July 2012 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

sb88 wrote: »

So I feel awful, this week I have completely lost the plot concerning money, I have no idea how much I've spent but I have £30 left to last untill the 15th!

I've just done a stock take to do some meal planning, and thankfully, we have food in the house, not alot!

But enough, a whole chicken, 10 slices of bacon, 6 sausages, fresh fish that i froze.

I feel like burrying my head in the sand! I have completley binged on both money and food this week! Not very frugal at all I think I was a bit excited over my new job, the problem is it hasn't started yet so still need to watch how I spend my money!! ERUGH Will check my bank balance later to asses where I spent all my money.

Great news on your new job :j. Good luck with the meal planning!

Florenceem wrote: »

Last night we had roast potatoes, chicken, cauliflower, mange tout & onion for dinner.
Tonight - just a snack as I am baby sitting this afternoon then off to watch 2 DGC dancing in a show. Can I stay awake - still SO tired after the marathon sewing episode - my family ignore the fact that I have ME.

You would probably tell us this if we were in the same boat but you might need to start saying 'no' to some of the things they ask you to do . Hope that doesn't sound harsh but you need to take care of yourself.

NickJW wrote: »

YAY! Managed to multi-quote!

Thanks both. I like the look of both of those websites because they've priced the packs with grams. I hate it when they advertise packs in ounces, because I'm not used to imperial measurements I wish they would advertise both metric and imperial in all butchers, because I often don't bother because I can't compute what size I need.


Anyway - onto spends - £3.80 spent in Mr S today on a broccoli, spinach and tomatoes. Doing Sausages with a cheddar and parsley mash with broccoli tonight and a slow cooked Lamb curry with basmati rice tomorrow.

:rotfl:that's how I felt when I discovered how to do it! I'm going to steal your idea of sausages and cheddar/parsley mash as I know that will go down well with my troops :T.

KatyReed+5

Possession wrote: »

Be strong Katy. :T
Remember to add 20% VAT onto the prices at the cash and carry. I often find they're no cheaper than the offers at the supermarket, but perhaps that's just Bookers.

Bookers is where i'm going, my sister has been once and says they have 2 price labels, one with and one without VAT. I'm not planning to spend anything unless i see some really good deals, that's the plan anyway, lol.

Katy, X

Possession

KatyReed+5 wrote: »

Bookers is where i'm going, my sister has been once and says they have 2 price labels, one with and one without VAT. I'm not planning to spend anything unless i see some really good deals, that's the plan anyway, lol.

Katy, X

Bookers can have really good deals, and their fruit and veg is often reasonable (although also often old-looking in our store - I haven't tried it for that reason). But I find a lot of it is equal to or even more expensive than a SM deal. it can be just luck if they are having offers on what you want, but I guess that applies in every shop, LOL!

KatyReed+5

Possession wrote: »

Bookers can have really good deals, and their fruit and veg is often reasonable (although also often old-looking in our store - I haven't tried it for that reason). But I find a lot of it is equal to or even more expensive than a SM deal. it can be just luck if they are having offers on what you want, but I guess that applies in every shop, LOL!

That's true, i'll give it a go, and i'm going in with the opinion that i will only by what is a good deal, i'm not going to get sucked in, X

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Adelight - keep safe *hugs*

SaveDosh - I totally agree - I really wish we'd been taught about budgeting at school or the Internet existed and moneysavingexpert.com had been around . I'm only just starting to learn budgeting now and I'm in my 40s - I really wish I'd known from my teens what I know now because I'd have lots of savings and probably only a mortgage as debt. However, better late than never and I'm getting there slowly .

Suffolk_lass

I wanted to share our super-easy dinner that is based on something I had in "Ask". I cooked some rigatoni pasta - dry it was enough to cover the bottom of an oval oven proof dish plus a few. I opened a pack of 20 small meatballs and popped them in a small pan and started them dry-fry on the hob and then in the oven set to fan and grill 190c (once it was warm). Once the pasta was cooked I drained it and spread it in the o-p dish, arranged the nearly cooked meatballs on top and poured half a jar of tomato-based sauce (from my Suffolk siege stores) over so it was touched but not drowned in sauce, then sprinkled some frozen grated mature cheddar on top and slammed it in the oven to cook and grill for 18 minutes.

It was yum and seriously simple.

