January 2011 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

I was not expecting to enter a shop until the 2nd but I realised last night that I only had enough dog food left for yesterday and today and was craving some fresh fruit so went to Mr S this morning.

Bought 6 x 12 tin cases for £30, saving nearly £7, and I won't need to buy any more out of this month's GC money. I was tempted to buy enough for Feb as well but they only had 6 cases of the loaf on the shelf so couldn't.

Also bought 2 bags of apples, grapes, blueberries, bananas, sunflower oil, eggs and earl grey decaff all organic as per my decision to eat more organic this year. I can get eggs and fruit with my organic veg box but there are no deliveries this week. The eggs are cheaper with the box and I have never ordered fruit so will order a fruit bag for next Friday and see how quantity and quality compares.

I have to admit to buying some very un organic hash browns for a fry up tomorrow as someone earlier mentioned they were having one and it got my taste buds going.:p:o

3 x value foil, cornish sea salt, baby pasta and 2 x 6 jumbo value loo roll brought my total to £55.05.

DH bought me HFW every day book for Christmas:T so I am planning to make the parsnip and cheese bread, carrot cake and the cheats sour dough this weekend/tomorrow as DH is out. Will make some tomato and lentil soup too as it is traditional here for the wives to make broth for their DHs to have when they get in from the pub on NY day. DH ham broth is in the freezer and the tom and lentil is for me:p

We are having a chinese tonight which will come out of the GC money. We were supposed to be going for a meal with 2 other couples and kids but DH now has to work late as someone is off and we can't make it:( Oh well, £15 on a chinese is cheaper than £50+ for the meal and we still have loads of wine and beer left after Christmas:)

cat_smith

Off to in-laws tonight so getting fed. 1st will be a NSD as we will be eating leftovers. Planning on making sandwiches from these to take to airport at OMG o'clock on Sunday morning (save on inflated prices)

Done a run through the fridge - normally would just have binned veg and half open stuff. Instead blanhed and froze veg for when we are back. Used up other bits to make brunch. Only thing that will be binned is milk as it was already frozen so can't re-freeze.

Here's to a thrifty 2011.

kezlou

youngmummy wrote: »

i need some tips hun .... theres 3 (a toddler and 2 adults)of us and im dreading trying to do a food shop on about £53 p/wk any tips my LO is 2. thanks xxxx

hi

Well it depends on what you eat, personal preferences, allergies etc
We eat a lots of eggs, home made bread,mince bulked out with lentils, carrots, tomatoes etc
Which a lot of people refuse to eat, but we like it. Well my OH and boys were forced into it without they knowledge.;)

Best thing to do is post up an idea of what you all like to eat etc and i'll see what i can come up with. You never know i might come up with some delish recipes.
We eat a lot of curries, which my children know if they don't eat, then they'll go hungry till supper.

Harsh i know, but i'm on a tight budget.

One meal which we all like and are great for pack lunches , are calzones. I posted the recipe up on here, think its on the first page of the grocery challenge. Its great because everyone gets to eat pizza, which my boys love, but its really simple to make.

Best of luck x

Spiggle

[STRIKE]
Hi Cake,

I'm not sure how I managed it but I worked out the wrong figure for my OP target this year.

Please would you amend my target to £6420 in OP?

The actual capital balance of the mortgages will reduce by a lot more than that as they're repayment but I'll monitor that separately. I'll also change my signature now to reflect the change in target.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda ich gyd! :beer:

Thanks for you hard work and all the best for 2011,
Spigs
[/STRIKE]

OOOppppps, wrong thread sorry folks.

Sunnyday

Hi Peeps :wave:

Spiggle - Think you posted on the wrong thread for your mortgage OP
Easily done and i`m guilty of posting on the wrong threads myself every now and again

DH informed me this morning that he had spent around £13 on the shop this week but forgot to leave me the receipt so i`ll update my siggy later after he gets home.

Hello :hello: to all the newbies on the thread and good luck!

I`ll take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2011

SD

PS I went to the post office this morning to tax the car for DH, our post office is inside a co-op and i didn`t buy a single thing

Spiggle

Thanks Sunnyday,

I realised just before reading your post! :embarasse:naughty:_pale_:doh:

And I haven't started drinking yet ... but I might do soon to straighten my head out. :beer::rotfl:

Take care,
Spigs

Tropicalmoments

I now have £200 cash in my purse for this months groceries but probably won't need to shop until midweek just before I'm back to work.

I'm just cooking a huge joint of beef that will provide a meal for 4 for 2 days and the leftover will be sliced and frozen for sandwiches.

So now I'm off to sort out the cupboards, check the freezer and fridge and then mealplan.

de1amo

i am resetting all my balances and really getting 'firm' with Mrs De from this day on-tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my GC!--she will give me all the receipts and not dialling food in' is going to be the 2011 life!--strange but at the moment we are doing ok due to all the other actions we have taken in 2010 but there is always room for improvement!--'can never save enough! is my motto in life!!

Rebelle

Hello everyone

Another spend to report - didn't really plan this one, but not working today and had to go out to get a few bits for the house (mugs, laundy bag - not counting towards GC though!) so ended up nipping into Asda and Netto too as they're nearby. Probably not the best idea as find easiest way to not spend is to not go in the shops (simple yes, but has taken me long enough to work out!) BUT did get some good reduced bargains, so not too worried.

Best buys were 49p jar Blue Dragon Thai curry paste in BnM, 800gm cheddar £3 in Netto, plus casserole beef, fresh meatballs and a load of crumpets and cream cakes, all whoopsied with at least 50% off in Asda! Got enough milk to last the week in there too so hopefully can stay out of the shops for a good few days. Am off to update sig now, think it will be a challenge to stay on budget til Jan 24th but here's hoping!

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all have a great time tonight and big thanks to the lovely ladies who run this challenge.:T:beer:

MummyEm

Popped to shops this morning as needed milk, fruit and few bits to tide us over until big shop next week when DD is back at school. Somehow managed to acquire all the ingredients for a fry up for tomorrow, I blame this on whoever started talking about hash browns this morning! Spent around £17 in C*-*p and £2.60 at local farm on dozen eggs and half douzen enormous duck eggs, yum-yum.
Will update total later when I've found the receipt.
Also withdrew some cash so that I can to my cash only budget so will see how that goes.
Lovely Dad came over for last minute lunch. He stopped at Mr T on the way and got us lots of lovely cheese, baguette, and cold meats for lunch and a huge leg of lamb (half price @ £6 per kg for anyone who is interested) and wouldn't take any money from me for it! That will sort out several meals for us next week.:j
Also have made a veg soup from left over veg and mash that was lurking in fridge - very proud of this as this is the kind of stuff I would normally throw out and will easily sort us out for a couple of lunches :A