March 2012 Grocery Challenge

blackandwhitebunny

I had a spend this today of 74p on marked down milk and £6.21 on heavily marked down salami.
As has become their habit lately, the cats had a spend; £18.40 on yet more whiskers. They now have 27 boxes of felix and 25 of whiskas, I don't mind though as this will last at least two months.

JIL

elsiepac wrote: »

Anyone got any exciting recipes to use a red and white cabbage in? Bought them as vegetable accompanments, thinking of coleslaw type thing, but any suggestions gratefully received!

Mar GC: £42.67/£70
Week 1: £14.47/£9 <-- over by £5.47 :eek:
Week 2: £5.37/£9



Week 3: £0/£9
Week 4: £0/£9
Week 5: £0/£9
Stores: £22.83/£25

I love the delia red cabbage recipe it freezes really well.
I dont follow the seasoning's i just use what I have. I have put dried cranberries in as well.
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/one-pot-meals/christmas-easybraised-red-cabbage-with-apples.html

and for the white cabbage what about this?
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1685/gratin-of-white-cabbage-and-lentils-in-a-provenal-

I was looking for a dish that I saw somewhere on the forum, it was white cabbage with bacon bits and choux pastry, I think it may have been in a debt free diary. Lots of posters were trying it and saying it was lovely. It was a French peasant dish if I remember correctly.

meg72

Of course you will, of course you will,of course you will, (repeat to fade)

I think its very sensible to split the list, I find it doesent pay me to do a big shop at the begining,
but if I hang on and use up for a couple of weeks, then I am well in hand for the rest.

Barbeduk

Hi All, just popped round to Mr M. Took the car as not feeling on top form and as I drove in, realised it was probably the first time this year I haven't walked there!

Managed to spend all of £19. Found myself thinking "I'm not spending that!!" as I looked at the prices. Stocked up on flour and sugar as baking much more, milk, savers fromage frais (daughter says it's yummy), couple of bags savers pasta, rolls, ham, cooking chocolate for DS birthday cake, branston beans on offer and chick peas. And arborrio rice. Got to find somewhere cheaper for that!

We eat loads of chick peas and I've always bought their own brand, at around 66p a can. But this evening I walked round to the world food section where they've got chick peas for 38p a can. They are so sneaky!

Also got some ys olives for a treat. But they had the wrong ys on meaning they were far cheaper than they should have been. But I wasn't telling and they were lovely.:D

Going to do the rest of the weekly shop at !id! tomorrow, far more relaxing I can tell you.

Have a lovely evening everyone.:)

PennyGrabber

meg72 wrote: »

Of course you will, of course you will,of course you will, (repeat to fade)

I think its very sensible to split the list, I find it doesent pay me to do a big shop at the begining,
but if I hang on and use up for a couple of weeks, then I am well in hand for the rest.

This has been my method for a while now. I used to do a big monthly shop, and then, whenever it was payday, I'd think Ohh, money, must spend!! Of course, not really thinking about what I actually needed. Now, I just shop week to week, and like you say, have use up weeks. It works so much better.

I didn't have time to do a full weekly shop this weekend - just grabbed children's yoghurts and a couple of other bits while mum was wandering around mr t. When I do the 'top up' shop tomorrow, I will need bread, cream (maybe, want to try a salmon dish, but may leave this til next week as I have no spuds) and toilet rolls. I have One full one, and I am almost at the end of my penultimate roll!! I've never been this low on stock before! I'm kind of loving it!! I mentioned on my dfd that I ran out of bread and spuds too. I'm so proud of myself! Firstly, for running out of spuds - normally I just buy them and rotate stock, and secondly, I resisted the temptation to run (drive!) to the shop to get more bread. We have wraps in the freezer. They'll do!! Check me out - I'm growing!!

Think I have about £70 left for this month now. Need to find all receipts and check properly, but that's the figure I shall work from. Lots of spends, but mostly on party food/gifty things, so can't use olb to check. Never mind.

