September 2013 Grocery Challenge

Bluegreen143

Popping on to update spends - £115.52 to date. Had a Mr A delivery yesterday and used the £5 delivery pass deal, thanks to those on this trhead who tipped me off about it as it normally costs me £5 for each delivery anyway, so it's like the rest are free this month

Mealplan as follows:

Sun 8 – braised chicken and butter beans with greens and soda bread

Mon 9 - I’m visiting my mum; OH’ll probably have a pizza

Tues 10 - Spanish vegetable stew with rice

Wed 11 – mac and cheese with broccoliand salad

Thurs 12 – chicken pie with mash and veg

Fri 13 - sweetcorn fritters with spicy wedges and salad

Sat 14 – steak and chips for Dave, fishcakes for me, both with salad


Made a braised chicken with butter beans dish last night which was lovely but I have to say (having made/eaten it for the first time last night) I absolutely hate soda bread! Gutted I made it, as would so have loved some normal yeasty crusty bread! Very, very dissapointing. OH did like it though so not a total waste Can't put a piccy up as my phone is really playing up and won't load it :mad:

cheerfulness4

iammumtoone wrote: »

Just a quick question, what does everyone use to store leftovers in the freezer? I don't have alot of tubs, now I am wishing I had saved chinese take away containers. Struggling to think what I can put the leftover stew into,

I used the empty margarine/spread containers when I've finished with them. Also I've bought the takeaway style containers very cheaply (£1 or so for around 5) from HB or £1 type shops.

I did read of one lady on here that would pop her soups and stews into plastic bags that were placed inside a box container and then when frozen lift them out and stack them, reusing the container for the next freeze up.

Florenceem

When I had 2 huge chest freezers - back in the day when 5 of my 6 children were still at home plus I had 3 foreign students all year/5 in the summer months - I used freezer bags inside an icing sugar box. When frozen - lovely brick shapes to stack easily in the freezers.

lushlifesaver

Afternoon all,

finally made our little trip to Makro yesterday to get the meat and a couple of other bits. Total spend £61 so that averages out £20 per month. Bf is giving me £15 though as I got a few bits only/mostly for him so that takes it down to £46 to average over the 3 months which is £15.33 per month.

That takes me over this month's budget as we are now sitting on £102.16 and I need to buy oven chips today and a couple of small bits today. Plus will need squash and milk next week.

Not to worry though really as I'm sure it will all average out. Plus side is I don't have any chicken breasts, beef mince, laundry detergent or toilet roll to buy now for at least 3 months! Also won't need crisps next month and have enough of a few things to roll over in to next month too (pasta, rice, Bolognese sauce etc) one of these days I will master a 'cheap month'. Although before that a lot of our usual buys will need to be on offer!

kayester

Bought a chippy for dinner ooops another tenner

one_hit_wonder11

Making chicken soup with pulses for lunch. All store cupboard and freezer.
On the freezing soups/stews. Either the soup bags from Lakeland or using a vacuum machine I have one was initially about £30 and I spend about £40 every 3 months on bags and rolls to put everything in. But you get so much more in freezer and doesn't get frost bite. Just a suggestion

Flat_Eric

Florenceem wrote: »

I never let them get away with it.
I would just go to customer service - explain what happened - see what assistant says. If no joy - ask for her supervisor - if still no joy ask for duty manager.
Stand your ground - they will pay up if you persevere.
After all - would you bother with all that if it was not true?
If duty manager is a pain - ask for executive director responsible for customer service - you want his name and address. Then you send him a letter asking for a gift voucher for your time and distress.
Seasoned complainer here.

I agree with this post and the subsequent posts. Either go back to the store or e-mail them. Your receipt should identify the till details and the assistant may remember finding two deodrants instead of one on her desk after you had gone.

I bought wrapping paper from b00ts in the sale earlier in the year only to get home and find I'd been charged for an extra roll. Now the paper wasn't very much as it was heavily discounted and I did consider letting it go but it was bugging me so I went back (to my local store so no travel costs) to raise it with them. I had no proof of course that I hadn't had this extra roll but they didn't quibble too much and i got the money refunded.

