January 2013 Grocery Challenge

maximus_leeds

Bit of a mercy dash to Mr T Express for milk and bread this evening, increasing my spend - have updated signature. I despise that shop - but the draw is too strong I'm hoping for no real shop this week - just fruit, milk and probably more bread. I have a question for you - where do you think you get the cheapest milk and bread from? I'm currently shopping online at As** with a top up from Al** - I've never bought bread from the latter, any reviews?
I'll stop with the questions now! xx

elizabunny

Evening all! a NSD grocerywise today. Had to spend £12 on meds. from the chemist but that will just have to come from another pot.

Managed to make HM Bread & Veggie Soup today -but burnt the soup:eek: Bit of a mess really that took me three quarters of an hour to clear up. Then had to fiddle with the soup to disguise the burnt taste -it was ok although we have had much better:o.

Lots of snow here, which has now stopped temporarily I think. Keep warm and well everyone.

Tales17

£60 grocery spend today but should cover us til end of the weekend. Been really ill this weekend and still no better but thought I'd venture out and get it done today just in case the snow hits. At least now I can curl up on the sofa, well when my little one lets me!

Hollygym

m155piggy wrote: »

Morning all - I popped to MrM this morning after dropping DS3 at school - stuck to my list pretty much and only bought fruit, bread and ham - a bit annoyed now though as I got home and looked at my receipt - either I didn't look properly or someone had put the apples back in the wrong place and I assumed they were £1 for the bag but they scanned at £1.70 (didn't realise at the time) - I would NEVER spend that much on apples if they were on offer for £1 but it really wouldn't have been worth going back and returning them so 70p more than expected :-(

On a brighter note DH & I started drinking black coffee instead of white last week (DH realised drinking black coffee would give him extra points to use on WW!). I never realised how much milk we got through drinking coffee all day but think it must have saved us at least £3 last week!

Watch out with not drinking milk - you need calcium to help avoid Osteoporosis. Take care!!

Lolkat

Another NSD for me. That's 2 in a row. I've been busy at work though and with the snow keeping me in at lunchtime, I wasn't really going to get a chance to spend.

I shouldn't need to be buying anything tomorrow either. Though that reminds me that I need to check our menu plan to see if there's anything I need to do tonight in the way of defrosting or preparing for the slow cooker.

I am glad I drink skimmed milk. I bought 3 2pt cartons of reduced organic skimmed milk and 1 of semi when i went shopping on Wednesday. DH has declared the semi to be "past it's best". The skimmed is still fine even though they both had the same use by date on.

I've done some fine tuning of the financial picture for the month. I know how much it is possible for me to save if I have no further spending.

(Stop eating me out of house and home DH!!!!!! Or at least let me know when you are working from home so I can plan the nibble mountain for you. Rather than have you raid the fridge and fruit bowl and steal my lunch stuff.)

Even with DH's munching i think we are still on plan for next shopping day to be Monday 21st. (With extra bread and milk though).

jumblejack

sjprmc01 wrote: »

Grr! I'm annoyed with myself! I've lost track! I know I've failed the challenge because I'm on or around the 250mark and it isn't even halfway through the month

It is really hard to keep track of it all if you don't write it down straight off and it doesn't help that I am only in charge of the house 5 days out of 7 (work 12hr shifts at weekends with 2hrs travel time either side) and OH is THE WORST PERSON EVER for keeping track of outgoings

Must try better in Feb!

Diaries are dirt cheap now in the supermarket.
I got one for spends and I love it. I keep it in my handbag among with a pen and its so easy to get into the habit

GreenFairy

Was appauled at the price of cereal bar type things in the supermarket this evening, not to mention the excess packaging. Made a huge tin of flapjacks instead this evening - far more MSE. Two batches - one crunchy and one chewy so should be covered for all moods Bread machine set for first thing tomorrow. Feeling very domestic and cheapskatey this evening lol

Lolkat

jumblejack wrote: »

Diaries are dirt cheap now in the supermarket.
I got one for spends and I love it. I keep it in my handbag among with a pen and its so easy to get into the habit

I bought one on Saturday for 99p at The W@rks for that very reason. It's only a slimline. But there's enough space to write down my daily spends. I'm putting my receipts in it too. It's one with a band round so it holds them all together.

couldsavemore_2

Lolkat wrote: »

I bought one on Saturday for 99p at The W@rks for that very reason. It's only a slimline. But there's enough space to write down my daily spends. I'm putting my receipts in it too. It's one with a band round so it holds them all together.

I've just remembered a diary that came as a free gift which would be perfect for this. need to go and find it.putting receipts in it is a great idea.

we did an inventory of the freezers the other day and found 7 lots of sausages so we are having some for dinner tonight along with veg that we have determined not to buy any extras between weekly shops.

Mrs_T_M

maximus_leeds wrote: »

Bit of a mercy dash to Mr T Express for milk and bread this evening, increasing my spend - have updated signature. I despise that shop - but the draw is too strong I'm hoping for no real shop this week - just fruit, milk and probably more bread. I have a question for you - where do you think you get the cheapest milk and bread from? I'm currently shopping online at As** with a top up from Al** - I've never bought bread from the latter, any reviews?
I'll stop with the questions now! xx

Aldi here has milk at £1 for a 4 pt and their bread is £0.47 and up. Aldi wholemeal bread is one of the few breads I can eat, since most contain barley malt. Thankfully theirs doesn't and to me it tastes wonderful!

I've discovered 4 little pots of Activia yoghurt in the fridge with a bb date of 23/12... Anyone think they would still be ok to eat/use in smoothies/cooking?