April 2012 Grocery Challenge

meg72

abitofhelp wrote: »

Morning all, after my shopping trips yesterday morning i have to say i am very peeved about tesc0. they seem to have removed the value cooking bacon, i hope it is coming back rebranded as the everyday value twaddle they are now stocking. At only 74p a pack when i did my shopping list using the online site it was ideal for an old skinflint like me. I added 4 packs on the list. i checked the next day to add something else and it was out of stock. the packs weighed 500g and consisted of offcuts. we could make a breakfast (with other bits) some sandwhiches and bits out of the pack added to various meals. tesc0 still works out cheaper for me, however i have found one closer to us than our usual haunt, but with an ald1 and farmf00ds close to it. My regards to everyone.

Re Bacon Bits,I find these such good value and make a lot of meals from one pack.

I got mine from Asda,74p at the moment. I still have 3 packs in the freezer though. I think they also do these in Aldi.

[Deleted User]

Closing my April budget with 37.80p left over as I have no shopping to get this week and I'm away on my hols next saturday for a week but will set my May Budget at £75.00 as I will start again on the 5th may when I come home.Very pleased with how April went as I managed to use up quite a bit from the freezer

mi_jardin

I finished "April" on Thursday, but I seem to have mislaid my final receipts, so I am guessing that I am £10 over. I know I have gone over, so its quite accurate as I'd already got to £97 odd.
I am sticking with £100 for May as I am hoping to start getting produce form the garden, or more so this month as the lettuce is growing now, and we move over to lots of salads and less meat for the season. We do have a "lodger" arriving on 4th May though which will make it a bit of a struggle.

abitofhelp

meg72 wrote: »

Re Bacon Bits,I find these such good value and make a lot of meals from one pack.

I got mine from Asda,74p at the moment. I still have 3 packs in the freezer though. I think they also do these in Aldi.

thanks i have looked in asda before but was unable to find any, the packs i have had in the past were proper slices of bacon hence the value in using them. oh friend is an (industrial butcher) i think it is called and can get us large quantities of meat fairly cheaply, its hard however explaining to oh for price per kg to see if it really is cost effective. we have had the streaky bacon from aldi before which the kids loved.

fozziebeartoo

I have had to sort out my freezer today, the door kept bursting open and I had to keep the bread maker on the floor to keep it closed :rotfl:

Bearing in mind there is now only me here, the amount I have is ridiculous! 8 packs of minced steak, 8 packs of chicken breasts, 6 portions of home made left over meals, turkey joints, 3 sorts of sausages and on and on and on.......its ridiculous

You wont be surprised to hear I will be making even more of an effort to eat out of the freezer

No brekkie today.

Took a large chunk of HM LO quiche out of freezer and reheated it, came out really well and pastry is wonderfully crisp again so that is lunch and some more left which obviously I cannot re-freeze.

Tea will be ribeye steak (out of the freezer), really fancy mushrooms, peppers and onions with it.....the question is, can I go out and JUST buy mushrooms????

I have the other items.....in the freezer of course! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

abitofhelp

fozziebeartoo wrote: »

I have had to sort out my freezer today, the door kept bursting open and I had to keep the bread maker on the floor to keep it closed :rotfl:

Bearing in mind there is now only me here, the amount I have is ridiculous! 8 packs of minced steak, 8 packs of chicken breasts, 6 portions of home made left over meals, turkey joints, 3 sorts of sausages and on and on and on.......its ridiculous

You wont be surprised to hear I will be making even more of an effort to eat out of the freezer

No brekkie today.

Took a large chunk of HM LO quiche out of freezer and reheated it, came out really well and pastry is wonderfully crisp again so that is lunch and some more left which obviously I cannot re-freeze.

Tea will be ribeye steak (out of the freezer), really fancy mushrooms, peppers and onions with it.....the question is, can I go out and JUST buy mushrooms????

I have the other items.....in the freezer of course! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

i too am making the effort to eat what is in the freezers and not buying stuff for the sake of it. i have listed (and to my shame it came to 3 pages long) the contents of my freezers. my problem i think is buying the same stuff over and over and not checking what i have in. a shopping list i wrote out last week contained many of the items i allready had. madness! the first freezer audit i did last year, i found 3 pork joints at the bottom of the chest freezer.:o

fozziebeartoo

abitofhelp wrote: »

i too am making the effort to eat what is in the freezers and not buying stuff for the sake of it. i have listed (and to my shame it came to 3 pages long) the contents of my freezers. my problem i think is buying the same stuff over and over and not checking what i have in. a shopping list i wrote out last week contained many of the items i allready had. madness! the first freezer audit i did last year, i found 3 pork joints at the bottom of the chest freezer.:o

I am exactly the same , but I dont have the excuse of having a chest freezer where you can "lose" things, I've only got one of those side by side American type fridge freezers! :rotfl:

Just the other day I bought 2 more packs of 1/2 price YS chicken breasts, I see it and think "oh, MUST need more chicken"!

Thank goodness I managed to ignore the YS Coop chickens for £1.99 the other day......though it broke my heart to walk out of the shop without them :D:D

Florenceem

fozziebeartoo wrote: »

I have had to sort out my freezer today, the door kept bursting open and I had to keep the bread maker on the floor to keep it closed :rotfl:

Bearing in mind there is now only me here, the amount I have is ridiculous! 8 packs of minced steak, 8 packs of chicken breasts, 6 portions of home made left over meals, turkey joints, 3 sorts of sausages and on and on and on.......its ridiculous

You wont be surprised to hear I will be making even more of an effort to eat out of the freezer

No brekkie today.

Took a large chunk of HM LO quiche out of freezer and reheated it, came out really well and pastry is wonderfully crisp again so that is lunch and some more left which obviously I cannot re-freeze.

Tea will be ribeye steak (out of the freezer), really fancy mushrooms, peppers and onions with it.....the question is, can I go out and JUST buy mushrooms????

I have the other items.....in the freezer of course! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Can I ask - why no brekkie? It is the most important meal of the day. Bossy Florenceem here.

Living_proof

I think we are all made from the same mould and find it really difficult to resist a bargain. I am fighting it though, and managed today with a net spend in Al*i of just £3.48. I had taken a pack of pitta breads back as they had mould on the bottom one even though the use by date was sometime in July. A few years ago I wouldn't have done this for the sake of 49p, but now I know different.

I am trying to drag myself away from buying, say, carrots just because I have used my last one. Do I really need to stock right up with another kilo? It would be different if one could buy in twos and threes at a sensible price, but I would spend too much petrol in the process. Talking of petrol, I changed my rules to include petrol in my target, as I figured my shopping habits have a direct effect on the amount of petrol I use. I could travel half way round the county to get really low-priced bargain food, but if it's cost me megabucks in petrol it hasn't been a good buy. However I chose the wrong month because I had to fill up at the start of the month in case there was a strike (I live very rurally) and until the petrol scare is well and truly over I can see myself filling up each month rather than putting in £20 at a time. It is certainly keeping my grocery budget right down and I only have £13-odd for next week's shop. This is how it must be to live hand to mouth and I would hate to have to do it with a family to feed.

fozziebeartoo

Florenceem wrote: »

Can I ask - why no brekkie? It is the most important meal of the day. Bossy Florenceem here.

I had a lie-in Florenceem!! Woohoo :j