September 2013 Grocery Challenge

rach_pach

Another small spend - milk, tuna pât! and reduced price muffins. £5.40 added to our total. Signature updated accordingly. Wedding tomorrow and bbq with friends on Sunday, so nothing more needed until lunch boxes again on Monday. Not sure when I'll have time to shop for that!
Rach Pach

kjgkgj

MummyBobble wrote: »

Have just picked up a 1kg bone in shoulder of lamb reduced to £1.37

I dont eat meat but DD and DS do so I'm hoping this will go a looooong way! Just need to work out what to do with it to begin with. I'm thinking slow cooker? I have plenty of veg, tinned tomatoes/passata, herbs and spices, lentils, beans etc in so hopefully will be able to make good use of the leftovers (unless they have friends round, in which case there will be no leftovers).

Any suggestions for cooking and using up leftovers would be much appreciated.

Thanks xx

My fav way with shoulder of lamb is onions, leeks, red wine, beef stock and lamb in slow cooker, add some fresh rosemary and leave all day. It simply melts off the bone, yum yum!

Pandora_2

Well, today ending up being another NSD as I really couldn't be bothered to go shopping :rotfl: Anyway, I've managed perfectly well without buying any 'essential' items today, so they obviously weren't quite as 'essential' as I thought!

I've got a couple of vouchers for Mr T's, so I'm going to do some planning and then go shopping on Sunday. Managed to pick up loads of fantastic YS stuff last Sunday, so I'm hoping to do the same again

Used up lots of OOD food today including making an absolutely gorgeous casserole which will do another meal tomorrow and a couple of portions to go in the freezer for another day :j

Not much else to report, except that I'm really loving this challenge and it's really helping keep my spending under control. :T Just wish I had discovered it sooner!!

cattysmum

Evening, spent at Aldi yesterday usingnewspaper moc total to pay came to £38.16 and also got crisps and t bags from tescos£5.50. Hope this will be it now till next weekend may just need bread, milk, veg etc.

XSpender

I have been shopping after work today and should have everything except fruit and bread to last until the 20th when my month ends.

Spent £5.25 in HB on crisps, choc bics, curly wurlys, eggs and cocktail sticks. The cocktail sticks are to secure chicken Kiev or stuffed chicken and the curly wurlys are to add to rocky roads for my mums birthday as recommended by my friend who has his own cakes and bakes business.

Also spent £47.57 in mr t including £5 on moisturiser, £3 on reduced flowers, £3 on gammon steaks and almost £5 on steak.

I have just realised I forgot to buy butter for the rocky roads so will need to nip to mr s tomorrow:mad:

I am over my £250 target at £269.58 but am still £20 under last months totals which I would be happy to come in at again and that £20 is enough to cover butter, fruit and odds and sods up to the 20th. We are away next week and any food bought then is counted separately so I can see the £20 being more than enough.

I still can't believe we have managed to halve our previous spends in 2 months. The last time my spends we're this low was 2009:eek: I know how I have done it but don't understand why I haven't done it before:mad:

Pandora_2

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I'm trying to decide what to do with my delivery what not saver that will renew in October with Mr T. I don't have a decent supermarket near me so my best option is to have my groceries delivered (I don't drive and there is only so much you can carry on the bus). At the moment I shop/have my food delivered by Mr T.

I've never got on too well with a$*a who always made a mess of my orders and I have not tried $ainsbugs who now deliver to where I live but I'm wondering whether a$*a might be good for staples (tins etc) and Mr T for fresh stuff. a$*a always used to send stuff that was all but out of date

Welcome thoughts...

I haven't used a$da so don't know what they are like, but I would say that you need to work out if you would be able to make enough savings on your shopping to cover the additional delivery charge, or use a$da for your big shop of heavy stuff and just pick up the fresh stuff yourself when you're near the shops. Basically, you just need to work out which option would cost the least/save you more money. Good luck!!:)

Florenceem

NSD here.
We had Couscous + YS Smoked Mackerel + HM Coleslaw for dinner.

Florenceem

ditsykitchen wrote: »

Your wedges/chips always look really good. Care to share your method??

Scrub potatoes, cut into wedges - dry off in tea towel. Put 1 TBsp oil in bowl - add wedges + toss. Optional - next you can sprinkle in some flavouring and toss again. I sometimes use Garlic Granules/Chilli Powder/Tandoori Mix/Jerk etc.
Bake on tray in oven - 190-200 depends on your oven for about 30 mins or until golden.

happydenial

£11 spend today in T***o - only went in for milk, bread and cheese, but spotted an enormous piece of YS pork belly that will do all four of us for 2/3 dinners, so consider that money well spent :-)

PrincessLou

Please can I join for September? I'll say £200 this month.
This is for 2 adults including basic toiletries and household and cleaning products, etc.


I did the challenge unofficially in August and came in about £160 but I don't want to set too tight a budget in the first month. I usually spend just over £200 a month so we saved about £40 last month that can now go towards upcoming Christmas expenses. :j