June 2012 Grocery Challenge

jumblejack

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Will do piccies once I've baked them!

She's very ms - I was going to pick up two packs of ham at the weekend, one of her choice and one of ds' choice, and she put hers back, saying that she didn't want to waste my money. I said we'd use one pack this week, and one next, and she said well, we'll buy it next week then!! Bless!

Good luck with your elderflower stuff! Busy evening ahead of you then...

My new word of the day, which you win the prize for today, is FRUGALFAIRY!! You are today's frugalfairy, having foraged a bagful of stuff!

Yay:T

I love that title!!! Do I get a badge with it on too?

I decided to lob all my elderflowers in pans with sugar and lemon and hope for the best regarding elderberry champagne:eek:
Watch this space.......



Edit,

A little funny story from walking the dog.

An elderly gent stopped to enquire about my folks' dog. We got chatting and he said how he loves animals. Then he shows me the contents of his carrier bag. It was FULL of dandelion leaves.
I got all excited and enthusiastic and start rambling on about how I am off to look for some too.
I told him about the dandelion and nettle juicing adventures yesterday and how I am about to collect elderberries to make fritters with...

... He then told me that the dandelions were for his rabbits

Ps, has anyone heard from Florenceem? Hope she's ok. The thread is not the same without her invaluable input

Possession

A £13.58 spend in Mr T takes me practically to target - DH went and didn't get the best bargains but never mind, a quiet word will be had.

PennyGrabber

JJ you make me :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Of course you have have a badge - here you are!:starmod:

The biscuits will need a minor adjustment, I think - as I wasn't there, I don't know how much extra of stuff she added. They look ok, and maybe they'll stick together more when they're cooler?!

Also made two mini smoked salmon quiches (as homage to Flo!) while I was doing that, only I didn't blind bake for long enough. Oh well, it won't kill me! Just had a half a one for my dinner, quite nice. I used about a quarter of a pack of the value trimmings, so a frugaltastic meal. If only I'd had some salad knocking around!

PG x

MrsCD

JJ - my Grandma used to make elderflower champgne! I hope you didn't pick all the flowers or there won't be any berries :rotfl:

PG - Well done Bethany :T It's great when our children make something special.

I went to Aldi today with DH. We usually go shopping on a Tuesday with Mam and Dad, and there's no way Mam would shop there I bought 2 bags of fruit & veg for £8 something. I thought it was pretty good for what I got. I'll update sig when I've done the rest of the shopping tomorrow.
Lunch for us was the last of the corned beef slices and tomato sandwiches.
Dinner was a la Florenceem - roasted veggies(the last of the bendy ones) and some pork and gravy.
Where is she???????:( I wondered if she was waiting for the July thread because she said the other week that her month had finished, but it's not like her to not put photos of her lovely meals on here.

In_it_not_to_giveitaway

Have had 2 NSDs on the trot - feels very strange. As an ex rugby player, I have always liked a pint and good food. Restricting the spending on one is akin to going without the other.

I have eaten entirely from the freezer/cupboard for two days and sat down and thought 'what on earth am I saving this food to be used for?'.

I have read some really good tips that means I can make progress relatively quickly - cooking enough for two or three meals and freezing the rest (used to play front row though, so the first task over the next few months is to try and cut down total intake as well as working through the downgrade process).

I'm well practised at things like jointing a chicken, so will start to buy the whole chickens discounted, joint them and freeze in individual portions. I find filleting a whole fish much more difficult, especially flat fish.

Moving from 40% red meat, 30% poultry, 20% game, 10% fish to 10% red meat, 40% poultry, 10% game, 20% fish, 20% veggie will also make a big price difference. It is something I said I would never do, but I think it is not only cheaper but healthier to have no meat in 20% of meals. It won't be easy at first though.

So far I have said no meat in breakfasts except Saturday. Then will try and mix up the other meals a bit with vegetarian options. JumbleJack's recipe looks pretty good for a vegetable curry too. Various others such as Black-Saturn have excellent non-meat options.

