May 2014 Grocery Challenge

Solstice_3

lynnejk wrote: »

Any 'living off pennies advice' to share around please ??
Lx

Well it's probably common knowledge

Make sure you have a well stocked store cupboard with staples so if you have a week where you have no money you can still feed yourself. Important foods rice, pasta, potatoes, lentils, tomatoes, frozen cauliflower and broccoli. Just trying to think what else...... can't think, oh yes buy cheap stuffing mix to put on top of hot pots instead of dumplings, eat lots of veg curry and root veg.

She used to buy in bulk so sacks of potatoes and other root veg.

OurLass

elsiepac wrote: »

Solved the mystery - they've not renewed their domain registration :






















Relevant dates:
Registered on: 07-Apr-2010
Expiry date: 07-Apr-2014
Last updated: 06-Apr-2012

Registration status:
Renewal required.
*** This registration has been SUSPENDED. ***







Thank you elsiepac.Mystery solved!Pity,one of my favourite sites:( xx

recovering_spendaholic

Well the wheels fell off my wagon AGAIN this month. I always start off okay and round about week three it all starts unravelling.

I spent an hour last night doing an inventory and then a master shopping list. It shows that my spends for a typical month are around £400 a month, which includes cleaning stuff, loo rolls, toiletries and dog food.

I know this is a big amount for me, two teenagers and two dogs and I am failing to even make this target!

I don't want to give up (although I am tempted to), so I will try to make £400 in June and stick to that before starting to reduce things. If only I could transform my kids into being not fussy not junk food addicted!

Anyway, will go back and read through through the thread.

Busymumofthreeplusdog

Declaring for May

£397.21/£400:D

Can you put me down for £400 again for June.

Many thanks

Busy.....

poolie_purse_strings

Five days since I've had chance to update, but have been reading all your posts to keep me motivated. Got low on fresh fruit & veg so have done a 'fresh' shop in A*di spending £26.88. Have also bought a few YS items here and there. Total spend since last post is £50.44 taking my total spend for the month to £573.01 I know that for many of you this would be several month's grocery shopping but it's less than I have been spending recently and I am planning on cutting this down for June (baby steps...).

Did have one disaster - 2 chickens reduced to £3 (£1.50 each) which I bought and froze. When I cooked the first one I wasn't at all sure it was ok (smelt a bit 'off') and didn't want to take any chances, especially as DS is in the middle of GCSE's (food poisoning would have been a nightmare) so reluctantly chucked it. Got the other one out of the freezer today and once defrosted took a whiff to make sure, but this time no doubt about it - was definitely past it so that also went in the bin. Very disappointing because I HATE wasting food - I pride myself on being able use up leftovers/scraps to make meals. Will be much more careful about where I buy YS meat (was a small shop with not much turnover of stock I think) ...I did have some reservations at the time - should've trusted my instincts.

On a more positive note, my DD had a 'party' last night which included us providing the fish & chips for 11 teenage girls (haven't included this in my grocery budget as it was from my 'going-out/entertaining budget). I over catered (the friends don't have appetites as big as my kids!) so had 2 pieces of fish & a portion of chips left over. I put them in the fridge overnight and re-heated them in a hot oven tonight to crisp them back up and my OH & DS had them for their tea!
OH said you couldn't tell they were re-heated.:T
I could probably go a few days without a shop but have a voucher for £12 off if I spend over £60 in Sainb's which expires on Saturday so will probably go on Sat to use it...otherwise I'll end up going mid-week and spending over £60 with no voucher to use (iyswim).

Will update signature now but am going to start June challenge at weekend so this will hopefully be my final figure - £573.01/£600

TTFN

Poolie

PennyGrabber

Good morning, and happy Friday!

I managed a nsd yesterday, even though I went into tesc0 after the cinema! I needed a new home card, and only bought that. V v v proud of myself, esp as this is typically my 'fall off the wagon' week.

I made myself agcj's car-Brie-nara for dinner last night, and I have the leftovers for lunch. Cheap dinner. I bought myself an 81p pack of bacon bits in asd@, and so far I have made the car-brie-nara,feeding me for two meals, and a meal where I had chunky bits with cheesy mash fritters. That's three meals so far, and I have more than half of the pack left! I'll be using some tonight, then I'll freeze the rest in portion-sized bags ready to use whenever.

To those people who have been querying my spiders for dinner... It's true, we eat spiders...!

I used to call my dinners all sorts of things when my children were diddy, and a few of them have stuck. Spiders is a very complicated meal to make ��
First, put spaghetti worms on plate, in the shape of a web. Then put mash (or cheesy mash as my ch love that) in the centre of the plate. Then put eight sticks around the mash for legs. My sticks vary -corned beef, sausages (cut up), pepper, cucumber, etc etc etc, or a mix of them all. Voila, spiders!!

Hope you all have a thrifty day, and catch up with you all later!

PG x

Edit to add: forgot to say, if I want a more veg-filled option, I make the web from ketchup, and then use peas etc to be flies on the web!

OurLass

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Good morning, and happy Friday!

I managed a nsd yesterday, even though I went into tesc0 after the cinema! I needed a new home card, and only bought that. V v v proud of myself, esp as this is typically my 'fall off the wagon' week.

I made myself agcj's car-Brie-nara for dinner last night, and I have the leftovers for lunch. Cheap dinner. I bought myself an 81p pack of bacon bits in asd@, and so far I have made the car-brie-nara,feeding me for two meals, and a meal where I had chunky bits with cheesy mash fritters. That's three meals so far, and I have more than half of the pack left! I'll be using some tonight, then I'll freeze the rest in portion-sized bags ready to use whenever.

To those people who have been querying my spiders for dinner... It's true, we eat spiders...!

I used to call my dinners all sorts of things when my children were diddy, and a few of them have stuck. Spiders is a very complicated meal to make ��
First, put spaghetti worms on plate, in the shape of a web. Then put mash (or cheesy mash as my ch love that) in the centre of the plate. Then put eight sticks around the mash for legs. My sticks vary -corned beef, sausages (cut up), pepper, cucumber, etc etc etc, or a mix of them all. Voila, spiders!!

Hope you all have a thrifty day, and catch up with you all later!

PG x

Love it!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Ladyluck1

37p on YS jus roll shortcrust pastry for the freezer. Makes my life easier

Happygreen

I'm stuck in the end- of-the-month- pickle....I know I HAVE to go into Lidl to get a bag of fresh peppers on a very good offer and to Aldi because I'll be in town. If that's the last main grocery shops in May I won't be able to get the first hugely discounted order from S'sbury's for a while....I'm not good with on-line food shopping!

Always_after_a_bargin

No spends today but paid 50 p yesterday for a drink for my daughter after school on the way home. So £6.00 left in purse so up to £ 244 pound now with 7 days to go. Meatball pasta bake tonight with homemade garlic bread. Everything needed taken from freezer. Have a good day everyone .x