Updated October Shopping, Whoopsies & Meal Planning For £100 Per Month For 3&Visitors

Need2bthrifty

Thanks Missus Aka, Ive tried visiting both the Mr A's stores close to me and I think because they are both 24hr stores they perhaps dont do the massive reductions that other stores do. I've seen staff reducing some of the chilled products at 10.00am, but I will try visiting around 8 as you suggest, that is once I have used up some of the stock pile I have in the freezer.

But I have to say the behaviour of some people at the reduced section scares me a little, I watched a couple of families having what I would call a "face off" as the tried to beat each other to the best bargains - I walked away!!

Missus_Aka

Need2bthrifty the best thing you could do is make sure what time your store reduces, then when you get an idea of the time go in just before this time and pick what you want out of the reduced section and hang around for 10mins or so and when they start final reductions approach with a friendly smile and ask can you please reduce these for me as well please, always works for me (just as long as you dont have the whole reduced section in your trolley like some people do)

the best thing you can probably do is make a shoppping list and visit asda at whoopsy time and see what you can get whoopsied or sometimes you can find alternatives (for ex. i went to see if they had chicken breast they didnt but they did have 2 garlic chicken kievs for 25p and made this instead of what i was planning to make) if you do this at the beginning of the month then you can meal plan around what bargains you have found, i just stick it all in the freezer and take it out when i need it

Missus_Aka

ooooohhhhhh i nearly forgot i made homemade pizza last night, made the dough and everything from scratch and it was great even oh said so said it was better then pizza hut, and it was sooooo easy so that will be added to my list of dinners i can make. It is so cheap as well:

yeast 5p
plain flour 17p
tomato puree/ketchup 15p
sweetcorn 20p
cheese £0.80 (i like really cheesy pizza)
mushrooms 20p

£1.57 total

this makes pizza for 4 (2x12inch deep pan) but would make more if you had a thinner base

emmad5689

Would like to say a great big thank you to whoever said grated cheese was cheaper than a block of cheese, checked it out at Mr A and it is £1.46 cheaper per kg, I will certainly be changing to grated cheese so thanks again.

Missus_Aka

I know this sounds really sad and its not really shopping related but right now i am having soooo much fun putting my household notebook together again, its getting so pretty i just like looking at it and it helps keep all my stuff together including a section for my meal planner, grocery list, meals i can make, grocery coupons, recipes etc. i think it helps keep me on track when i can see it all at once, does anyone else here do this?

So meal plan has been done for the month and put back in the notebook so im going to start working out what food i will need to get for the month so i have a rough idea, i also quickly browsed the local turkish shops market to look at prices for fruit veg that are cheaper then my local so far i have found
green beans (was 4.99/kg) now 3.69/kg
onions (was 2.00/4kg) now 1.39/4kg
salam (was 3.29) now 2.99
chicken sausages (was 2.29) now 1.69

when i pick up ds later will have another look to see what i can find that will be cheaper

Missus_Aka

Okay so spends and what i have in for September:

Tesco: £34.30

coke 8pk 330ml x8 (buy one get one free)
potatoes 5kg
dolmio sauce family size 750g x4 (buy one get one free) each jar will last for 3 meals each for the 3/4 of us
leeks x2
chicken dippers 12pk x3 (buy two get third free)
spinach 260g
stork 500g
value spaghetti 500g
value garlic baguette x4
fresh chicken packs x 4
weetabix 48pk
value grated cheese
milk 4 pints x2
sweetcorn 3pk
spinach canneloni x 3
spinach tortillini
utterly butterly 500g x2
small value cheese
value thick bread x2
steak mince 800g
black pepper 25g
tortilla wraps x 2

Turkish shopping: £11.92

onions 4kg
turkish green peppers
box of tomatoes
chicken sausages x2
chicken salam
pitta bread x4

So thats £46.22 spent so far need some more bits tomorrow from different shops including green beans, toilet roll and cucumber. This month has to include ds birthday cake and food for the party so im going to have to STRETCH it this month hopefully last month will give me a good idea of what i need to do this month and im going to make a provisional shopping list to see what i need to spend. Have loads leftover in the freezer from last month including breast chicken, whoopsied meals and still have all different flours left, dopiaza sauces, rice, pasta & fruit not sure exactly how much as the freezer is packed out at the moment

