a month without supermarket - new challenge for 2011 starts at post 1013

lil_me

Did go to supermarket today, but because I wanted a muffin tray and a wok which I had seen on offer. Bought lentils, passatta, kidney beans, tomato puree while I was there, which I can't get locally (yet) Spent some more locally. Ebay stuff for baking arrived (Ok not local but small bakery who offers online ordering) Need to total up receipts and add to GC amount. I don't think it'll be that much actually, just need to remember where they heck I put the receipt!

CTC the hovis stuff is quite expensive, about 80p a bag I think, I just use plain flour in my BM now Idea pinched off Squeaky.

kscour

lil_me wrote:

Did go to supermarket today, but because I wanted a muffin tray and a wok which I had seen on offer. Bought lentils, passatta, kidney beans, tomato puree while I was there, which I can't get locally (yet) Spent some more locally. Ebay stuff for baking arrived (Ok not local but small bakery who offers online ordering) Need to total up receipts and add to GC amount. I don't think it'll be that much actually, just need to remember where they heck I put the receipt!

CTC the hovis stuff is quite expensive, about 80p a bag I think, I just use plain flour in my BM now Idea pinched off Squeaky.

who was the seller on ebay?

lil_me

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/FELLOWS-BAKERY-PREMIXES-IMPROVERS

I wanted to try fresh yeast, has arrived well, but might not over summer months (I think being in a post van which is cold helps) got some improvers aswell.

http://www.wharfcottagepreserves.co.uk/ these sell via eBay too http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wharfcottagepreserves

I don't mind using eBay so much as I use the money made from eBay sales of my old stuff to buy, so that means it's kind of free

kate83

This link might be useful to someone - I haven't tried it. But when my present flour stocks have diminished, I might give it a go.

http://www.wrightsflour.co.uk/

Free delivery on 3 boxes or more (but this equates to 15 x 1.5Kg flour). This works out at £12.

Good value or not - not sure price of flour at the moment?

On wrights flour the free delivery is on 3 boxes or more - each box contains 3 cases, each case contains 5 bags of flour
5 x 3 x 3 = 45 bags of flour - would probably go off before you used it unless buying for a group of people

COOLTRIKERCHICK

kate83 wrote:

On wrights flour the free delivery is on 3 boxes or more - each box contains 3 cases, each case contains 5 bags of flour
5 x 3 x 3 = 45 bags of flour - would probably go off before you used it unless buying for a group of people

the flour is sold in per box..... and its 1 case per box.... there is 5 bags of 1.5 kg in a case...

so its 15 bags of flour......to warrent free delivery..

thats the way i read it.....

kscour

Well Cooltrikerchick I don't know wether to thank you or be annoyed with you!:D I haven't been able to get this out of my head - little things whirling round inside my mind all the time.:rolleyes:
So I've figured out
a) as I cook mostly from scratch there are few BOGOF's that really help me - it's when I tend to stock up on stuff the kids want like chocolate biscuits and the dreaded chicken nuggets.:eek: At the moment I've had some good deals on flour & t bags and tinned ravioli but it's rare that they come up. So what I should do is just check the BOGOFS on the internet and if it really is too good to miss make a special trip (which means it'll have to be pretty spectacular)
b) we already buy meat, some veg, bread, eggs & some milk from butchers but they also sell some packets and tins so I'm covered for sugar & the odd tin of baked beans.
c) most of what I can't get at local shop I could order from goodness direct.
d) some things I buy we could live without - the chocolate biscuits (penguins etc) could be replaced with homemade cakes. I do bake it's just I end up buying the biccies as well! And how do they get me to buy chicken nuggets when I make them? A simple matter of planning would make sure there were my HM chicken nuggets in the freezer.
e) A nearby (10 miles!) town where I used to work has turned into a real market town so I wouldn't mind bettting there will be a couple of foodie shops there if I visit (also because it's lots of little shops DD's won't mind going as they'll be places they'll enjoy going in as well)
f) Why the beeping L have I been torturing myself in Mr T's when my sole relief was trying to have a bit of revenge by waiting for BOGOF's to stock up:wall:

I can't say I won't set foot in Mr T's again because there will be things I can't get else where but I want to at least pull it back to a monthly trip for a couple of items.

