January 2012 Grocery Challenge

CRANKY40

Good evening,

Brassic and Mrs Money Penny I'm thinking of you both and sending (hugs).

I have done my first shop of the month. As we didn't need much in the way of food I tried to top up the cleaning stuff with some of A$da's special offers instead. I also bought myself some cup a soups and some green tea as I'm trying to give up fizzy drinks and I'm not keen on ordinary tea or coffee after the first cuppa of a morning. I spent £28.65 out of my £40 budget.

I have washed the pan of my bread maker, so will be making my own brown bread in future. Ds aged 7 wasn't keen on bread from the bread maker last time he tried it, but it's been awhile, so I will ask him to taste it again. I have also managed (finally) to find a home made soup that I like. I made leek and potato soup and froze most of it in portions. Into the portion that I left out for my lunch yesterday, I crumbled a bit of Shropshire Blue cheese left over from Christmas. It tasted fabulous!

I still have plenty of food in, both in the store cupboard and in the freezer, despite taking a couple of bags of food to my mate who was having a bit of a crisis over christmas. I'm back following slimming world too, and most of the freezer contents are healthy enough. I made spag bol tonight with quorn mince - ate one portion and froze three portions, then added a small tin of beans and some chilli powder to the rest to make 3 portions of chilli also for the freezer. I love having home made "ready meals" in.

Take care all of you.

jo84

Second shop of the month done today to last till next Friday, had meal plan and list so coped well. Had to use a bit of self-control in Sainsbobs, saw deals I fancied but wasn't stuff on the list = false economy!
Also went to Lidl and butchers.
Wouldn't even of spent as much but will need washing powder soon and had seen on this fabulous thread Fairy Non-bio was on special at Sainsbobs, hence the visit there!

Mrs_Money_Penny

Thank you everyone for your kindness and wishes.

Have done a first shop this month of £60.58. Got loads of vegtables to make a stew in the slow cooker with the last of the turkey from the freezer. Turned out lovely. Hsve been making lots of soup these last few months, I take a portion in a container and heat up for lunch at work. very filling. No spends planned on food until next Thursday.

freakyogre

£5.44 spent in Tesco on oil, rice cakes, tampons, a birthday card, garlic bread, bagels and a loaf of bread. The bread and bagels were reduced to 34p.

I think i'll pop to Lidl tomorrow as they have quite a few different fruit and veg offers on which look good.

Ess-six

Hello everyone

My first update - spent time this morning sorting out the freezer, fridges and cupboards and now have a list of everything. Also did my first menu plan in ages then went shopping armed with a list. Bought a few extras as we have a new A**a near us and they're obviously having problems anticipating requirements as there are lots of whoopsies, especially meat lol!

Coxy11

Lovebeingathomemum - Foraged deep into cupboards today and managed Nigella's s**t spaghetti for tea tonight - success with all family!



:rotfl:Reminds me of my childhood. When I used to ask my Mum what was for dinner she would reply "!!!!! and sugar"!

Please tell me what was in the spaghetti ....???? :eek:

XSpender

Hugs to all those who need them:grouphug:

Weekly shop done today in Ald1 with a few extras bought from Mr S, value foil x2, value sandwich bags x2, value pan scourers and yeast. Lots and lots of fruit and a bit of veg bought including a lot of celery at 39p a head to chop up for the freezer as I use it in soup. Hoping to make a big fruit salad to kill the dregs of the chest infection I had over Christmas and NY.

Came home to 2 things:

1) My first organic veg box in nearly a year. Beautiful veg but there is a lot less in there than I have had in the past so I am a bit dissapointed. Not helped by the fabulous veg I got so cheap at Ald1.

2) A £200 unexpected tax refund cheque:j And it didn't even cross my mind to order a takeaway:rotfl:

Only £16.85 left of my budget so it looks like I will go over even though in reallity we could live on what we have got in as half the stuff I got this week was for next and the veg will last for ages.

Can I do it?

When I was in Ald1 I bought a 2 part pot each for mr and DH, smaller bottom part is insulated for milk or yogurt and bigger top is for cereal or fruit. Even comes with a little spoon. This is ideal for me to take my breakfast to work and milk for cereal and tea. This will save me loads:) Bought 3 boxes of cereal as I thought all the stuff on top of my freezer was stale only to find 2 boxes un opened and 1 half box of wrapped shredded wheat:eek:

mummyjane

Hugs to all who need them today. Spent £15 on a Mr S shop, ordered with a friend who had a £15 off voucher. So we both got free delivery and £7.50 off our shops each. Everything I ordered was more or less half price

2 x Big Persil Liquid
2 x large Fabric Softener
1 x Clover
3 x Rice (microwaveable one - ds will only eat this rice, joys of autism)
1 x punnet of kiwis
2 x 400g cheese

Definitely a bargain as I would have paid almost £45 full price, everything will be used over the next month or so and so I am very pleased

Hope to have a nice cheap weekend, here's hoping!

totallybored

XSpender wrote: »

Hugs to all those who need them:grouphug:

Weekly shop done today in Ald1 with a few extras bought from Mr S, value foil x2, value sandwich bags x2, value pan scourers and yeast. Lots and lots of fruit and a bit of veg bought including a lot of celery at 39p a head to chop up for the freezer as I use it in soup. Hoping to make a big fruit salad to kill the dregs of the chest infection I had over Christmas and NY.

Came home to 2 things:

1) My first organic veg box in nearly a year. Beautiful veg but there is a lot less in there than I have had in the past so I am a bit dissapointed. Not helped by the fabulous veg I got so cheap at Ald1.

2) A £200 unexpected tax refund cheque:j And it didn't even cross my mind to order a takeaway:rotfl:

Only £16.85 left of my budget so it looks like I will go over even though in reallity we could live on what we have got in as half the stuff I got this week was for next and the veg will last for ages.

Can I do it?

When I was in Ald1 I bought a 2 part pot each for mr and DH, smaller bottom part is insulated for milk or yogurt and bigger top is for cereal or fruit. Even comes with a little spoon. This is ideal for me to take my breakfast to work and milk for cereal and tea. This will save me loads:) Bought 3 boxes of cereal as I thought all the stuff on top of my freezer was stale only to find 2 boxes un opened and 1 half box of wrapped shredded wheat:eek:

Congrats on the tax refund:j I got one of these this week too and made me very happy. It's now in my 2012 holiday fund pot for a weekend away.

freyasmum

Coxy11 wrote: »

Lovebeingathomemum - Foraged deep into cupboards today and managed Nigella's s**t spaghetti for tea tonight - success with all family!



:rotfl:Reminds me of my childhood. When I used to ask my Mum what was for dinner she would reply "!!!!! and sugar"!

Please tell me what was in the spaghetti ....???? :eek:

It's spaghetti alla puttanesca - w**re's style spaghetti in Italian.

Depending on the version you prefer, the story goes that cos it's so quick and easy to put together it was easy for all the ladies of the night to have between, ahem, shifts