October 2013 Grocery Challenge

katholicos

RomanyLass wrote: »

£33.50 today but, half of that was on dog food :eek:

I have 3 dogs but 2 of them are inherited from my Grandparents and they give me £40 a Month for their food plus money for vets bills. I always give the money back to them, even though they are Millionaires, because, I took the dogs out of love and to do something for them they could no longer do themselves (plus I adore dogs and would have 100's, if I could). Thing is, due to the challenge, I might be keeping that money this Month instead of putting it back into their bank account

Your Grandparents are millionaires and each month you give them back the money they give you to look after their dogs? Surely this needs a rethink! i don't mean to be rude as it's up to you what you do, but since you are (i presume, perhaps wrongly) in the more financially needy position, wouldn't it be only fair for you to accept the money?

lynnejk

iammumtoone wrote: »

.

How does everyone store meat in the freezer? I used to just keep it in the original packaging but have started to separate it as one packet will do us two or more meals sometimes. I have just been wrapping it in foil.

Hi - depends what it is. There are 2 of us and I don't buy frozen meat so all fresh from butcher

Sausages, chops etc - I divide into 4s and polybag then put all bags in another to keep them together.

Bacon - I freeze in 8s as you have a couple of days when defrost and what isn't eaten is used up for pasta and casserole dishes.

Mince - I cook as bolog sauce or chilli or mince in gravy and bag into portions. Sometimes loose freeze some in polybag

Chicken - I Always cook/portion/freeze either roasted or various casseroles and curries

Larger joints I cook fresh when eating - then portion in gravy and freeze

All cooked/portioned stuff above and anything else such as soups and left-overs I polybag but put in a box to freeze and then remove so easier to stack in freezer.

I put bread, rolls etc in 2s in polybags and put bags back in original wrappers.

Hope that helps - I know it sounds a lot but saves time and MONEY in the long run and easier to keep stock of how many meals you have in hand :money:

NSD for me today - will update signature later
L.

K9sandFelines

she_who_can_not_cook wrote: »

Both I love split peas but when I do the Marrow fat dried peas when I do my soup that is pea soup lol.superior pea.

Been woken up umpteen times tonight, so just browsing the forums.

Oh good; I've put both sorts in my online basket to be delivered, as i wasn't sure. You're making me want mushy peas now talking of marrowfat

dannie

Good morning grocery challenge folk,

Please may I join this month? £65 per month just for food/drinks.

At the start of the month, I checked food stores and worked out their cost and took into account money outgoings all year. I am using up these food stores to enjoy the benefits of earlier creating and planning - (18 so far). So this is time-saving but will still do a few new recipes if required. At the same time, I am keeping the grocery bill down as a way to focus on making only needed "healthy" food choices.

want2Bfrugal

Hubby and guest went out on the town last night which saved on the grocery bill.

I had a bowl of cereal last night - trying to keep to budget.

NSD yesterday, planning NSD tomorrow and Sat. Hopefully can spend less than £15 on Sunday but Hubby will be with me and I have not had a good track record of keeping in budget when with him.:rotfl:

CH27

Today WILL be a NSD

studentmidwife

Working tomorrow so done my big shop today. Spent £44.00 (in 4 shops) all together so up to £95.07 so far for the month. Might have to cut back a little bit to stay within budget!

mumofthetwins

Been so busy at work ... Havent even been to the shops in a week
I'm on my last 3 eggs for the boys York puddings tonight.
Still got loads in and my dad picked me up 3 bags of flour that were on offer :T

So hopefully no spend weekend as I'm working most of it

joedenise

Have been shopping this morning and spent just over £130 which is plenty of meat and fish for the month, plus they'll be LO to freeze as well once I start cooking.

I'd allowed an additional £100 for the month to help fill up my freezer, which if you've been following the thread will know was accidentally defrosted by my daughter whilst we we on holiday so hopefully will still be within this month's budget.

The money spent included a set of new printer cartridges (£20) and a whole salmon (£25.22!) - 'twas a huge one at nearly 4 kilos so probably enough salmon for at least 3 months - so the amount isn't that bad.

Only problem is I think I'm going to have to get my DH to portion it all up as I think I've sprained my ankle - am waiting for DH to get home to drive me to the hospital because it's too painful to stand on. Most of the shopping is still in the car because I didn't want to walk to and from the car loads of times to get it in so just brought in the meat, fish & a box of ice lollies.

I'm glad I cooked tonight's dinner yesterday and it just needs reheating tonight so DH can do that.

Have updated my signature to show this spend.

Denise

2childmum

Today should be the last spending day of my 'practice' week before I start for real on Monday. Went to Mr T and spent 29.22 (after some money off coupons)on veg, milk,eggs, fruit juice for DS to take to school, and toothpaste, and also paper for the printer. This means I went 4.22 over budget and that's with only trying for about a week and a half so I live in hope I can keep to budget next month, even thought the freezer is more empty than usual.

It also included 4 lots of my lactose free milk, - in Mr S on Monday it was £1.48 but it was only £1 in Mr T so I have some in the kitchen freezer

I took some rolls off of the shelf for DH packed lunch tomorrow then remembered all the flour I bought on Monday and put them back. I now have bread in the bread maker. I also avoided reduced cereal bars and instead came home to look through and organise cake/biscuit recipes so that I can bake more - I'm not sure if it will work out cheaper but hopefully it will be healthier.

I've come to the conclusion I can do cheap or I can do healthy - my challenge is to do both!