January 2014 Grocery Challenge

Coxy11

Hi all,

I too am having problems with photobucket uploading to here when using my laptop. Can do it with the eyepad but it's a bit of a phaff.

Thank you to those warning about the crème egg/A!di problem. Sounds really bad.......;)

Went to Morries today as I was running an errand that way. Hate the car park, which I why I don't shop there more. Anyhoo £26.66 spent. Got everything on my list plus some offers:

Mu!!ercorners - 2 packs of 6 for £5 - my childrens treat
He!nz tomato soup 4 packs - £1.69 x 2
Capr! sun - boxes of 10 pouches for £1.89 so I got 2 - this is the max per customer

Got sandwich thins on ys so two packs at 55p each. Also Dairylee dunkers are HP at £1.12.

3 x 4pint of Morries milk for £3.

So next week I will only need f&v and dog food. Morries don't sell Iams so need to get this tomorrow.

DH got paid today - first time in his new job :j
Have a great day all
Coxy

First_Trouble

kiwiblue wrote: »

Another NSD today.
Its been hard having the grandchildren as they seem to only eat processed rubbish, which I will not buy them. So they have probably eaten more fruit and veg this week than they have all year. I know it must be hard with both parents working full time and they are tired when they get home, and with no money worries they can afford all this ready meal stuff, but I am really looking forward to leisurely quality meals with OH. Rant over

I know what you mean growing up my mum never bought fizzy drinks and although we had crisps in our lunch boxes however if she saw that we were routinely eating just the sandwiches and crisps and leaving the fruit she would remove the crisps and replace with another piece of fruit. Even now as an adult (although no children yet) me and the DH hardly ever have fizzy drinks in the house and although DH insists on having crisps, I rarely eat them. I quite routinely see kids being pushed along eating crisps or sweets on their way to school and part of me hopes that isn't there breakfast. I cook from scratch 9 times out of 10 even though I work in london and don't get home until 7pm. It can be done just needs a bit of forward thinking. Making your own ready meals can be a real time saver too and it's better for your health and pocket!;)

dingdongsaving

People who say they just don't have time to cook/eat well really baffle me.
I know plenty of people (myself included) who work full time (as do their partners or they are single parents), have multiple children, have dogs to walk, homes to clean, weekly shopping to do and work to complete at home after the kids go to bed etc etc and yet they prioritise and cook carefully/eat well.
To me, being busy doesn't mean I'm suddenly willing for my family to eat rubbish.
I'm a teacher and unfortunately it's far too often that school staff have a child ask for their free fruit/veg snack or milk early because they've had no breakfast or something totally unsuitable to see them through until 12 o'clock...like a chocolate bar on the way to school or a handful of biscuits to eat at play time.
What I see in lunch boxes is also sometimes a real eye-opener. :eek:
(Hope this posts ok - I'm on my phone on a course and have a very poor signal!)

spendinglikemad

Pizza dough proving and muffins in the oven so kids will be happy later plus will make a nice coffee break later


Did a freezer cupboard stocktake to meal plan for dinner in last week of January (Sunday - Friday) to plan shopping list this weekend


Dinners
1. Prawn risotto (fresh stock made) with peas and risotto
2. HM Quiche in freezer with HM wedges and baked beans
3. HM Turkey lasagne (Turkey mince and streaky bacon in freezer)
4. HM pasta bake (made this week and frozen) / garlic bread
5. Creamy tuna spaghetti
6. Fishcakes & peas


So we will just need milk, bread rolls, juice pots (for 5 school lunches) and fruit juice. This may see us coming in (fingers crossed) at £200 for January, which will be fabulous given my shopping previously was probably around £150 per week . I have used up lots so I wont be able to stick to that budget every month but I can probably aim for £300 for Feb. Thanks for the hints everyone

Hollygym

another weekend almost upon us and yet again...I'm cooking for 14!!! Book club meeting is at my house tonight and so I'm cooking the Lisa Falkner Chilli. Smells fab!


Pay day today, so I can finish this month's challenge in credit!!! Spent £15.12 in a*da buying bits and pieces for tonight's meal, so this months bill is well under budget! :j Next month is going to be big one as I have run a lot of stocks down and they need replacing. I'm going to try AF for an order. We also will order a case of wine, so that's not great for my budget.


Had an exciting thing yesterday over a bottle of wine!! lol!! DH opened a bottle of wine given to us as a Xmas present. As he was pouring it, it had a strange colour and smelt of vinegar. The taste was off vinegar! I took it back to the sm yesterday and they gave me a full credit note for the value of the wine, and a replacement bottle. The best thing was though, the bottle cost £17.99 :eek::eek: I would never spend that on wine!! Came out with a smile on my face. I'm going to keep the bottle for valentines day and might treat myself with the credit note!!

Sequeena

I really took my eye off the ball this month. I don't think we spend over budget but I just did not keep track. See you all in the February thread

First_Trouble

Used some of the Mr T gift card to get milk, cheese and some other bits. Came to around £4. Do I add this to my GC or not as technically we have spent no money but if we didn't have the gift card we would have? I think I will add it...
Almost at the end of this month and pay day next Friday. Tempted to declare but know we may need some bits next week to make meals come together.

spookybuffy

didn't want to post but i just wanted to know what you think. i was told that market fruit and veg was cheaper to help with my budget and to try them. so i did today for £5.28 i got

2 potatoes jacket size
1 red onion, med size
2 cox apples
3 cooking apples
8 bananas .

seems abit ££ for fruit and veg i think. had to add it to my sig.

Faete

£48.43 spent today, I'm hoping that's it now until pay day on Friday - I'll be dead chuffed if I can come in £70 under budget :beer:

Fae xx

Faete

spookybuffy wrote: »

didn't want to post but i just wanted to know what you think. i was told that market fruit and veg was cheaper to help with my budget and to try them. so i did today for £5.28 i got

2 potatoes jacket size
1 red onion, med size
2 cox apples
3 cooking apples
8 bananas .

seems abit ££ for fruit and veg i think. had to add it to my sig.

Looking at Aldi on MySupermarket you could have got 4 baking potatoes, 1kg red onions, 1kg organic fairtrade bananas and 6 pack of braeburn apples (no cooking apples available) for £4.82 - so it does seem a little high

Fae xx