Ok, well im going to start putting what i eat everyday as sometimes i vary slightly from my meal plans so this will give you a better idea of what we eat

1st breakfast: (ds & sister) weetabix

2nd breakfast: (ds, sister, me, dh) tuna & sweetcorn/chicken sausages in pitta breads

Lunch: (ds, sister, me) chicken nuggets, fish fingers, beans

Snack: Going to give the kids a fruit bowl in a min

Dinner: Spinach Boreks (this is one of my favs)

69chick

Missus AKA

how do you make Spincah Borek? I have some spinach in the freezer and am looking for some ideas for it....

You are doing great by the way..Love your idea of your notebook, I use a family life book diary and have a new one on its way and I am determined to use it for my budgeting this year..

Missus_Aka

Spinach Boreks:

Make dough:
I normally use 500g plain flour, 15ml veg oil, 1+half tsps of salt and 300ml water for this

Filling:
Cut stems of spinach and wash (i normally use a 260g packet) and leave to one side, dice an onion and fry this in butter until softened add spinach and mix until soft adding black pepper and red pepper flakes (as much as you desire, i buy mine from the local turkish shop) then when cooled a little take one piece of tinned cheese and run it under water for 10secs and break it up into the spinach mixture i use sudityari white cheese it comes in a small tin with a red lid (it needs to be the red lid variety 750g, this normally contains three pieces and it keeps for ages, you can find it in most turkish shops or asda and it normally sells for under £4) mix it all together

Roll out the dough into circular shapes about 20 cm diameter and then put mixture on one side leaving space at the edge and fold other side over the top of the mixture and seal by running a side plates edge around the sides, put into a frying pan at low/medium heat cook one side until it starts to brown slightly and flip over rub some butter on the browned side and when the other side has started to brown flip it and butter this side, flip it one more time until both sides are cooked properly, put on a plate and rub some more butter over them.

This is not the healthiest meal with the butter used but thats quite typical of turkish meals and it is soooooo good its unbelievable, this will mixture makes about 14 of them (i normally eat 4 and kids will eat 2) so will serve 2 adults/3kids approx

As for the notebook am currently updating and redoing the contents to make sure i have everything i need in one place, i might post the contents of it up if anyone wants to see it

poppy-glos

hi

i've had a look through and read some of the posts today, so apoligies if i have not read something that i go on to repeat!

i have changed over from diet coke to lild freeway cola, this is 39 p for two litres or about 1.50 for six 500l bottles. i buy the big bottles and also have some of the 500ml ones, then i decant from the 2litre bottle to take out and about, this is about 10 p for a 500ml bottle so really motivates me rather than grabbing a drink while out for a pound.

i have also been using the recommendations and added frozen spinach, frozen value sweetcorn to an adsa shopping list on my supermarket. The nearest is over 20 miles away from here so going to go for a cheap delivery i think

ooh, i also just buy granulated sugar, and use this in recipes asking for caster, it has been ok for me and is cheaper
:-)

good luck with your challenge

poppy x

Missus_Aka

Hehe just had a really good day, mums old american style fridge/freezer kept breaking so she ordered a new one and got rid of the old one this morning, new one came and couldnt fit through the living room door so she gave me all her food because she had nowhere to put it.

So today i got for free:
half a box of mushrooms
packet of prawns
3 peppers
packet of chicken breasts
half a bag of frozen spinach
chicken nuggets 12pk
bananas x4

not loads but hey every little helps, this will also give me a chance to try frozen spinach without paying any money

also went and bought
large jar spicy tomato puree
green beans x15
pitta breads


that all comes to £5.06 but still need a few bits maybe tomorrow i just couldnt be bothered to walk in the heat

1st breakfast: (ds) weetabix i had a couple of spinach boreks from last night

2nd breakfast: (dh & ds) toasties

1st lunch: (ds, me) pitta bread with salam cucumber & turkish green peppers

2nd lunch: toasties (sister, uncle & gran)

dinner: chicken nuggets, fish fingers & chips (i had to use the chicken nuggets up as they were already defrosted)

snack: will have fruit bowls after dinner