January 2011 Grocery Challenge

boultdj

XSpender wrote: »

Will need to pop to Mr S today to get milk, apples (need both before organic delivery on Friday), baby formula, shoe polish and fine sea salt. Not expecting to spend more than about £15.

Couldn't make the carrot cake yesterday as mycry runny honey has stalised and I did not have enough eggs. I will use this honey up on toast and buy some more at the weekend when my eggs and fresh carrots have been delivered so we can have it in lunch boxes next week.:)

I have calculated that I should be able to manage on £50/week for the next 4 weeks including box delivery. I should be able to but I will have to be really firm with myself and not let DH sway me in to saying 'get it then' when he fancies something in the sm. Best plan is to leave him at home I suppose;)

The home made bread routine is working so far, I need to look at my bread maker instructions and see how I make dough in there but bake it in the oven to see if this is more efficient.

Put your jar of honey in a pan,fill to half way up the jar with water and heat gently[about the middle of the dial] and it will turn back to a liquid,hth.

Equilibrium

pipkin71 wrote: »

With the last Asda shop I bought their value bubble bath - 18p, if I recall.

Anyway, have just used it to fill up the three hand washes at each sink in the house - normally cost £3 in Poundland, instead cost 18p

I wish I could bring myself to use it in the bath, but I like Dove

What a great idea ! I think i might have a go at that , thankyou for sharing

Another NSD day yesterday which is fab . We have our small chest freezer arriving tomorrow and i cant wait to start slowly filling it up. At the moment we can barely freeze anything , so this will be great for us to be able to cook in batches and freeze the rest :T:T

Loved reading all the posts this morning, there were so many to catch up on, so many tips, and some brilliant recipes :beer:

rosieben

Mothership, I've added Xmas pudding loaf and scones to the recipe index, thank you

threemuttleys

Howdi

I would like to join the grocery challenge please.

Money is very tight this month, and I have loads of food left over from crimbo, so dont need a lot at all (thank heavens!)

We are a family of 3 (Oh and myself, and nearly 3mth old bubba) plus 2 cats and three dogs (cat food is included in our spends, dog food is not)

I would like to stick to £40 for this month please. I have spent £16.89 (on lots of pulses!) and £1 today on dried milk powder (for tea and coffee)

Will add to siggy xx

pipkin71

Was planning to go out today but it will be another day in doors, due to illness.

I'm currently feeling like a prisoner

I'd love to say it was a NSD, but I hit Amazon this morning and bought loads of educational stuff for DDs. It won't be coming off my grocery budget though, so I'm still doing well there

I've made a list for Poundland - when we can get there, and, if I manage to stick to the list and not be tempted, it will come to £11.

We made drop scones this morning, which can be eaten as a sweet or savoury - DD2 has jam on hers and I have philadelphia. They are rather nice - like pancakes, but thicker. You can batch cook and just reheat in the toaster if you want, so I make a few and leave them in the fridge for when DD gets up of a morning.

It would be much easier if DD1 would eat them too, as she is a very fussy eater and breakfasts are becoming difficult at the moment, with her teenage 'not wanting to eat anything' combined with her limited diet

I actually managed to get her to try something new the other day - cream crackers - which she will now eat :j It's a small triumph even getting her to bite on it, lol!

She settled for some yoghurt this morning and a couple of breadsticks, but at least she ate something.

I still haven't managed to do a stock take, so no idea yet what we will be having tonight, but I am carrying on with my shopping list and writing down what we need so the next online shop I do should come in at much less than usual. It helps that you can go to your favourites when shopping online, but I've found that it can add loads to the total amount so I need to try and break that habit.

Have waffled on a bit this morning Anyway, hope you're all having a good day, whatever you're doing

tracey12_2

Happy new year everyone

I haven't been doing the Grocery Challenge for a few months.

Can I join you all again for a new year.

Please can you put me down for £350 for the month.

Good luck everyone

Tracey

pipkin71

Tracey2609 wrote: »

The only problem I have with home made bread is that it gets eaten quicker in our house - especially when it's still warm! Shop brought bread lasts longer!

Same here, Tracey.

What I tend to do now, is make the dough in the BM then turn it into rolls, to bake in the oven. That way it does last longer.

I then keep a loaf of bread in the freezer, so if my girls want toast, they can just take the required number of slices out.

Since making my own bread, I did tend to waste some of the shop bought loaf, so freezing and using was the better option

Georgiegirl2012

I think it was earlier on in this thread that somebody was talking about needing Slimfast, but I've just had an e-mail saying chocolate milkshake is reduced to 3.99 in Sainsbury til 18 Jan. It's also reduced in Tesco to 5.32 (25/1).

pipkin71

Pixie_Fairydust wrote: »

Thank you SilverS and HappyCrafter for your tips, will take note, will try the baguette pizza idea, they love pizza!

I will try to cut back gradually as I think doing it in one go will be too difficult.

Would love to try some easy cakes/biscuits, will look at the beginning of the thread.

Am thinking of getting a bread maker, I've never had one and people at work have given me mixed reviews? What do you think? Have been told not to get a cheap one as you are limited to what you can make, is this right? Can you leave it running overnight?

Thanking you all in advance.

Will do my Jan gc myself then may go public in Feb, see how I get on! :T

Definitely cut back gradually, Pixie, otherwise you may just feel like giving up, if you try to do it all straight away.

I have had my breadmaker for over 9 years and I wouldn't be without it. There are quite a few things you can make in the BM - even a sponge cake, although I prefer doing the microwave sponge as it is cooked in only four minutes!

There are some great recipes on the old style board as well as at the front of this thread. I like making the refrigerator biscuits as you can bake what you need and leave the rest of the mix in the fridge for up to a week.

When I make up the mix, DDs get fresh baked biscuits each morning [or evening], which they enjoy, and you can add different flavours to them - we like vanilla

Here's a link to the recipes, anyway:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=7097867&postcount=17

Good luck with it all

Linda32

Hello all,

I'm going for £260.00 and will finish after shopping on 28th January

Londis £9.25
Londis £4.50'ish

Total £13.75

I havn't been shopping this week yet, incase anyone is wondering why its so low it won't last

If anyone is thinking of buying Londis coffee - DON'T