August 2013 Grocery Challenge

NickJW

£2.15 spent in NISA today.

Puddickle

This weeks grocery shop done from Ald* & Lid* £50.67/ 90 and on target for our £450 budget , maybe even some way under and considering last months monster spend of £900 it feels good.

CountingPennies

I pay for all of my shopping on my bank card. So i decided to look back a couple of months and see exactly how many transactions i had for Tesco, Iceland and Aldi. Added it all up and in 1 month i managed to spend a whopping £887.87p!!!!! And that doesn't include the odd shop where I paid cash for milk ect. Makes me feel quite good that I only went £30 over in my first challenge last month.

Will do my stocktake tomorrow.

elsiepac

ikkle87 - Could I please have your recipe for cheesy lentil wedges? They sound exciting and right up my street!

In other news I've managed to put off my stocktake again today. Hmm, must try harder! I have tomorrow as a day off work so I'm going to do it then. Have no idea why I am still up now, on that note must get to bed!

LC x

joedenise

Away for the weekend and thought I wouldn't need to spend any of my grocery budget but DGD decided she'd like hot chocolate & marshmallows to drink in the evening so popped into M*rrisons to buy them at a cost of £3.16; also bought her a 99 from the icecream van so another £1, total £4.16. Have now spent £54.23 of my budget.

Denise

Nicki_Sue

CountingPennies wrote: »

I pay for all of my shopping on my bank card. So i decided to look back a couple of months and see exactly how many transactions i had for Tesco, Iceland and Aldi. Added it all up and in 1 month i managed to spend a whopping £887.87p!!!!! And that doesn't include the odd shop where I paid cash for milk ect. Makes me feel quite good that I only went £30 over in my first challenge last month.

Will do my stocktake tomorrow.

I did this recently because I couldn't work out why there was more month than money.
My statement read as...
Tesco
Tesco
Tesco
Coop
Tesco.....
(Every blinking day or so!).

Now it looks like:
Tesco.... nothing for four days
Lidl

Nicki_Sue

I have £17 left in my budget (new week starts Thursday) and need:
Juice
Pull-ups (we are at pants during the day, pull-ups at night now)
Ham
Fresh fruit
Dried Fruit
San towels
Cling Film
Quark
Greens

I'll start at Lidl and then finish off at Tesco.

Shopitize_company_representative

citygirl40 wrote: »

Well I knew my biggest challenge to this month is the OH spending. He works right next to sainsbobs. This week looking at the receipts he has bought 2 bottles of squash despite me buying 8 bottles earlier in the week (and I showed him where I'd put them:mad:).

I passed my degree (got a First, whoop) so with all best intentions he bought me 2 bottles of wine and some flowers, one bottle broke in the car on the way home. These came to £14.73!!! (We don't have our own spends this month cos we're skint lol). He's never big on gestures so I couldn't say anything but omg, the flowers would have done, I only have £60 for the whole weeks food!!! Anyhow, thanks to a cashback on Andrex Eco at £4.49 and Shopitize £6 odd, I've managed to pull it back to £60.23 for the week. I am hoping to try and spend very little next week (crosses fingers).

Glad we could help you enjoy a little celebration while staying on budget!

Congratulations from all of us at Shopitize!

Juliet at Shopitize

Nicki_Sue

Just had a nosy at Shopitize and it says it isn't compatible with my phone, what a shame!

elsiepac

Morning all!

I'm just enjoying my breakfast late today. I've gotten in the habit of a green smoothie for breakfast.

It's not VERY cheap, currently around £1.09 a portion, so nearly £8 per week just on that. However it's finally something I can eat in the morning that doesn't make me feel gross and for some reason keeps me going till lunch without tummy rumbling. (This may not be a good thing as Dr says possibility I may be hypoglycaemic which if I test positive means I will probably need to be eating something mid morning and this makes me feel I don't need to, but for now I love it!)

So for those interested in a 200* calorie breakfast, for £1.09 a time, that isn't too sweet and you can drink while you're getting ready in the morning if you don't like it in one go (but it is delicious!) and that requires NO prep except blending, here's the recipe:

LC's Green Smoothie (Breakfast!)

- 80g frozen mango (I use Mr T frozen chunks £1.99 for 500g)
- 125ml nut milk (I use Koko [was Kara] coconut milk £1.39 for 1 litre - almond milk is also REALLY good!)
- 100g fresh spinach (I use Mr T £2 for 500g - be careful as there is also a 400g bag for £2!!!)
- 1 medium banana, around 100g when peeled (I've used 20p as a price for this but can be a LOT cheaper!)
- A Blender! (I use a Genie which I LOVE!)

1. Weigh the mango into the blender cup and weigh the nut milk over it. 125g of the nutmilk is equivalent to 125ml so you don't need to waste washing up a half cup or anything!
2. I let this sit for 10-15 minutes (I do this first thing when I make my coffee) so that the mango can de-harden a little bit!
3. Blend the mango and the nut milk.
4. Return the blender cup to the scales and add the spinach (if using a genie in the large cup you will need to do this in two batches).
5. Blend the spinach into the mixture.
6. Now break the banana into 4-5 chunks.
7. Blend it in!

Decant into a glass and enjoy straight away or while you get ready for the day if like me, you don't like to have a lot in your stomach at once in the morning!

For a treat you can add in 10-20g shredded coconut - this makes it out of this world, but ups the calories of course! So depending on your needs, this may be a good option!

If you like it sweeter (I like that it isn't!) - add 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey, that'll sort you out!

Hope this is useful for someone!

LC x

*average calories!

PS - the above is all my recipe, but I loosely based it on a breakfast smoothie recipe on laurenconrad.com - hence I've named it LC's Green Smoothie, because that is both of our initials!