January 2012 Grocery Challenge

tigerfeet2006

Happy Birthday Ladies :bdaycake: Hope you both had a good one.

((((hugs)))) to those who need them :grouphug:

Have been at my FIL's today for dinner, after church, so haven't had to cook a bean today :beer: Even had a lovely glass of wine. My eldest and I went to the local OAP home this evening to help take the service for the pensioners. It is always fun.

Chicken in the SC tomorrow, I'm going to put the left over herb sauce on it, from the 2nd gammon meal. I've sliced the LO gammon up now and popped it in the freezer, along with the LO sugar juice to which I added a bit of soy sauce. It will be enough for another meal for us 5, probably as a stir fry type thing. So thet was 3 meals from a £6 joint, I'm a very happy shopper indeed.

bupster

Arg, the horror! I've actually run out of stuff!

Made some bread and some granola for breakfast, and have, without doubt, run out of sunflower seeds, and low on pumpkin, poppy and sesame seeds. Am going to have to go to a shop and buy expensive packets of seeds before I next make bread so this week.

Can anyone think of a cheap place to buy packets of seeds and nuts? Otherwise I've looked up the prices at my local food co-operative and they seem to be significantly cheaper than Sainsbobs, which is sort of annoying as I have a coupon for £2 off £20 that needs to be used up on Wednesday.

So next conundrum - what to buy at Sainsbobs? Or should I just let the coupon expire, as I have enough food for the rest of the week and plenty of stuff in the cupboard and freezer?

XSpender

Lovely lunch out with DPIL today with Ald1 pizzas for tea. How nice were they for £1.49 each?

DH opened a bottle of wine we got as a NY gift but didn't enjoy it so I have froze the half a bottle that was left in ice cube trays to add to mince or bolognaise. Don't know if the wine will add anything to the dish as it was pretty tasteless.

I hadn't realised until yesterday that Ald1 is next door but one to DH work:j I am planning to send him there with a very limited list next Friday and see if we can keep in budget. There is only a few quid left but TBH we hardly need anything just fruit, yogurts, dog food and maybe bread and cheese. It is the beer DH may want next weekend that will push us over.

I am chuffed to bits that I have only spent £75 and £65 in the last 2 weeks. I did spend £346 the first week but this included lots of booze and a bit of food for Christmas so no real leftovers to keep us going the last fortnight.

I feel it is shopping at Ald1 that has reduced my spends recently as well as avoiding carp, eating more fresh food and meal planning.

medsdemon

Evening all. Was going to nip on to report a NSD but OH just came back from MrS with whoopsies and spent £3.50. A pasta salad pot for 40p for DD or mines pack up tomorrow, a paella for 99p for himself for lunch, a turkey breast roast for 99p for dinner tomorrow night with a bag of sliced leek and cabbage to go with it for 10p and a pack of cod fillets for 99p for the freezer for another night- battered cod bites and chips and peas, me thinks. I can't tell him off:D.

Planning a NSD tomorrow to put off big shop once again. Am short of fruit but we can have a can of peaches with yoghurt for breakfast, will make do.

kersplatt

Hi 'nuther spendy day today. DD's birthday tomorrow so had to buy a present yesterday and then petrol and a quick run around tesco this evening during the whoopsie markdown. Only £8.50 on grocery's and that included a treat bottle of wine (got to do 6 days in a row this week so I'll need it!!!) Petrol cost £58 to fill the tank - this makes me sad!!

lula_moneybaggins

So, having given myself a good talking to following my £70 food shopping spend in the first week of Jan (I live in a flat with one other housemate, but am only shopping and cooking for myself!!), I thought I would have a riffle through my two freezer draws to see what's what.

Holy guacamole! I've got:
2 x 500g minced beef
5 x 300g large prawns
3 x Venison burgers (2 in a pack)
15 x sausages
5 x packs of pancetta cubes
8 x pork steaks
16 x chicken breasts
3 x salmon fillets
2 x 8 meatballs
2 x 300g diced beef

Honestly, am I stockpiling for a nuclear attack?! With all this food, why am I even going shopping?! Aaaargh!

Anyway, I then made some soup using half a butternut squash, a sweet potato, a carrot, two sticks of celery, some chicken stock, chilli and coriander. Made enough for three days!

I will not go to Mr Ts, I will not go to W*itrose, I will not go to Mr Ts, I will not go to W*itrose...

money_saving_hedgehog

Week one over with a total spend of £58.44 of my £250 monthly budget. On course if I can keep it up.

piggeh

lula_moneybaggins wrote: »

So, having given myself a good talking to following my £70 food shopping spend in the first week of Jan (I live in a flat with one other housemate, but am only shopping and cooking for myself!!), I thought I would have a riffle through my two freezer draws to see what's what.

