January 2011 Grocery Challenge

angelatgraceland

elly2 wrote: »

Have messed up my GC this week so far, i forgot i had my GC money in a different purse and have been using my every day purse to pay for shopping :eek::o have no idea how i forgot but hey ho . I have not been to the shops since weds but my lovely DD has been to pick some things up for me mainly bread, milk, pasta. I have £70 left in my grocery purse (gave her £20 today for some shopping) so before that i had £90 left and i know i have spent more than £10 since weds (i'm confused ).
Need to go shopping tomorrow for veg and spices (my takeaway secret book is here:D so going to do the curry sauce and also the donner sometime next week). I was going to make pork casserole tomorrow in the SC but the fruit shop was closed today so will do that tues so tomorrow we will have chicken and rice, am trying to meal plan using mostly what we have in apart from the stuff needed for the curry and donner meals.

This is where you must use your spending diary! If you just jot it down with the name of the shop you can amend it. Otherwise you will just need to guess. Mind you it's a case of "live and learn"-we have all done it! I keep my spending diary on my computer table! I wonder why;+)
I also dump my receipts there too-ok-its a MESS but it keeps my spending in control!
Well, its a nsd for me today-I do try not to shop Sundays as I'm a tad old-fashioned I do admit. I like it to be my day of rest-although it never is-it's my day of cooking and catching up on things which is why I don't want to shop on a Sunday. Spent 4 hours in the kitchen this morning to make a lovely dinner-as good as a Christmas one. :jThe Waitrose basic roasties let it down a bit though as they tasted floury.:eek:
Just got to update my sig now.:D Well done to those who are within their limits and very well done to all those who are not but have suddenly discovered where they have been slipping up! It's a learning curve and awareness is a great asset!:T


Edit:
Washing powder: I buy the big asda one-not sure of price but its their smartprice one-around £2.50? IAlso buy "easy" in Iceland for £1 often with about 30% extra free-10 washes I am guessing but like others I only ever use half the quantity they suggest. Daz liquid is on offer in Mr T Irecall, easy liquid in Iceland but I often buy Lidls liqud one for about £2.29-2 lites? not sure but it lasts ages.

Catslovelycats

zebredy - how about chicken soup?

Pernicious

bella121984 wrote: »

We were spending a fortune on washing powder, I need to do a load every day sometimes 2 if I need to do towels/ bedding etc...anyway we switched to MrS basics washing powder, and it does the job just fine. I think its £1.50 something for one of the big boxes, the box says it does 30 washes and that probably works out about right for us. I dont like the smell of MrTs value washing powder- its really strong!!

Thank you, I usually shop at Mr T's & rarely find cheap washing powder there - W!lko's is usually our best bet & even they're not cheap sometimes, I will be looking tomorrow on my lunchbreak & if it doesn't beat Mr S's basics I will be taking a trip there instead of Mr T's for once, it's not that much further to drive too.

a) cut them in half (if it is an option) :rotfl:I saw that in the threads for living with £1 a day and other saving threads. To be honest I never put two tablets for those that say 2 each washing. Never ever. I use only one. We do not get clothes dirty with stains (2 adults) and it is mainly the sweat of the day, so 1 tablet has been always fine. I have cut it in 2 sometimes in emergency. No difference in the wash, tbh.

b) Buy something cheap in the meantime. I googled/looked around and found around £2:


Daz Powder 680g, also said 10 washes, but is 120g less than Bold or Fairy (which you can have for 65p more) (Sains) £2.10


Ecover Delicate Washing Detergent 500ml ( 11 Washes ) (Sains) £1.79

Sainsbury's Biological Laundry Powder, Basics 2kg - £1.69

Sainsbury's Biological Liquid, Basics 1L ( 8 Washes ) - £0.99p

Sainsbury's Laundry Powder Bio 800g ( 10 Washes ) / or non-Bio/ or Colour / or 2 in 1- £1.84

Asda Smartprice Bio powder 800g is at £0.76p (according to Mysupermarket)

Sainsbury's Super Concentrated Liquid Bio 735ml / or Colour ( 21 Washes ) - £2.29

Simply Sensitive Eco Smart Laundry Tablets Non Bio x30 ( 15 Washes ) -£2.99, a bit more but I use these ones currently because my OH is sensitive to some ingredients of other brands. It says 15 washes but I use only 1 tablet each wash, and everything ok. I used 2 at some point and sometimes one of them was half dissolved, so back to one.

Surf Lavender & Oriental Capsules x20 (50% offer, sains) - £2.84

Worth going to Poundland and see what they have got there. Avoid looking around for too long though!!!

Thanks for this also, unfortunately Asd@ is too far away to make it worthwhile but I shall be checking out the others in Mr S's if W!lko's proves more expensive.

