December 2011 - Grocery Challenge

meg72

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Hi everyone, hope all are well as I'm afraid I've lost track of the thread and haven't managed to keep up:o.

Doing OK - spends of £32.09 @ Mr T last Saturday and £9.01 today bringing me to £63.23 / £150

However, very small spends today down to no chilled stuff at all - my fridge/freezer packed in last Sunday:(. I have ordered a new one but it doesn't arrive until Friday so am having to keep stuff in the garage & therefore running stocks down & not replacing atm.... not ideal.

Also means that I'll probably have to hit the sm to restock on fresh stuff on Christmas Eve :eek::eek: (oh, joy ... am I looking forward to that!) so will have a fairly big spend then.

Oh so sorry about the fridgefreezer, Sods law that it happens just before Christmas. Do hope you manage to get loads of reduced on ChristmasEve.

meg72

mummyjane wrote: »

Another NSD for me today, although I have ordered the Christmas shop to come on Monday from Mr S. Will just have to pick up veggies and cream on Saturday but should hopefully keep us going until new year's eve. Going to be well over budget but at least it will give me an idea of what budget to set for January.

Dont view this as over budget,I amsure there will be meals you can make,and that is called investment.Good luck.

Living_proof

I think I did quite well today and still within budget, but I have vouchers if I go over. I managed to get a rolled and boned large turkey breast reduced from £20 to £14 and I have cut this in half and frozen, one for Christmas Day and the other for the right occasion later next year. I also managed some reduced mince and sausages in Lidls, well within date and reduced braising beef and small topside joint in Asda. This means that I will be making goulash, chilli con carne and also braised red cabbage in the next day or so. I bought a small Christmas cake but we have decided to give the pudding a miss this year as it is pure gluttony anyway. Has anyone seen the M & S add for the nut encrusted gooey topping on their pudding - gilding the lily, or what?

As usual the freezers are well topped up, even though I promise myself each year to half-empty to pick up some really reduced items after the festivities. The only problem this year is I only have Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve available between now and 7th Jan. Neither date looks like being good for a leisurely shop, so maybe I have done the right think after all by stocking up. I am always busy in January and February anyway so it's a relief to have lots of home-cooked goodies around.

I hope you are all managing well with your own budgets. People I saw out shopping today were definitely more aware of prices and so on, and several people I saw in Lidl seemed to follow me to Aldi and then on to Asda. What appalled me was the cost of fruit and veg in Asda - it's between 40-80% dearer than the discounters I would say. I go in for the wine deals and some of the tinned prices are good when on offer, but you have to have your wits about you at all times. I am going to try some of softstuff's cookies, as the mince pies OH bought today are rather less than appetising.

rising_from_the_ashes

meg72 wrote: »

Oh so sorry about the fridgefreezer, Sods law that it happens just before Christmas. Do hope you manage to get loads of reduced on ChristmasEve.

Thanks Meg - I was absolutely fuming at the time as the beeping thing could've waited until the sales started!

I did think about hanging off but after a visit to a store to look at some, I found one I liked (or rather lots I liked - but many were too expensive) which was the right size.

It was £349.99 in store but phoned DF who checked online & found it for £269.99 (just shows!!!!!) so gave in - even when the sales start, I think I'd be hard pushed to find one of the others for less than that (will try to refrain from looking as I'll be hopping if they are!).

Must check the closing time of the SM on Saturday ......:)

bikelesschick

I've not caught up with the thread, just popped in to say :mad:

I've not been keeping up with the spending on a daily basis so I'm a bit annoyed at myself. Still, I have kept receipts though:j - I'm hoping I've kept them all;) - so I'll pop in again with an updated amount.

meg72

Living_proof wrote: »

What appalled me was the cost of fruit and veg in Asda - it's between 40-80% dearer than the discounters I would say.

Dont buy it and then it will be reduced,

wannabee_in_credit

Hi everyone
I know I've never posted on this thread before - I intend to join in with the grocery challenge for next month. I need to get below £50 a week - have been regularly spending £80+.
But I'm so excited I had to share somewhere. Did my weekly grocery shop with a list, which I stuck to and spent £36.47. I'm absolutely thrilled because I don't think I need to do much else this week, and it gives me real motivation to get on and do more to money save.
Sorry to just barge in on the thread but I'm so excited.

LucyLou1981

WOW! I added up my November spend (26th Oct to 26th Nov) and it was 350 or thereabouts. I've done my 'christmas shop' and shouldn't need anything else until after christmas except for maybe bread and milk and i'm at 250! so pleased!!

tigerfeet2006

Tonight's offering was GF Slow Cooker Chicken Casserole some very clean plates from my lot. This served 5 of us.

I defrosted a pack of frozen chicken thighs (£2.59 1 Kg) then dredged them in seasoned GF flour. Popped a slug of oil in a pan and fried them off in batches and bunged them in the SC. Bunged a couple of chopped, medium, onions, a very large, chopped leek and some sliced carrots to the pan and fried them off and chucked them in the SC. Popped a tblsp of parsley and a tblsp of thyme into the SC along with 1/2 pint or so of chicken stock. Put it on low for the day.

I served this with some toasted ciabatta and goats cheese ( slice in half, toast backs, then inside, then butter and crumble goats cheese on and pop back under the grill for a minute or two.) these were in the freezer as I grab ed them on a whoopsie a while back.

This would probably work with other root vegetables or squashes. It also could be served with mash, cheesy mash, jackets or new potatoes.

Onions were from a big 4kg net and carrots were value ones so didn't cost much. I reckon the leeks were the most expensive part of the meal at £1.57 for 750gm.

rosieben

like the sound of that one, tigerfeet, its in the index :T