Holy guacamole! I've got:
2 x 500g minced beef
5 x 300g large prawns
3 x Venison burgers (2 in a pack)
15 x sausages
5 x packs of pancetta cubes
8 x pork steaks
16 x chicken breasts
3 x salmon fillets
2 x 8 meatballs
2 x 300g diced beef

Honestly, am I stockpiling for a nuclear holocaust?! With all this food, why am I even going shopping?! Aaaargh!

Anyway, I then made some soup using half a butternut squash, a sweet potato, a carrot, two sticks of celery, some chicken stock, chilli and coriander. Made enough for three days!

I will not go to Mr Ts, I will not go to W*itrose, I will not go to Mr Ts, I will not go to W*itrose...

That's an impressive list lol

Spent £2 on a sandwich for breakfast this morning, but nothing since, and already got lunch in the fridge ready to go.

Really need to sort out a list for the week though don't know how I can plan so many meals when I don't know what I want tomorrow let alone rest of the week!

PennyGrabber

Hi all, hope you've all had good weekends. I've had my children the whole weekend so I haven't been on here so much. We've had a lovely time. Yest did the main weekly shop, for £21 and some pennies, having been to the library first, so they both sat in the trolley reading all the way round!! Meant I didn't add any "Mummy can I haves" to the trolley.

Dinner yest was supposed to be hm pizza, but we got dragged to pizza h^t for lunch. We had a kids eat free voucher (7 kids, 6 adults), and my share of the bill ended up being £10.50. My mates laughed at the though, as when we were waiting for our pizzas to be cooked, i said that I was filling up on unlimited free salad and taking my pizza home for dinner. They found that funny, but carried on eating. Anyway, two massive bowls of salad later (only one with sauce - watching waistline!), I ate two pieces of a medium pizza, then we paid. The people at the other end of the table to me looked over and laughed, "Oh, you weren't joking then!! It'll do you for dinner, I suppose." I merely looked back at them, and said, yes, and lunch tomorrow!! I was comfortably full, and they were rolling out, having stuffed on salad AND pizza!

Dinner then ended up being tom soup, and dinner tonight was hm chicken nuggets - they love making those! I love that it feels unhealthy, but isn't at all! Have enough left over for them both to take some to school with a mini pot of ketchup.

NSD today, and prob tom too. Don't actually need anything at the moment, but I usually end up at a sm on a tues. A mate is coming over this week though, so may be able to avoid it, in which case may be able to go until Fri eve or sat before shopping again.

On the bad news front, my kitchen ceiling started leaking today. Not good, as it was only last month that my dining room ceiling was leaking!!! There'll be a bill for that tomorrow when the plumber (a mate) has been back to sort it out. Hopefully it'll be small, as this year I've already had to tax 2 vehicles and have 1 MOT done! :mad: And it's only the 8th!!!

PG x

angelatgraceland

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Hi all, hope you've all had good weekends. I've had my children the whole weekend so I haven't been on here so much. We've had a lovely time. Yest did the main weekly shop, for £21 and some pennies, having been to the library first, so they both sat in the trolley reading all the way round!! Meant I didn't add any "Mummy can I haves" to the trolley.

Dinner yest was supposed to be hm pizza, but we got dragged to pizza h^t for lunch. We had a kids eat free voucher (7 kids, 6 adults), and my share of the bill ended up being £10.50. My mates laughed at the though, as when we were waiting for our pizzas to be cooked, i said that I was filling up on unlimited free salad and taking my pizza home for dinner. They found that funny, but carried on eating. Anyway, two massive bowls of salad later (only one with sauce - watching waistline!), I ate two pieces of a medium pizza, then we paid. The people at the other end of the table to me looked over and laughed, "Oh, you weren't joking then!! It'll do you for dinner, I suppose." I merely looked back at them, and said, yes, and lunch tomorrow!! I was comfortably full, and they were rolling out, having stuffed on salad AND pizza!

Dinner then ended up being tom soup, and dinner tonight was hm chicken nuggets - they love making those! I love that it feels unhealthy, but isn't at all! Have enough left over for them both to take some to school with a mini pot of ketchup.

NSD today, and prob tom too. Don't actually need anything at the moment, but I usually end up at a sm on a tues. A mate is coming over this week though, so may be able to avoid it, in which case may be able to go until Fri eve or sat before shopping again.

On the bad news front, my kitchen ceiling started leaking today. Not good, as it was only last month that my dining room ceiling was leaking!!! There'll be a bill for that tomorrow when the plumber (a mate) has been back to sort it out. Hopefully it'll be small, as this year I've already had to tax 2 vehicles and have 1 MOT done! :mad: And it's only the 8th!!!

PG x

Now that is my kind of eating out! Re your ceiling though-should you not claim on your buildings insurance?