PG x

cat_smith

Couple of great meals. Did the deliaonline rabbit in cider last night. Deeeelicious. Then tonight SC Pork. Added an onion, an apple, some apple sauce and cider. It just fell apart. No crackling unfortunately, but you cant have everything. Have a weeks worth of leftovers from the 2. Num num num.

cleggie

OK..so i went to tesco this evening to treat the kids to some sweets with the £5 in my purse, and there were loads of reduced bits.
So i got:
2xfrench breadsticks (were 79p each, reduced to 17p each)
Big pack of southern fried style chicken (was £3.79, reduced to 75p)
Pack of turkey breast (was £3.50, reduced to 88p)
Large fruit salad (was £1.40, reduced to 95p)

Spent a total of £7.87, which i will update my signature in a minute.

bupster

Quite pleased with myself today. Spent another £27 in Ald* which I hadn't intended, but that included a four pack of beer (comes out of entertainment budget) and six quid on maple syrup so really under £20. Also got two jars of honey and washing powder and a big block of cheese as well as my basics; bread, milk and cadbury's creme eggs :rotfl:

Then went into town, took back all my library books (three libraries, don't ask, there's another one I use in London too :eek:) and went to buy socks. Now some of you may know I've been on a hunt for cheap socks, and finally tried Prim*rk as advised. Do other people have this experience there? I always seem to get at least one thing much cheaper than it ought to be - so I ended up with six pairs of socks for three quid instead of six!

Also popped into a charity shop and got an East shirt and a M&S pure new wool jumper for a grand total of eight quid

Then went to B00ts and got a small bottle for decanting conditioner in for travelling, a bottle of Head and Shoulders, and two bottles of Radox, and got it all with my points

I call that an officially OS day.

In other news I have been away from the boards for a couple of days - this is due to winning a weekend in south of France where I lounged like a lizard for two nights and two days stuffing my face. It was ace. I spent EUR100 during the whole trip and that included a taxi to the airport on the last day (too knackered to face tram and bus) and all my food and numerous teeny tiny coffees. And I flirted outrageously with lots of French men, which did me the world of good as I don't really get noticed here. Really, really needed it and could never have afforded it except for comp. Am counting it as a separate budget item entirely. Emergencies perhaps? :rotfl:

mumwithamission

Oh dear - I know I've already spent over £100 this month. Had decided not to start the month with a big shop but have managed that in 6 or 7 different trips Haven't done any meal planning yet - must pull my finger out. This IS a priority for me but with work, the kids, the dog, the house etc etc....def finding it a challenge - it's quite time consuming keeping track of everything and planning isn't it?

PennyGrabber

bupster wrote: »

In other news I have been away from the boards for a couple of days - this is due to winning a weekend in south of France where I lounged like a lizard for two nights and two days stuffing my face. It was ace. I spent EUR100 during the whole trip and that included a taxi to the airport on the last day (too knackered to face tram and bus) and all my food and numerous teeny tiny coffees. And I flirted outrageously with lots of French men, which did me the world of good as I don't really get noticed here. Really, really needed it and could never have afforded it except for comp. Am counting it as a separate budget item entirely. Emergencies perhaps? :rotfl:

Wow! Well done bupster!!! One always needs a break from things, and often you return with a renewed spirit. It sounds like you had a fab time, and thoroughly enjoyed yourself - check you out, flirting with all the French men!! Oh la la!!

mumwithamission wrote: »

Oh dear - I know I've already spent over £100 this month. Had decided not to start the month with a big shop but have managed that in 6 or 7 different trips Haven't done any meal planning yet - must pull my finger out. This IS a priority for me but with work, the kids, the dog, the house etc etc....def finding it a challenge - it's quite time consuming keeping track of everything and planning isn't it?

Yes, it can be time consuming, but the more you do it, the more you'll find quicker ways of doing it. I spend no more than five minutes a week doing my meal plan, because I've honed it into a well-oiled machine! I stand in the kitchen with my children, they each choose a meal for the week, then go off and play, and I look at the contents of the fridge, freezer and cupboards to plan the rest, making a shopping list as I go. I used to do this on one page, but then would lose the meal plan as I'd throw the list away once finished, so I now do the plan on one page and the list on another. This system works really well for me. HTH