August 2012 Grocery Challenge

MrsCD

MoonJelly wrote: »

Hello All,
I have to withdraw from this month's challenge. As a newbie I didn't realise it was going to take quite a bit to set up a new home (I didn't even have a broom!). I will re-enter this challenge next month, though, with a clearer idea of my monthly expenses.

Oh that's a shame MoonJelly. Please keep popping in to say hello, and we'll look out for you when you decide the time's right to start GC-ing again Have fun setting up your new home

I have had 3 NSDs in a row :T I have spent on wool and felt, but not groceries, so I'm not counting those spends. Shopping day tomorrow.


Jasmin10 - Hope everything went ok at the hospital today.

Bluegreen143

savesummore wrote: »

Hi could I ask where the coffee is on offer pls? I really like Carte Noire! I think you usually shop Mr W am I right? In a none stalker kind of way :rotfl:

I brought a whole melon the wkend at Al*i for 69p but forgot to chop sum up and take it to work so at lunch time i brought one of those stupid pre packaged melon chunk packs from Mr T £1.40 :eek: I must have taken leave of my senses :mad:

Signature updated

I second this NickJW as its all that OH will drink :cool:

No grocery spends today, though bought a chocolate bar out of my own spending money. I went swimming after work and OH was playing badminton, we got home at 7pm and it was great to be able to pull some roasted vegetable arrabiata out of the freezer and quickly boil up some pasta and toss a salad for dinner! Have included a picture, can't really take any credit for it though since it was OH who made it last week, all I did was heat it up lol :rotfl:

NickJW

savesummore wrote: »

Hi could I ask where the coffee is on offer pls? I really like Carte Noire! I think you usually shop Mr W am I right? In a none stalker kind of way :rotfl:

I brought a whole melon the wkend at Al*i for 69p but forgot to chop sum up and take it to work so at lunch time i brought one of those stupid pre packaged melon chunk packs from Mr T £1.40 :eek: I must have taken leave of my senses :mad:

Signature updated

Of course - it was in Mr S - saw it in my Local shop this morning. £3 each - not sure if you would count that as good, but I have a self imposed £3 max limit per jar on coffee Should have grabbed a cheaper jar in Lidl to try out when I went a few weeks back.

If it's not a good deal, out of curiosity, what sort of prices do you generally aim for? I'm a bit slow picking up the offers and only tend to buy a jar when I see the coffee is running out.

Katsu curry was AMAZING tonight, but the kitchen looks like a bombs hit it! :rotfl: Shame it's not something I will do for a long time as well, because I only did it because the things needed using up. Also the ingredients are sourced from the Japan Centre, and I have lots of other spices and herbs to construct other meals with.

Anyway - enough of my rambling - I had best clean the kitchen!

MoneyQueen

Caterina wrote: »

MQ how do you manage to eat only organic on such a low budget? I have dropped all my organic food purchases now that I have to save money! Still got quite a lot of organic pulses and grains from past stock-ups, bulk buys and AF shopping, but I could not afford to go 100% organic again! Suggestions are very welcome, thank you.

NickJW wrote: »

Welcome to the thread!

How do you manage to go so little when shopping in Wholefoods? I've been in them a few times and have always been so shocked with the prices - especially for meat - that I walk out! Are you working on a vegetarian budget?

Hi NickJW/ Caterina,

- DH is vegetarian and I rarely eat meat so never looked at the meat prices in Wholefoods.:o
- I have a large stock cupboard that I am trying to clear so am only buying fresh fruit/ veg/ milk and eggs at the moment
- Wholefoods eggs are almost the same price as other supermarkets but medium eggs in WF are the same size as the large ones in Tesco etc.
- I don't buy organic milk from WF as they don't do the two for £3 offer that other supermarkets do.
- Some veg/ Fruit is cheaper in WF than say Tesco/ Sainsburys such as banana, apple, pears, grapefruits, mango, lettuce, pepper, fresh beetroot, tomatoes which are all staples in my house and I buy them weekly as dinner in this house is mixed salad with home made dressing (We try to have lunch as the biggest meal of the day)
- Cucumber, summer fruits, potatoes are cheaper in other supermarkets
- Waitrose have the cheapest organic frozen veg of all the supermarkets (WF are expensive for that)
- I always buy onions and carrots from Lidl as they are the cheapest for them
- Costco also do cheap organic carrots and EV olive oil(their own brand).
- I also used to get some home grown organic stuff from my mom but my parents have moved to London now so will not be getting this anymore.
- DH is Indian and I am half Indian so we do quite a few currys/ dahls etc. which are pretty cheap to make

Hope this helps

MQ

sjprmc01

Spend of 2.76 today in mr Ts express up the road from me on toilet roll and a pk of sports mixtures coz they were half price!

Will update in the morning!

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

On subject of coffee, we try to keep to £3 per jar as well although we've now tried the organic fairtrade coffee from Lid1 which is about £2.29 and no complaints from DH yet so it must be OK.

I have been MIA whilst trying to keep kids entertained on school hols with no car and hardly any money! Still managing to keep relatively on track with GC though and have updated signature although I haven't had time to read everyone's posts - sorry!. Should be nearly within budget anyway. Hope everyone is OK.

Debt_free_soon_2

Hello all,I'm new so please be gentle with me!
I have a budget of £300 per month starting on the 19th for 2x adults, 2x young children & 2 teenage step kids who stay 5 days per month.
I was wondering which is the best way to shop, doing a huge on line shop and then topping up on fruit & veg, milk & bread as and when say weekly or 10 days. Or to just go weekly and get what you need for the week?
I already meal plan & take a list but not sure I'd manage a months worth of meal plans if doing a big online monthly shop so the top up shop coud be biggish sometimes.
Also do you find Lidl to be cheaper or better quality than the big 4 value or own brand items?
Thanks for reading if you got this far!
Looking forward to some advice as you guys seem to be so creative! :-)

Debt_free_soon_2

Sorry forgot to mention I'm concerned that if the monthly big shop arrived as the older kids arrived it would be gone that weekend, therefore costing more! Not that I'm the wicked step mother, I do feed them I just know how much food they can eat & they waste a lot of food which frustrates me! If you're hungry that's fine you're welcome to a snack but don't have a huge bowl of cereal & halfway through decide you're full, it's not like you can pour it back into the box! Lol!

Possession

NickJW wrote: »

Katsu curry was AMAZING tonight, but the kitchen looks like a bombs hit it! :rotfl: Shame it's not something I will do for a long time as well, because I only did it because the things needed using up. Also the ingredients are sourced from the Japan Centre, and I have lots of other spices and herbs to construct other meals with.

I often make katsu curry just using frozen breaded chicken fillets, saving the faff of the panko and making it all a lot quicker and less messy. It's not authentic but still tastes good. Actually in Japan people buy the chicken ready done so in way it is quite authentic, LOL.

jumblejack

I'm gonna have to google katsu curry now
Hope everyone is fine n dandy?

I'm happy with my GC these past few weeks. I rarely actually NEED anything that incurs a big bill. I've been able to stock items that are ridiculously cheap or on offer before I need them so I rarely have to pay top whack

This weeks total includes a £5 spend at the chippy on Sunday as geocaching left us famished and we were heading back to mums after so I couldn't really cook up anything. I would probably be tempted not to include it but it hasn't really damaged the total.

My demijohns are nearly pristine now (the 3 I sourced from preloved) and I also got a bagful of baby food jars from freecycle for gifting future preserves in so nice, cheap, home made pressies in future. They will pretty much only cost me the sugar as I will only be making jams from foraged stuff

Roll on the blackberries and elderberries......

Have a fab n frugaltastic day, peeps