July 2012 Grocery Challenge

bossymoo

Not going anywhere today so nsd for us here.

debbiedeejay

Morning all.

Last weekends family camping trip went well -little food waste for once,just took minimum. Used £15 Xmas vouchers towards food,just adding £5.23 to that so very happy.

Then it was DD3 16th b'day on Tuesday - bit of a dilemma as I couldn't really afford to go out for a family meal for 9 people(actually it was me who didn't want to spend £40+ on a one meal deal & drink -when I know I can get better value at home) anyway at 5.30pm we all decided to have a tea party at home . Balloons,party bits and cardboard cake stand from P&un*land bought. We hit M&S and bought whoopsied sarnies, a french stick again whoopsied a cold cooked chicken on offer with a free trifle and a whoopsied carton of tomato & basil soup.

By time we got back it was 6.30pm.- guests coming at 7pm!:eek:

So the girls sorted the decs out - I threw the chicken in the oven,soup from M&S went into pan along with tin of cheap tom soup to bulk out ,added fresh windowsill basil. All sarnies ripped from packets cut into quarters,onto the cake stand- whoopsied mini cupcakes on the top layer.Trifle put in fridge for pudding.

Oh and then guests brought pizza,salad too and drinks and my Dad had baked the birthday cake!

Done and ready in half hour - great party+happy teen=Happy Mum:)

Oh and it all cost me £20.58 inc stuff for decs for a sort of three course meal for 9 And enough left over for lunch next day for me - tea for three on the eve and enough for packed lunch for me yesterday!And the cardboard cake stand has been folded down along with banner ready for another b'day!


Off to sort sig out!And find some kind of support for my ankle -fell backwards and up my stairs at the same time yesterday -don't ask how I did it -it amazed even me a the time but it did involve the dog,my coat,a handbag and my tiny front hallway with steep cottage stairs and the step up to my daughters room.:o

keza

ok, so i have made my first loaf from the recipes on the front page (dough hook one so i can make use of my mixer!) and i must say OMG i am converted! i just had soem warm with some butter and jam and its sooo nom nom nom! thank u everyone for the encouragement! i will now make my own bread from now onwards!

tigerfeet2006

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Need to pop in to town today as I have 3 birthday pressies, cards and paper to buy. It is going to be one of those weekends where DH and I will be like ships what with party's, work stuff and cub outings.

I also need to get veggies, fruit and baking stuff. Will try and keep the spends down as much as I can.

Have made a GF banana and walnut loaf this morning.

I lied it's 4 birthday pressies etc. I had to get :eek:. Thank goodness for Wilko's.

debbiedeejay wrote: »

Morning all.

Last weekends family camping trip went well -little food waste for once,just took minimum. Used £15 Xmas vouchers towards food,just adding £5.23 to that so very happy.

Then it was DD3 16th b'day on Tuesday - bit of a dilemma as I couldn't really afford to go out for a family meal for 9 people(actually it was me who didn't want to spend £40+ on a one meal deal & drink -when I know I can get better value at home) anyway at 5.30pm we all decided to have a tea party at home . Balloons,party bits and cardboard cake stand from P&un*land bought. We hit M&S and bought whoopsied sarnies, a french stick again whoopsied a cold cooked chicken on offer with a free trifle and a whoopsied carton of tomato & basil soup.

By time we got back it was 6.30pm.- guests coming at 7pm!:eek:

So the girls sorted the decs out - I threw the chicken in the oven,soup from M&S went into pan along with tin of cheap tom soup to bulk out ,added fresh windowsill basil. All sarnies ripped from packets cut into quarters,onto the cake stand- whoopsied mini cupcakes on the top layer.Trifle put in fridge for pudding.

Oh and then guests brought pizza,salad too and drinks and my Dad had baked the birthday cake!

Done and ready in half hour - great party+happy teen=Happy Mum:)

Oh and it all cost me £20.58 inc stuff for decs for a sort of three course meal for 9 And enough left over for lunch next day for me - tea for three on the eve and enough for packed lunch for me yesterday!And the cardboard cake stand has been folded down along with banner ready for another b'day!


Off to sort sig out!And find some kind of support for my ankle -fell backwards and up my stairs at the same time yesterday -don't ask how I did it -it amazed even me a the time but it did involve the dog,my coat,a handbag and my tiny front hallway with steep cottage stairs and the step up to my daughters room.:o

Glad you had a great time camping. We were hoping to get another camping trip in before we left but we are not going to get the
chance. We've sold our trailer tent and one of our tents now. I cried when the trailer tent went . So many happy memories.

That party sounded absolutely fantastic, well done you on having such a good imagination and being able to conjure up such a feast.

Hope your ankle feels better soon.

