February 2011 Grocery Challenge

PennyGrabber

Oops!

Went to A@da.

£16.78. Oops. However, went for fruit and got fruit (Plus loads of other stuff.). There was also tons of reduced stuff, and so I indulged. Also, realised I didn't have eggs and butter in for baking in half term. Fancied some real meat too, so got that, and some caulis reduced to 20p each! Think I'll make a cauliflower cheese pie towards the end of the week!

Leaves me with £1.83 until the end of Feb. Hmm!! On the plus side, can get some milk from work, and maybe some fruit too. Other than that, will have to eek everything well and then go over by a bit. Having made it for the first time last month, was hoping to make it two in a row but never mind. At least we are eating healthier, and I'm enjoying my cooking more too. I think there has to be a balance between spending as little as possible, and living while you're living.

Night all!

PG x

supersally01

Evening all!,
not posted on here for a while, but still following the thread and keeping up the challenge!!!
I know how SAZZLEDAZZLE feels about now not enjoying shopping, I now get in and out as quickly as possible, where as before I could browse for hours - and spend loads!!!
Made turkey and ham pie for tea from xmas leftovers!! OH laughs when I call it UMO pie, but it tasted good all the same!!
Got 2 weeks left and aim to shop on friday, then start the next month the following friday, should be OK as still got lots in.
Keeping everyone entertained at work with my money saving tales! Think I am have a new recruit on board, as she has been quizzing me loads recently. I think people are feeling the pinch, and are looking for ways to cut down.
The work on the house is finished for now, and all bills settled thanks to GC. Looking forward to starting the next project end of March/early April, as that is when funds become available again. Really chuffed with the results, nice to have some pride in the appearance of the house for a change!

cat_smith

Did a Chicken,Leek and Bacon Pie tonight. Cheated. Used up all the rubberised chicken, bacon scraps and leeks, mushrooms. Added a tin of Condensed Chicken and White Wine Soup and some water. Topped with Puff pastry. Delicious. Enough for 6 meals.

karmachilovething

Mothership wrote: »

I agree Morrisons meat is far superior to many of the others, but still not a patch on DR. A good guide for me is my OH. He moans the face off me if he doesn't like something, and is not one for even saying he's enjoyed something. He has with everything I've given him from DR. .

The farmer who lives opposite my parents send all his cows to Mr M as he says it's the only SM that treats the animals right, partly because they own/run their own abattoirs. Unfortunately no Mr. Ms that close to me, but when available I do like to pop in!

Spiggle wrote: »

It's funny how little things get stuck in your head isn't it? I love your name Karmachilovething and whenever I read it I say it to myself in a pseudo-American voice 'cos I just think it's got that sort of vibe. Something like the pleasure-pain principle iyswim. Well, OH managed to drop his mobile down the loo last week :mad: and so I had to get him a new one (luckily was due an upgrade ). I gave him real grief about it as you can imagine. This morning while 'doing my face' in the bathroom a pot of eye cream fell out of the cupboard did a double loop around the basin and hopped up and over and plonked itself in the loo! :doh: At that point I found myself saying "It's a karmachilovething!" That'll teach me to be smug about not dropping things in water. :rotfl:

Ah Spiggle I love it! :rotfl: Karmachilovething comes from the Fun Loving Criminal's song Scooby Snacks, so you're right about needing an American accent! But I also like the "goes around comes around" sentiment - helps keep me in line!

OK I did also come on here to declare - wee trip to c0-op to pick up some basics: milk, oat cakes, avocados, lettuce. And then I have some friends visiting from tomorrow (not to worry though, they are more MSE than me!) so I have bought some beer and wine (on offer) to be hospitable! Total came to £14.85. Off to update my sig.

Have a good evening everybody!

TheBees

After doing a smaller than normal shop on Saturday, I'm finding we're running out of bits and bobs. Went into co-op and stuck to the things I needed (pasta, broccoli and a couple other things). Tonight's tea was lemon chicken (sauce from a jar) and rice. A while ago I would have used a lot more chicken but tonight I only used two chicken breasts and nobody noticed. We have plenty of food in the freezer to last to the end of the week then I'll have to shop again on the weekend.

