x flour, H**nz tinned toms, H**nz baked beans (2 x 4 pack for £3), 2 x 1ltr ice cream £2, large On*en Yog pots @ 2 for £2, plus fab cond 2 for £3, toilet cleaner 2 for £1.60 and 2 large Fa**y wash up liq for £2. I really wish I could stomach the taste of Cath**ral C**y cheese as that would have saved me a fortune but it is just too too salty and grainy.

For the first time ever something on my list was whoopsied. I needed pizza (I know, we will get around to making them one day! ) and they currently have the Pr*ma Fr**co on offer down from £3.49 each to £1.74 but they're obviously not going quickly enough in our MrT as they had loads in the whoopsie fridge down to 89p. So I got four, result! :dance: I had one last night and they really are a very nice pizza but I would never ever pay the full price for them.

So I wouldn't say this is a weekly shop or a monthly shop but rather a stock up shop. Sig is updated by the way. I can't see us having to do another like this in November but we will see. I will have to get more cheese, milk, fruit and veg and of course we'll need to visit the butcher this weekend.

I want to make up a few batches of sweet things like the wonderful twinks hobnobs, choc brownies and the like. I've been fancying something sweet but I'm too mean these days to buy biscuits and things when I know I can make them so cheaply. Ooh, actually there is one thing that I do buy very regularly and that is Ke***ggs Elev**ses bars. Anyone know of a recipe to make something similar to the delish raisin variety? :question: I love the mix of oats, moist cake and juicy raisins and have one every morning in work with a nana as my brekkie.

Well I'm off to get my hair cut this later this morning and boy do I need it! Been meaning to do it for weeks but finally got it organised this week.

The rest of the day is going to be spent on Quidco finding out the best prices (and cashback ) for my house/contents insurance and breakdown cover both of which are up this month. Thank goodness the piggybank fund for these has been running for quite some time and I should be able to cover both out of the accrued amount.

Ok, enough of my morning essay (sorry ). I'm off to find some good deals I hope. Speak with you all later. Keep up the brilliant work of saving. :T

Take care,
Spigs

waddy80

I've managed a couple of NSD's and have stuck to my plan. I'm nipping into town later so I'm gonna do a whoopsie hunt!

Long_tall_sally

I had to go to Aldi last night to get some stuff for OH's Mum & invariably that meant that I ended up buying some bits myself plus at Lidl that is opposite. Then this morning I went to a new Tesco Express that has just opened this morning in our town & also to the Co Op to see if they had any early morning whoopsies. End result is another £30 onto my spends! From now on though, I really need to keep away from the shops & in theory I will only need some F & V, milk & possibly crisps so I shall try.

Sunnyday - glad your OH has got something work wise.

slbhill

Did my big weekly shop at MrT's last night, took longer than normal due to all the price checking but I did very well sticking to my list, and even with all the freezer stuff (restocking after defrosting it last week) I only spent £59.81 - v impressed with myself as usual weekly spend is £50ish.

I did splash out 35p on a pumpkin reduced from £1.99 in the aftermath of Halloween! Ok they were only about 75p before Halloween but it's still cheap. Any suggestions what to do with it??

I found a lovely looking recipe for pumpkin & almond cake but it needs 200g of ground almonds which are stupidly expensive at £1 for 100g :eek: That would rather counteract the saving LOL.

LannyLee

slbhill wrote: »

Did my big weekly shop at MrT's last night, took longer than normal due to all the price checking but I did very well sticking to my list, and even with all the freezer stuff (restocking after defrosting it last week) I only spent £59.81 - v impressed with myself as usual weekly spend is £50ish.

I did splash out 35p on a pumpkin reduced from £1.99 in the aftermath of Halloween! Ok they were only about 75p before Halloween but it's still cheap. Any suggestions what to do with it??

I found a lovely looking recipe for pumpkin & almond cake but it needs 200g of ground almonds which are stupidly expensive at £1 for 100g :eek: That would rather counteract the saving LOL.

How about a nice curry?

Or if you go to R1verfords website you can search for recipes using specific veg & there will be loads of good things on there.

HTH.

SherlockFan85

Hello,

Immensely late, but could I please be put down for £250 again this month? I wasn't able to continue with last month's challenge but I would like to start this month.

So far a £12 spend in Mr T and £5 in Mr S yesterday, as I want to spread the cost of the big xmas food shop, so am buying good deal non-perishables that are on my list. I'm cooking xmas dinner for 4 in the middle of the day and a buffet style tea for 6 in the evening - for the first time ever, and I've only learnt to cook anything at all three months ago! :eek: Not to mention all in a miniscule kitchen!

Mr T buys: magazine, tomato flavoured roll, biscuits for cheese selection box (half price), three £1 boxes of own brand chocs - orange slices, choc brazils and mint thins -, horseradish sauce, mint sauce, cranberry sauce, wholegrain mustard, pitted black olives, bread sauce sachet, chicken stock cubes.

Mr S buys: loaf thick white (OH thinks medium sliced is paper thin!), 1 pint milk, cheese and ham chicken escalopes for dinner (as mum was guest), peach and raspberry sparkling drink 1ltr, cheese and onion flavoured roll for today's lunch.

Unfortunately it is impossible for me to ever really meal plan, as my OH works in the police and his shifts change daily. We're supposed to know what hours he is doing a week in advance, but they change often by several hours, so suddenly he will/will not be in for dinner. I also need to keep a stash of microwavable ready meals for him, as that is the only way he can eat something more substantial without constantly resulting to a take-away. At the same time I need to make sure that I have a meal to make for myself, which is annoying at most items come in even numbers and I would prefer for both of us to have them together, rather than just one of us at a time.

For the last week he has been working 4pm-12am, so is asleep when I leave at for work 6.30am and out when I get home at 5.30pm. Today he's doing 6pm - 2am, we're like passing ships in the night! Oh well, as least I'll see him this weekend for most of the day (same hours again tomorrow and off Sunday) :T I just hope he doesn't get any firecrackers thrown at him!

Just a quick reminder to myself of what's currently in the (teeny) freezer:
2 x tuna steaks in garlic and butter sauce
2 x salmon fillets in lemony breadcrumbs
2 x Bird's Eye beef and onion individual pies
28 x Bird's Eye Fish fingers
1/2 bag McCain salt and pepper wedges
mini twisters and feasts

Looks like we need replenishment in Mr A tomorrow!

Love and hugs to all, hope you have that Friday feeling :beer:

NickJW

2 small spends to report

£3.08 in Mr T last night, and £3.44 in Mr S today...I woke up this morning and noticed I didn't have any coffee left, so am just starting to perk up from my early morning foul mood :rotfl:

Updated signature.

sharronej

well, I've totally blown my 'try and get by on ten or fifteen pounds this week' After an order to BBFL for £42.00, a £15 spend at the greengrocers and a £20 spend in MrT takes me to £77 :eek: But sometimes these offers really are too good to miss and I have ordered some food towards Christmas so don't feel too bad