I spent £6 in the fruit and veg shop, £2.75 in 1celand and £4 in MrT's on the bits I needed that will hopefully see me through the week.Plus £26 in W1lko's :eek: Though that isn't as bad as it sounds as that was 4 birthday preesies, 4 cards and a roll of wrapping paper.

So my groceries so far are £66.75 and I hope that will take me through till the end of next week. We will see might have to get some cereal before then.

craigywv

WOW JJ thats FAB!!! i love the YS in our local MR T is seem to do alright in it too people dont seem to want the F&V why i dont know!!! well today i have been busy baking , made a mince and onion and potato pie its like something out of an ENID BLYTON book lol (i rem when i read the books my mouth was slobbering at all the yummy teas they had) so will have some and freeze some for tea tonight with HM chips. also made loads of mini saus rolls in prep for next sat my son will be 9 so having a birthday tea,so cool down then freeze before he sees them or they will be eaten lol have a great day all xxx

rosieben

tigerfeet, your GF & DF Chicken, leek and tarragon pie is in the temporary index :T

sonastin

One thing to remember about JJ's haul - its not just the time they do it that you need to know in order to bag the best bargains. Mr T aren't usually *that* bad at judging the stock levels they need so to have so much in need of reduction, something has probably happened in the area. The sorts of things that can leave SMs with too much stock are unexpected weather (you know, from when summer used to be predictable!), if there's been an incident in town which stops people being able to get to the store (a major pipe burst has closed one of the roads to my local MrM. You can still get there down the other road but some customers won't necessarily realise it or won't want the hassle of driving all around the blcok to come in the other way) or if something is going on in the store like a refit or a change in what they offer (new clothing or electrical section or something).

Anything that contributes to them misjudging the stock levels they'll need/sell is a sign that there could be some good YSs to be had. Just because your local store doesn't necessarily have good YS reductions on a regular basis doesn't mean you won't get a haul like JJs at some point. Just keep an eye on what's happening in the local area and if you think no one will go shopping for some reason, make that your time to make a special trip!

NickJW

Hope everybody is well

A few small spends to report from the past few days - £3 from Mr S on potatoes and broccoli for tonight and £1.20 in Bo0ts on Wednesday evening on some Iboprufen and a bottle of water :-(

Lunches have been leftovers from the previous evenings so no spends there.

Have a pack of pork chops defrosted from the freezer with cider and chutney with mash and broccoli for dinner.

Back to my parents this weekend, so will buy some snacks for the train and that's it.

Bluegreen143

sonastin wrote: »

One thing to remember about JJ's haul - its not just the time they do it that you need to know in order to bag the best bargains. Mr T aren't usually *that* bad at judging the stock levels they need so to have so much in need of reduction, something has probably happened in the area. The sorts of things that can leave SMs with too much stock are unexpected weather (you know, from when summer used to be predictable!), if there's been an incident in town which stops people being able to get to the store (a major pipe burst has closed one of the roads to my local MrM. You can still get there down the other road but some customers won't necessarily realise it or won't want the hassle of driving all around the blcok to come in the other way) or if something is going on in the store like a refit or a change in what they offer (new clothing or electrical section or something).

Anything that contributes to them misjudging the stock levels they'll need/sell is a sign that there could be some good YSs to be had. Just because your local store doesn't necessarily have good YS reductions on a regular basis doesn't mean you won't get a haul like JJs at some point. Just keep an eye on what's happening in the local area and if you think no one will go shopping for some reason, make that your time to make a special trip!

This makes a lot of sense, thanks!! I am one of those people who never seems to get any YS deals so will bear this in mind

Should be a no grocery spend day (going out tonight but seperate budget). OH making me dinner before I go out as we'll need to eat earlier and he's off work today. Think he's making vegetable chilli and rice which is one of our staples (we eat it once a week or fortnight at the every least, love it!). Plan is for him to use the all slightly bendy veg before I get the shopping in on Sunday and make at least one leftover portion to microwave for his dinner on Saturday as he'll be working over dinnertime.

GreenFairy

jumblejack wrote: »

It was next week's big shop as well so all in all it was £33.

:T
You are my new hero

NSD yesterday for me, and a Mr. T top up today. Got some toiletries, extra pasta for the pantry, cooking oil, baking fat, salt, composting bags, couple of boxes of frozen fish and cans of tomatoes and coconut milk. Loads of YS stuff but it all seemed to be either desert-y stuff (so much aero mousse!) or meat with only 20c off even though it needed eating/freezing today, so I didn't bother. Still bloomin' €28 lighter when I walked out the door! This cooking for a crowd thing every Friday sure eats into the budget

On the plus side that's the end of me and supermarkets for the month, unless something goes horribly wrong *touch wood*. My only exception is icing sugar as I'm completely out, as are Leeeeedl.

Sig updated. Farmers market tomorrow for veg and milk then I'm done for another week.