January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Chloris

I have updated signature with my 'bits and bobs' shops, which I am pleased to say have been restrained! This leaves me about £45 per week for the next 3 weeks until next payday. Which sounds achievable. I will have to be strong and shop from the freezer and bake lots! Hope to do this.:D

Mothership

happycrafter wrote: »

A planc is the welsh term for a flat based cast iron griddle, if I call it anything else but a planc my mum shouts at me! My mum bought it for me as a Christmas present and was one of the best presents I received and it will be well used.

Ah! I know what it is now, yes these scones were made traditionally on cast Iron griddles, it will be perfect for making them, scottish folk are made of tottie scones and mince and totties LOL. My grandmother had one that had been her mothers. I collect old kitchen equipment I display it above my kitchen units, so when I finally found one I was ecstatic my OH decided to 'freshen it up for me' and painted it with matt black paint, he didn't know I wanted to use it. One day I hope to find one I can use. Have you posted the recipe for the welsh cakes they sound yummy?

Don't know if anyone would be interested in the recipe for mince and totties and dumplings. I daren't ask my OH what he wants for dinner, its always the same reply, Aye ye guessed it 'Mince n Totties'.

hex2

zebredy - one tin per cat per day is about right. Mine have unlimited dry food plus one tin of meat for mr fussy between the four of them every day which worked out cheaper for us and less messy.

I have now spent c90 of my 450. This includes £42 on a pet food order for the dogs and cats, and c£30 on fruit and veg. I have signed up for milkandmore deliveries as part of my 'no money to evil supermarkets' commitment (there is a £10 off code for new customers on the milkandmore home page if anyone else is thinking about it) so will now have a monthly milkman bill, but hopefully less impulse buys from trips to the co-op for milk. The milkman does a fruit/veg box for £12 which I am going to try next week.

redkids1972

I have updated my sig to include the cat food(3 cats) that I bought from Pets at Home on-line today. Spent £31 went through Quidco (1.84) and used a 10% off code listed on discount board p and p was free as spent over £29. I budget £10 a week for all their food but food to last the month on-line was only £30 (after cash-back) and I bought better quality food than I normally buy as a lower price. So a win win situation. Cat food is the one item I pop out to the shop for , we can manage to eat whatever is in the house but the cats cant so Ill always go for them and always end up spending more so fingers crossed this will work out well for me.

Craftyscholar

Just realised I haven't updated
MrS £6.46
M&S £6.49
Need to do a list for a big shop

Shysarah

Hello All,

Have done a bit of a money work out today and am quite shocked with how I am going to struggle balancing things now I am on ESA. More than half my money is needed to cover bills and that is before I consider fuel and tobacco. Yes, I know tobacco is an extravagance really but it is my only vice.

Anyway enough, I have to view this as a challenge and an opportunity to try new recipes and expand my cooking skills than a negative thing.

I am aiming to spend no more than £40 this month. I am even going to have a set cash amount to use for food shopping and try not to use my cards.

So far I have bought a jar of coffee for £2.95 and nothing else.

Wish me luck.. xx

mrs-moneypenny

the veggie lasagne was interesting last night, hadnt got any mushroms or courgettes so i ended up being, 1 grated carrot, half a chopped green pepper, two tomatos that were going over, a couple of celery sticks and 1/3 of a bag of quorn mince cooked in some stock did the cheese sauce as usual then layered it up with lasagne sheets, i expected maons but DH said it was really good and was there more, even eldest DDs usually fussy freind who was round for tea emptied his plate. :T

going for a veggie shepherds pie tonight as ive got some spuds that dont look brilliant to use up. ive just written the recipie for the christmas pud loaf to make for afters (thank you to mothership for that)

got to check the fridge for tmorrows packups but hoping for a nsd

pipersky

OK, so managed not to spend anything on 1st Jan (my sis had us round for her (not-so) littlies birthday, so didn't even have to make any dinner! OH went to Aldi and spent £9 odd on fruit and veg on 2nd and popped out yesterday to get some milk and cheese but came back with lots of reduced pies and pastries! Total cost at Mr T = £9.31!! We do now have 3 cherry pies in the freezer (reduced to 25p each) though! He ate all the pastries So total so far this month is £18.31 (and a few pence - can't find the Aldi receipt). I have meal planned for the month though and we have quite a lot of stuff in the freezer. Good luck everyone else

BTW mrs-moneypenny that lasagne looks nice... might try it myself (one of the lurkers in the freezer is quorn monce!)

dumpling

Just popped into town for a new loo seat as our old one gave up the ghost this morning, it had been a bit perilous using it for the past few weeks so time for a new shiny one now lol.

popped into Co-op and they had bags of baking potatoes cheaper than the ordinary ones so I grabbed a bag and some reduced cocktail sausages for lunch. Total came to £1.90 so off now to update my total.

claireylulu

Hi,

I have been reading some of your thread and wondering if it was too late to join? I really need to stick to my grocery budget but I seem to be forever slipping. There is four of us. I have two little boys 3 and 1 years old.

I would like to set a budget of £250a month.

So far I have spent £46 on my first shop.