April 2014 Grocery Challenge

MrsCautious

Hello, thank you very much for going to the time and trouble to explain so much about breadmakers and slow cookers, pennygrabber mrs t m and lynnejk I'm going to make sure I give them a real good go.

I spent a lot of time at a builder's merchant yesterday ordering plumbing supplies for a new bathroom, was really out of my comfort zone and the thought of takeaway after crossed my mind. I went into a big Co-op I haven't been in for ages on the way back, telling myself I was saving on petrol that would have been used if I'd have gone to Aldi or Sains. But the Co op is so expensive! I spent £19.09 on a YS pudding, two ready meals (not ideal and should have stuck to my plan better) bread rolls, cooked meat for lunchtime sandwiches, apples, little cupcakes, elmlea, and a big bag of walnuts. Taking the positives from this I never bought takeaway, I bought the nuts which are now my favourite snack and the thought of eating cake/chocolate at the moment isn't attractive and next time I feel like popping into a Co op, I can remind myself of this spend -- satsumas were £2 a packet, £1.39 in Aldi. The ready meals were shepherd's pie -- one of the easiest things to make from scratch in the world. I cooked Monday's meal in advance on Sunday so how much cheaper and easy it would have been to also make a shepherd's pie. Still, it was from a range called Loved by. . And I was asked if I 'd made it as it tasted so nice!
Also I didn't have much for tea, had left over fish and salad.

I spent last night choosing and ordering tiles, which was very expensive, this has underlined for me how useful the GC is for me, and I bought them from Homebase which meant some nectar points!

Next week we are away in Portugal and I will count money spent on food out of my holiday budget, but I know we can have a fab time without spending loads, health wise I'm looking forward to daily exercise hopefully of walking and swimming and eating well with fish and lean meat. .

Good luck all. Really appreciate all the tips, my total for the GC has crept up to more than I would like but it's way way lower than I've been spending for years so I am very pleased, I feel like I'm being realistic with it. I said to my daughters last night that after spending so much on tiles I would need to keep on with/go on more of an economy drive and was v happy that they said they couldn't tell the difference. I'm proud of myself for giving them home cooked balanced meals, they may have had a ready meal last night but I can't remember the last time.

kayester

had a naughty indian takeaway and a bottle of wine to celebrate me getting a job. £23 spent.

pizzas tonight with the kids. ile have the sausages from butchers tomorrow!

cattysmum

Big spend for me yesterday at Aldi £48.53 but got enough basics to see me through to end of month I also used my £5 moc from Sun paper. Included in my shop was a pack of 30 nappies for grandaughter which I got for half price as I had a coupon for Aldi range of nappies/wipes which my daughter got from an Emmas Diary free gift bag for mums to be.

MrsCautious

kayester wrote: »

had a naughty indian takeaway and a bottle of wine to celebrate me getting a job. £23 spent.

pizzas tonight with the kids. ile have the sausages from butchers tomorrow!

Yay, that sounds a well deserved combo good luck in your new job.

joedenise

kiwiblue wrote: »

We also have a motorhome and I have noticed that slow cookers are very popular. I have one that plugs into the battery, you just put a towel in the sink, slow cooker on top and it cooks the meal while you are travelling. Haven't used it at campgrounds because of the drain on the batteries, but have seen a lot of people using them.
Hope you have a great holiday.

Not seen a 12v slow cooker but agree they would definitely be a drain on batteries. I know that rather than 12v people are running a 240v slow cooker from an inverter whilst travelling - but would rather not risk that myself!

Denise

K9sandFelines

Must add spends to sig, but trying to keep track here so i can scroll back through.

Spent about £8between Co-*p and Morris*ns, and have a small shop coming later from Tesc* to qualify for the £5 off £40 next time, as you only had to spend £20 not £40 for a change. Will also need tuna, rocket and spreadable butter from Lidl after work, lets hope Ican sstick to just that!

Must go and get ready. Have a nice day all

bmma

spend today of £4.87p
April's total to date £95.04p/£160.00p
NSD'S =6

bmma

Hello Bluegreen 143,my cat has the opposite problem from your one-too much wet food and it affects the other end of him! put him royal Canin sensible dry- it is expensive ,but was worth it -thought I would let you know incase the wet food doesn't work out for him

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Budgets (finally) updated to here

Welcome to:
Laura and Eve

Bit of a disaster for our GC this week. I find the holidays the hardest time to keep on track. Will be taking DD and DS2 swimming later and will go to Asda afterwards as it's closeby. Need to get veg, plus think I saw that their beef joints(?) are on offer.

Off to update sig.
Coxy

just_the_two_of_us

MrsCautious wrote: »

Thank you very much Mrs T M and cw18, that's all great to hear, I'm away next week and will try and plan to get going with it when I'm back, 16p a loaf sounds pretty good to me. I also have a slow cooker I have never used, ridiculous I know but so busy with work, children and getting my health sorted x

I was the same Mrs Cautious mine sat in the cupboard for years. Now I can't do without my slow cooker. It takes approx 20 mins for mine to heat up and in that time I have prepared the ingredients as per recipe - browning meat sauteeing veg, making own sauce (cheaper than packets) etc to do some delicious meals - then you just leave it!!! Favourite at the moment is pork and apple in cider - yum.

Spend of £21.60 for next week's food in Al*i and Home Bags. Home Bags had 2kg of Maris Pipers for 55p - would have bought them if i hadn't already got a sack in the garage.
Sig updated. Should have enough cash to last until end of month as have all main meals in now and lots of veggies. Just bread and milk needed.