June 2012 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

Spent £7.49 in M&S on 2 packs of outdoor reared bacon on 2 for £5 and a pack of pork meatballs to try with the mountain of free GF pasta I have acquired from various free samples. The meatballs are GF too!:D I also found a chicken stuffed with pork stuffing in M&S to buy at a future date that was also GF:D

Went in to town late yesterday to have my haircut and coloured and had to wait a while for DH to pick me up as it saves paying for parking. I was so hungry I treated myself to some Maccy Dees chips:owhich I will also add to the total.

DH is very hungover from a rare night out last night so I don't think he will be up to eating the meals I had planned to have today, silly man. He is away from Tuesday to Friday with work as well so I will be having easy, probably mainly veggie, meals which will mean the meat I have bought this week will easily stretch into the following week.

In other news our 2 terriers have gone to live temporarily with DMIL as one of them nipped DS lip. He will keep pestering them but he is only just 2 and they are both normally very placid dogs. I will still have to pay for their food out of my budget this month. If DMIL decides to keep them permanantly I will still pay for the food, if not they will be rehomed and I will not.

Planning a NSD today and will be making a chicken bacon and leek pie ready for monday and attempting my first GF sponge cake!

ETA: My total also includes £30 on birthday presents and £4.55 on 2 coffees when we met up with DBIL and DSIL yesterday

helen_jelly

RFTA - sorry to hear about your freezer, try and claim on your house insurance if you have it
XSpender - at least your litle one is ok, hope your MIL can home them for you

Budgts done to here - Flano, I may have to puit your budget in pounds as I don't have a Euro symbol [sorry]

Helen x

Suffolk_lass

helen_jelly wrote: »

Budgts done to here - Flano, I may have to puit your budget in pounds as I don't have a Euro symbol [sorry]

Helen x

helen jelly - I think that if you press the Alt key on the right of your space bar and the numeric key 4 at the top of the keyboard you will get the € symbol - it works on my traditional wi-fi keyboard and my lap top
HTH
SL

Suffolk_lass

XSpender - my sympathies re the dogs and DS - very hard but the only decision. Fingers crossed the in laws have them.

I just wanted to make sure you are aware that Maccy Dees chips certainly used to be made from reconstituted potato mixed with other starch (not necessarily GF) and then fried in oil that is dyed orange with E102 Tartrazine (so they achieve an attractive golden colour) - I found out when DS was sick over the inside of my new car and inside my first ever designer handbag following a party that involved this vendor. Given your dietary constraints you should be able to check. I think they add Dextrose too.

SL

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks all for the commiserations over the freezer disaster - knew if anyone would understand, it would be you wonderful people:T

I did think about claiming on the house insurance but had a pretty hefty claim in the last year (storm damage) so decided against it as it's bound to affect future premiums if I claim again so soon. TBH by the time I'd paid the excess, it's probably not really worth it.

Partial success!

I've just bagged 74 meat & veg portions & 34 meat only ones (and still have the chicken breasts to do!) - they are a bit veg light & meat heavy tho' but there is a limit to how much veg I can chop & cook in one go! Hopefully that'll keep Maisie going for a while!

I think every big container I have (not many!) was full to bursting and I literally couldn't cram any more in the fridge.

If I was doing on a "normal basis", I'd have got a lot more portions from the amount of meat there was but at least it wasn't all wasted I guess - and I certainly won't do it again!:o

Just cleaned the freezer & have put it back on, so hopefully I'll be able to get them all in there tonight - and get my fridge back!:cool:

jumblejack

Good morning.

This morning, inspired by a savvy poster yesterday, I have pulled out some Scottish farmed smoked salmon, some lactofree cream cheese (which cost pennies) and some Brie (cost 11p RTC).

Will try to knock up my own version of a creamy salmon pasta with some herbs from the garden thrown in for good measure!

Rhubarb crumble for afters to use up what I took from the garden.

Will need to pot up some alpine strawberries and pot on some sage seedlings for the garden lovers gathering in 2 weeks. :j
I am actually really looking forward to it. Sounds fab!

I might have to host my own next year if I can get the garden even more productive!!!! I'm a little worried that the lawn I am giving back to nature might look untidy although it's not gonna stop me doing it!
Has anyone any idea what bulbs I can plant through the lawn which are nectar rich?

Have a fab n frugaltastic day, peeps :wave:

Living_proof

I am just back from a few days in the VERY far North, with temperatures just 4 degrees C. I have gone hopelessly over budget this month, mainly due to DS coming back for a week. I overspent badly on my time away, mainly on snacks on the aircraft, meals which weren't provided as part of the package, etc. I didn't actually buy anything. However, all those items can come from the holiday budget.

I will post my July target when I have spoken to my son about his movements over the month. He eats twice as much as I do so it has a dramatic impact on shopping, although I do need to use up all the freezer and store cupboard items in any case before moving in the autumn. I've just been to Ald* and L*dl to stock up again on F&V as everything was used up or given away last week. I did stock up on a couple of washing powders which will probably last the best part of a year!

I didn't enjoy not being control of my purchases whilst I was away. I think you just have to go with the flow and try not to feel guilty about it and get right back on the wagon again with spending..... and dieting!

Sorry to hear about your freezer Rising From. It has happened to me two or three times and I claimed on the insurance but since then I notice that the insurer has changed the goalposts and chest freezers are not covered in garages or outhouses and the limit in any case is £200 now.

Guppycaz

Hi everyone,

I've not been on here for a while but have managed to stay within budget, so not bad for my first month. I think I could have done bettter as did pop into Mr T a few times without a list and we all know what happens when we don't have a list!

So am going to stick to £400 in JULY but I think that will be way over. DH has gone sailing and DS is on a school trip to Germany., so, only me and DD at home this week. DH starts a new job when he gets back and will be working away from home mon-fri. He always buys 'finest' products and I always buy value for money (but take the labels off ). So the budget should at least half I reckon!

Went to A£di this morning and spent 32.39 then onto Mr T and spent 17.15 for pet food etc which will last the month.


Have a great day everyone

bossymoo

Hi all

Today will be another nsd, we are all shattered so staying home. Done some weeding whilst the tots played in the garden, littlest one back in pjs as she sat in a puddle, lol.

I'm within budget, but am going by calendar month, so still this week, and may/will need a few bits in before the weekend.

For July, I'm reducing my budget to

£300

dizzyditzy

Hi
I've updated my signature. I should have everything for the week, may need bread that's all. The kids were impressed how quick shopping was as I had a list and stuck to it:j Meal plans done. It'll be a NSD for me, we went to see the olympic torch this morning and I didn't spend:j
Hope everyone has a good day.