October 2011 Grocery Challenge

CompBunny

PennyGrabber wrote: »

I like the sound of mars bar cake! Is that a recipe from on here?

Hiya,
Its a Nigella recipe, like chocolate rice crispie cake but with mars bars!
From http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/mars-bar-cake-1847

• 3 standard mars bars
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 3oz butter
• enough rice krispies to coat
• 200g milk chocolate, melted

1. Melt mars bars, syrup and butter in a pan.
2. When combined add rice krispies, and stir until coated.
3. Press into a greased and lined oblong tin and leave to set.
4. Top with melted chocolate and cut into square when cold.

I left out the melted chocolate to save on ££ (although nicer with!) and used Value rice crispies. Mars Bars are 5 for £1 at Tesco at the moment so have plenty of ingredients left for another batch!

Not an especially MSE recipe, but a nice way to stretch a few mars bars out!

HTH

Doom_and_Gloom

I am including a sewing machine needle (bought a pack of 5 for £2.05 so 41p) and a reel of thread for 99p in this month in place of sanitary pads as I am making and using reusable ones from now on (made 2 to try before my last needle broke and found them very comfortable and work just as well, if not better, than the bought kind!). I am making them out of cotton I was given and old towels :T so no other costs (okay it costs about 1p/hour for the sewing machine electicity but hey I can 'deal' with that going on the electricity bill ). I should be able to make enough before my next period even if I only make one a day :T.
So for sanitary products spend was £1.40 (small price for around 5 years use :cool: - 28p/year or just [STRIKE]over[/STRIKE] opps I mean under (:o) 3p/month over 5 years)
Co-op spent £2.96
Mr S spent £9.99

Still need to get chinchilla food and sand - tried today but the shop was closed

Budget - £100
Spent - £14.35
Left - £85.65

poppy-glos

nsd today :A - tempted to call at the supermarket for something tempting on way home but resisted the urge and had tea from the freezer instead (chilli tonight).

alot of spends yesterday, had the energy and a trip out of town, so went to chinese supermarket, morrisons and asda and bought stocks of things don't get often, and more cheap bicarb from chinese supermarket for the cleaning.

Need to clock up some nsd's now to keep on budget, as am catering for a party this month out of this budget too (incl decorated cake), aim is to spend no more than £5 each time i shop, have quite a few nsd, and two shops which will be more cos of the occasions. Lots in stock so need to use it all, instead of going out to buy other more tempting options!

helen_jelly

Comp Bunny - thank you for the Marsrecipe - added to my recipe folder - can't wait to try it out

Doom and Gloom - PM sent to you :]

Another £8 spend today - added to siggy

Helen x

rosieben

CompBunny I've added the Nigella's Mars Bar cake link to the recipe index :beer:

mrs_mum_3

Evening all

Not good today spent £6.85
DH asked me to pick up some parmesan for tonights dinner - £3.79 for 100g and he used 75g:eek:
I then had to pop into T Metro to pick up 3 ambrosia custards and 2 bags crispd for packed lunch tomorrow - sooo expensive £3.06 for the 5 items
In Sainsbugs would have spent £1.29 on 6 bags crisps and £1.59 on 4 custards
Need to stop off at Sainsbugs or T's tomorrow to get a bit of stock in
I was tempted to buy wine - I have it most nights but resisted the temptation, feeling good and "saved" around £5.50:A

Fiasco55

Well so far this month I have managed 4 NSDs so far :j. Feeling quite chuffed with that. I did head to HB to buy some more drinks and store cupboard items and spent £20.59. I then popped into Mr S's for their Pepsi Max can deal and a few fresh food items £6.07.

angelatgraceland

Small food spend today of £3.60 which was 3 packs of sarnies at £1 each and some reduced bread. Sarnies were for DS and myself who were scurrying around before I started work. I took mine to work with a flask of coffee and ate as I work as wasnt entitled to a break.All a rush today but got sorted eventually. In the 5 days so far of October I have only spent £16.91 on food which is rather amazing!

Flat Eric-I would try a weekly online shop and see how you fare. It must be worth doing for a month and at least the delivery fee should balance out with the more expensive prices of the local shop. I suspect you impulse buy just a little(most of us do)and especially when buying a few treats or presents it adds up fast. Being able to add and take away from your order on a daily basis online if necessary tends to curb the spending I find as you plan everything a lot better. I keep a shopping list on the comp table when I do online shops and I also make notes like "cross of X as we have loads". I do however like to support my local shops so its a careful balance at times and at present Ive got an order on the Asda website which I have postponed twice! Look on the forums for delivery codes for Asda and Tesco-you may get your order delivered free if you are lucky. There truly is no "best way" its an individual thing and you just need to try it for yourself. Nothing like trying it during wet weather-no more running around in the rain !

emmad5689

£1 spend on milk yesterday, added the £2 for his weeks breakfast club, will need a couple of bits this weekend and got a big shop coming monday - hope all are doing wellx

pennywisepoundstupid

Morning we ll i've managed to spend £21.73p over the last few days this is mainly due to popping into Tesco on way to work to buy quality street and muller corners, trying to use vouchers before Friday when they run out.

Was going to try and stay away today but the mars bar cake recipe is tempting me and i might have to go buy some mars bars to make the cake, purely as a treat for the children of course;)