January 2011 Grocery Challenge

esmer

NSD for me, I had my bolognese I made the other day, and I had everything I needed in the cupboard. I also made my sandwiches and took them to work, so no need to buy lunch. I bought a coffee, but that is out of my work budget. of which I have 14.00 left and whatever is left from that is going into my pot

Long_tall_sally

PennyGrabber wrote: »

A stew is done on the hob and a casserole is done in the oven, so you could be right, depending on how you cooked it!

I generally do mine in my slow cookerso what does that does make mine then? :rotfl:

Ilona

martafdz wrote: »

After talking about eggs, omelettes and left overs I went and made an omelette with the potato wedges I had left from two days ago and some bacon.

Scrambled eggs, spring onions and asparagus is a traditional Spanish dish, specially in the east and south. They (or "we", since I am from Spain lol) add prawns or mushrooms sometimes.

That looks delicious, I keep forgetting about omlettes, generally just scramble eggs. I must do more omlettes, they are so versatile. Thanks for reminding me.
Ilona

helen_jelly

Evening everyone

Have lost count a bit this week but guessing at about £15 so will add that to my siggy in a mo

I will be going over but I know why - bought enough loo roll for the next 2 months, washing liquid and softener for the next 11 months and dishwasher tabs for about 10 months - they were all on offer. Also had Dad in hospital for sometime now and that has put my routine out the window completely and although he will be in for some time to come I am attempting to get back to "normal" on Monday
I'm guessing I'll be over by about £50 but as I've bought so much I'll be happy with that
Storage is an issue at the moment!! Just lost a double cupboard in the kitchen in preparation for a new boiler being fitted soon - had to sqeeze things in and around each other - need to be careful how I take things out of the cupboard as they are all likely to topple!!

Had a quick skim of the thread but can't remember anything!! Sorry

Gotta go now
Helen x

martafdz

jammy_dodger wrote: »

just a thought on your coffee 11p as you say is so much cheaper than coffee machine but sounds like you would have access to a kettle if you are taking sachets could you not take a jar or small sealed plastic tub with coffee and coffee mate mixed together and sugar if you take this and use instead of sachets , i take this to work and it is just like the sachets and would save you a further bob or two

just a thought hope you dont mind
jd xx

Yeah, I had that too. The problem is I never go to the same school and carrying around both the coffee jar and the cofee mate plus all the usual stuff was a bit inconvenient, since it made me carry a small bag around or fill the handbag too much. These satchets are thin, like the sugar satchetts from coffee shops. So I just take 2 and put them with the pencilcase for the day.

Ilona, I also forget too often!!!

NickJW

PennyGrabber wrote: »

A stew is done on the hob and a casserole is done in the oven, so you could be right, depending on how you cooked it!

It was done on the hob so I was right! Thanks for the explanation - my mum said that 'stew' was a northern term and 'casserole' is a southern term. I'll be setting her straight tomorrow! :)

Ilona

Hello Hippeechiq :hello:
I went a bike ride today to check how long it would take me to cycle the six miles to Tes&co. 40 mins there and 50 mins back. While I was there I checked out the reduced prices, and got some bargains.
2 bags brussel sprouts £1.10
organic leeks 45p
pancakes 14p
2 packets of teacakes 38p
seeded bread 60p
oatcakes 38p
2 bags organic spinach 78p
Total £3.83. Would have been £9.17 so saved £5.34
Didn't cost anything to cycle there and it was good excercise. If I do it more often I will have to get some panniers though, I had a job to get it all in my bag on the back.

Dinner tonight was day 2 of a three day stew. :dance:
Can't find a smilie for windy :rotfl:
Ilona

pension-newbie

stopped off to buy a sneaky chocolate for Mrs P-N at Mr T. Got some large Quality Streets for 22p (from 45), two whoopsied loaves 17p crumpets and some choccy brioche

not healthy but under £2 !!

Pernicious

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Think that's the washing stuff I have, and I find half a lidful does very nicely on regular dirt, and still makes the clothes smell nice. I find now, that if i use as much as they say, the scent is too strong! Obviously, for really dirty stuff (mud, ketchup and the like) I use a tad more, but even then, not as much as they say! HTH

I decided to do a "test load" using only half a cap - came out fine & smelled lovely :j I think I will be buying this from now on rather than the liquitabs as I can't split them & have to use the amount they say.


My trip to Mr T's proved successful - I must say just being under the eye of people on this thread is a fantastic way to reduce spending, I wouldn't want to have to admit I failed the challenge because those reduced donuts looked good

The bread was still on offer incase anyone is interested, so I came away with only spending £5.15 on 2x loaves of bread, 2x 4 pints of milk, bananas, & stir fry veg for tea tomorrow.

I will update my sig in a sec, leaves me with £1.22 to spend if I need too - but I don't think I will :j

Missus_Aka

Total spend so far £138.43 have only spend 99p on toilet roll, so have £11.57 left till 31st, but i will make it....have 2 chicken breasts in the freezer, beef & potatoes (1meal), chickpea curry (2meals), meatballs with potatoes (1meal), tuna sandwiches (1 meal), tuna filling (1meal), pilau (3meals) & brinjal curry (1meal) in the fridge....all from joint family birthday party that i threw at my house today, the food in the fridge will last us 2/3 days dinners and lunches.......the fridge/freezer breaking down last night didnt help as my burger chips and chicken nuggets started defrosting so instead of throwing them out we ended up eating the lot...well at least we were full... fiddled with the fridge all day opened it up and everything and have managed to get it going again and everything seems ok. was dreading the thought of having to pay to fix it as i have just last week paid £120 to get the oven fixed and that was just parts because the electrician is a family friend so no labour....think my gc spend next month will be less as i did a lot of stocking up this month...but i will get a couple of treats with that.....i will make stir fried prawns and dolmas next month....mmmmm can taste it already. Have had no takeaways this month...coming down from at least 2 a week (sounds terrible but i was getting up at 6 to go work and not getting home till 8.30 so was exhausted) am craving chinese but am putting it off to save money...will treat myself to it for my birthday next month (saying that somebody in my family will probably do it for me) but have had a great day all my family around me 14 members we havent all been together since i was about 11 and there have been some major fall outs with them but today everyone just got on took family photos and i was so happy for all of us to be a family again.....anyway finished going on and on.....hope everyone is happy, healthy and budgeting.