January 2013 Grocery Challenge

Nicki_Sue

A NSD yesterday and on track for being the same today

angelatgraceland

poohspals wrote: »

Some great tips and posts again. I've got a bread maker somewhere so must dig it out again. I'm sure the recipe book has been lost though so has anyone got any basic recipes?

Type the make and model into Google and you can probably download the manual with its recipes.
NSD yesterday. The day before I went to Lidl and spent £20.29 but it was mostly coffee! They had the large jar of kenco with the blue lid(Rich) for just £3.99 instead of over £6 so I got 3 of them.Also got 2 tubs cherry toms at just 50p each, lemons,sugar,milkFR eggs and packing tape-I need to remove the last from my grocert spend tho so its £17.70 to add to my total spends.Total food spend so far this month is £46.78. I did buy petrol but thats another budget!
Got another few of hours work also yesterday which will be fairly regular so that is a blessing! Phoned the pension company and told them how little I had to manage on and that I really needed them to sort things out. I try the nice gentle approach first! Doubt I need anything today-I am going for a freezer rummage!

Tessie-I really don't think whether you buy at Argos or Lakeland matters-it is "what" you buy that really matters! The advantage of Argos is that there is most likely one near to you and Lakeland has the postage. Either way, you have the manufacturers guarantee and Argos are very good with those. I don't know what your bad experience with them was but I wouldn't let it influence you too much if it was only a minor issue? I swear by Panasonic and I am so glad that everyone on here guided me in the right direction on that choice. Well worth saving for!

meg72

m155piggy wrote: »

I am feeling a bit disheartened tonight - been putting together my shopping list for tomorrow at MrA (using mysupermarket pricing) and no matter how hard I try and how much I drop off my list it still seems to be really high and that is even after I know that we will be changing the way we eat to get the price even that low. There is virtually nothing on the list that isn't either smart price or shop own brand so there isn't really any room for movement.

The list includes a weeks worth of dry dog food but no cleaning / washing stuff or toiletries as I got loads of them over xmas using MrT vouchers which technically made them free !

I have even gone so far as to buy smaller packages of things rather than buy big and use later as I know that would make me spend more in the long run as it has in the past.

Oh well - I'm sure things will look better in the morning...

Sorry you are disheartened, I got a shock at Asda yesterday as prices seem to have shot up, I wanted a pork leg joint which was 3.00 kg at Christmas, only to find its now 5.00 also looked at the beef which was 5.00 at Christmas, cheapest is now 7.00. Didnt buy any as I am thinking that crafty Mr A is preparing for one of his infamous rollbacks, i.e. put it up and then rollback. So I will wait and see, went back later to see what the reductions were like and got quite a bit at halfprice or less. Bought quite a bit,

3 packs of extra special yorkshire ham @ 96p instead of 2.50
4 whole mackeral 26p instead of 1.60
1 stone baked pizza 1.19 instead of 2.50
3 x 60 piece prawn party pack 2.00 instead of 4.00
20 sausage 1.00 instead of 2.00
2 packs turkey breast strips 1.35 instead of 3.00

Total spent 14.81 instead of 36.40. As I bought two gift cards to get 12.00 bonus. total to me 2.81.

That will teach Mr A to put the pork up :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Solstice_3

Hoping for an NSD today but it all depends on whether there are any good reductions at work tonight. Not sure which I am hoping for lol

angelatgraceland

Meg72-how does the bonus work with the gift cards please? Sounds like something I might look at!

meg72

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Meg72-how does the bonus work with the gift cards please? Sounds like something I might look at!

Hi Angela, its the Christmas savings cards that they do, if you have 144.00 by a certain date, this year it was 19th November you get a 6.00 bonus.

You can save this weekly or whenever it suits you. I dont like the idea of them having the benefit of my money in advance so bought 2 just 3 days before the bonus date. Other supermarkets do this too.

she_who_can_not_cook

m155piggy wrote: »

I am feeling a bit disheartened tonight - been putting together my shopping list for tomorrow at MrA (using mysupermarket pricing) and no matter how hard I try and how much I drop off my list it still seems to be really high and that is even after I know that we will be changing the way we eat to get the price even that low. There is virtually nothing on the list that isn't either smart price or shop own brand so there isn't really any room for movement.

The list includes a weeks worth of dry dog food but no cleaning / washing stuff or toiletries as I got loads of them over xmas using MrT vouchers which technically made them free !

I have even gone so far as to buy smaller packages of things rather than buy big and use later as I know that would make me spend more in the long run as it has in the past.

Oh well - I'm sure things will look better in the morning...

dont be disheartened if your GC has resulted in you saving something off your grocery bill YOU HAVE WON just see it that way

elizabunny

poohspals wrote: »

Some great tips and posts again. I've got a bread maker somewhere so must dig it out again. I'm sure the recipe book has been lost though so has anyone got any basic recipes?

Poohspals I usually make a basic loaf using the following:-

16 fluid oz water
1-2 tbsp Olive oil (but you could use butter, marg. or another oil if you prefer.
1 tbsp sugar or honey)
24ozs Flour (White, wholemeal, granary whichever you like. I like white mixed with granary)
1 sachet of breadmaker dried yeast
1 tsp salt

This is the order I add my ingredients to the bowl and I am careful to keep the salt away from the yeast.

I made a lovely fruit loaf and some fruit buns by adding the last of the Xmas Mincemeat to the mix. The result was some very early hot cr*ss buns and bread:)

HM Chicken Curry with Naan tonight. The freezer is nearly empty:eek: Good on the one hand, but now I'll need to start again.

m155piggy

she_who_can_not_cook wrote: »

dont be disheartened if your GC has resulted in you saving something off your grocery bill YOU HAVE WON just see it that way

Thank you that is so true - and I was right everything does look a bit better today even though I still spent more than I wanted to. :mad:

I went to MrM, MrS and MrA after checking prices online and by using all 3 I probably saved about £12 on the groceries on my list - and didn't deviate even once other than to pick up 2 packs of dog food not 1 (£3.69 for 1 - £5.00 for 2!) Still spent £56.60 though which wasn't the plan!

Never mind at least the dog won't go hungry! :beer:

Peanut2013

Spend of £22 at Mr T for weekly shop

Quite pleased with that TBH