July 2012 Grocery Challenge

Kitchenbunny

Morning everyone - welcome to the newbies Well done JackieO!

Well, today I know is going to be an NSD. I am determined I'm not going to spend money on groceries today. Last night, I was way too tired to cook so just got a pizza out of the freezer instead of making the chilli con carne I'd planned to make. We'll have that tonight - it's a bit cooler today and I've got time to potter in the kitchen while making it.

I might be doing a spot of baking today as well - I quite fancy making a cake or something for the freezer for Christmas/parties later in the year. We've been eating from the freezer for a lot of last month and it does need refilling. I'll do it slowly though so I don't notice the cost all in one go. Had a look at some old receipts from last year and I'm shocked at how much I was spending, even though I thought I was being good!

K xx

TheThriftyScrumpers

Cllola & katyreed+5 thanks for that. We are going geocaching later and thre is an ald! Nearby so I will see if I can grab some pull ups (and maybe a travel bug if I am lucky!) Katy sounds like a great night. Just what you needed x

I am going to go for £350 for July. £49 already spent. Good luck to everyone and thank you to everyone who runs the thread xx

KatyReed+5

Also adding 3 spends yesterday to my total £7.73 in co-oops £2.21 in wilks and£2.10 in !celand.

X

fozziebeartoo

jasmin10 wrote: »

KATYREED+5
Read your post about the cost of head lice stuff. Not sure if this would be covered in your area, but I was told about something called ph@armcy F!rst which is where you register at a participating chemist and anyone in the household can be put onto your book. Then out of all the ailments listed you get all the treatments/lotions and potions for free without having to visit the Dr's. I joined up last week for my children and added me on as I'm still covered by my maternity thing. Have a look at the link and then had a dig round your area on the web to see if you have something similar.


http://www.nottspct.nhs.uk/my-nhs-services/community-pharmacists/pharmacy-first.html

What a great idea - hope lots of people find that useful! :T

I remember when you couldnt get stuff like thrush treatment without a drs prescription (not available over the counter) and if you couldnt get a docs appointment, all you could do was try natural yogurt until you could finally see the doc

EverTheOptimist

Morning all

I am setting our budget at £200 for the month again, although we will hopefully be going away around the 20th so should make it under.

Nothing spent so far, however I am popping to the SM shortly for very few bits, then i am planning on going to H0me B4rgains on Monday as i havent been for ages so am going to give it a go for washing powder and cleaning bits.

Going to have a good browse through the recipes and try and fill the freezer with HM ready meals for me to eat through the week.

Welcome to all the newbies. :wave:

And sounds like you had a good night Katy, i like nights like that. Hope you are doing ok.

Coxy11

Morning all,

Had a culinary disaster last night

Had Nigella$ express mac and cheese on the food plan. Really easy - cook macaroni, then make a sauce up of grated red leiceter, eggs, nutmeg and evap milk. Only trouble was, I bought carnation condensed by mistake. Didn't realise until I had poured it all over the cheese You would've thought the recipe on the tin for 'strawberry cheesecake' would've given it away - not so!

Cue mad frantic dash to MrT with DS2 and DD to get the necessary milk and more cheese. DS2 was going on cub camp and needed feeding beforehand (plus to take some hm cakes) so you can imagine how annoyed I was.

Question - can I make anything with a tin of condensed milk and red leicester cheese? I have put it in the fridge in case there is anything anyone can think of.

Thanks in advance.

KatyReed+5

Thanks EverTheOptimist It's the 2nd night i've had out in nearly 4 years since having my first as i've been booby feeding or pregnant the whole time.

When i'm in town this morning i'm going to buy some more pots to do some more bulk cooking as i've got some mince defrosting and need to make something with it really. I usually make a bolognese sauce or mince and veggies, what else could i make that's easy to portion up and freeze for the kids? They're no good with hot and spicy food.

Thanks,

Katy, X

cllola

KatyReed+5 wrote:

When i'm in town this morning i'm going to buy some more pots to do some more bulk cooking as i've got some mince defrosting and need to make something with it really. I usually make a bolognese sauce or mince and veggies, what else could i make that's easy to portion up and freeze for the kids? They're no good with hot and spicy food.

Thanks,

Katy, X

How about cottage pie - you could freeze it with or without the mash on. Or lasagne or make meatballs. Or homemade burgers with lots of hidden veggies and an egg to bind.

KatyReed+5

Oooo, i could do lasagne, could i cook it then portion it up and freeze? X

Boodle

sistercas wrote: »

boodle welcome, £25 a week? thats incredible i wouldnt have a hope of doing that

my budget is £100 a week , thats for all food, toiletries, eating out , cleaning stuff, pet food/ bedding and holiday supplies for 4 adults 2 guinea pigs and an extremely fussy cat

Thanks SisterCas We sometimes go over that a bit if we don't keep an eye, so I just want to keep it in check. When you consider our kids are still only 5 and 3 as well as the 2 of us and only one non-fussy cat, you have 4 adults and extra pet food and bedding and your holiday supplies - I would say your budget is not far off ours in equivalent :cool:

Sent the fella off with the list tho, so chances are we will be over but hoping he sticks to it. He's all full of savvy advice apparently when taking his mother shopping, then when it comes to ours... (I need the confused smilie...)

Katy Reed: I do a mild chilli for us with our girls being little. I use 1 tsp smoked paprika instead of chilli powder, with only 1/2 a tsp of the cumin, cinnamon and cocoa powder, then add extra jalapenos from a jar if anyone wants any (from Approved Food ages ago!) If there weren't any jalapenos tho, its still very nice.