June 2012 Grocery Challenge

savesummore

Hi everyone :wave:

I have had to add £20 to my total :eek:
I forgot I was counting what both me and OH spent on food and he spent £20 for both of us to eat out Saturday night

I nearly had a disater tonight but thanks to the clever person who posted a potato saled receipe (sorry I can remember who ) the day was saved :T

I got back from swimming and wanted a jacket potato but didnt want to wait/use oven just for that so I microwaved it- but left it too long and it just looked rubbish :eek:. So I cut it up let it go cold and used the potato salad receipe that was posted- it was yummy . Had it with salad and fish fingers- weird I know but I really fancied them :rotfl:

quintwins

hi all spent £15.01 today

spent £6 in dunnest on shoes and shorts for ds3, gonna include it in my food budget for now i might take it out again later.

£2 in poundland

£2.72 in tesco

69p in savers on tablets

£3.05 in iceland

20p on a banana from the farm shop, and 39p on a choccy lolly both for ds

Suffolk_lass

savesummore wrote: »

I nearly had a disater tonight but thanks to the clever person who posted a potato saled receipe (sorry I can remember who ) the day was saved :T

I got back from swimming and wanted a jacket potato but didnt want to wait/use oven just for that so I microwaved it- but left it too long and it just looked rubbish :eek:. So I cut it up let it go cold and used the potato salad receipe that was posted- it was yummy . Had it with salad and fish fingers- weird I know but I really fancied them :rotfl:

:wave:I think that might have been me - about 6 or 8 variations as it's so forgiving :T It's so nice when people try your recipes!

JJ I was wondering if you also teach your kids about poisonous plants in the garden (potato family flowers, every part of the laburnum tree, and rhubarb leaves are obvious examples). I remember making soup with rhubarb leaves that I casually mentioned to my Mum on the phone - good job she called. I didn't know!:o

SL

Bonglecat

Hi, had quite a good weekend. Friday I was supposed to make Cottage Pie but it was so hot I couldn't be bothered, as I already had the mince defrosted I went for Thai chili beef with coconut rice. Which meant I had to nip to Mr Ts for some fresh Basil (can't seem to grow it in my garden), also picked up YS dansih pastries for 75p that's brekkie the next day, bit of a treat. In total spent £7.53. But the good bit was that instead of using the whole 500g back of beef for me and DH in one meal, I split it into 2.:T Used one half for the Thai chili with a little extra rice so DH won't moan, in the end I don't think he noticed. :cool: The other half, when the weather was a bit cooler, got sauteed with onions carrots and for the first time lentils to become the base of a cottage pie, which is now in the freezer.

Due to a bit of stockpiling and not being around last week I didn't really need much so instead of my usual L!dl, A!di and A$da circuit I just went to A$da for cat treats and bread (using my Queensmill 30p coupon) :beer: and whiskas cat treats £1 a tub, cheapest I can find, total £7.92. Then to Mr Ts as I saw they still had Pilgrims Choice on for 1/2 price and I have 30p off coupons too. Got a YS Vegetable Biryani for £2 (50% off), and buy 1 get 2 free Pepperoni Pizzas £3.59, so basically £1.20 each!! And that was another £11.67.

Total spend this weekend £27.12 / £78.25 since 20th May
And I still have plenty of things for meals this week.

Oh one more thing I had some coconut rice left so I tried out the rice cake thing for Saturday lunch, I added some Cayenne Pepper to spice it up and because it was already sticky with the coconut milk I didn't use an egg to bind, probably a mistake. But I did put a POACHED egg on top, see Florenceem I paid attention , and it was very nice.

System

Well I made a sauce with the Lido bargain tomatoes, saut!ed them in a bit of olive oil with garlic paste & loads of basil, and we had them with pasta and some creme fraiche. It was really nice and there's enough left for another meal so that can go in the freezer. I'm on a roll now

jumblejack

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

:wave:I think that might have been me - about 6 or 8 variations as it's so forgiving :T It's so nice when people try your recipes!

JJ I was wondering if you also teach your kids about poisonous plants in the garden (potato family flowers, every part of the laburnum tree, and rhubarb leaves are obvious examples). I remember making soup with rhubarb leaves that I casually mentioned to my Mum on the phone - good job she called. I didn't know!:o

SL

I told them about rhubarb leaves today whilst I was taking them round. I taught then the correct use of rhubarb leaves-as an organic insecticide. Your soup disaster could have been cooled and put into a spray bottle for the aphids:T

Aldahbra

I am not supposed to be on this thread yet as I am still in May but it is getting very long so I though I'd read some of it.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Originally Posted by Kimberley
My challenge for June is £260 which is a guess. I do my shopping with Tesco online. If you know of a cheaper supermarket who delivers then let me know.

