May 2011 Grocery Challenge

tessie_bear

hi....been busy baking a carrot cake and rocky road to try and fill up the lunch pask ups a bit....got a casserole for tea which is quite os as i cooked 2 at the same time which saved a bit of gas

not got much left in the budget but shouldnt need anything...now iv said that ill think of something that is must have

goign to do a kfc type chicken thing for tea on friday as to celebrate the start of half term

take care
tess

IHaveNoMoney.com

Hi everyone i've not been around as much this month seem to be getting bogged under with work at the minute, so i am still under target for this month but still have a weekly shop due on sunday so definately going to be over budget especially with hubby being off work for 5 days but hopefully not by too much.

Going to aim for £300 again in june, will only have 4 weekly shops in june but i know alot of the cleaning and toiletries are running low so that will up the amount although on a huge plus side my little boy is now potty trained in the day so only using 1 nappy a day for bedtime thats a huge expense gone still need wipes though but no where near as many of those either

Sunnyday

jintyb wrote: »

Thanks so much for the post re BM. I've been swithering over getting a decent one for ages. There is only OH and me so I wondered if it would be worthwhile. I hate shop-bought bread though! I did have a cheap BM I got out of Lid£ but the bread came out like a brick! I freecycled it in the end.

Lol my first breadmaker was an ancient cookworks one and that ended up on freecycle too, i couldn`t believe the difference when i got the new one. There are only two of us too and we use a loaf each day.

DH has toast for brekkie and takes sandwiches for dinner and i usually have one or the other. DH is a breadmonster though - i`ve never seen anyone eat so much bread in my life, he likes more with his tea as well depending on what i`m cooking and he`s as skinny as a lat. I`ve got a loaf on each hip :rotfl:

I`ve been nosying at some of the offers that end today and i`m finding it really hard to resist nipping down to the Co op for the loo rolls and dishwasher tablets. I`ve already been a few days ago and have enough loo rolls for around a year I`ll have to make a decision later. We should have enough food to last until the end of the month even if i do splurge a bit Normally this late in the month i`m scraping around for the pennies but for some reason we are more organised now.

I think that the two week meal planner has helped a lot, i`ve swapped some of the days around and we are eating our way through the freezer as planned so i might even get it defrosted soon.

I`ve been reading the preparing for winter thread even though we havèn`t seen summer yet and i felt a sudden urge to buy the Christmas turkey :eek: must resist :rotfl:

SD

cutiepieabf

afternoon all,

Bunged all the curry ingredients in the SC this morn so that is something to look forward to when i get home. and i will easily have two extra helpings to freeze for another day.
My experiment with the frozen lunches was a success - both sandwich and muffin were fully defrosted by lunchtime and tasted just as fresh as when they were put in - so i think this is the way forward! i am now clearing a drawer in the freezer to put my made up sandwiches, muffins/cakes, biscuits and yogurts. i am freezing the yogurts because otherwise they wouldnt exist by lunch as OH would eat them when he gets in from work!!

must go. get paid friday so i shall be doing a big delivery shop for sat probably.
xx

ebayqueen_2

Thanks cutiepie
I didn't know you could freeze the yogurts! Will be doing that for sure.

Just updated sig and I am happy enough with my spending this month. Bought the fresh items yesterday ...potatoes, nuts, fruit, veg etc. and other basics....£28.14.

Will be back out for fresh for weekend on thursday or friday and that will be my month over as I will start my June budget next tuesday. Will be 5 at home and 2- 4 extra to feed for at least one meal over the weekend.
I don't think I do too bad as at least twice or three times per month I cook for between 8 and 9 adults.
As long as I am sticking below the £400 I am a happy wee (:rotfl:) bunny!

Take care all and thanks for all your updates and tips:A

hex2

A big sainsburys home delivery has taken me over budget, could eaily have come in under but I can see no point in paying £3.50 for delivery, and then the same again for next month when bulking up to over £100 made it free so I stocked up on pet food. I have also invested in the £5 co-op toilet rolls, DW tablets and PG Tips before the offers end. My new total includes the milkmans bill for this week so in theory this should be it

Biggest waste was £7 on some decent tissues and branded flu tablets from the co-op yesterday- stupid cold, and equally stupid tendancy to sinusitus :mad:

Great idea on freezing the yoghurts, I shall do that with the childrens pack lunch ones.

helen_jelly

Hi everyone
Sorry but not been keeping up with the thread or spends - bad bad woman!!

Will get back on track as of Friday when hopefully DH will be paid [Hopefully cos its Mums birthday on Saturday and I've got nothing for her yet and no money]

See you all on the new thread and well done to those who are in or near budget

Helen x

Pixie_Fairydust

laineyc wrote: »

Morning all.

Time to declare for May, £502.79. Just over but I am happy with that.

I am going to aim for £480 in June. I am going to to become vegetarian. I will still have to cook meat for the rest of the family but my meat bill should decrease.

I need to sort my meal plans out this evening for June. It will take a bit more thought to accommodate my change in diet.

Well done you, I'm veggie and my DS is almost and will eat the same as me, my DD and BF are real carnivores so have to buy meat for them and my OH eats a bit of both!

If you look on www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1306264055645
it will give you recipe ideas and the veggie equivalent, hope it helps. :T

Pixie

69chick

Evening everyone, just update sig, small spend of 1.75 today, went out for a loaf of bread and some sweeties for my girls and actually only bought those items!! don't think I have ever done that before...although the fact that the girls were with me did have something to do with the fact of me being quicker than normal and not 'mooching' around looking at offers...

Am now considering a bm myself after reading your comments on here...I had a cheapy one before but never successfully made a decent loaf and just thought it was me, but maybe a better model would make a baker out of me yet

Can whoever updates the challenge put me down for £350.00 for June which for me is from May 19 to Jun 18...Thank you

Sunnyday

Well i just couldn`t resist

Just had a run to the Co op for the offers before they change tomorrow and bought more of the 18x triple velvet loo rolls for £5, some more of the £5 for 56 finish dw tabs, 2 rustlers burgers (free with moc) not something that i would normally buy but a freebie is a freebie - a reduced pizza and the PG tips at 2x160 for £5 just over £16 spent on what would have been double that at full price so a very happy me

Right - come on you lot own up lol, who`s been buying all the breadmakers? i`ve just been back to the site where i found the bargain one and there is only the one model left now :rotfl: Spoke to the courier via the supplier today and my new bm arrives Friday WOOP!

69chick - I spent ages dithering over the bm as i already had one that was rubbish and i couldn`t imagine that a different make would be any better. Don`t mind admitting that i was wrong lol. It paid for itself quickly and i waited and got a similar offer to the new one - in fact i paid £3 less for the last one that i`ve used to death :rotfl: I always wait for the free p&p too. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Right i have some siggy updating to do.

Night folks

SD