I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

biscuitmad

blackandwhitebunny wrote: »

I've been MIA for longer than usual this time but really need to get back into this in a big way. My father died suddenly but not unexpected a month or so ago so I've been having to sort all sorts of bits out, I don't want to go into too much detail but he and his wife had made a complete mess of their finances and I've had to foot most of the expense. Then in classic it never rains etc OH car decided to give up the ghost. Its a freelander and the head gasket's gone for the third time so basically dead but not before we'd paid £450 for a new catalitic converter and £200 for halfo*ds not to fix the problem:mad: which turned out to be the head gasket. I'm going to be writing to them asking if we can have the £50 they charged for doing the diagnostic back as obviously they were wrong. :mad:
All this means we're broke, have had to buy a new car (OH has gone to the other extreme with a mini cooper) and we have balances on two holidays to pay, obviously booked before all this happened.
I have managed to do better this last month, we used a voucher to do a big online cat food shop and that's made it easier to keep on top of things. I've got our fruit and veg expenditure down to £12 a week max, it was often £17 - £20 and have bought very little for the last few weeks except loo roll and whoopsies.:D

Sorry to hear about your dad, I hope you get everything else sorted.

Take care
X

missladyannie

I've had a good two days, not been to the shops at all! Yesterday I made a makeshift pasta bake out of left over roast chicken, two tins of soup, sweetcorn and cheese on the top, and today i've defrosted some chicken thighs and drumsticks and used up some sad looking parsnips and potatoes and am cooking a traybake!! :-)

Lynsey

Evening all.

blackandwhitebunny - sorry to hear of your loss and bad luck on top of that - roll on 2013.
Take care of yourself.

Deleted_User - yes, the chocolate would be for the pre-Xmas foodbank donation. The Nestle shop has some cheap offers at the moment and I may get some of that to donate - limited to 6 packs of each item, but I could do a couple of orders.
That was a big spend ....................... ouch!!
Great that coupons reduced that as well as reduced stuff.

NSD or myself and only snacked today as been out with a friend almost all day. Hubby is using up some Quorn sausages and making a curry - only 1 pack left!!

There's a Tesco Express opening up on a business park near me and they've been giving out £3 off £10 coupons for the 1st week - managed to get 4. If the Tesco Express has the Grouse whisky on for £14 litre, then I'll get a few bottles there. Thinking of trying to use 2 tomorrow in Morries and hoping they are accepted as they are store specific and not just for any Tesco - fingers crossed.

Took out some pork shoulder chops to use up last 2 carrots and a few potatoes (still got a few potatoes).

Needed this week, milk, cheese and eggs - hoping to get the cheese free tomorrow with the Tesco coupon when doing Brothers shopping. 1 Welch's coupon to use also, hopefully tomorrow.

Well done to those being frugal and NOT spending, I've done well over 3 weeks .................... for myself anyway.

Lynsey

[Deleted User]

Lynsey wrote: »

Deleted_User - yes, the chocolate would be for the pre-Xmas foodbank donation. The Nestle shop has some cheap offers at the moment and I may get some of that to donate - limited to 6 packs of each item, but I could do a couple of orders.
That was a big spend ....................... ouch!!
Great that coupons reduced that as well as reduced stuff.

I still say go for the chocolate for the foodbank. Why shouldnt those less fortunate have to be without chocolate at the festive season?

We try to only do one big shop a month with 1 or 2 smaller top up shops if needed now. We used to go shopping every week when DDad was here, and we never used the coupons or anything back then - used to cost us £80 a week! Thats without him popping out to get extra milk and other bits and pieces -that would put us in the £350-£400 ballpark and I'm CERTAIN we are spending a lot less than that now.
This little lot we bought today will see us through to mid Dec (with the exception of bread possibly) with no worries, will be running it right down before we jet off abroad so we dont have anything that will spoil.

Admittedly it is easier shopping with two people in the house. We dont overbuy anymore and although I have my food that I like, DM has her food she likes, and we have very different tastes lol. Most of my food comes from the reduced section anyway and I freeze a hell of a lot of stuff now as well so it all helps.
Also been stockpiling cornflakes (so we found out today, big box we didnt realise we had), other cereals, plus loo roll, and kitchen roll, as well as stuffed cupboards and 2 stuffed freezers lol.
It's kind of okay really because DM has a form of arthritis in her knee, so if she cant get out and I'm at work/elsewhere at least I know shes provided for. It's the least I can do if I'm going to be working nights for the foreseeable future.

