February 2014 Grocery Challenge

kayester

katkin wrote: »

A nsd for me as I've not left the house lol. Hubby went into town for some things for himself and bought washing up brushes. So I owe him a £1 for those.

I made laundry gloop and another recipe for hand / body wash. Really am pleased about how they've turned out. Already done 3 loads of washing and its all come out clean, stain free and smelling really fresh. The 5 litre tub of gloop came in at £2.35 ish.



Those wee pots above were the leftovers, I managed to fill a litre size glass pump dispenser with the handwash. It foams up a little and was fine with a bath scrunchie in the shower as a body gel. Really nice smell of rose water and lavender.

This could save a fortune :cool:

wow thats amazing, share how you did this ? (or send it me in the post ) :rotfl:

kayester

wow thats a first, ordered mr A between 8 and 10 this morning, and just received an email saying it will be here between 9 and 10. maybe that has something to do with morrisons now sending texts out.

will update spends when it arrives.

craigywv

kiwi,i hope you and your hubby the best of health for the future and billie jo tragic to hear about your daughter xxx its a horrendous disease x. well I went to a super sized asbos 20 miles away from where I live with my mum yesterday and got so many things for my money. starting tomorrow I starting a diet so got pack of 4 activia yogurts for a quid!!!!!!!!!! they so much more expensive in mr t. also got a pork loin joint for 2 quid and a massive chicken that you cook in a bag for 1.50, got hp sausage rolls with the sauce inside the rolls for 30p and a lot of smaller things pork pies etc for oh lunch box. was well impressed. can I also have the recipe for the gloop please thanks. xxx we having a dry day so have washing machine on for first of my 3 washes today will get them dried on the lines outside.............novelty recently. that's the bed sheets and all done me so happy! I easy pleased. have a great day all. almost forgot having ys pork and ys mushrooms in sc with baby pots and veg. xxx

forever_saving

My total now stands at £246.78! I only managed one nsd this week. Am on holiday now for a week so will try to stay out of the shops as much as i can. I may need top ups on bread, milk and fruit but shouldn't need anything else this week. I think i am going to struggle to come in under budget this month.
Kiwi, sorry to hear of your illness. Wishing you and your hubby all the best for a full recovery x
katkin, i'm another who would love to have your laundry gloop and hand/body was recipe please. It looks good. Thanks in advance x
FS

seemasfriend

I'm finding this challenge a lot harder than I expected. I pride myself as bring fairly frugal but am already almost at budget! Looking back maybe I was overly ambitious at £100 for the month? I have paid out for veg seed, storage pots and marmalade oranges, all of which will deliver savings down the line. How do others take these type of spends into account?

Soworried

I'm sending you a hug Billie Jo x ::grouphug:

MrsCautious

Big hugs to you, Billie Jo, sending you lots of love Kiwi I wish you all the luck and strength in the world.


Second month in a row for me where I have gone past my £150 budget with a week/a little over a week to go, I think a more realistic budget would be £175 or perhaps shift to an annual budget. For what I include in my budget (all cleaning, household, toiletries and food for 3 people and a dog) I'm not going to waste my energy beating myself up about it, but I do think I should take the hint and set a higher budget. Also this month, despite my grocery spend being higher than I have randomly plumped for, I haven't spent any money on us eating out and usually have a figure of around £50 in mind.

We are going away for a few days in half term and I really hope to get some peaceful time to have a good think about things. If I am going to stick to £150-£180 a month on groceries I need to plan more. This week I have stocked up on nuts, which I find very expensive, and dog food, which isn't cheap. I've also bought loads of cereal bar snacks for when we are out walking next week and this could have been done a lot cheaper with more thought and a spot of home baking.

Am kicking myself though as I meant to spend a load of points towards my shopping this week and when I got to the till, I forgot.

Still have plenty of stuff for us to eat with main meals planned until the end of the month so there shouldn't be too much more damage.

lushlifesaver

NSD yesterday, most likely the same again today but don't want to declare it one too early on! Feeling prepared for the week ahead - have a rough idea of meals although not planned them to each day. I am already really appreciating the new cooker :-)

sinner2winner

Needed a bottle of wine and ice cream after the week id had so popped to morrisons and spent £7.61 , going to mums for dinner today though so taking the rest of the bottle for her so she can have a glass with her dinner .

Theres been times this month where ive been quite down as i haven't had the nice things in the kitchen as much but i know when the credit card is paid off they will all be worth it.

Thank you to this thread and everyone who takes part as it keeps me on track

Hope you all have a great week !

Faete

Tillytrotter1 wrote: »

Hi Fae, would you be able to post your recipe for courgette and mushroom risotto please? Sounds lovely and would be ideal as I would like to incorporate a couple of vegetarian meals into our diet each week

2 pints stock - chicken or veggie
1 onion - chopped
2 tbsp oil (or 2oz butter if not watching cholesterol)
8oz risotto rice
glass of white wine (can leave out)
1 large courgette - half grated - half cut into 1/2" cubes
Loads of mushrooms! chopped up. I normally use about 1/3 of a big family pack.
salt and pepper
1oz parmesan cheese

• Warm up the stock so it's hot but not boiling.
• Heat up half of the oil/butter and add the onion, grated courgette and fry gently until they start to soften.
• Add 3/4 of the musrooms and fry until they start to give out their own juice. You may need to add a drop more oil.
• (In the meantime, melt the other tbsp of oil/butter in a frying pan and saute the chopped courgettes and reserved mushrooms until they are cooked and turning brown and caramelised - this step really is better with butter. Put aside and keep warm. You can miss this step if you want a lower calorie version )
• Add the rice to the pan and stir well to coat - cook for a minute or two.
• Pour in the wine and cook until absorbed.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Start adding the stock by the ladleful, keep stirring until each ladle is absorbed before adding the next. It will take about 20 minutes. If you run out of stock before the rice is done, add boiling water. The rice should be cooked but with a bit of bite.
• Stir in the sauted vegetables and grate in some parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Feeds two greedy people

For a nice non veggie version - I used the stock made from cooking a ham in cider and made the basic risotto recipe with some shredded ham and mushrooms - that was rather yummy.

Fae xx