August 2011 Grocery Challenge

Islandmaid

Hmmm just a quick up-date - just counted up all my receipts for the month so far, food and non-food and it adds upto £421.

Last month i spent £200 more than that just on food - it just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it, the bank manager will be pleased (or not, he won,t be earning so much out of me this month LOL)

starflower_2

Spent £8.11 today on bread, milk, salad stuff, potatoes, apples and yoghurt. Thankfully the kids are now back at school so no more all-day grazing. Have loads of porridge oats in so planning to make a big batch of flapjacks this weekend for next week's lunch boxes. getting pretty near my budget but still have loads in the freezer and cupboards, think I may have overbought slightly , so less to buy next month hopefully!

Winged_one

I had to get more bread and milk yesterday, so another small spend to add in. But I got to the plot today, and that meant a bag (3 dinners worth) of potatoes, 2 small heads of cabbage, 6 nice beetroots, a handful of spring onions, a bowlful of (old) peas to freeze, a small handful of french beans, 18 bolted onions, 3 large heads of garlic, and a large bag of radishes, as well as a decent handful of dill and a large bag of oregano. The oregano is on the windowsill drying for winter (I'll put in oven tomorrow if the sun doesn't shine enough), and I'll dry some of the dill too, but we used some of that with tonight's salmon for dinner, and some potatoes. And some spring onions in a tuna mix for lunch (which also had leftover roast potatoes fried up as home fries).

I am finally starting to make progress on clearing cupboards though, and hope to get up north in September to restock for value and winter combined. There are gaps appearing (and I am getting basics brands for a lot more now).

Long_tall_sally

I used my £6 off £40 voucher today in Mr T & unfortunately didn't get any more till spits! This did include a box of chocolates which were a birthday present for a friend. I also spent £8.38 in Farm Foods which included £1.80 on two lots of milk. Not as good as their previous offer of two for £1.50 but still probably the best I have seen recently. I might get two more lots tomorrow as I think I will need to go back into town as it is so heavy to carry more than two at a time. Plus I forgot to get some gluten-free flour.

Thanks for all the info on home grown tomatoes. I think I am going to put some of mine in the dark tomorrow.

cutestkids

Spent £2.89 on apples, eggs and milk will need to do a small top up shop for salad stuff and a few other bits but going to hold off till Friday

slbhill

It's my usual day to buy groceries, but my entire list is:
* D cell battery (to replace the one I put in the smoke alarm the other day - so no rush)
* Kitchen roll (still got some but no spare roll)
* frozen peas (can use other veg)
* bread (but got almost a week's worth in the freezer), and
* rolls for packed lunches.

So I will pick up some rolls at the mini supermarket next door to work, leave the stuff on my list for next week, and avoid the big supermarket full of temptation. This is good as I hadn't quite realised how much I managed to spend last week

quintwins

morning all, has tesco made there sliced loaf smaller? the white one at around 69p i got one a few days ago and didn't really look but just lifted it out of the freezer and the slices are the size of nimble which is annoying the weight on the bag is the same so i'm wondering if i got a dub one?

anyway today is a nsd altho i'm tempted to go get bread lol were having fish (plaice i think hubby caught it and we froze it) in white sauce with peas and sweetcorn and rice for tea

meanmarie

Spent €15.70 yesterday, which brings my spend to €97.04, DS1 and family here for dinner and breakfast, hopefully will not have to buy anything to feed them, have some steak in freezer, also some sausages and chicken drumsticks, so might do barbecue this evening...seems as if day is going to be ok (???)

[Deleted User]

Well, thats my first grocery challenge totally out of the window. I must say, I am disappointed with myself. I did a shop from a couple of the clearance websites, as they had stuff we use all the time at a really low price, and if you don't grab while there, it sells out. That said, we now have 12 packs of old el paso wraps for £3, should see us through the next few months. On a positive note, I have managed to clear £300+ off my overdraft and still have £20 in my purse, so that will see me through to the end of the month. Anyone know of any armies that need feeding!!!

Hippeechiq

Spent £4.70 yesterday on Bread, Milk & Oven Chips, + £3 on three ½ price boxes of Sugar Puffs on offer in Icel@nd @ £1 (but that comes out of 2nd purse, so not part of GC tally)

Also a spend of £1.80 today on a bus fare to get to the dentist. I normally walk there & back, but we've got torrential rain down south, and I mean torrential.

I walked into town after my appointment and the road where the buses pick up/drop off couldn't be seen as it was a river of fast running water about 4" deep!

Several people had given up with their shoes and were just wading through the water bare foot. And when I was sheltering in the doorway of one shop, the metal sandwich board from Ph0nes4U next door FLOATED past and away down the street! lol.

I've never seen anything like it! I was soaked right down to my underwear by the time I got home.

Taking the positive from a dire start to the day though (getting drenched AND the dentist) the empty 14 litre bucket that I stood outside in the garden to catch water for my greenhouse plants before I left, was overflowing when I got back, so my plants will get a couple of "free" waterings and is refilling again as I type