Grocery Challenge - February 2012

elsiepac

tjak wrote: »

fish from the freezer yesterday for dinner tonight, planning to roast it with olives, garlic and tomato, serve with green beans from freezer (grown last summer), and probably mash as I have lots of potatoes to use up.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummm

LC

CompBunny

Today might be another NSD - depends on whether we can make our remaining milk last until tomorrow lunchtime! Last night I used some spare oven space to cook sausage rolls (linda mcartney for me, "normal" for him!) and also cooked up extra potatoes carrots peas and brocolli - so tonights dinner is already cooked for the most part! Mainly to save on energy, although I'm trying to figure out how to cheaply reheat the sausage rolls without them going soggy like they would in the microwave - any ideas?

Last night OH pointed out its nearly a year since we quit smoking together - over £2000 saved!!! We're going to celebrate with a takeaway for the first time in ages It feels very naughty, but we deserve it and are really enjoying planning in advance what we are going to have and where from! Although its coming out of the GC budget, but thats fine We'll have a few kidney bean cous cous or "on toast" meals to make up for it!

Feeling really positive today, hope everyone else is having a good day too!

tracey12_2

skintmum2012 wrote: »

I have had to order Nappys for my Son he is having a few issues and is not potty trained at 3 and he is a big boy so I have had to get them from Tena Lady.

Don't know how much Tena Lady are but it may be cheaper to buy Hugg*es Dryn*tes as they do them for 4-7 years and 8-15 years. You can get them from Ama**n for 30 nappies would be £10.80 or you can buy them in any SM but are approx £5.89 for 10.

Tracey

quintwins

nsd today kids are sick now, me and hubby were sick yesterday, i managed to nip to the fillingstation as we had no milk or bread so that was £3.45.

undecided about dinner and weather we can acually eat it, going to make ds3 some pasta for lunch, i'm going to have cupasoup and a sandwich, if i don't make tea we will prob have beans on toast.

raphanius

just 54p today for double cream from l*dl...going to make lemon tart with yellow sticker sweet pastry and wrinkly lemons

NickJW

I NEED TO STOP SPENDING MONEY!

I fancied some salad for the overpriced Tortellini I got last week (or the week before?) from Mr W, so popped into Mr W because their tomatoes are so much nicer than what they sell in my local Mr S.

So off I went and got this, baby gem lettuce, plus THREE pizzas (nice hand-stretched ones with lovely toppings because they were reduced to £2.66 each, but why? It's so easy to make my own!) and some feta cheese. Damage done: £13.21

Then this morning, I noticed I had ran out of sugar and need a lemon for dinner tonight (Trout with lemon and parsley with broccoli and mash). Whilst there I saw Lloyd Grossman jars were reduced to £1, so picked up a Green Thai Curry and Roasted Garlic and Tomato sauce. Again - WHY? I have all the spices and chopped tomatoes etc to make my own stuff. I guess it won't go to waste, and will be another quick after work dinner. £4 spent!

I find that since I've stopped smoking I'm finding I want to spend money more on other things as a treat. I need to learn that grocery shopping is not 'fun' and not a 'treat'! :rotfl: That should be saved for clothes, holidays, savings etc!:D

Well done CompBunny on that acheivement! I want to get to that stage in 11 months time!

franby64

Hi

Total is now up to £154.24/£380 after the folks came at the weekend. I'm also getting an A*da delivery this afternoon and shouldn't need to spend much more this week.
Making a double lot of spag bol today, for tea today and as lasagne on Friday.

Dragoncry

Afternoon

Needed a few bits for packed lunches and some top-up veggies so spent £12.02 in L*dl , including a 5kg bag of onions, ham, salad stuff, eegs & tea etc. Then popped into Mr T Express and got a bag of YS bits that came to £13.07. Will be no spend days from now till Saturday when I do a bigger shop in Ald*.

Spent 2 hours this morning with OH peeling the onions and all the veg has been prepared and frozen or used in the meals I am preparing today for the week.

Have a herby sausage & veg casserole doing in the SC , Beefy beany bake with carrot and swede mash bubbling away on the stove for dinner tonight and we had beef bugers in WM buns + salad for lunch with the leftover mince. Also a fruit loaf on the go in the BM. So all in all a good day

DC xx

PennyGrabber

elsiepac wrote: »

Hi all

Wow, the minestrone soup recipe seems to be going down well!!! Glad you all seem to be trying it, personally I think it's great! And if it lacks flavour, stick in another cube, or even better, more pesto! (I try and be frugal on the pesto because I'm tight!) I'd be interested to hear how you all got on making it?

Have been signed off for a week starting today (severe depression since September, tablets increased too - now on max dose), which I have mixed feelings about, but it does mean I can relax a bit, which is why I got signed off work, and so I don't need to be so rigid about which days will work out for shopping and cooking. Small mercies!

I haven't tried the soup yet, but have it on my list to try soon!

I can empathise with the depression. Best thing you can do is tell everyone you know. I had it for a long while, and I look back now and realise how far I have come since then. It does get easier; set yourself little tiny things to do each day, and don't beat yourself up about anything. Drugs will help to balance out the hormones in your brain - chat to docs when/if you want to reduce them. Are you booked onto any courses? I went on an anger management one - I wasn't aware I had a problem with that, and I didn't, but the course was AMAZING. I met up with loads of other people who felt like i did, and I learned that I am a good person. It really helped me to reprogramme my feelings, and I am a better person now, for having been through depression. If I can do anything, let me know (you know what i mean - chats and the like!).

NickJW wrote: »

I NEED TO STOP SPENDING MONEY!

I find that since I've stopped smoking I'm finding I want to spend money more on other things as a treat. I need to learn that grocery shopping is not 'fun' and not a 'treat'! :rotfl: That should be saved for clothes, holidays, savings etc!:D

I'm the same, and I don't smoke! I have so little money, that spending it on food is my fun! I must save little bits of money to be able to 'blow' it on nice things for myself!

CompBunny

NickJW wrote: »

I NEED TO STOP SPENDING MONEY!

I find that since I've stopped smoking I'm finding I want to spend money more on other things as a treat. I need to learn that grocery shopping is not 'fun' and not a 'treat'! :rotfl: That should be saved for clothes, holidays, savings etc!:D

Well done CompBunny on that acheivement! I want to get to that stage in 11 months time!

You will get there You have done sooo well to get to this point, the worst of it is over! Plus, its still early days since quitting and its understandable wanting to spend on other things, going to the cigarette counter is a habit in itself You probably used to buy all sorts of other things whilst you just "popped in". For a while if we felt the need to spend in a cig-buying manner we would buy some chewing gum or some fruit, still spending that we wouldn't have done otherwise but much better than an expensive pack of cigs!

Grocery shopping can still be fun and frugal! But the fun has to come from getting as much value as you can for your money! Its a game, you VS the supermarket. And part of that game becomes avoiding those unwanted spends. Theres nothing quite like feeling all smug walking out of a shop with a loaf of bread and nothing else! You have won at that point! Going to the supermarket can still feel like a treat, after all its a trip out of the house I love supermarket shopping, just in a different way than before