February 2011 Grocery Challenge

Mothership

Aaah! I have a guest that eats gluten free bread, I've got a hospital appointment around noon , so I will have to pop into a supermarket to get some, now I don't NEED anything!
I ended up buying 2 kg of carrots @ 99p 3 large red peppers @ £1.25 and a huge box of mushrooms at Makro yesterday.
I'm going to need all the willpower I can muster not to buy anything else. I'm going to try my best to come out with just the bread. Trouble is if I see a bargain I cant walk past it, I've had about 7 days where I've not been near a supermarket, this will be a REAL test for me. This month last year I spent about £500, I've spent 10% of that so far this month, My cupboards are freezers are full ( thanks to the 2nd Purse). If I can control myself I could easily come in around half my Feb budget of £130 by the end of the month.

If anyones out there give me strength LOL.

OMG! I feel like a junkie :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

My loaf turned out LOVELY, so did my wee rolls
I kept a little of the dough as a starter for the next loaf, experiment no 6 :T

Whooo Hoooo! I DID IT LOL, went in for gluten free bread , came out with gluten free bread. Yay!

tessie_bear

hi...been busy this morning made some pastry for a chicken pie for tea and some biscuits....need tomake a shopping list for tomorrow...we seem to need quite a bit as have let cupboards and freezer run down

we have run out of potatoes so i have been using up the rice we got from costco...its great i struggle to cook rice nicely and this one has been great...all fluffy and not stuck together

have a nice day
tessa

sistercas

[QUOTE=tessie bear;41072146
we have run out of potatoes so i have been using up the rice we got from costco...its great i struggle to cook rice nicely and this one has been great...all fluffy and not stuck together

have a nice day
tessa[/QUOTE]

I have been using costco rice ( one in a giant plastic bottle) and its been great . i always make rice sticky and clumpy but this i rinse , bung in a pan add double volume of boiling water , stick a lid on and hey presto 15 mins later its done , water absorbed and the rice is light and fluffy

did a sainsbugs and t3sco shop last night , ended up spending £72.01 i wanted to spend around £50

the only extras i put in were 3 teatowlels on offer at £2.99 some buns DH wanted at £1 and a bottle of ginger ale for DH at 48p so i dont know what the rest went on :cool: so now i only have about £30 for next week , that said ive got loads in

tessie_bear

yes...the costco rice we got is in a big plastic jug...its very reasonably priced and really good...what are u going to use the jug for when empty...we thought as a make shift watering can for the pots on the patio:rotfl:

laineyc_2

Had to pick up a few things at Lidl this morning. I thought I was organised but there always seems to be something I need. Hopefully I will get better at this. I have all the meals planned for next month, including lunches at the weekend. I think that was part of my problem this month, I never factored in the lunches. I need to have some more NSD's.

I have a chicken in the slow cooker so I can freeze the chicken for pie and curries. I made a pot of soup so I am looking forward to a bowl for lunch. I was going to bake but I am behind with the things I need to do today so it will have to be tomorrow. I have the meat in the fridge all ready for the doner kebabs for dinner. I hope they go down well.

rachelww1

lizziebabe wrote: »

Thanks rachel - I love a curry and takeaways are quite expensive now so will try this one. I have never used p*t**ks paste so it will be a whole new experience Do you brown the meat first?

Hi lizzie, My lamb was leftovers, so it was already browned. If I was making from scratch, yes I would brown it first as I don't like anaemic looking meat .

Felt a bit guilty yesterday and Tues, cos although I had taken lunch with me to work, I still went to the deli and bought the lunch from there aswell. £4.90 on Tues for 2 soups and a creme egg, and £3.50 yesterday for a hog roast and stuffing sandwich. I've added these amounts to my signature, and will not be doing that again. Small spend in Mr T's last night on cereal (3for2 offer), crisps and cat food added to sig also. Meal planning going well, and am actually sticking to that, so at least one think is going right.

redkids1972

not posted for a while but still on track for the month although its going to be tight but I can only do my best. My cats did not like the pets at home food i bought on offer at first but I was determined I was not buying any more so it was that or starve and guess what they eat it happily now lol.
I used to buy 12 boxes of pouches which only lasted 2 days for my 3 cats now its a tin and biscuits between them its shaved at least £10 off monthly costs:j.
Im thinking of buying 2 months in advance whilst tesco have 3 4 2 on which may save me long term Ill have to price it up.

catznine

Still going through contents of freezers and as I've been unwell (labrythitis) I have stayed in and avoided the supermarkets.

Dh has picked up things like bread, cheese, milk etc., I have had one organic box delivery (that has gone up to £12.49 now! Used to be £10.90 not so long ago) but I now have 2 lovely huge portobello mushrooms - not up to stuffing them so will slice them and add them to some chicken from the freezer and use up another packet of app foods chicken chassuer mix and pop all into the slowcooker for tonights dinner. There was a small green cabbage in the box and I have some potatoes to use up so we will have bubble and squeak with our eggs and bacon at the weekend, (I found a packet of streaky bacon in the freezer which had been bought for making liver pate but I didn't get around to it!:o) I really must use this extra time I have off and menu plan, now that shouldn't make me too dizzy so long as I avoid looking at the high shelves or bending down.

Anyway so far I have spent £30.29 out of £100 so have £69.71 left!

Hope everyone else is doing ok, prices seem to be going up so fast atm!

sistercas

tessie_bear wrote: »

yes...the costco rice we got is in a big plastic jug...its very reasonably priced and really good...what are u going to use the jug for when empty...we thought as a make shift watering can for the pots on the patio:rotfl:

ooh thats a good idea, its the first one ive had but i thought i would store bird seed in it as at the moment its in a bag and i keep spilling it

Baileys_Babe

nattyt wrote: »

I've include everything in..eg magazines, toiletries etc. Do other people just include food or other stuff. I haven't been including rabbit and fish food although i may do next month.

We include masses in our budget:
Food, including take aways & meals out
Drink, including alcohol in and out of the house
Cleaning stuff
Toiletries
Medicine, both prescribed & OTC