August 2011 Grocery Challenge

medsdemon

Just popped on to report yet more unscheduled spends sending me way over budget for August..£2.12 on drinks for our day out walking the fife coastal path on saterday and £18.29:eek: because we had invited in laws to dinner..this included a bottle of sherry, expensive dark chocolate to make the hot sauce for the h/m brownies ( can't buy cheap as none is gluten free) and wine for the chicken fricasee. It was a lovely meal though:o

Only 2 days to go till end of our August budget and won't be visiting the shops at all this week except for milk, as way over my budget.

H/m chilli out freezer with guacamole, tomato salsa, yoghurt sauce, tortilla chips and maybe rice tonight and l/o brownies for pudding.

Loads of meals I can make from the contents of my kitchen on my meal plan so will pop back on to declare my total on weds:p

mandco

overspent yet again this wk gotta tally the damage but pretty close to the limit if not over already and still 9 days to go :eek: roll on sept
did however manage 2 nsd over the weekend :j which never happens so pretty pleased there though do need the usual bread/milk yet again today but will just go to the local shop costs a bit more(ok a fair but more :mad: ) but shouldnt be tempted by any other offers as they never really seem to have any so will still save just begrudge paying over the odds.

ok daft question but wanna start doing some batch cooking and freezing ready for winter usually just cook what we need but with ever increasing fuel prices really need to start maximising usage. if I make things like spag bol/ sheperds pie/stew do they need to be defrosted before reheating or can they be done from frozen??and how long do i defrost/cook for?(always forget to take stuff out the freezer to defrost in the morning:o so cooking from frozen works better if possible)
also whats the best thing to freeze them in?
any other tips/advice appreciated thanks

goodluck with the rest of the month

tessie_bear

been to lidl today for ds to get the ingredients to make us a fruit salad...cam out £20 poorer...still got a few bits...do others find that the fruit and veg seems a lot more seasonal in lidl and aldi ? they seem to sell it cheap when in season...i find in asda they largely sell the same stuff all year round and prices vary a bit but more on a promotional basis than seasonally ...i like the way lidl do it anyhow

just made a shepherds pie for tea which i fancied but the weather has warmed up so there might be moaning about that....picked lots of blackberries that are destined to for some pots of bramble jelly

tata tess

166million

166million wrote: »

Hello again. £20.23 spend today so new total £65.68/ £115

Hi there,

I have taken advantage of the Tesco online grocery offer for £15 off £50 spend plus £10.10 from topcashback. Will let you all know how it works out

greent

Afternoon all. Back from 8 days away in N Devon. Have tallied up our grocery spends whilst there (s/c) and total for month to date is £266.76 - which I'm quite pleased with so far.... Didn't include meals out there or treats like ice creams - it was holiday after all!

Should really go to sm today or tomorrow. Have a £5 off £40 coupon for Mr T, so may well go there - fridge is basically empty, so I need lots of things like yogs, fruit, juice, sandwich stuff anyway. £40 doesn't go far

ButterflyBee

I know that I have definitely blown the budget this month but there have been so many extra factors to add to the necessary grocery purchases this month.

Went To Mt T yesterday and spent another $45 on bits for the house and almost nil luxuries.
Updated my signature to include all purchases and will be interesting to see how September will go!

Gorgeestwo

Hi
Although I'm not tallying everything up anymore this month I'm pretty pleased with my spend on Saturday of £59, this should take us though to next weekend no problem, though did forget to get milk doh, so have got to go to Mr T's later, but am going to remain strong and not buy anything else
Feel like I'm getting into this more, have found a really easy recipe for bread, so have been making my own bread the last 10 days or so and enjoying being more organised by sticking to my meal plan, even if I have to swap the odd day round here and there, hopefully once the children are back at school it'll be even easier

Long_tall_sally

Adding on another £2.47 for peas & carrots. Very little left in the budget & will definitely need milk. May possibly still make it however because we have no money left in the bank account until pay day on Friday!

ixia

Neede bread ad milk so another £2.89 to add on to budget. hopefully should make it. Got a mailing in from Mr S with a £6 off a £30 spend for this week so that should help. I've never had anything mailed from them so I am pleased.

69chick

Hi all. am on holiday at the moment near Aberdeen at my brother and sister in laws..GC sort of on hold, I did spend yesterday whilst here so I might add that to the sig and see if I can keep up with it, however it will be different to my usual spending as I am not as 'tight' with my shopping whilst on holiday and spend more on treats etc. but the money has to come from somewhere I suppose..

We have been to a lovely beach today at a small fishing village, weather isn't great but the kids loved it and we got ice creams on the way home (quite impressed as they had an array of flavours and were only £1.10 each!!)

we are here till Thursday, when we will begin our long journey home back down South, making a couple of stops on the way....do any of you have any suggestions as to good places to stop with 3 young children? need a stop either south of Scotland or not long into England and then another in the middle of England....not GC related sorry but thought I would ask...

Hope everyone is doing well sticking to budgets,am off to catch up on some posts now xx