February 2011 Grocery Challenge

cat_smith

Just got back from Mr A £42.47 spend for the week. For the first time I used My Supermarket to put in my entire shopping list. Normally I would just have gone to Mr T (marginally closer) but going to Asda saved me £16. And the shopping list I printed out was in the order of the items in store which made life easier.

BM just finished. It LOOKS like its risen, so I hope it tastes OK.

Picklepud

Helen - Just read your news so sorry hope you are doing ok :grouphug:

Had a few nsd which I am pleased about. I seemed to do nothing but spend at the beginning of the month. going to have a go at baking some goodies for lunchboxes next week keep saying I will but then not and have all ingrediants in so really should DD loves cooking so may rope her in.

off to update siggy have a good day all:D

Baileys_Babe

youngmummy wrote: »

if anyone was wondering why im up posting a stupid o'clock when i have a LO too see too all day its because im really strugling to sleep lately

ive been feeling really down though lately as i already have a feeling i wont meet my targets (see sig) but OH said not to worry too much anythink in savings is better than nothing . oh well we're trying our best. any tips id be very greatful x take care. good luck everyone.
im going to meet my targets, i will meet my targets, i will do it ....... hopefully :money:

I can really relate to the lack of sleep, my LO 22 months appears to have forgotten how to get her self to sleep and once she is asleep has formed a habit where she only sleeps in 2 - 3 hour blocks, I need more sleep as we are working at a solution.

Please don't be down about your targets, think your OH has a very health attitude to the challenge.

As for tips:
Keep reading this thread
Keep posting on this thread
Even if you go over budget try and limit the damage
Read other threads in OS
Meal plan (I'm hopeless at this)
Batch cook - freeze extra portions
Keep a spending diary
Keep a diary of all meals and snacks, as you may find where your spending masses
Cook from scratch

I'm sure others will come up with lots of other tips

highland_fling_2

hi everyone,
sorry for my tardiness in posting my target. Highland Fling GC is £140 this month.
Have missed most of posts for Jan so have lost touch with everyone's news and views.
Sorry but my life is a bit stressful and chaotic at the moment. Lots of family commitments re health and care. So I am afraid I have not been as organised re meals/cooking as I normally would wish for. However I have kept within my budget. Although I must admit some of the food I bought has been wasted. Just because it would be planned for meals and then no one would feel like cooking/eating.
My work/life balance at the moment is way off but hopefully this month I will be able to gain some equilibrium.
Good luck everyone.

lotti379

Right, well, this month hasn't been going to plan so far! Managed to spend £47.39 in the last two days taking us up to £99.34/£200 by the end of the first week :eek::eek::eek:. And have no freezer (well, only an ice box) so nothing stored up for later in the month... :eek: Most of it was due to having friends round for dinner last night, so we got all the bits we fancied for that, and some new candles, and getting some bits for tonight including 2 packs of turkey breast, for fajitas tonight and then lunches for a few days. But we are half a bottle of rose and 2/3 of a bottle of port up from last night! So that is something at least.

Anyway, Mr Lotti is really worrying about his money, poor thing, so I'll just have to stretch that £100 as far as poss! This week need some beers for Tuesday, some potatoes, maybe pasta, and veg. And very probably loo roll. On a plus point, we have TA training every weekend now until nearly the end of March, so that is two days we don't have to feed ourselves! Still may well be tight though...

EDIT - I mean two days a week, not just two days!

Hippeechiq

Nick - Dinners sound very nice, as do the lunches:) Personally, if I cooked Chicken or Turkey on a Monday, I would use it up to and including Wednesday. I'm not saying you can't use it on Thursday, but I wouldn't. That is just MHO though

You can always freeze any left over cooked turkey, as long as you do it the day you cook it

I'm trying these for tea courtesy of MrsMcawber

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Some one else has just made them for lunch and let me know that they were a hit with her and her boyfriend :T-so I hope you like them.... they are soooo yummy cold

Cheese n Onion Fryits

makes 4

1. 400g peeled potato
2. 1 large onion -finely chopped
3. 4 spring onions -chopped
4. 1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
5. 84g cathederal city lighter (2xA)
6. salt n pepper
7. 2 laughing cow light (3)
8. 1 egg
9. 28g dried breadcrumbs (5)

• boil the potatoes, drain and allow to dry off -then mash
• zap the onions/spring onions in the microwave until soft
• beat the onions, mustard, seasoning and grated cheese into the potato and leave in the fridge to chill until firm
• divide into 4
• shape into rounds -then poke a hole in the centre and fill with 1/2 a laughing cow light
• cover over with the mash and re-shape into flat rounds
• chill in the fridge
• dip each one into egg and then the bread crumbs and then chill until needed
• then just drop on a non stick sheet (I use a silicone liner) and then bake at about 190 until golden -(I didn't flip them just in case they collapsed)
  

They smell lush :drool: Was going to have them on their own, but I'm starving, so am going to have them with Sticky Pork Loin Steaks (basically thinly covered in English Mustard, rolled in Brown Sugar and then grilled) May be a slight overload on mustard, but what the heck.

A whole lot of spends since I last udpated, resulting in £81.37 of the budget spent, but that includes some $limfast and a shed load of meat, so I'm hoping my spending will slow down a bit next week, as apart from a store cupboard stock up later in the month, my largest expenses should be covered.......says she hopefully

babyboysmommy

I had an unexpected trip to Tesc0 today. DS is poorly & we ran out of children's nurofen & yoghurt's (we hide the meds in it). Whilst I was there I picked up a few extra things so I don't have to go again for a few days. I spent just over £18.

Long_tall_sally

tessie_bear wrote: »

sally hope your turkey was good...ours was nice bigger than i thought there is a fair bit left...a few turkey sarnies next week

tessa

It was lovely thank you. It said that it fed 13-14. Well its has just fed 5 of us & I have just bagged up another 12 portions for the freezer and generous portions at that! I don't find turkeys as easy to strip bare as chickens though so could maybe have got more if I kept at it!

Just updated signature with some spends today that are really down to OH as he went to the Co Op for extra stuff like coke etc while I was having a lie down as wasn't feeling too good.

cutiepieabf

Bought some more apples yesterday because they are gorgeous in c*** and also took advantage of Half price on chinese sauces. also bought milk and more biscuits for lunches. i am thinking of making chocolate crunch/flapjacks/etc for lunches instead - far cheaper - although wagon wheels were on bogof. spend - £8.02 added to sig. went to MIL for dinner - had chippy tea but she paid. yay!

Billie-jo

Spent £15.99 in Morri$on$ on Saturday. This included some salad items, a paper and a few other bits and bobs. Today has been a NSD.
Have used the last of the sack of potatoes up today so will have to get another however there was some mashed potato left as did too much so may make some fish cakes with this for tea tomorrow if not will freeze them as the will NOT be thrown out. Gone are the days of throwing away good food.