February 2013 Grocery Challenge

elizabunny

Mrs_T_M Thank you so much for that!:T You have everything so well organised and it has really inspired me.

I need to get myself in gear and get going. I am going out this afternoon to get those seeds:)

I will definately get some Spinach because DH and me as well as the bun eat loads of that and it is so expensive at moment, but I will be looking to see what else they have -I need more lettuce varieties and definately carrots. Cannot think why I haven't done this sooner:o I only have myself to blame.

No grocery spending today so a NSD by my standards:)

Dinner tonight is Beef Stew & Dumplings with lots of veggies:)

Mrs_T_M

lbnblbnb wrote: »

Mrs_T_M what a brilliant start! I must get some seeds going, I need to rig up something in front of the living room window, south facing. Off to have a look round to see what I have...

Thanks! I've been scrounging and saving bits all winter for this years garden. I pulled two sides and a bottom of a crib out of a tip site that I've been using for laundry and I will be using as trellises for peas, been saving all of our milk jugs (bottoms = seed starting pots, tops = put onto one of the crib sides to hold strawberries), saving most of our tins, any newspaper that I can pull out of neighbours recycling bins and various other bits as I come across them. I also bring home empty wine boxes from Sainsbury's for the bunnies to play with. I still need to find bits of lumber in a skip somewhere to build a fence and possibly a gate...

I've also been tossing all of our food waste (no meat, bones, dairy, grease, or oil though) out in our two garden beds to turn into compost. When we moved here there were absolutely no earthworms out there, now there are tons of them! I'm hoping to cut our grocery spending in at least half this summer if at all possible. I'm glad that we have pretty lenient landlords!

Mrs_T_M

elizabunny wrote: »

Mrs_T_M Thank you so much for that!:T You have everything so well organised and it has really inspired me.

I need to get myself in gear and get going. I am going out this afternoon to get those seeds:)

I will definately get some Spinach because DH and me as well as the bun eat loads of that and it is so expensive at moment, but I will be looking to see what else they have -I need more lettuce varieties and definately carrots. Cannot think why I haven't done this sooner:o I only have myself to blame.

No grocery spending today so a NSD by my standards:)

Dinner tonight is Beef Stew & Dumplings with lots of veggies:)

Spinach may take a bit to germinate, but once it's up it grows quite quickly. I still need some spinach seed as well. For carrots or parsnips: grow them in 2 litre soda bottles or in milk jugs with the tops cut off. Fill with compost and plant your seeds, you don't have to worry with rocks in the soil! If you plant things outdoors and want an easy way to mark where you've planted things (I always forget, never fails), plant radishes in the areas that have been planted. They come up very quickly, typically in just a day or two, and have typically matured before the other seeds/plants need the extra space.

If you have bunnies, they love brussels sprout leaves, broccoli trimmings, radish, carrot, and parsnip tops, strawberry tops, blueberries (these are especially funny to watch them eat), and sweet potato vines. Do not ever let a bunny eat a normal potato vine though, they are members of the nightshade family and can be deadly (same with tomato plants!).

Sweet potato vines are quick and easy to grow too. Find a sweet potato. Put the narrower end down into a glass jar (save one, the salsa jars are usually pretty good) and add just enough water to cover the bottom 1-2 inches of the sweet potato. Before long, you'll have greens sprouting from the top and roots sprouting from the bottom. Keep your water changed when it gets a bit manky, otherwise it will stink to high heaven! Let the sprouts grow and either break them off or trim them to feed to the bunnies and they will regrow. My great uncle had a single sweet potato growing in a pot in their front room that had completely taken over their bay window... They grow quick!

I'm rambling! Eek! :eek:

bargain_hunter_2

Few little spends to report over the weekend -our mid term here so trying to keep lid on things without being a meanie !!! Took dd to asda/Morries to stock up on some sparkly wine for her forthcoming 18th (eek how did that happen :eek:) money for that from separate budget but also picked up some face wipes which were 5 packs for £4 and some fairy wu liquid which was 38p -grabbed last two on the shelf - then in Morries another £3 on fruit - along with bread/milk managed to spend £14.37 all in over two shops (not including the booze )
Miserable day here so going to get oven on for casserole and coax youngest dd to bake some twinks and muffins -might try the coconut ones !
Signature updated -happy Sunday everyone

Honey_Bear

I stocked up last year on Cu$he11le when it was on special offer at Lidl, and I'm now running very low. I'm horrified at the price 12 months on - it's gone from 27p a roll to 37p!

Does anyone know what is reasonable this year, and where would be the best place to get it?

Florenceem

lbnblbnb wrote: »

florenceem I made the coconut muffins yesterday, really good. I made scones that look like proper scones for the first time ever too - used a Mary Berry recipe instead of the Delia one I had been using for years. I baked a stollen from the freezer for OH and made some jellies too. The tin is well stocked, trying to keep the fam from feeling deprived.

Great to hear - well done.

Florenceem

Chellie1964 wrote: »

Going ok with the challenge, but this month is like a reconnaissance mission (thank goodness for predictive spelling!) so I will study receipts and meal planners to see where and what we can buy less of etc.

Meal planned and bought a bigger joint (from local butcher) so I could use leftovers for other meals which I've worked into planner. Bought 17p choc from Li** and DS was about to throw out about 1/8 box of Rice Snaps as he said there were too many crumbs! Used them and the choc to make krispie cakes, delish dessert for him and krispies not wasted.

Thank you to the challenge for keeping me thinking about what I'm buying and wasting.

I used to get through lots of breakfast cereal when I was bringing up 6 children. Then as they went to Uni - took in foreign students as a host family. I would have 5 students in the Spring/Summer months and 3 during the Autumn/Winter time. So with 4 children still at home - lots of boxes of cereal were used. I would tip all the ends/dust into a container so could make Krispie/Cornflake/Frostie/Weetabix/ in fact any sort of cereal cakes.

lizalloareds

spends today
£6.30 Mr T
£6.92 Lid*
sig updated
leg of lamb is in the oven for dinner hoping to get atleast another meal from it,

bbq_lady

Hi can I join you all...budget to be 20 a week for me and th

Quite excited about it all
bbq

missmoneysave

£15.00 spent from the grocery budget on a ahem....take away

It was a bad day all round and cooking wasn't an option, still on track for the month so I'll not waste the energy dwelling on it. Did some baking today so we are all stocked up with sweet treats for the week :T