May 2012 Grocery Challenge

fozziebeartoo

Today was going to be a NSD but friend bought me in a Lidl 1/2 price pork things and 2 x carpet shampoo for a total of £3.50 spend.

I was planning on spending the morning baking but ended up puppy sitting instead.......aw.....so cute!!

I have baked a best ever blueberry coffee cake (not me showing off, that is what it is called :rotfl:), have a lamb tagine in the slow cooker for tea and hopefully some to freeze, just used 1/4 pack of puff pastry and made 4 x bacon and cheese puffs for lunch and 2 to freeze.

I was going to make a quiche (made the pastry last night) but think I will leave that till tomorrow and then have it fresh.

Lovely sunny day here, washing on the line blowing happily and F1 on the tv......bliss!! :T

abitofhelp

I have just had a lovely lunch along with an addition from the veg patch. I was watering the new raspberry canes and fell over the asparagus patch & snapped a couple. I cut the other two that were there and had them with my fish and salad. I have one slice of florenceems syrup cake left, i may have that with a coffe mid afternoon. I have managed at least 5 NDS in a row it might be 6 but i cant remember if i went shopping last Sunday or Monday.

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Welcome back to the challenge Little Miss MoneySaver


Well, I've been trying to use up what's in our freezer so that I can defrost it (eek!) as the ice is building up to a ridiculous level. I'm nearly there as I only have 2 lots of mince, prawns and veg left so I will have no excuse not to defrost it sometime this week. What fun .

tjp70

thriftwizard wrote: »

Well, you are not the only one! I've taken the month off from the Grocery Challenge because I underspent my target quite dramatically in April, so I thought I wasn't doing too badly & could relax a little. BUT so far this month I've already spent £250 of the £350 I'm "allowing" myself! Mind you, like you, my freezer's full and following a visit to our local mill, I now have £40-worth of flour, which will last us 6 months. So perhaps I should creep over there, confess all & try a bit harder...

Well, it's nice to know I am not alone. And we both have £100 left to last us the month so we need to be disciplined and maybe creative with the food that we have. Good luck.

tjp70

hilstep2000 wrote: »

Everytime you want to go shopping tell yourself "No, I need to make things with what I've got!" Then do it!
Maybe online would be better, that way you can stick to a list and not give in to impulse buys.

I don't need to shop online - I just need to give a strict list to DH. He never deviates from it. I am the problem - if I don't fancy what I have planned for tea, I will go and buy something else. I must be stronger with that list

catch_me_if_you_can

we plan all our meals and write a list of what we need, taking into account what we already have in the cupboards/freezer/+1 storage
which generally works apart from if we go shopping before dinner...

That's when the snackie foods get lobbed in the trolley too.

(+1 storage is if we've jars & packets (mayo/jam/coffee/tea/pasta etc) on the go we have a new one under the stairs. As soon as the one on the go finishes we move the one from under the stairs and it goes on the next list to be replaced)

meg72

angelatgraceland wrote: »

I went to Boots and nobody knew what I was on about! There is a conspiracy to make us buy readymade products!
Just made a victoria sandwich and a flask of yogurt-I am trying to beat the system I think!

I asked at out local Boots but was told they dont stock it now as, along with citric acid,it is used to cut drugs :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I only want to make some gloop honest officer.

mummyyof5

Just waiting for the pizza to cook...first time I have ever made it totally from scratch..including base ...having wedges too...will make them from scratch too next time..these were in freezer so needed using.

rising_from_the_ashes

:eek: I'm never going to catch up with posts now so sorry for all those I've missed.... will try harder to keep up - new dog is fantastic :j but demanding a lot of time so just not managing to get online every night atm & as the thread moves so fast if I miss a couple of days... that's it!

meg72 wrote: »

Many thanks for the suggestions regarding my no pound sign, havent found it yet but will keep trying.

Sorry if this has been suggested (as above, I'm way behind) - you could try assigning to a key on your keyboard that you don't use.

Copy a £ sign
Open Word and follow the steps on here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/record-or-run-a-macro-HA010099769.aspx#BM1
HTH

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhh meant to say I'm currently at £53.66/£130 so not doing too bad - would LOVE to stick to £100 this month to claw back a bit of my overspend ..... but as long as it's under £130 it'll have been a success.

Currently trying to eat out the freezer as need to free up a draw for the dog's meat - my old dog always had one but since I've lost him, the draw seems to have also become another "me" drawer & really not needed!