BTW - Hooray, I opened the last big pack of toilet rolls - still loads for at least another two months. I also emptied the deep meat drawer to find 4 packs of mince, 2 of sausagemeat, prawns, turkey, 2 packs filleted chicken, 2 packs of pork loin chops, 6 sirloin steaks and a whole sea-bass. Then DH offered to shop while he gets the LandRover puncture repaired. A very short list and some MOC and C0-0p divi vouchers means I have high hopes for this week's shopping which will be mostly fresh fruit and milk, juice and eggs. Going to try and rely on garden produce for salad leaves and potatoes.

Pulled the garlic I planted (which was the sprouting kitchen cloves - not bought in the garden centre) a bit small but six bulbs that would otherwise have been frozen cloves. Loads of raspberries and gooseberries picked and frozen and more to come. Loads of strawberries, despite the rain, though some have rotted but enough for breakfast every day. Keeping a close eye on the apricot tree as the fruits look like olives at the moment but fat pigeons mean they need close monitoring.

Need to use the toy metal detector to see if there are more roofing nails in the drive, waiting to wreck tyres, following text from DH...

Have a good weekend all and stay safe
SL

WelshWoofer

Just back from the main shop at Mr S - I had a £4 off £20 voucher to use.
Managed to finally pay £17.60 there and another £2 in Aldi for 2 boxes of strawberries (still in super six until tomorrow), plus 48p yesterday.
The Mr S shop did include things like the expensive coffee my family like (they're visiting later in the week) but thankfully it was on offer, lots of dog food and baby wipes and toilet roll.

So my total so far is around £44 spent with 2 more weekend shops to go this month for me.

XSpender

DH wanted a pizza from Mr A last night after his rubbish week so I did the weekly shop there instead of Ald1 and Asda because I wasn't going twice in 2 days! Only problem is I spend more when I go with DH.:(

We spent £91.06 including £10 on 3 for £10 meat for the freezer and £10 on their 3 for a tenner wine offer. The wine is to fill a 10 bottle wine rack that is built into my kitchen. I have left it empty as DS would take the bottles out but as he is a bit older now I am teaching him to leave the alone and it seems to be working.

The spend also included one of those trays to do bacon in the microwave that was recommended by a lady I know who used to be a SW consultant. I also bought a mini alarm clock for my desk and some drain cleaner for the bath plug hole. Oh and cheapo hair conditioner, baby wipes, hairspray, 2 x toothpaste and deoderant for us both.

I was a bit annoyed as I bought a head of broccolli and didnt realise that it had a big lump of rot on it. I was evem more annoyed when I checked my receipt this morning to see it cost £1.35:eek: It wasn't even that big:eek:

I also bought some rhubarb and apples and will make some pies/crumbles for the freezer. We are eating a bitt earlier in the evening now and DH gets hungry later on so I am hoping a pud will fill him up a bit more.

What would you call an eve's pudding made with rhubarb and apple? Adam and Eve's pudding?:rotfl:

I still need to get a gammon joint and some chicken breasts from M&S as I didn't fancy Asdx's last night and some GF cereal from Mr S.

Today I will be trying my hand at a chocolate GF sponge cake and we will be having gammon with herb sauce (from the recipe list) for tea.

In the 3 for £10 meal deal I bought turkey breast steaks. Can anyone suggest a recipe for them? I have found one with a honey orange and ginger sauce (have everything in for this) but there is about 3 meals worth of meat so need a couple more ideas.

Nipping over to the meal plan thread to post this week's meals as meal planning has really helped me stay out of the shops this week:D

Thanks x

GreenFairy

Am feeling very productive today. Home from farmers market, €25 spent. Have a week's worth of milk, fruit and veg and two week's worth of eggs and cheese.

My fruit and veg spend has more than doubled over the last month, but as I'm not buying or baking cakes, bickies or other goodies I think it balances out. Need to get a few kilos off before the siren call of comfort food hits in the autumn!

GreenFairy

XSpender wrote: »

In the 3 for £10 meal deal I bought turkey breast steaks. Can anyone suggest a recipe for them? I have found one with a honey orange and ginger sauce (have everything in for this) but there is about 3 meals worth of meat so need a couple more ideas.

If you're willing to slice them up into strips, they're great in wraps/fajitas and in stir fry.