The land of the eternal stripey list returns.

Pippilongstocking

Morning all well afternoon.

:-) thanks for the recommendations, will scamper off and look.

Teaching postponed this am due to lack of students so I've been working on my veggie plots at work I've inherited another one so now I'm upto 4 raised beds.



All dug over now. Time for lunch which I did remember!

:-)

Must fill out the travel expenses form :-)

starnac

Yay on an extra veggie plot. Always good.

Make sure you fill in your expenses form and get it in ASAP. Money is also good

Wow just looked at your signature. You have paid quite a lot to penguin chops now. Well done

Pippilongstocking

starnac wrote: »

Yay on an extra veggie plot. Always good.

Make sure you fill in your expenses form and get it in ASAP. Money is also good

Wow just looked at your signature. You have paid quite a lot to penguin chops now. Well done

Form filled getting in looked it out when I got home.

thanks for the nudge

Yeah I'm trying to lob money at him where I can - I've got some money on my cc and the car loan (5%) is going down quickly - so aside those two debts and penguin chops (0%)

Thats me, as I've only got work guaranteed for the next wee while (still unsure if I'm down to one and a half days only from Sept), I'll have to see what I can pay off in the mean time.

Well aside the scary student loan.

Its kinda why I'm trying to get back into the money headset.

Pippilongstocking

£23 spent on shopping

Mainly milk, cornflakes, reduced turkey (freezer), a tonne of reduced veggies and fruit and 2 loaves bread (one full price treat, one 55p) a few snacks for DD who's off on study leave (instant noodles, sesame snaps and grapes (reduced)) one tin tomatoes and a tube tomato puree, two packets of value spaghetti.

Fridge looking nice and full, this weeks meal plan so far working, all the new reduced veg will give me a challenge for next weeks planning

samantham06

Hi everyone, I came across a thread a while ago where everyone was giving suggestions to lower shopping bills to around £20 a week! Mines normally £70-80 and I desperately need to lower it to save money.
SO could someone point me in the right direction please?
Anyway in case anyone is interested.. here is my list for me and my son for the week (Im coeliac so have to be careful what I eat) Any suggestions welcome!!
Tesco Whole Black Peppercorn Mill 50G (Pe) £1.98
1 Schwartz Salt Grinder Adjustable 60G £2.99
1 Tesco Pure Vegetable Oil 1L £1.59
1 Tesco Everyday Value Variety Crisps 12X18g £0.68
1 Tesco Everyday Value Chocolate And Coconut Cereal Bar 125G £0.76
1 Spring Force Toilet Tissue 9 Roll £1.99
1 Tesco Everyday Value Low Fat Fruit Yoghurt 4X125g £0.33
9 Tesco Bananas Loose £1.10 Please can I have 4 green ones
1 Tesco Satsumas 600G £1.00
7 Tesco Cox Apples Loose £2.46
7 Tesco Braeburn Apples Loose £2.18
1 Tesco White Potatoes 2.5Kg £1.90
1 Tesco Everyday Value Ham 400G £1.65
1 Tesco Pineapple Slices Natural Juice 432G £0.65
1 Tesco Pear Quarters In Natural Juice 410G £0.68
2 Tesco Everyday Value Peaches In Juice 410G £0.64
2 Tesco 100% Orange Juice Not From Concentrate 1 Litre £2.50
1 Tesco Everyday Value Broccoli Florets 907G £1.00
2 Tesco Brown Onions Loose £0.38
1 Chicken Tonight Spanish Chicken Sauce 500G £1.99
1 Tesco Everyday Value Plum Tomatoes 400G £0.31
1 Tesco Sieved Tomatoes Passata 500G £0.44
2 Tesco Everyday Value Baked Beans In Tomato Sauce 420G £0.50
1 Big And Fresh Eggs Box Of 6 £1.46
2 Tesco Everyday Value Tuna Chunks In Brine 185G £1.60
1 Tesco Whole Chicken 1.35Kg To 1.55Kg £4.00
1 Tesco Everyday Value Beef Mince 750G £2.50


Total of: £39! So still over budget

samantham06

COntinued... the meal plan so far is roughly: (i am using a few essentials I already have..)

Dinners:
Spaj bolognese (1/2 value mince)
Cottage pie (other 1/2, frozen peas/brocalli)
Tuna and tomato pasta
Bacon and onion omlette and chips and peas
Bean on toast
Spanish chicken with rice and peas
Roast chicken with roast potatoes and frozen veg.

Then for lunches: a variety of sandwiches/tinned soup/ egg salad

And tinned fruit/yoghurts for dessert.

