January 2012 Grocery Challenge

lemmings1986

jollymummy wrote: »

Me and DH have been busy clearing the cupboards today. We had got to the point when we opened the food cupboard and just chucked stuff in. Anyhoo we spent some time today sorting it out and getting rid of out of date and fossilized food - some of it from Jan 2009 !!

It is now clean and tidy, I've put a list on the door of what we have, along with a pen so we can amend the list and write on it things we need to replace.
We've also discovered we have 4 packets of spaghetti and 3 of lasagne sheets - looks like we'll be having a lot of pasta in next few weeks

It's nice to feel in control of the situation again and hopefully we won't over buy for the next few weeks.

hi jolly what a good idea oh will be home soon think i mite give it a go my cupboards are full and if i was asked to name everything in them i dont think i could i'll get him to help me when he gets in or maybe do it tomorrow depending on what mood hes in lol

cleggie

jollymummy wrote: »

Me and DH have been busy clearing the cupboards today. We had got to the point when we opened the food cupboard and just chucked stuff in. Anyhoo we spent some time today sorting it out and getting rid of out of date and fossilized food - some of it from Jan 2009 !!

It is now clean and tidy, I've put a list on the door of what we have, along with a pen so we can amend the list and write on it things we need to replace.
We've also discovered we have 4 packets of spaghetti and 3 of lasagne sheets - looks like we'll be having a lot of pasta in next few weeks

It's nice to feel in control of the situation again and hopefully we won't over buy for the next few weeks.

Thats a great idea Jolly, i hope you dont mind if i use it! i had never thought about writing a list on the front of the cupboards. Do you just tick it off the ist if you need to buy more of it?

PaddyPaws

Crikey, this thread is moving fast. Just read the last couple of days whilst indulging in a cuppa. Everyone seems to be doing really well - keep up the good work (and hopefully this will motivate me too!)

Well, overspent by £75 in Dec so my spend last Friday in A*da of £38.36 was my first spend out of my January budget. I've also decided to put away at least £5 a month for 'extras' next christmas and have realised that I don't budget my c0stc0 membership anywhere, so that's another £2.50 a month. These will both have to come out of the grocery budget as there's nowhere else for them to come from. So my budget stays at £250 a month but £7.50 will be classed as 'spent' straightaway. If I manage to come in under budget then I will use the surplus for a) to save up for bulk shop from c0stc0 or other bargains b) a bit more for christmas and c) me :j

I've also come to the conclusion that I spend more if DH comes shopping with me, so will be shopping on my own this year. Funnily enough DH thinks this is a fine idea :rotfl:

Better go and update my sig then follow the good example of all the peeps on here and audit my freezer so I can menu plan and write my shopping list ready for the morning

see you all later
PP
xx

mrs-moneypenny

jollymummy wrote: »

We've also discovered we have 4 packets of spaghetti and 3 of lasagne sheets - looks like we'll be having a lot of pasta in next few weeks

i'll be living on it longer than you, just out the cupboard from doing my inventory and i can see you and raise you. I found 19 packets of lasagne sheets :rotfl:

it was from the recent cheap price Ts did an it should all get used before the end of 2013

my list is too long and embarrassing to post but i shouldnt need to go shopping for non fresh stuff for quite a while:o

cw18

jollymummy wrote: »

Me and DH have been busy clearing the cupboards today. We had got to the point when we opened the food cupboard and just chucked stuff in. Anyhoo we spent some time today sorting it out and getting rid of out of date and fossilized food - some of it from Jan 2009 !!

Why? If it was tins and jars, the chances are it was probably all OK for eating. I have things in my cupboard that must go back almost that far (used to go back a loooot longer than that but have finally worked through the oldest stuff), and don't think twice about eating them (open, eyeball, smell, and - depending on what it is - a dipped finger taste test..... if it passes those then it gets used).

tigerfeet2006

Rosieben, everything I cook is GF so it really doesn't need another section as the majority is just 'normal' food. Maybe just put GF in brackets after recipes that are. I will try and remember to put it when I type it after my recipes, also DF if a recipe is dairy free.

I can spend some time looking at the recipes and will PM which ones are GF for you if you wish.

freyasmum

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

my list is too long and embarrassing to post but i shouldnt need to go shopping for non fresh stuff for quite a while:o

This is me too. No way am I posting my list - especially as I know if a certain someone reads this, he'll take the mick :rotfl: - but it does save me money and, as it's using dead space, it's not taking the place or anything more important.

Just this week I've opened a huge tub of vanish (30-oddp), tube of toothpaste (mccleans. free - h&b vouchers @ tesco ), bottle of herbal essences hair conditioner (boots 50p with 100 points), four pack tinned tomatoes (napolina, 20p tesco dtd), and a bottle of comfort exhilirations fabric conditioner (free), pack of flash wipes (free). Cost to me - £1 for the lot. Cost to go and buy and full price with my shopping = around £20 :undecided

Definitely won't work for everyone, but it works for me

nannygladys

Well just worked out spends and they are a total of Ald* 17.73 and Mr T 13.45 so total 31.18 :) that surprises me cos I thought it would be a lot worse than that, anyway feeling quite positive about January as I only have to buy fruit, milk and absolute needs for the rest of January and some fuel for the car:(

Think I will also see what I have in my cupboards and pantry, I did the freezer a little while ago, but didnt write down what was in there -so I think I will do that again and write it all down:)
Jxx

98jdougl

Spent £56.32 today which should do us abut 2/3 weeks Have done a whole chicken in the SCtoday for the first time, stripped it- wonderfully surprised with the amount of meat I got from it - carcuss etc back in the SC for stock/soup base - feeling very proud of myself
Have got two gammon joints in the fridge ready to go in the SC tomorrow (never cooker a joint before so shall be trawling the recipes on here first!) and will cook up a bunch of mince base and chilli for the freezer as soon as I convince myself to get off of the couch :S

How long I keep this up for is another thing though - really need to save money though - getting married this year (go me hehe)

ETA: what I did for my shop today was complete an online basket at MrT's and print it off and went to Lidl first and then Mr T's - stuck to my list apart from 2 yellow stickers and a couple of things that had sold out but I wasn't going to get the more expensive version of - OH was very impressed with how little I spent compared to usual

98jdougl

rosieben wrote: »

tracey, I've added your flourless chocolate raspberry cake to the index.

Can someone clarify please? I'm thinking that 'flourless' means its actually Gluten Free? if so, it might be more useful to list it as that. Sorry if that's a stupid question but I know nothing about this and I don't want to risk anyone having problems with a recipe.

I need to do a bit of re-organising of the recipes list; I could put gluten -free into their own section?

I think that's great - only thing is it's quite difficult to know what really is GF if you are not clued up - for example, stock cubes, soy sauce, mustard all contain gluten as well as a whole host of others. Most coeliacs will be aware of what is and isn't suitable for them but it would be horrible if someone ended up ill through good intentions. (I may know this stuff but I know if I go to in-laws the recipes they use come from the internet so they may not know what little things count as GF and work on the presumption of someone else being in control of it if that makes sense)
I don't mean this as a put-down in any way but even a crumb of gluten will restart the anti-bodies and take up to 2 years for the body to fully detox again.