September 2007 Grocery Challenge

redmel1621

jess444 wrote: »

Hi all,
Well I started on 1st Sept and have spent £56.30 in first week. This is a lot less than usual, but I had lots of 'leftovers' from DD birthday party which kept us going for a few days. Also I went out for lunch one day last week. Not sure if I should have included this. What does everyone else do.

I would usually count this in my grocery budget, but usually when I do my budget each week I leave aside about £15-£20 that can be used for anything unexpected. For example we were told at Karate yesterday about an open day next sunday which will cost £16.00 this comes out of my 'spare' money. this also gives me a little scope for eating out as if nothing else crops up I can use this to eat out, although I do usually try to save it.

You would be best to decide whether you want to limit eating out to the confines of your grocery budget, or set up an eating out fund maybe....

Mel x

redmel1621

redmel1621 wrote: »

Hi quick update,

I did very well nipped to somerfield to get my milk, bread etc and spent £8.67 out of my remaining £12.23 this would have left me with £3.56 but not long before lunch tme I realised it is our wedding anniversary (5yrs) so met for lunch and treated ourselves to a bakery lunch......

anyways end result is I have 48p left out of my weekly budget, can I make it till monday????????

Mel x

ANSWER : NO

Nipped to somerfield to buy a loaf of bread £5.24 (expensive bread;) )
Well total for week is..............£84.82

Mel x

Moll

thanks for this tip Moniker . ive never made any of these , and will definitely have a go now youve told me how to do them , sounds delicious .



I find that if you make cannelloni the meat sauce goes much further than if you make lasgane as you don't need so much to fill the tubes. I also bulk out the mince with carrot and celery and a few mushrooms - I put it in the food processor when cooked and it is easy to use it to stuff the canelloni tubes.

elly2

well went shopping today........needed some extra stuff for the new kitten and ended up getting my chook for next week so here is my list
wilkos £12.30 but got £1.60 back off dd for her paints
herons £4.47
iceland £2.32(used milk token for milk)
fruit shop not sure but was under a fiver
so total for this week is
£38.29
did use my £10 emergency money as dd helped herself to some cash from my purse(:mad: again:eek: thought we had got over that stage but alas no)so am still under budget if you discount my tenner(which i really cant aford to do)

so i am roughly £12 under budget yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay but what do i do with it? have £11 which wont go in my change jar challenge. I have food in for next week just need to get some odds and ends milk bread pots pasta and some soup so next weeks budget will hopefully be well under unless i sucumb to the tesco shop and stock up on what is listed above and some more baking stuff but i do have a voucher for £4.50 off and then there is the discount codes board

irishwexford

So far I have spent £103 which leaves £57 for milk, fruit and veggies until end of month. Think I can manage that. I find it so helpful posting all receipts on spending diary, it shows where my dosh is going. I find it strange that before I could not manage on £200 each month for two of us yet we are eating just as well as before. I am now cooking from scratch (amazing) and with meal planning not wasting any food. I do not impulse buy or shop on empty stomach. Picked loads of blackberries today ( free food) and together with all the free apples I have received are in freezer ready for crumbles and pies. Decidedc not to buy any new clothes for at least six months (except spending with birthday money) and discovered I already have a wardrobe full of clothes. Help I am turning into a very boring saint but at least I am a solvent one.

Moniker

Moll wrote: »

thanks for this tip Moniker . ive never made any of these , and will definitely have a go now youve told me how to do them , sounds delicious .
.

Thanks for your comments. Here is the full recipe for my version if you want it:

500g mince
1 onion
1large carrot
2 sticks of celery
2-3 oz mushrooms
1 large tin of tomatoes
1 glass red wine (optional)
Half a tube tomato puree
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 bay leaf
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper


Put the oil in a large saucepan and fry the mince until browned. Add the chopped onion and fry until soft. Add the rest of the chopped veg and herbs, tomatoes, wine if using, and tomato puree. Stir well and season to taste. Add bay leaf and bring to boil. If sauce is too thin add more puree. Turn heat down to low and cover the pan. Simmer gently for 25 mins. (You can use a pressure cooker instead – cook on high for 5 mins). When cooled, remove the bay leaf and put sauce through a processor.

I used about one third of this quantity to fill 8 cannelloni tubes and froze the rest in two batches to use for spag.bog. I made a white sauce using about 1-2 oz butter and 1-2 oz flour and ¾ pint of semi skimmed milk. Season with pepper and a good pinch of nutmeg. Pour over the cannelloni tubes and top with 1-2oz of grated cheese and a sprinkling of parmesan. You can freeze the dish at this stage. Cook in a moderate oven (about 180-190 C gas mark 4-5) for about 25 minutes (45-60 mins if cooking from frozen) until top is brown and crispy. Serve with a green salad or a green veg like broccoli and crusty bread. Serves 2.

You can save money by using a cheaper oil than olive oil and leaving out the wine (I used the end of a bottle left over from earlier in the week). Don’t make the sauce with marg instead of butter though – it won’t taste the same! You can also make the mince go further by adding some red lentils with the veg.

Enjoy!

Moniker

Moll

thanks Moniker . the full recipe is a good help to me , plus all the tips about freezing it . will definitely have a go at it .
ive decided to take ALL the plums off my tree, so many are falling off and getting spoilt , so im going to cook them all this afternoon , and freeze in portions to make other stuff later . i made plum flapjacks last year, and they turned out really nice , just another idea of uses for them , if anyone has surplus. thanks again moniker,much appreciated

luby-lou

Here's my update for the grocery challenge - only a week and a bit in and already over budget :eek:

Not too horrendous though - £107.04 from budget of £200 but got lots of food in so won't need anything else this week now. Just got a bit of making up for the week after. I've done a tesco shop online but got lots of things I don't buy every week like nappies, babywipes, pasta, rice and enough tinned and frozen stuff to last the month so should be ok. Will let you know how I do.

Good Luck to all you other Grocery Challengers!!!!

irishwexford

Have received my application form for Tesco clubcard plus. Is it really worth all the form filling etc.? I would love to hear from those of you who are already using this as I thought I would aim to purchase air miles with mine. Can I use this for online shopping as well?. Thanks:cool:

lil_me

Hi everyone, been a while since I last posted, I hope everyone is ok and doing well so far. Got the posibility of moving at the minute so need to make any savings I possibly can, about the only area left to squeeze from is the grocery budget so that's what I will have to do.

Meal plans coming up! I've dropped off the wagon some what lately and with this over us need to get a tighter belt on things. Spending so far has been in Costco and Lidl. I've spent under 1/3 of my budget so far (that includes last months overspend!) and I'm only just over a week in so going to need to be more careful.