Im not very creative so was the best I could come up with!

teapot2

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Its part of the name of a scottish county :j which is in the UK, but also thinks of itself as a kingdom in its on right - no idea why - some historical thingmy

Rhymes with wife

Oops got a bit behind but how exciting - I'll be able to wave at you over the Firth :rotfl:

Pippilongstocking

samantham06 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I came across a thread a while ago where everyone was giving suggestions to lower shopping bills to around £20 a week! Mines normally £70-80 and I desperately need to lower it to save money.
SO could someone point me in the right direction please?
Anyway in case anyone is interested.. here is my list for me and my son for the week (Im coeliac so have to be careful what I eat) Any suggestions welcome!!
Tesco Whole Black Peppercorn Mill 50G (Pe) £1.98
1 Schwartz Salt Grinder Adjustable 60G £2.99
1 Tesco Pure Vegetable Oil 1L £1.59
1 Tesco Everyday Value Variety Crisps 12X18g £0.68
1 Tesco Everyday Value Chocolate And Coconut Cereal Bar 125G £0.76
1 Spring Force Toilet Tissue 9 Roll £1.99
1 Tesco Everyday Value Low Fat Fruit Yoghurt 4X125g £0.33
9 Tesco Bananas Loose £1.10 Please can I have 4 green ones
1 Tesco Satsumas 600G £1.00
7 Tesco Cox Apples Loose £2.46
7 Tesco Braeburn Apples Loose £2.18
1 Tesco White Potatoes 2.5Kg £1.90
1 Tesco Everyday Value Ham 400G £1.65
1 Tesco Pineapple Slices Natural Juice 432G £0.65
1 Tesco Pear Quarters In Natural Juice 410G £0.68
2 Tesco Everyday Value Peaches In Juice 410G £0.64
2 Tesco 100% Orange Juice Not From Concentrate 1 Litre £2.50
1 Tesco Everyday Value Broccoli Florets 907G £1.00
2 Tesco Brown Onions Loose £0.38
1 Chicken Tonight Spanish Chicken Sauce 500G £1.99
1 Tesco Everyday Value Plum Tomatoes 400G £0.31
1 Tesco Sieved Tomatoes Passata 500G £0.44
2 Tesco Everyday Value Baked Beans In Tomato Sauce 420G £0.50
1 Big And Fresh Eggs Box Of 6 £1.46
2 Tesco Everyday Value Tuna Chunks In Brine 185G £1.60
1 Tesco Whole Chicken 1.35Kg To 1.55Kg £4.00
1 Tesco Everyday Value Beef Mince 750G £2.50


Total of: £39! So still over budget

Hey there Hello and welcome to my diary - I wonder if you're in the right place?

But happy to see you and I'll endeavour to help with MY OWN opinions where I can. Don't take anything I say to heart :A its only my opinion - Its just gentle observation from someone who's been spending far too much on food for far too long!

1 first off - well done on getting a shop in under £40 and meal planning thats epic.

2 - you have actually only 'really' spent £32.40 on actual food as the items highlighted in red are (i'm assuming) one of buys:T so a bigger well done.

3 - have a look at portion sizes - for our family we find that 750g mince can give us upto 4-6 meals if we divide it up and are super canny with what we add. I also ALWAYS put a cup of soy mince into real mince once its browned to bulk it out. I don't notice it and it really adds volume to a meal - tesco's do a good bag of 750g for around £1.69 which lasts for a while. But whatever works for you, don't take my portion sizes its just how I make a packet of that kind of mince go further. That and lots of veg in there makes it nice and healthy too.

A really good site to help with portion sizes is Love Food Hate Waste. Then again I would say that as I work for the scottish organisation! But it really is very good.

4 - Water's a good drink - fruit juice in our house is a huge treat we don't buy it weekly - if you gave up the juice for a while whilst you get yourself on your grocery challenge feet you'd save another £2.50 taking you down to £27.40

5 - Have a wee look online at recipes for spanish chicken or on the OS recipe board on here - I bet you it will find an easy spanish chicken method which probably will reduce that spend on a jar sauce - whilst they're lovely for a treat - you'll probably find the saving you make whilst you're getting great at this would be worth the look for a nice recipe. I understand sauces can be handy - we all use them but if your'e cutting down your budget then I'm sure you can make it for alot cheaper! If you did that your bill goes down anothe £1.99 - to £25.41

6 - Have a look at the feed my family for a month for £40 thread - its epic. Also have a look at anohter thread I'll go off and find.

7 - Apples - thats a big spend on apples which is absolutely fine but I tend to find that if I stick to the 'everyday;' apples - I bought a bag yesterday (braeburn) for 89p (6 apples) - if you bought two bags of those or the kids smaller lunch box apples (99p - gala, 8 apples) you'd save a couple pounds there - (your apple spend is £4.64) if you bought the other ones (if they have them) you'd cost yourself £1.79 - so you'd reduce your shoppping down to £22.56:T

Can I say however, for dropping from £70 a week to the amount you have already is pretty epic - give yourself a big pat on the back. None of the above is any sort of advice other than if it were me what I would do.

I'll have a wee look at your meal plan and see if there's anything I can add. Making a meal plan is in itself an amazing tool.

:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Well done.

Pippilongstocking

teapot2 wrote: »

Oops got a bit behind but how exciting - I'll be able to wave at you over the Firth :rotfl:

I'll wave back!:j

Morning all

Squally here today. I'm just gettign ready to post my expenses form and have a look at my silly list.

Meal plan so far has gone OK which makes a nice change, I think tonight will be takeaway danger zone.

:eek:

Off ot find a cuppa and look at my list.

In most interesting news my tatties are beginning to (finally) sprout - might actually get them in the ground soon!

Pippilongstocking

Silly list conquered - need to make another one.

First off those time to post that expenses claim (thanks Starnac) and to walk el hounds.



Both will be free as I have a stamp and I will walk dogs round the village