January 2012 Grocery Challenge

AlwaysHappy

hamish222 wrote: »

Is Donald Russell good I was thinking of giving them a try.

To be honest, this is only my 3rd order with them and I have only bought items each time that have been on offer (they are expensive even so, but excrutiatingly expensive at full price). Everything has been soooo tasty - we haven't had anything that didn't taste fabulous. The other night we had some meat out of the freezer to use it up and my husband commented on the difference in taste immediately (unknown for him - I sometimes didn't even think he noticed what we had). So, for the moment, I think its worth it - watch out for the offers and give it a go.

jo84

Third shop of January, £21 spent in L*dl and £9 spent in Mr. Ts. Again went with list and meal plan done so happy enough. :mad::mad:Lost £10 from change for diesel, put in handbag and think it came out when pulling other stuff out! Will have to take from grocery budget on Sunday when DH fills up.

Meal plan for week is as follows:
Tonight: Fried eggs (we have chickens), SW chips and beans
Sat: HM Burgers, SW chips and beans
Sun: Going to MIL's, will bring HM trifle
Mon: Beef Casserole from Slow Cooker
Tues: Enchiladas
Wed: Chicken a la King (in freezer!) and rice
Thurs: Fish, mash & carrots

Should really enter quote but can't remember who said it earlier in thread but SM are not our friends. Was reminded of the today when one swiss role with 12 servings is £1 and 2x6 servings comes to 88p. Discovered this in Mr Ts today while shopping for trifle ingrediants. THis is not the first time I've seen this and I'm sure others notice it to...also 4 individual tins of Mr Ts own brand beans cheaper than 4 pack. Shoppers beware...thought it would be worth bringing to others attention.

Anyway, enough from me. I'm really enjoying this challenge and the support from the threada. Thanks to all.:j

PennyGrabber

Hello and welcome wear280902!!

Make sure you take time to read through some of the pages on here - eg tigerfeet's post (think it's no6 on first page), but don't feel downhearted if you can't do everything straight away! As we say on here, baby steps. You've made the first step in saying hello, and there are so many people on here that can help and give you advice - I thought I knew loads, but I have learnt so much here! Good luck in your money-saving journey!

PG x

Herbyme

Just cleared out that 'office tidy' box that I keep all those bits of paper in, in the kitchen... I now see that when I cut the fronts off the Christmas cards to keep for shopping lists, I haven't used up the ones from the last 3 years at least, as that's where they were lurking... is it possible to be TOO OS?!
Tried the 2 purse idea on DH today, he was absolutely floored by it and didn't see the point at all. Think that's a no no for us...

sproggi

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Only you can answer that based on the crucial questions:
Can you afford to buy more? If I raid my new dishwasher fund, yes
Have you got room to store them? This could be where I come unstuck, the space that was made by getting rid of my defunct dishwasher, has now been filled with toilet rolls and fabric softner
Will you use them? With 5 of us, not a problem and if DS1 visits, probably all in one go:rotfl:

The third one is obviously yes.
By the way, I found a 12 pack of lovely thick soft toilet rolls I had forgotten about so maybe add

Will I remember where I put them? Yep, cause we would be tripping over them:rotfl:

You could always treat them as a form of temporary loft insulation if you can't resist them :rotfl:Now I had thought loft:D Only downside there is, our garden backs on to allotments and we often get unwelcome four legged visitors in the loft (it looked like a massacre on a duck farm after they discovered the spare feather pillows stored up there!)

Seeing others buying 5 or 6 packs, I am getting toilet roll envy! I think I will see if they have any left tomorrow (our store sold out on the first day when they had their own ones on offer a few weeks ago) and I will stretch to 2 more lots, then worry about where to store them after.

My NSD didn't pan out in the end anyway:( Needed to get some more philly for tea after finding out that we only had a little bit left and it is a bit hard to have pasta with philly and gammon without it. While I was there I couldn't resist looking at the ys's and picked up some mozzarella reduced to 59p (hm pizza for tea tomorrow), some teacakes at 16p (now in freezer), some country slices for 20p, a catapiller cake down to £1.10 and some Terrys chocolate oranges down to £1 each, plus a few bits like pepsi that we had run out of. So another £12.49 spent.

Sproggi

bupster

NSD today, am surprised how many I've had, will have to count them up. Exasperatingly got my Next statement and a load of stuff I'd bought in the sales last year has only just turned up so I'm £100 more in debt than I thought I was. Oh well, we plod on. I was hoping to completely pay that off this month, might be much more of a struggle now. Still, I've got enough food in for, ooooh, about a month so bring on the siege :rotfl:

Herbyme

jo84 wrote: »

Should really enter quote but can't remember who said it earlier in thread but SM are not our friends. Was reminded of the today when one swiss role with 12 servings is £1 and 2x6 servings comes to 88p. Discovered this in Mr Ts today while shopping for trifle ingrediants. THis is not the first time I've seen this and I'm sure others notice it to...also 4 individual tins of Mr Ts own brand beans cheaper than 4 pack. Shoppers beware...thought it would be worth bringing to others attention.

Jo I quite agree about this and as well as being annoying, it makes shopping take much longer. I found A$da Hein* beans cheaper individually and small packs of Colour catchers too, also at A$da this week. Think it may also be the case in some shops with Elvive hair stuff, the one in the red bottles for us 'natural' red heads :whistle: As you say, you have to be sooo careful not to let them kid you into thinking they are trying to help you. Ha!

XSpender

I had to leave work today to take DS to A&E after he had an accident at nursery....he is absoloutley fine but we ended up going to Mr M with DH in tow. £71 spent but only £22.13 of this was on stuff that's added in to the GC, £24 was on stuff for my version of the 2nd purse (scampi, beans, coffee) that I have just started, using £40 from my recent tax rebate to start me off, and the rest was a DVD for DS, a card magazine for me (out of my christmas money), 4 new pillows, 2 wine glasses, 2 lovely gifts for 2 little girls with birthayd this month reduced to £1.28 each, 2 thermos flasks so we can take HM soup to work and some stationary for work/college.

Because DH was there 2 pizzas, some findus pancakes and beer fell into the trolley. Can't blame him for the choclate eclairs that I needed after the stress of watching them superglue my toddler's ear together:eek: Also bought cheese, toothpaste, couple of tins and some skinny sausages for DS, stain remover, orange juice, face wash and milk.

Picked up the free Mr M mag in store and there is a lovely recipe for parsnip and parmesan muffins which I have all the ingredients for and will make tomorrow. They are freezeable and will be a good lunch box filler for DH who has a savoury tooth.

Still need to to pop to Aldi tomorrow or Sunday for a small amount of fruit, dog food and more milk.

TheThriftyScrumpers

hamish222 wrote: »

Is Donald Russell good I was thinking of giving them a try.

I think the quality is excellent. I only buy when there is a half price sale mind. Winging it's way to me are 8 packs of 440g Steak Mince for £22 and the winter stew selection for £39 (which contains more mince , brisket, braising steak, diced beef steak, shin and rib trim). They are also going to send some free bones for stock and a free packet of tortellini :T

I did an order with a friend so we got free delivery :money:

sproggi

XSpender wrote: »

Can't blame him for the choclate eclairs that I needed after the stress of watching them superglue my toddler's ear together:eek: .

Oh no your poor little one Big gentle hugs to a big brave boy.
I think you more than deserve those eclairs XSpender

Sproggi