I hadn't even thought of trying to cut them in half to be honest! They're liquid filled so providing I used both halves on the same day would this work? I never use 2 for one load anyway, well I did when I first got some & it "told" me too, but I found we ended up with a lovely jellylike substance on the rubber near the door...what a waste!

Tropicalmoments

£34.88 at Mr T's today. I went in armed with my shopping list, having menu planned and checked prices on mysupermarket. I spent just over what I had planned but that was because I remembered about yoghurts and bread rolls for lunch. £139.87 (£200 budget) total so far this month which includes fuel and train tickets.

It certainly concentrates the mind when you discover you've got far less to live on than you anticipated :eek:

freakyogre

£6.00 spent since my last post.

£1.71 in Lidl yesterday on 2 packs of bacon, a box of cranberry juice and a tin of sweetcorn.
£4.29 in Morrisons today on apples, bananas, grapes, carrots, a white cabbage and a bag of salad.

I've been lacking fruit lately, so now have plenty for a while. I tend to go through phases of either eating loads or none at all.

Jolaaled

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi fedupandskint,

How do you make your marmalade please? We've got sevilles and tried a batch today in the bread maker but it didn't get to setting temp so OH has transferred it to a pan to try and get the set right.

spiggle re; the marmalade
I used Delia Smith's receipe and it turned out just fab...and i've never made marmalade before, so it's pretty foolproof.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/preserve/traditional-seville-orange-marmalade.html

happycrafter_2

Jolaaled wrote: »

spiggle re; the marmalade
I used Delia Smith's receipe and it turned out just fab...and i've never made marmalade before, so it's pretty foolproof.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/preserve/traditional-seville-orange-marmalade.html

I used delias for the first time this year with just big plain oranges but I did find it took longer than she said for the setting point but that could be because I used different oranges.

Winchelsea

Pernicious , for less than a pound you can buy washing soda, which on its own will wash clothes quite satisfactorily. You only need a tablespoonful for a load. I don't use it all the time, but do the odd load with it to save the pennies.

You can also add it to ordinary washing powder if you have a particularly dirty load. Put soda and washing powder in the drawer or straight in the drum, shut the door, and let the water run in. Switch off and leave to soak for a while before switching back on to your usual wash program.

Equilibrium

mandco wrote: »

well only 1/2 way through the month and nearly 3/4 of the way through the budget :eek: really need stop shopping lol

have stocked up on some stuff and am hoping I can still come in on budget but its gonna be hard guess the best way to look at it is whatever I end up spending its still gonna be less than I was spending before so thats a bonus

today was a good day only a small spend of £1.82 total 82p on some rolls & hot cross buns saw lots of other bits on offer that we'd use or like but dont really need and so didnt buy them :A which before i would have done & £1 on 12 kipling fruit pies from poundland didnt really need them but was such a good price & dated till next week

made a yummy fruit cake today theres lots of similar one out there but I use a recipe i've been making since i was a kid its pretty healthly too as its virtually fat free
1 cup hot black tea/boiling water
2 cups of dried fruit(you can add cherries/nuts ect at the mixing stage if you want but reduce the amount of dried fruit by 1/2 a cup)
1 cup sugar(often i use a little less)
2-3 teaspoons mixed spice (you can use cinnamon/nutmeg)
put these in a saucepan and bring to the boil for 5 mins then leave to cool for about 20 mins
2 cups SR flour( I use 1 reg & 1 wholemeal)
2 eggs
stir these into the cooled fruit mix(add cherries/nuts if using)
pour into a greased/lined tin and bake for approx 50 mins in 1lb loaf tin till knife comes out clean (i often make 2 and cook side by side)
depending on the size/ shape of tin & cup size you use it may take a bit longer

right i'm off to catch up with the rest of this tread coz it grows so fast

Just had to quickly pop on and say Thankyou Mandco for this recipe. I had all the ingredients in so i decided to give it a go tonight and its brilliant, tastes very yummy ! thankyou for sharing:beer:

happycrafter_2

Well I am all set to go food shopping tomorrow, challenge is supposed to start 15th to 15th but due to weekend can't start it till tomorrow. I have lists all sorted a 2nd purse for shopping money sorted and have been browsing bento ideas for lunch boxes.

I was all excited ready for tomorrow but LLoyds TSB have well and truely :mad::mad: me off, I have just posted in banking section about it.

Will post my totals tomorrow, also OH really impressed with dinner for friends last night!

starter of spicy carrot and lentil soup with homemade bread (made dough, rolled it out and baked flat and then tore it in to chunks.

main meal was mixed game terrine (rabbit, phesant and partridge and orange, port and cranberry stuffing) served with quinelles of celeriac mash, green beans tied with spring onions, baby carrots and savoy cabbage with chestnut mushrooms was delishhhhhh.

he did it all on his own and the kitchen was spotless afterwards and was made of things we had in stock.