August 2013 Grocery Challenge

pixiedust09

Popping in to declare spends of £71.66. Been shopping to Ald*, £land and Wilki*son today did get loads and bought stuff I don't really need this week but will need in the near future such as toothpaste, washing machine cleaner and ladies stuff. Got gammon cooking in the oven for tea, yummy, might have it with the runner beans i got in Ald*'s super six today. Then must make another batch of the banana choc chip muffins I made last week as they were delish.

girlatplay

Well I had to get milk yesterday (£1) so I have gone over my first week budget by 54p but I don't need anything else, next grocery shop/budget day is Wednesday and I have meal planned into next grocery shop week so I will just have to be careful. I know I am averaging it out over the month but I did want to stay within the £40 per week as that is what I receive that I use towards the groceries. That is Little Miss Gap and her sudden urge to have hot chocolates made with milk! (She doesn't drink a huge amount of milk so I am encouraging this).

Anyway, in the meantime I am really pleased with myself as I have meal planned really well and haven't even been tempted to grocery shop for stuff. It hasn't stopped me from furniture and carpet shopping though :o

lizalloareds

spends today £9.73

£1 FF
65p Lid*
£1.73 Mr A
£6.35 Mr T

Florenceem

Mr F is going into town - told him - just do the banking - no spending!

xxlouisexx56

First spends of the month

£39 in T

Including eggs, toilet roll, orange juice, milk, lady products, toothpaste, piriton and the kids got a magazine each (£2.99 each :O)

We want to go on a big all inclusive holiday next year and need to save as much as possible. Which means the grocery budget needs to go down. My freezer is completely full. Only things that are on offer or whoopsies are going in there from now on!

citygirl40

Thanks to everyone who's sent best wishes on my First. I was stunned, thought I was headed for a 2:1. My graduation is October. I'm 42 so it just goes to show you can learn anytime! Congrats to elsiepac on the new job :j

I've managed NSD's on the last 2 Sundays. Yesterdays was a miracle as my son had a friend over and we went to the cinema. However I made goody bags from the stockpile and had 2 sweet sundays cinema tickets and one from T*sco rewards so no money changed hands!

Need to get some milk tonight and hoping to stock up on Velvet toilet rolls at the A*da. My other half ordered some shelving for my new downstairs cupboard and it arrived today. It's where the stockpile is currently in a disorganised mess. Soon it will look lovely :rotfl:

Maitane

Right, I've well and truly failed on the first budget of £35. So far I've spent £50.81.

Not just poor planning because I'm between Brum and the People's Republic but back on Anglesey last weekend our freezer went on the blink. Thankfully we caught it before absolutely everything was ruined but I did have to get extra things I didn't plan on as our freezer was full of reduced meat and fish to make proper meals to cook and refreeze.

As annoying as it was, I'm pleased that we salvaged all of the meat, fish and vegetables. We've also now got a few weeks worth of 'ready meals' in the freezer.
Hilariously, the only things we lost were processed (Mr T's sauces, fish fingers, bread) so things we shouldn't be eating anyway.

I'm not put off though, I think I'll give the £35 budget a crack next month and do some damage limitation for the rest of this month.

lushlifesaver

£4 spent today on a salad tub (to go with reduced prawn cocktail and a wrap from home) and some pies (4 - 1for my tea and 3 for the freezer)

£3 yesterday for turkey for bf's lunches etc.

Bf decided that he would pay for everything we bought to fill the freezer and the some longer lasting stuff we got for the fridge (mostly juices) as he also wanted to get a ton of healthy/allowed snacks to take with him to the tournament. In the end it came to about £65 but that included a good £15+ on tourney snacks plus we got some squash, cereal and other bits so it should last us a fair while (neither of us have massive appetites at the minute).

I need kitchen sponges and dishmatic heads. Not sure is morrisons do the dishmatic heads though so will have to check for those tomorrow.

In exchange for bf paying for those the grocery budget will pay for our meal out with his family next Friday

sig updated

CherryPie

elsiepac wrote: »

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!

This sounds right up my street, except, I don't really like mango. Do you think I could make with another fruit? I might just try mango first though, don't like messing with other peoples recipes!

K9sandFelines

£27.86 spent in Mr M. Finally opened though not overly impressed tbh. It's nice to have a shiny new store, but it's a bit of an alien concept to me, and i have gotten too used to online shopping. Unless i have free delivery though, i am just going to have to learn to like it, otherwise it's just throwing money away. I managed to save a little on promotions and the money off voucher, so alot lower than normal. Hopefully, i can manage this most weeks even if only for the offers, as not everything is cheapper