Hi Kimberley - great to see you (and all the other newbies & returnees of course:D).

Re online orders - I personally rarely shop at Mr T (except if I've got "not to miss" MOC) - although the stuff on offer can be good value, their every prices are extortionate e.g. 200g of a certain coffee - Mr T price £6.57 / Mr A price £4.50 :eek:, a certain washing gel - Mr T price £8.17 / Mr A price £6.79 :eek: - and they're not the only things that are marked up hugely!

I tried every sm that would deliver to me last year (housebound following surgery) - most will offer £10 off a £50 shop as an introductory offer which is worth using up to stock up and TBH I was very surprised by Sainsbobs - their Basics range is really good quality and I found their "everyday" branded items cheaper than Mr T!:D


I'm still technically in May until 31st but don't need anything so have declared. 1st month under budget this year :j so hoping the annualised budget is going to start balancing out now :cool:. Freezer has some room in it (not a lot yet tho'!) and have managed to clear out a drawer for the new dog's stuff

Was terrible at keeping track of May's thread and I really missed hearing what everyone was up to / picking up tips so will try much harder this month (dog away for around a week so have some time to get online:o)

I use mysupermarket.co.uk to compare prices. You can load a basket in one shop and it will tell you at which of the main supermarket you shopping basket would be cheapest at. 9 times out of 10 it comes up with Mr T for my shopping, but occasionally Mr A. I have another browser open and then I can compare individual items as well. MrS, MrW or MrO have never been cheapest even with free delivery.

What I do now is save all the things from Mr A which are cheapest, like the coffee I like and printer cartridges and get them in the same delivery.

MrsCD

elsiepac wrote: »

Hi everyone

Firstly a big thank you to MrsCD for the excellent suggestions, and hi to *the all-new psychic * PennyGrabber!

I have big news! Somewhat randomly I moved out last night! Early! The place is lovely and the people are fantastic... the ones I've met so far anyway!!! I DEFINITELY have way too much in stock food-wise though, and most of it isnt even food, it's condiments, herbs, spices etc! I am most worried about fridge space - I think eventually I'll get a small fridge for my room as one shelf in the shared one isn't cutting it! And I'm on a self imposed spending freeze on EVERYTHING GC except fresh stuff but only allowed to buy if I'm planning to use that day in a planned meal... this is going to be tough for a bit till my stocks go down!!! And I'm not even in June's budget till Friday! GAH!!!

LC

You're welcome, elsiepac. It's nice to be able to share sometimes If you're sharing a fridge. will you be sharing the cooking?

needtosavE wrote: »

I've not been following for nearly 2 months and my purse is feeling it!!! Waaaayyyyy overspent in May. Mainly because we catered for a huuge family BBQ on Sat and had been stocking up for it for the last few weeks. Thing is we were doing the food but at MIL's house so we dont even get the leftovers! So I am well and truly back on it this month. Good start with some decent whoopsies in MrS last night. Wish me luck!!

WHY NOT????? You should have had some of the lo's if you provided it all

Well I got the mini allotment (which used to be the small lawn) all dug over today ready to plant the veggies :T Ready for a long hot soak now though
I found some potatoes which had started to grow again. Are they ok to eat? DH thinks we should throw them out, but I want to make sure first.
The chives have a life of their own - they're doing really well. I'll have to make some of JJ's famous bread By the way JJ, the photos are great :T My granda used to have some rhubarb in his garden, and it was so big we used to pretend the stalks and leaves were umbrellas! Then we got a bag with some sugar in and dipped the stalk into the sugar and ate it raw :rotfl:Amazing how we survived :rotfl:It's still sensible to teach children about plants though - just to be on the safe side

jumblejack

Ha! MrsCD, we used to have a cup of sugar too to dip raw rhubarb in. The smell of rhubarb now when I break off the stems, always takes me back to that memory

Herby flower cheese bread now in the oven. A bit late I know, but I just HAD to try it before I go to bed.

My 15p trays are all now planted and watered.

I feel really enthusiastic about the garden now

I love the fact that you have sacrificed a lawn to produce:j
Very wartime economy that is just as practical now as it was then!

I have been looking at my garden and decided that I can make another raised bed at the side of the patio. I will make it with ridged decking wood though so that I can stain it and make it look pretty!

Can't wait to get cracking on it:j

Next year, I am sacrificing a lawn to nature (I have one at the front and 2 at the top of the back garden). I will leave it unmown until autumn. It will look lovely with daisies n buttercups. The lawns are killing me this year due to a back complaint that is getting worse. I also want to help the pollinating insects as much as I humanly can.

jumblejack

Here it is:




My girly herby bread is a success. Yay:j