July 2012 Grocery Challenge

meg72

smelkel87 wrote: »

Just popping by to close july. Finishing at £96.36/£100...Will DEFINATELY spend LESS next month. Still big smiles from me!!

Ohh well done congrats on baby Jack as well.

Suffolk_lass

smelkel87 - well done and congratulations - don't forget you need a little me-time :coffee: easy to forget yourself with a new littlie

I am declaring at £399.01/£400 and should not complain but I am still £15.04 more than I should be at this stage of the year. Goota kick that little complacency devil int touch (the same little chap that makes me buy icecream when I need to lose weight).

See you over on August - well done everyone - especially those who have come back this month
SL

GreenFairy

No market this Saturday - grrr - so did a shop at Mr T instead. Popped into Lidl for a nosey as well and got a couple of packets of reduced organic mince, which are in the freezer now. Did a little stockpiling as was well under budget - guess that's what showing your numbers to people will do!

Need three more NDSs to hit my target though...reckon I'll be one short

Bonglecat

Arrived home early from my business trip today (2.30pm) as we were trying to get ahead of the Olympic traffic, sort of worked M25 was a mare as always.

So I immeditaely got my washing on found everythign hubby hadn't noticed and threw it in the dishwasher then popped to Mr T for some shopping. I have been going to A$da and A!di of late but I had some Mr T vouchers to off load. So in the end I spent £29 including £% for 2 packs of fresh raw prawns, I've tried the cheaper pre-cooked but they just don't work in my recipes, an air freshener and a hair treatment for which I had £1 coupons and 4 packs of cat treats reduced to £1.19 a pack but I have loads of 25p off coupons so they were less than my usual brand. But all the coupons mentioned were resfused at the till because they didn't scan and I was sent off to customer services where oddly all but one did scan and they gave me my money off in cash. Annoying especially as the cashier asked me "did you buy that?" for every coupon I handed over, GRRRR Look love the last thing that went through your hands were the 2 loaves of bread and those were the first coupons I gave you, do you have the memory of a goldfish or what!?!?!? Of course I didn't actually say that just quietly fumed.

PennyGrabber

I'm still in July, until the very end! I spent £60 in a@da today, but not all on gc, as there was a clothing sale... Still, I did get some extra tax credits!!

Still thinking about my budget for August. I don't want to spend too much, as I need to claw back for the year, BUT, it's the summer holidays, and we'll be having lots of picnics. Hmm, what to do... I'll spend a few days thinking about what the contents of picnics could be (I tend to do the same stuff all the time), and then see what I have in.

Enjoying reading the £7 for a week thread at the moment. I love cheap meals, me!!

PG x

Soworried

I have to creep in to admit failure.
I have given up counting this month as I am over budget, I will start again on the 1st. I haven't been extravagant, I just can not seem to say no to bargins.:o
I have so much food that I am going to try not to shop at all for a few days.
I'm off to look in the fridge and freezer to see what to make today.

I hope everyone is wellx

PS, does anyone know the best way to store chillis please? I have a huge pile that I won't use before they go off.

bossymoo

NSDs here yesterday and today, and tomorrow. Well, grocery-wise anyway... Shouldn't need anything till end of week but going to try hold off until the eighth.

My plan is to only do a grocery shop 3x per month, on the 8th, 18th and 28th. I find the less frequently I expose myself to shopping, the less I spend and waste overall. I'm aiming for £80 each, and will probably include one freezer shop, and the other two will be mixes of aldi and home bargains type places, unless I get some particular voucher for a big sm.

chillis:
Can you chop, deseed then freeze? Or chop and dry? Would they keep in oil? Like lazy chillis? Maybe use some to flavour some oil?

Soworried

Thankyou bossymoo. I will chop them and freeze, I wasn't sure if you could or not.

Suffolk_lass

Soworried wrote: »

PS, does anyone know the best way to store chillis please? I have a huge pile that I won't use before they go off.

I always freeze them whole and chop them from frozen (less chilli oil on your fingers!) - I keep them in a plastic tub and they are great. In fact, I never buy them unless they are reduced and I always freeze them all - using a frozen one in preference to the fresh ones I've just bought.

SL

Soworried

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I always freeze them whole and chop them from frozen (less chilli oil on your fingers!) - I keep them in a plastic tub and they are great. In fact, I never buy them unless they are reduced and I always freeze them all - using a frozen one in preference to the fresh ones I've just bought.

SL

Thankyou for that. I haven't froze them yet :j

I didn't buy mine full price either, they were 1p a packet:o