July 2014 Grocery Challenge

wishus

I have to thank Greent who originally posted the recipe for Custard Cookies, linked at the top of this very thread.

I am hosting a meet and greet at work this morning and promised biscuits. However, I didn't want to go to the shop and spend any of my budget. Luckily, I was able to make these from my store cupboard ingredients!!! :money:

... and then my OH came in and said he had a thing at his office and had to bring in something and was just going to buy something on the way to work. He was thrilled that I was making cookies and asked me to make some for him. So I stretched the ingredients to make 32 instead of 26.

One (broken one) tried while still slightly warm last night - gorgeous, so vanilla-ry! :j

craigywv

Spent 7 quidish on great ys in asbobs last night, must control myself . Plan on at least a week before i darken a supermarkets door............and that be for milk only!

Mamma85

Little spend today of £1.65, in Aldi, on paracetamol, peaches and cherries in their Super Six.

Jacksmummy

So much for my planned NSD... I started cooking my chilli jam this morning and realise I needed juice of one lemon, any other time I have lemons in!

So 40p spent today

fuzzybear01

Just had to pop back to Coop for a refund as I got to the car and realised I'd been overcharged. Turns out it was my fault(ish). They had own-brand curly fries and normal fries next to each other. Both labelled as 2 for £2.50 but not able to mix and match. Swapped them and got £1.10 back!

Lemonbee

Hello I would love to join

I will set a target of £250 I have been using store cupboard stuff since last Friday and avoided doing a full shop this week which has really helped the bank balance.

I have a fruit and veg box from the farm which Im not including in my challenge and lots of veg from my grandad. I try to make meals around the veg available

I've frozen a lot of last weeks veg in prep for the challenge. I'm hoping to be under budget and treat ourselves to a take away or meal out at the end of the month.

I currently spend well over £100 a week including the veg box and top up shops plus a take away a week and school dinners!! We had a sudden increase in income last year and quite honestly we haven't seen the benefits because we stopped budgeting with our food.

Very excited to get started got some plastic envelopes ready, 1 for receipts and 1 for the grocery cash which I can put in tomorrow on payday.

When it's empty it's store cupboard freezer and allotment veg for meals.

Today we have baked potatoes and beans.

cw18

Just been to A1di to use the vouchers from last Thursday's newspaper.

They'd none of two of the items I had vouchers for on the shelf, but I still managed to make it over £45 - though I admit this was only due to the fact I picked up a £19.99 camp bed, which solves the problem of who's sleeping where when we take my 9 and 11 year-old GDs and OH's 3 year-old niece on holiday to a place with a very large bedroom with just 2 single beds As we're likely to be taking them away to the same place on at least an annual basis this seemed like a good - and not too expensive - solution to the problem.

Till said £47.34, but I got 6p back after checking receipt and spotting one item that said 89p on the shelf had gone through at 95p (left staff checking computer / printing new shelf ticket). Of that £1.92 was on toiletries (not part of my grocery budget) and £19.99 for the bed. So £25.37 on food. I then split the £5 voucher between the 3 categories according to how much I'd spent on each, so get to deduct £2.68 from my food spend.

As such, that's £22.69 gone from my grocery budget this morning, and I may nip back later to see if they've replenished the 2 missing items as they were working the delivery while I was in there. Also want to nip to £-stretch to check price of something before I hit Mr T tomorrow.


It's the first time I've compared the price between A1di and Mr T on a lot of the items I picked up today (mainly because they're things I buy on a very infrequent basis), and was shocked by the saving to be made on some of them - especially as they're things I'd normally get from Mr T without thinking twice :eek:

FoxFace

Hi all, hope you are all having a fantastic day :wave:

Another NSD today, that's 3 now! Close call as we have actually run out of bread and need something for the children's packed lunches tomorrow ... loathe to lose a NSD for one measly loaf and am out of yeast to make some, I have decided to make some homemade tortillas for tomorrow instead, easy and free as I have the minimal ingredients required already

Oh and Lynne, I don't really use recipes I'm afraid It was just a few old carrots and half a turnip, a couple of onions, some soggy celery and an old sweet potato and regular potato I had laying around in the fridge... very much "has to be used soon" last legs kind of stuff :rotfl: I bunged them in the slow cooker with some red lentils and a sachet of spice mix I found YS'd to 10p ages ago... can't even remember what it was now Sorry!

Anyway, off to parent's meeting at younger boy's school now... fingers crossed

Billie-jo

Was expecting to be out for most of today but an early morning phone call put paid to that when I was informed that who I was supposed to be seeing was taken ill last night. Will rearrange later.
So instead I did the shopping and it came to £24.55 this included 40p on the $un so as I got the £5 voucher off fruit & veg in Morrys. I have two vouchers as one was given to me - so will use one tomorrow and the other one on Saturday :money:
Probably have enough fruit & veg in really but cant refuse a good offer like this and I can always give some to daughter as the grand kids love their fruit & veg.
Hope all those who wanted the voucher managed to get at least one.

Solstice_3

Thank lynnejk for the slow cooker timings Typically I am not cooking it now but useful for when I do.

I messed up a bit I didn't realise my first hello fresh box was coming today and I had a meat box from Abel and Cole today, plus a fruit and veg box from Riverford coming tomorrow! I wouldn't normally have that many boxes coming in one week! Luckily the hello fresh box was paid for in June but I am including it in my budget as we are using it this week and my Riverford box is free ^_^ Total so far is £51.09.

Menu plan for this week still not done lol just winging it until next week, need to use up a bunch of veg next week.