There are 100s of people on here who could easily write a book on this subject!! It has been fascinating reading for someone who has concentrated saving money in lots of other areas because this area has seemed so difficult timewise.

Many thanks for all your tips.

MrsCD

Hi - In_it... - Welcome to the GC.
You could have minced steak with lots of chopped veggies and lentils mixed in instead of a piece of steak, if you were making a curry, spag bol etc. It would cut down your meat intake without feeling too deprived.
A good fishmonger will fillet a fish for you if you ask.
I just love the way you have everything worked out in percentages :T Hope you enjoy the challenge.

Dipndo

purplesheila wrote: »

I was catching upwith posts earlier and someone said that they didn’t think they could feed afamily of 4 for £50 a week. I can’t find the post now but I think that if Itook all non food items and pet food from my budget, my family would eat for£50 a week, (only putting this down for inspiration) I think I will change my spreadsheetfor next month and total up food, toiletries and cleaning separate.

Tonight’sTea

Left Over Pork Roast= £1.81, Frozen Chips £1, 2 Tins of Baked Beans £1

TOTAL £3.81 for a family of 4

We are a family of four Dh and two sons aged 23 and 17 and me.I have been doing the GC for almost a month and have spent £50 a week,so it can be done.I was very sceptical before I tried it.

MissOrganised1972

New month (July) has started today because it's DH's payday! Have decided not to go for the normal blow out on day one but rather grab a few bits I need & replace a couple of store cupboard items.

I have seen on the GC that some people work out how many days they have left in their month & then divide their remaining budget accordingly. I have decided to do that as a trial for this month, right from the beginning of my month. So, I had decided I would spend Monday & Tuesday's budget in one as I will not have time for the shops tomorrow.

I went to A1di earlier & managed to get cereal, yogurts, sultanas, cling film, strawberries, cucumber, salad leaves, moisturiser & biscuits for £7.96. I followed this with a trip to T*sco this evening & got bread, yogurts & sandwich meat for £2.36.

A good start........ let's hope the rest of the month runs smoothly! I couldn't find a July thread yet. I am assuming it's not up and running yet?

In_it_not_to_giveitaway

MrsCD - that's a good idea - could also do minced turkey or chicken as well. Can see myself walking back from Forest Gate or Romford Road in Stratford with great big African-style cooking pots that cover all 4 gas burners and cooking enough chilli for about 20 meals - hope I get the mixture right.

I think the main difference between getting it right for one and cooking in a more catering style is being able to produce reproduceable results or change the recipe and have a good idea how it will turn out.

At the moment, I'm not much of a weighing scales in the kitchen sort of bloke - but will now have to be. It's all very well doing a curry for one and tasting as you go - but cooking enough for about ten meals at once has to be right.

Never had a go at baking, but will have a go at my own bread and yoghurt (because I can use the yoghurt in the curry instead of cream and so make it light or heavy as I need according to whether using it for breakfast, desert or cooking with).

I desperately need to find time to get to the supermarkets for reduced items. Aldi and Lidl are both train journeys away so it might not make economic sense if the cost of the travel plus the shop is more than Morrisons a 5 minute walk away.

Hope everyone does well,

TheThriftyScrumpers

In_it Welcome to the challenge. I must warn you it does get rather addictive!

Well I was up until eleven last night defrosting one of my freezers. Yay, sad as it is this has made me very happy. 1 I have been wanting to do it for a long time as it was a job much overdue, and 2 and more importantly, it means I manage to walk away from the SM bargains long enough to use up what I already had

I am even feeling happy about organising the shelves of the freezer better, ie one for meat, one for hm ready meals etc. Now that definitely is sad.

On a less nerdy note I am trying out a new sc recipe today for shoulder of lamb. I will have a tot up later of spends. I think it will be very close but probably slightly over as I have a DR order coming thurs for something like 48 sausages and 2 free burgers.

Have a great day folks! Xx