October 2012 Grocery Challenge

she_who_can_not_cook

Sequeena wrote: »

I've discovered that home bargains do tins of beans 4 for £1. That's cheaper than the value ranges which are 4 for £1.26 I think. I do stock up on Branson when they're on offer for £1 though.

I'm excited to do this challenge but also a little nervous!!

i have said it onceand i will say it again love love home bargains /quality save

she_who_can_not_cook

GreenFairy wrote: »

My first trip to the shops came to €2.93 - two litres of milk and a giant head of lettuce. Leftovers for dinner. Packed lunch tomorrow. All very healthy for the grocery budget. Going out for food tomorrow as it's my birthday, but that comes out of a different pot

happy birthday is it 21:D today

brokemedic

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending wrote: »

I'm sure some people on this thread have said they make rolls without a breadmaker and they're quite easy - you could make them without wheat. There may be a recipe at the front of this thread.

I can't eat normal bread either so I must admit I've just adjusted to not eating it, mainly because GF/wheat free bread isn't always very tasty. I tend to have salads or soup for lunch instead and have fruit with natural yoghurt in the morning. I also have GF/wheat free crispbreads and crackers if I want some carbs! Since I've been eating this way, I find I eat much more healthily. I haven't lost weight either which is good as I didn't need to.

Thank-you for the above.. Will have a look into the wheat free crispbreads.. Have been chomping on wheat free bread this week - not too impressed especially as it was nearly £3 for a small loaf:eek::eek: and tastes like sweet cardboard:(. May even explore making wheat free bread without the breadmaker as I do quite like sandwiches at lunch-time..

Coxy11

Budgets done to here

NSD today. I went for a run, then did the 2 gardening clients I had to cancel yesterday due to the rain.

Mini T-i-H for tea tonight, with mash, brocolli and cauli nomnomnom. I made the T-i-H in the silicon cup cake cases I bought recently - worked a dream, they just popped out onto the plates. No more leaving half the 'hole' behind in the tin

DD made ginger biscuits and managed to leave traces all over the kitchen - worktops, doors, door handles, floor, fridge door - need I go on. They did taste yummy though

Coxy

lovelife79

no spends today, :j
took everything in that i needed to eat whilst in work and avoided the canteen like the plague!:rotfl:
organised again for tomorrow. hopefully another NSD

Bowski_1011

My first grocery spend of the month £6.38 on fruit! This healthy eating malarky is expensive!

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

xx_Jo_xx wrote: »

I was hoping for a NSD today but lunchbox items were at a critical level so needs must ...

£4.29 in the Co-Op
£9.68 in L!dl

Got a few bits for lunches inc yogurts etc for little one. But also picked up some cupboard bits and pieces for teas during the week.

£13.97 spent £236.03 left

ETA: Most of my last online shop consisted of Basics...
- Individual cartons of orange and apple juice were 'watery' and little one didnt like them so we wont be having those again.
- long life cartons of apple and orange breakfast juice were nice!
- Digestives were good
- and I tried the Basics mince, which I dont normally do, but it was ok! It cooked well and didnt melt down into a big puddle of fat when I cooked it! Its different from buying normal steak mince, but my budget being what it is, it was definitely a nice surprise.
- Basics sweetcorn (tinned) was the same as what youd get in any other tin, although the tin was smaller (I didnt check properly online)
- Basics prepacked strawberries - were ok and very fresh, but very very small
- Blueberries and grapes were small and bitter, i dont know we would get those again.
- Basics Wheatabix are ok - really quite small, but taste fine. LO has three instead of two and I havent worked out yet the cost per breakfast and if Im actually saving compared to stores own...

HTH someone xx

Yes we tried these from Sainsbobs and thought the same. However, T£scos basics mini juices are very good so worth a try if you can get them.

fjell wrote: »

:rotfl:

Me too (especially with booze!) but the tea is sacred!

Yes tea is definitely sacred - I have a bad tea addiction :rotfl:. Would be interested to know what cheaper teas people think are any good. Atm I like T£scos English Breakfast Tea but am happy to try others if they are less expensive but still taste decent.

Coxy11 wrote: »

Budgets done to here

NSD today. I went for a run, then did the 2 gardening clients I had to cancel yesterday due to the rain.

Mini T-i-H for tea tonight, with mash, brocolli and cauli nomnomnom. I made the T-i-H in the silicon cup cake cases I bought recently - worked a dream, they just popped out onto the plates. No more leaving half the 'hole' behind in the tin

DD made ginger biscuits and managed to leave traces all over the kitchen - worktops, doors, door handles, floor, fridge door - need I go on. They did taste yummy though

Coxy

That's a good idea for T-i-H :T.


Well I realised last night that the spag bol I was going to cook today wasn't going to happen as I'd forgotten to buy mince . I didn't want to buy any otherwise I'll spend too much this week so managed to cobble together spaghetti carbonara - MIL had given us some ham and I had eggs, cheese and used milk instead of cream. Was OK despite this although eldest DS did say he prefers the cream version.

Also made flapjacks despite not having quite enough oats but family loved it as it's more sticky so apart from struggling to get it out of the baking tray, that's gone down very well. It's amazing what you can do without buying anything if you have to .

I still think I'm going to go slightly over budget this week due to buying 3 for 2 toothpaste so I'll just have to economise (even more ) next week.

minicooper272

Decided to start this month on the 1st. I bought a packed lunch for my 6 hour train journey yesterday, some fruit to go with lunch today, and then got in my first food shop of the month today.

So far I've spent £25.55 of my £100 budget. Got a shock when I added that up! My food shop only cost £16, and I was thinking I'd spent about £20 so far in total. Just starts to show me how easy it is to spend more than you think you are.

I need to run down the freezer this week - I have far too much food in atm. I will easily make my food shop last 2 weeks, but I'll need to top up on fresh fruit next week.

Make-it-3

Thanks Meg72 and Rosieben for your messages of support. Maybe I am being harsh with my budget - but I truly thought I was being generous when I started out on this GC lark and a little bit of discipline would work wonders.

GCing has definitely helped me stick to my list when I go to the supermarket but in order to make my budget go further I am putting off buying stuff, buying smaller quantities, avoiding stocking up which may not be smarter in the long run.

I do have some Oct spends from both yesterday and today to report which I will do tomorrow once I have tracked down my receipts.

liz-paul

Tesco value range (we don't usually shop in Sainburys or asda so I can't comment) -
we buy the rice crispies, corn flakes and branflakes - they're fine
Individual cartons of apple juice - DS2 drinks them
Pancakes (like scotch style not crepes) and crumpets - fine
Frozen peas - fine
Frozen mixed veg - I use this to bulk out things like bolognaise/pies as the bits are V small
Frozen yorkshire puds - fine
Brie - fine
Petit filous - fine
Fruit & veg - generally fine, not standard sizes sometimes.
Batter mix - fine
Biscuits - fine (not many 'exciting varieties'....)
Tinned toms - fine

OH & sons had value tinned rice pud tonight and said it was good - only about 14p a tin! Have a load mroe things to try this month so I'll keep you updated lol