November 2010 Grocery Challenge

NickJW

Well, went to Mr T prepared for a battle, but the lady at the returns counter gave me a refund. She asked what was wrong with it, and I said it was horrible, and didn't like it, looked at the tuna and said 'Don't worry, I can see where you are coming from here', opened the till and gave the money back as cash. I was a bit shocked, and asked her if she needed to deduct my Clubcard points or anything, but she just shook her head and said 'don't worry'.

So - went into the supermarket afterwards, and spent £8.69 - more bagels, 2 four pinters of milk, sandwich fillers, spring onions, and *ahem* pringles! I should know by now not to go to the supermarket on an empty stomach. When the refund is taken away it means that I spent £7.17 :T

Headed home, and realized I got on the wrong bus - the 284 instead of 484! :mad: Had to backtrack, but whilst doing this I found an A!DI...first time I have ever been, so I thought I would pop in there and ended up picking up some peppers for 69p, bacon for a £1 and 6 packs of chewing gum for 79p. I guess you have to really know what the products are like, because like Lid! nothing really 'hit' me there....

In total - £9.64 spent. I'm pretty tired now, because I set off at 11am and have been trawling around supermarkets/on buses since then! Having soup for lunch and contemplating what to do for the rest of the day...

Sue14

Got home from shopping yesterday, and found that we didn't have any teabags in the cupboard (I was convinced we got some last week) so OH got them and some tiger rolls today, so another £1.75 spend to add. BTW, I got a pumpkin yesterday (never tried it before, but thought we should give it a go), can anyone give me any ideas what to do with it? Thanks in advance!

Sue.

Chloris

Updated signature with a £18.83 spend at C**p. I treated myself to some flowers and croissants (and meat, bread, milk etc). I have a little under £70 to last until 24th and I've meal planned until then. Will do another Mr M shop (the discount deal) and need some more bits but I am expecting to come in under budget (fingers-crossed!). Croissants and quince jelly for lunch, beef in beer in the slow cooker for tea - we are eating like Kings :rotfl:. I am enjoying stew and soup season.

Chloris

Sue14 wrote: »

BTW, I got a pumpkin yesterday (never tried it before, but thought we should give it a go), can anyone give me any ideas what to do with it? Thanks in advance!

Sue.

Pumpkin soup with lots of ginger.:j

jintyb

mummygems wrote: »

Something I have noticed recently about mysupermarket and wondered if anyone else has found the same.

I always use mysupermarket before I shop and even if I buy the EXACT things the price I pay in the store is always higher than mysupermarket say it will be. Gets right on my nerves! I know they cant be 100% on their prices but still if your using it to get the cheapest/best deals then surely it should be more accurate than it is. (Or maybe its just me lol)

Bread and milk needed today so I think £3.40 for those to be added (havent been out yet).

No it's not just you! I thought I was the only one who thought MYsUPERMKT was a bit misleading!

I always plan my shop on MS and print off a list and take it with me. A lot of the time either the deals are finished or like you say, the prices are different. I stick pretty much to my list and compare any differences afterwards. Generally the prices lean in favour of the SM and not me:( Gets on my blinkin' nerves too:mad:

Well done Nick on a satisfactory result re "tuna gate".:T Sorry about the wrong bus fiasco,but still, on the plus side you discovered A£DI - someone will be along with the best buys from there I daresay!

BlimusOreilly

Very proud of my DH today. He has started well on the path to grocery challenge enlightenment!
I asked him to pop into Mr M's so that I wouldn't be side-tracked by deals and he came out with what we needed (coleslaw was even whoopsied) plus 24 Activia for 98p! So, £2.36 spent today. Will update sig now.

Long_tall_sally

No spend day today. I too have about £70 left until the 26th of November but we have 2 adults & 2 kids fulltime & OH's two boys aged 18 7 16 half the week so don't know if I will make it.

I have been baking today - a coffee cake, some Twinks & iced some gluten free fairy cakes that I got out of the freezer. Plus some soup. I have a question to ask-I added a handful of red lentils to my soup in the slow cooker as I have done this previously with no problems but I also have a bag of pearl barley soup mixture & a bag of yellow split peas in the cupboard. Can the split peas be used in soups (it just says stews on the packet) & also can the peas & the barley mixture just be added straight into the slow cooker with the rest of the soup? (Sorry, that's two questions I know!)

Also Hippeechiq - I got some of those chicken thighs from Lidl the other day which were very cheap. I am planning to cook them tomorrow in my slow cooker to then use them for a chicken pie. I know you were expecting them to be on offer a couple of weeks ago but as you were not far out with your guess, how often do you "guestimate" that Lidl's offers do come round?

NickJW - I find Lidl & Aldi both good for cooked meats, chocolate desserts, F & V, wine, biscuits & chocolate bars, flour, lard & also make good use of their offers such as the chicken thighs from Lidl & previously the mince from Lidl.

pepsi-kins

Hi All,
Really disappointed blown the budget! In my defence I have stocked up on toothbrush heads which should have been £15.99 for four, but were down to £7, so got two packs. I don't buy lots of treats or processed stuff, I really do try my best to but I just think prices are going up and up, I'm lucky there is only me and DH, goodness knows how we would manage with a family.

After the supermarket, I went to the farm shop for a few bits,I seen a recipe for herb crusted lamb shank with smashed roasted potatoes which I have been fancying for ages, so I asked the butcher for 2 shanks, as there were none on display,so I had no idea of the cost, but I thought shanks are cheap, stupid stupid me, should have asked. Two lamb shanks...£11.69!! nearly had heart failure, all I can say is they had better be very very nice!

Have a good week all x

de1amo

i am not at all stern with my wife--i am on a mission finding trek!!--my wife has always just picked up shopping etc as the week goes along. i am trying to compare her 'shops' with the bigger supermarkets that i lean toward because of my 'englishness'--i will use my supermarket link --i didnt know it existed!--i like to think of myeelf a savvy shopper but my wife is typically Turkish and just buys what is convienent in the shop she is in--she tops things up almost daily and i am trying to tell her it is better to do it at an out of town market but i need prices ideas to convince her--there is no my supermarket on the net for turks as supermarkets dont compete--they have a supermarket that is owned by tesco and a carefor but they dont 'fight'--they are out of town and we need to go to buy a bulk which means stopping the daily buying. Also my wife is too trigger happy with dial in food-its not junk food but its costly!

mongmoney

Evening All,
Just an update post. Been to FF and Sainos today, the usual milk from FF-2 x 2 litres for £1-50, then lots of other bits from Sainos. I'm trying to empty the freezer, but does anyone else struggle to ignore bargains, even if you don't really need them????
I'm not sure that I even know what's in the freezer, going to try to not buy anything else to go in it. Well, not until December.Got an invite to a friend's house for xmas, brilliant! This means all I have to do is resist all of those lovely xmas treats, I had to put stollen bites back today in Saino's, wasn't I good?!
Mongy
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November 2010 Grocery Challenge £40-20/£150
NSD'S 8/15