Your post also reminds me of the time a few years ago when I was spending my voucher coupons that you get. The till asisstant didn't scan the £5 voucher but still stuck it in the till. It was only when I checked the receipt as I was leaving that I realised and managed to get the voucher retrieved from the till - otherwise I would have missed out.

I still remember the occasion when the store I worked for accepted a used toilet seat back :eek: so as a consequence I have never been afraid to at least try for my money back. Technology has moved on a lot since I worked in retail but I'm sure stores know when the wool is being pulled over their eyes and I think if you have a polite word with customer services then you'll get your deodrant. I'd also follow up by e-mail to express your disatisfaction.

Flat_Eric

one_hit_wonder11 wrote: »

Making chicken soup with pulses for lunch. All store cupboard and freezer.
On the freezing soups/stews. Either the soup bags from Lakeland or using a vacuum machine I have one was initially about £30 and I spend about £40 every 3 months on bags and rolls to put everything in. But you get so much more in freezer and doesn't get frost bite. Just a suggestion

Can you elaborate a bit more on the vacumn thing you mention about here ??

sunset_gold

Hi, I am late entering but had to work out payday vs beginning of the month. Started on payday 26th, did big shop in A£DI & A$DA = £84.03 but when I told OH this week he said to start on 1st and gave me £100 cash so I am going to budget £215 for the two of us this month, we are away for a week at the end of the month and I spent a little last week too so it might work out. Spend is based on 1st to 30th and I have £78.11 left after today's shop.

Have counted up the penny piggy bank and we have over £11, going to A$DA when I drop OH at station on Friday and will buy 6 x 4 pint semi-skim milk and 4 x 4 pint skim milk for the freezer, this usually keeps us going for two weeks so should get us to the end of the month (being away from 27th).

Have done a complete freezer / fridge / storecupboard inventory, found loads of stuff out of date, but am determined to work through them all before buying anything the same or similar. Currently have a tin of condensed milk simmering, I can remember once doing this and making banoffee pie when I was a teen so am hoping for something that resembles that, using out of date digestives for the base. Got three bananas in A£DI this morning for 39p and creme fraise for 89p, so a cheapy dessert for the week.

We have loads of old take-away containers full of frozen somethings in the chest freezer, the ones that I have identified we are using first. Had roast potatoes for dinner last night that were frozen on 14/01/12...!!!!! They were fine as long as you rolled them into the chicken in wine sauce that I put the chicken from another container into with some fresh carrots, onions, HM yorkshires and packet frozen peas.

Meal plan for this week
M = Cauliflower Cheese, veg and pasta
T = Whoopsied venison sausages, mash and onions
W = Whoopsied smoked haddock, new pots and green veg
T = Whoopsied lambs liver (have an Italian receipe I am going to try, bit like liver and onions!)
F = HM chicken curry, rice. pops and I am going to try making chappaties
S & S = depending upon the weather either salad or stews for dinners and HM soup & HM bread for lunches.

Have joined www.spendingdiary.com which I saw mentioned on a previous post, it is basic, but that is perfect and it's always to hand as I have book marked it on laptop and android so I can never use the excuse that I couldn't remember how much of the budget is left! Using cash only now for groceries.

Bought loads of the cheapest veggies in A£DI this morning and have put them into green bags that I got off of ebay ages ago for 99p and never used, they are supposed to keep the veg fresh for longer.

Lastly, I must say a big thank you to the person who yonks ago put a tip on here on how to keep celery fresh and every time I wrap one up and pop it in the fridge I say a little silent "fab tip, thanks" to myself. The lady said to keep celery fresh for AGES...wrap it in tin foil and I can tell you that it REALLY works!

Thank you who ever you are
SG

aliwali

New week, new start to try and get around £80. £1 spent in mr T on Ricotta that I tried to get last week but were out of stock.