Can't rememer who was asking about slow cooker meats. I find you can cook almost anything in a slow cooker as long as you cook it all day. I do loads of things in mine - bolognese, chilli, curry, whole chicken (so the meat falls off and you can use for pies, curry, etc)..stew, etc.... You don't need a special recipe. Just bung it all in and leave it!

sorting_myself_out

Another NSD day today!! Had tea at my friends tonight.......Good news today the secondment might be extended = More money til September....Fingers crossed should find out at the end of the week!!! Happy days if it comes off!!

wannaBrich

I had food going off again today so made garlic chicken and mushroom with pasta - was good

omg :eek: lookin at prog on bbc3 about low fat foods, glad that I've been making more fresh meals recently - these low fat ready meals are full of all kinds and low fat bread has a E number which is feathers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O

adelight

missus aka, wow well done on paying off all that debt!

Bought a few things at indian supermarket, plantains and spices yesterday. And reduced salmon fillets(luxurious i know!! they're huge so each will do 2 meals) and stir fry veg, and soy sauce, at MrS at the weekend. Have had lots of NSDs and been getting soooo many meals out of one batch in my 3.5l slow cooker so haven't been getting through much food.

martafdz

Mothership wrote: »

They have free delivery for at least another 4 days, and have sample packs for around £29-£39, I started off with an order like that. Another good thing about them is you can order now and get delivery when you want it months from now even. Don't buy a freezer until you've sampled the meat.

I am seriously considering this, maybe for March as right now I am over budget!! An A&C delivery is coming tomorrow so I will be £10 over, plus a MrM shop I have to do for about £35. As long as I do not go over £300 I am happy because I have stocked up a lot and that is the only reason I am over atm. So if you want to recommend me as a friend and get more chopping boards just let me know :rotfl:

On MrM's meat, I really prefer it over any other sm's meat, including all the "superior meats". MrM's just tastes better, has less water or whatever they put inside and lasts for much longer. MrT is the worst I think, chickens usually go out of dat right on their ood or even a day before that! It stinks before it hits the date! It might be just my local one but I have stopped buying meat there. MrS is slightly better but still has loads of water, frying a steak or chicken is almost like boiling them because they release so much water that the pan is a pool. I find MrM has much less water or none at all. I can't wait to try DR but I might go first to the local butcher to try, it's 30min away so not really local but it is close to MrM so might give it a visit.

Thanks!

Sunnyday

Morning peeps :wave:

just updated my siggy :j i`m still ok with £10.77 left even though my month ends tomorrow

I`ve already made a saving towards the mortgage overpayment so anything else left from this month will be added onto next months budget as i plan on some little stock-ups as offers are available.

On the meat subject i buy quite a bit from MrM - as others have said their meat is far superior to other supermarket meats, it lasts longer and tastes so much nicer. It may just be me but i also think that it looks nicer too as it is well presented. We also have a "local" butcher who is very good, not too local but i do try to support local businesses as much as possible - i would hate it if they all dissappeared as so many already have.

I`ve tried DR meat as my Mum used to order their goods quite a lot and it is nice but she has now decided that the prices have climbed far too much and she now rarely orders. There are also issues of "food miles" to consider so Mum also tries to source her meat locally too.:A
The butcher closest to me closed last year and the grocers closed a few months ago so its a sorry state of affairs really. We do still have some local shops so it is worth trying to keep them open. I do wonder what will happen if all the local shops close and as we age driving is no longer an option, there are fuel cost to consider too - will we all be forced to shop online and be tied completely to the supermarkets? They will indeed be able to charge what they want then and also have huge delivery fees and we won`t have any other option Just a little something to think about

Think i`ve rattled on enough for one morning now so i shall leave you all to it. Happy shopping gang.

SD