So thanks you've been an inspiration!

chardonnay_2

while telling my hubby about how well you were all doing i realised my mil is taking part but doesn't know it. she is incapacitated at the mo with a broken foot, but since she retired has been shopping locally most days, although she does do her main shop in asda. she likes to keep herself busy and makes sure she has stuff to do everyday.

in better health she walks to the main street every weekday, and goes to the posh :eek: deli daily for cold meat for her two Chihuahuas :rotfl: and for her OH'S cold meat for his work pieces. to the local chain sands for her rolls. she goes to the post office for her pension and the papershop for her papers etc and gets meat from a butchers in a neighbouring village (must be better than the two in our village), she also uses the bank, hairdressers, health centre and chemist in the village. never really realised how much she is making use of the services. she is better off than us hence why the supermarket reductions are so appealing to us. when we get something for a few pence i feel like we are getting one over anyway :j

recovering_spendaholic

Well I have to report that I fell of the wagon yesterday. I had been doing really well but on the way home from a friend's house yesterday I drove past a newly opened Lidl just 10 minutes from my home. I have never been in a Lidl as we didn't have one near enough until now and I have seen the comments on this site about how good it is, so I just had to go and have a little look around. I was really impressed with it and bought lots of fruits and vegetables which looked to be very high quality and which were all half price, so I got a good supply of Mangoes (34p), Kiwis (8p) pineapple (64p) avocados (34p) and root veggies and tomatoes very cheap too. I also got yoghurt (this yummy one which is vanilla with bitter chocolate chips called Straciatelli), milk, kitchen rolls, pork chops, 100g bars of chocolate, chocolate brownies, bake at home ciabatta rolls, different types of pasta, long grain and risotto rice, herbs, oats, strawberry jam, boxes of muesli bars (three different types), philadelphia type cheese, mozarella cheese, individual 200ml cartons of pure orange and apple juices (6 for 89p), lemon juice, pancake mix (I know not very OS but bogof) free range eggs, biscuits for cheese and some cleaning cloths. When I got to the checkout I had a big trolley full and was expecting it to be about £40 but it was only £22 which I was very impressed with as I had really bought lots most items. I consoled myself with the thought of how much money I had saved compared to Tesco:o

COOLTRIKERCHICK

its only been a few days........the main things is that peeps are now starting to look and think about other places in buying their shopping....

it is hard... i have now run out of squash for the kids.....and i am now desperate for milk....only enough for a few more cuppas :eek:

so when hubby comes home from work will go to the butchers before he closes... and get some meat to hopefully last the week.....there is a cheap shop opp.. so will call in to get some washing up liquid....and see if i can find a corner shop on the way back.....

but i know tescos is just round the corner:eek: :eek:

just got to make sure that the auto pilot switch is turned off lol....

as for sticking within budget.....over the last few weeks i have been writting all my spends down.. petrol food etc...... my food shopping is very irractic.... rangeing from £141. ish :eek: to £86. odd per week.... for 4 of us 2 cats and 1 stupid dog of dopiness... doberman....

our week goes from thursday to wednesday.... so so far since thursday we have spend £21.31.....on food....so will try and budget for around the £60. mark.... and see how we cope with that......our pet food comes to £16. pw.

i know my club card points are due any time and when i convert them to buy my oven.... i know i will be thinking what the heck am i doing.....withdrawal symtems will be at their highest then me thinks.....

ShirleyPark_2

Inspired by this thread I took a good look at the local shops when I went up there to go to the library. I found a charity shop down a side street that I didn't know existed. Discovered that the cake shop did bread, though doesn't have a great deal of choice (didn't need bread anyway).

Went in the greengrocers (never been in there before), cos needed some fruit and was pretty impressed with the quality some of the nicest looking fruit and veg I've seen. Plus they had rat food which had the things that my rats like in it rather than being half full of the bits they won't touch, so looks like I might get that from there in future. Eggs were cheaper than the supermarkets by about 20p for 6 large free range ones, so will remember that for next time we need some. The one thing I did like in there, they sold things like cabbage etc cut in half. I think the fruit and veg guy with the stall at the top of the road is cheaper, but this place looked like better quality, plus no need for little individual bags for things like in the supermarket

Had to go to Sainsbury in the end to get hot dog rolls, but only got them. I tried the independant cheap shops (we have a few) for an underbed storage bag, but they didn't have any, so resorted to wilkinsons for that. Plus finally got some white vinegar, I vaguely remember someone on here posting about how wilkinsons had started doing that.

Next task is to see what shops there are near work, other than the co-op and chemist (which I think is a chain one, but certainly not B or Lloyds)