November 2012 Grocery Challenge

Bluegreen143

Jumblejack!! How lovely to see you posting, hope you'll be dropping in more often as your posts are always so helpful

meg72 wrote: »

If you really don't want to waste the coriander it will freeze. I buy it when reduced sometimes then freeze it to use in carrot and coriander soup, or just chuck it in a stew.

Thanks for this, I will bear in mind for the future - I had a stir fry on Saturday as OH was getting a chippy and used the whole bag in my stir fry - way more than I would normally use but it was so lovely and fragrant because of it.

Went shopping with OH today, the first time we have been together in months as it usually makes us argue! I went with him as it's his week and he only had a budget of £48, so I helped him meal plan and do the list and went along to help him save money. Failed dismally as we spent £72 odd on groceries :eek:, but he was determined to get lots of treats and quite happy to spend the extra out of his own money, so I'm still hitting target. I went through the receipt afterwards and to out everything i wouldn't have bought and it came to £47 odd so I feel satisfied I could have done it cheaper! :rotfl:

It was such a lovely, relaxed, non-argumentative atmosphere because he got to buy the treats he wanted and I wasn't stressed out about the money side of things because he was buying them himself

Had HM pizza with salad for dinner, and we're having bought puddings later (:eek: one of OH's 'treats') with custard. Made carrot, lentil and ginger soup with the last of the carrots and onions left from before and a loaf of bread as well as the pizza so feel productive

Suffolk_lass

jumblejack wrote: »

Hi guys

Sorry I've been AWOL.

Life gets in the way but I have kept within budget. :A

We had whoopsied pork mince (40p from £4) for dinner which was fried with onions and fresh sage with the last oft cooking apples grated in. I made a gravy with crab apple jelly and we had this with my last potatoes which were roasted and carrots m green beans (both whoopsied n frozen).

I saved some of the mince n gravy for a leftover pie filling tomorrow.

I haven't been on for ages but have recently discovered the shabby chic thread and have caught the bug! Thought I'd pop in and say hi whilst I'm on the Old Style Board.

Hope everyone is OK? It's nice to see some of the old names still posting

:j jumblejack - :jGood to see you JJ, it's been ages. I hope you'll join us in December's thread as your inventiveness and stretchy meals are an inspiration and there are lots of new people around

SL

jumblejack

It's nice to be back. Missed you guys

armchairexpert

$203 this weekend. So even if I count November as a four week month (my last spend is on 30 Nov, so could go either way...) I'm well over. By this weekend we were so clearly over, and also some sad news in the family, that we thought sod it let's have a treat. So we threw caution to the wind entirely.

Lesson learned next month: $150/week is not enough without making the family feel deprived. And never, ever, let SO go shopping without me.

MrsCD

Hello Jumblejack :wave::wave::wave: It's great to have you back with us. We've missed you!

I've managed a couple of NSDs and I'm planning on making my Christmas cake tomorrow so I'll let you know how it turns out.

minicooper272

GreenFairy wrote: »

In a bit of fab news, got an early Christmas prezzie from MIL - a supermarket voucher. She's been saving stamps all year for us as I'm a student as hubs is just out of college and job hunting. €100 for groceries. Am ridiculously happy with it.

:rotfl:Yeah, I remember how great it would be to get a food voucher! Enjoy treating yourself to a few things!

Thanks Lemmings1986 for the link, it would have taken me all day to find the new forum!

angelatgraceland

I made spicy pea soup today from the cheapfamilyrecipes site and also used up some pork sausagemeat by making HM scotch eggs. Had some salad in the fridge to go with it. small spend of 50p on 2 reduced french sticks and a pack of benedryl for my cold for 84p. That and some paracetamol is just as good as the other over the counter concoctions! A pharmacist recommemded it to me a while ago.
I may have landed myself a job as housekeeper to a local family who are sadly experiencing the loss of "Mum" at the age of 38 and need help around the house. Its the daughter of a neighbour and they only want to take on someone they know/know of and trust. Very sad but at least I have understanding so I am hoping we can help each other out as I am now redundant. Hence I have offered my services! Fingers crossed.
A few years ago I would never have gone after such a job-I don't know why really but lack of confidence I guess. Anyway-grocerywise a very cheap day for me. Bought a dyson on ebay secondhand earlier as mine is getting very ropey! Local so I can collect and I was the only bidder.

meg72

Sabrina237 wrote: »

Found it Meg, thank you!! Am new to this, so am hoping to only spend a maximum of £10 until the end of the month as we are lucky to have a freezer full at the moment so only need to get a few saladey bits

Hi Sabrina welcome. you will get loads of help on here, lots of lovely people. Good luck with the budget.

meg72

GreenFairy wrote: »

Stop off on way home from visiting to pick up a sack of spuds, parsnips, limes, ginger root and a turnip. €9.80 total.

Cleaned out my handbag and found a couple of sneaky receipts so have added those to the total now as well.

In a bit of fab news, got an early Christmas prezzie from MIL - a supermarket voucher. She's been saving stamps all year for us as I'm a student as hubs is just out of college and job hunting. €100 for groceries. Am ridiculously happy with it.

fabulous pressie.

I have £25 in Iceland stamps for my DGS2 to go shopping with
and book a delivery to his house, it will be interesting to see what he chooses to buy. Don't think his Mum will be too impressed with 25 bags of chips :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

meg72

jumblejack wrote: »

It's nice to be back. Missed you guys

Hi JJ great to see you back have missed your lovely pics.