January 2012 Grocery Challenge

moneysaver13

Another no spend day. I think if I can just get my head around the fact that I don't have to keep looking for bargains then the NSD's will be easier. I got in the habit of going to the supermarket after 7pm a couple of times a week but now have stopped that. I will do my weekly shop at that time and if the bargains are there then so be it, I got caught up a little looking for yellow stickers and ending up buying bits I probably didn't need. The hope is to have 4 NSD's in a row and that will be such an achievement for me, especially just after being paid. Hope everyone is ok.

SuzieY_2

I paid the milk bill for the month at the weekend - £23.68.

This weeks shop came to £34.43. Hopefully wont need anything else this month....fingers crossed.

supersally01

Evening all, Pretty wet and miserable here in Wales, but warm so no heating needed tonight!
Spent £4.10 yesterday on mushrooms and shampoo.Needed the mushrooms for my stir fry which I will have for lunch all this week (need to loose weight!)
Also spent £1.70 on two loaves from iceland. One in the freezer. Failed to print off the MOCS, as my MAC does not like certain sites. Still good for two loaves tho.
Home made turkey and ham pasties for tea, with an extra one made for work tomorrow night. Turkey from xmas day, but rolled the pastry out a bit too thin, so not a great shape!!!
Aiming for a NSD tomorrow and Thurs as working.
Hope all are well and thrifty.
Sally.

hex2

Some interesting recipes/menu planner on the potato council website:

http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/recipes/budget-meal-planner/

Leek and camembert risotto for dinner, a new to us recipe and rather nice.

Gorgeestwo

Another NSD here today :j
Not quite sure what's happened to me recently, what will all this keeping a check on our grocery spending and saving money, I've also got the house all clean and tidy, tidiest its been for ages :j and the best bit, I'm quite enjoying keeping everything under control, DH thinks I'm sickening for something :rotfl:would love to think it'll last

Well done to everyone and thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow (well ish )

elizabunny

Well another NSD here so now 3 of last 4 days:j
I knocked out another HM loaf today and 2 trays of flapjack but...........ohhhhh what a disaster!:eek: I always thought I was a reasonable cook but the flapjack went wrong as soon as it hit the oven. The trays were too small and in no time the contents of the trays were spewing out all over my lovely nearly new cooker:eek: Ok so I dealt with that and popped a bit of tinfoil underneath, but then when they came out of the oven, trying to score them with a knife was a bit like scoring bricks. So I let them cool completely and then tried getting them out of the trays.....another:eek: Stuck solid. I managed to scrape some out of one tray, but the second tray ended up all bashed and there was flapjack everywhere except on the cooling tray.
I don't know what I did wrong -but I'm not making them again for a long time. It took boiling water and lots of scrubbing to get my trays clean again. Had to clean the cooker and most of the kitchen too.
On the upside nothing wasted as I mixed some together with fresh fruit and yogurt for our dessert tonight and the rest has gone in a bowl to be mixed in with cereal. The few that resemble a flapjack will go in DHs lunch box...carefully packaged. Lesson learned:)

rosieben

valerie, I've added your Toffee apple tart recipe to the index :beer:
and
tigerfeet, I've added your Sausage and Apple One Pot to the index too :beer:

Fiasco55

I have managed another NSD today. I did spend a bit on Sunday - £7.30.

Just back in from work and popped a M & $ ready meal (yellow sticker 80p) into the micro. I am shattered and can't get off the sofa even though I have a huge list of things to do.

LisaJane

Another NSD yay!

MumOf2Beasties

well i am a happy woman so far this month, spent £149.91 out of my £220 monthly budget, so i have £70.09 left for one week :j

really happy with this as i have also included some 'eating out' costs which i dont usually count as GC, but as its food its being added to my total! Hope i'm getting the hang of this, been buying lots of meats on offer, seems to help alot if i'm only buying fresh ingredients weekly to make the meals!

shopping list written for tomorrow and should come to no more than £17:j

Have also been getting a morrisons £1 saver stamp with each shop, will put it towards xmas 2012 as i do like to get lots of treats and more expensive cuts of meat:D

Stocked up on toilet roll. two for £5.50 from co-0p, £2.25 onto feb's and march's budget for those. Also bogof on shreddies in co-0p, £2.39, again split between feb and march as we have lots of cereal already.

Placed my first order with approved food this evening, happy with the price, £14.19 inc postage, will wait and see what it's like when it gets here:Di got 9 soreen banana loafs LOL as they were 3 for 99p with jan bbe:pcan you tell i like them, just a little bit:rotfl:

will decide which monthly budget items are going into once it arrives and i can phyically separate it all into 'monthly' piles:rotfl:

off to catch up,
good luck and well done everyone;)don't make it easy for those nasty sm's to take your cash:p