Think DM's catching on actually - today she put T's own jaffa cakes in the trolley rather than the branded ones shes normally so fond of.

zafiro1984

blackandwhitebunny - sorry to hear of your loss, hope 2013 is better.

I can't get around the shops as I walk withy two crutches - don't feel sorry for me as I brought it on myself.

So with my mobility in mind I have to find other ways of 'beating the system' I had a look on mysupermarket.com and realised I hadn't used all my vouchers - if I spend £80 on a shop from Ocado I can get £20 off.

Time to use this voucher. I have a friend/employee who has a family of 'ganets' (four teenagers and a husband, all with hollow legs) - whatever she buys they consume at a predigous rate, she can't keep anything 'for later.' Meals she has planned and cooked for another day disappear. Treats she has bought disappear and no owns up to it. What we eat here as a meal is just a snack for her brood. I actually feel sorry for her, I feel she has given up. So with all this in mind I have decided to give her a food pressy for Christmas. Using a bit of savvy and the voucher I can actually get £117.98 worth of food for just £60.24p, that's using a 3 for 2 deal as well as the voucher. I'm going to buy her all the 'party snacks' for Christmas, keep them here and only let her have them Christmas Eve. I'm quite determined to get the better of her brood

I actually enjoyed spending the money,

blackandwhitebunny

Thank you for all the good wishes:) I'll get there just very slowly.
Went to Sainsbury's at 2.30 this afternoon which is normally prime markdown time and there was very little going. I got a few bits, cheese, ham, fruit juice and a full price chicken (forgotten to do a freezer dive this am) Bought potatoes and was amazed at the price, we rarely eat them so haven't noticed the price creeping up. I also treated my OH to some cidre on special offer, spent about £25 in all.
We had roast chicken for dinner tonight with roast spuds, half a butternut that was lurking in the fridge and frozen veg. We have enough chicken left for dinner tomorrow - possibly curry or chinese.

ms_night_ryder

Zafiro that's a lovely thing to do, there were a few Codes around for freebies hope.you got them.

Had a ww meal for.lunch, duck spring rolls and a toffee lattice yummy, din.Erm was chilli, broccoli, baby greens and rice.

Hoping to keep spending again to under £10 which I have managed for the last 3 weeks, need cheese and butter.

Lynsey

Afternoon all, horrible wet day today and roads flooded and closed!!

zafiro1984 - nice touch and a nice thought.

Went out early today to do Brother's shopping and cleaning and had a fantastic day in Morries using 2 x Tesco £3 off £10 coupons, getting my stuff almost free. lol
Blended in nicely with my Brothers shop, which we split in 2 purchases. The till op was fab,

"Bought", using the term loosely:

2 x packs of Lurpak @ 2 for £2
Morries Cheddar (350g) @ £2
Deli ham @ £1.50
Pack bread buns @ 69p
Sub total = £6.19
Used 2 x £3 coupons - minus £6
Total = 19p

:j :j :j :j :j

Not a NSD though.

Well pleased and still 2 coupons to use, probably in Morries before 06/12 as Tesco Express didn't have the £14 litres of Grouse.

Had a ham sandwich and cooked pork chops for tomorrow, I'll probably have another sandwich and hubby has curry to finish.
Check Sainsbury's tonight for veg.

Lynsey

just_trying

Afternoon all, the food so far today was toast for breakfast, lunch i just had a sanrnie and dinner is going to be lasagne, chips and salad so nice and easy. It is freezing cold and wet here. Slept in this morning not good and off course the kids blamed me, even though my daughter said her alarm went of but just thought i will go back to sleep for 5, i never even heard my alarm going off as i haven't been sleeping very well since last week but hoping that should be sorted out today. Never got the build a bear penguins even though i was looking at it just after midnight then through the day at points oh well never mind. It's pretty dark here already, just thought i would pop back on as hadn't been on since Thursday night. Catch up later or tomorrow.

blackandwhitebunny

Just about to go make dinner with the rest of the chicken from last night and a jar of biriyani I found in the stock cupboard. (I use the term loosely it's some shelves in the garage:D) and DH lunch for tomorrow, salad with the rest of the whoopsie ham.
Zapiro1984 - that sounds like a really nice pressie, I'm sure it'll be appreciated. Many years ago a neighbour used to freeze snacks and biscuits and then hide them in frozen veg packets to stop her ganet boys from eating everything. Possibly worth trying.