August 2016 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Don't relatives put a spike in the budget, Tumptyteapot?! I'm still floundering a bit after having my B-i-L and (allergic, expensive, growing-like-a-weed) nephew last week!

Another £75 gone this morning, on the basis of food for all 7 of us for the week. Menu plans were all sorted out in my head, allowing for various time commitments, but are now being re-organised as I found that a pack of lamb shanks had come open in the freezer and were beginning to develop freezer-burn, so they had to come out & will need to be slow-cooked at the "wrong" end of the week! I'll probably also have to spend anything up to £20 doing a top-up of fruit & veg as the market closes down on Sunday; there are always some fantastic bargains to be had - last week's best one was 3 x 500g punnets of small ripe strawberries for £1, now made into jam - but it means staying very flexible on the planning front!

I've also discovered we are running very low on washing liquid & fabric conditioner; I use white vinegar but that won't do for those who like their laundry to pong of artificial spring flowers rather than sunshine & fresh air! Forgot to factor in that the football season has started up again & DS2 is out training 3-4 nights per week and playing on at least two days... this creates quite a bit of washing, especially as his beloved earnestly believes that it's filthy to ever re-use a towel or any piece of clothing, even if they have only been worn indoors for half an hour or used once after a hand-wash. And utterly socially unacceptable to hang your laundry outside... sigh! I've talked her into "allowing" towels etc. to be hung on the line, but clothing? No way. You can see her shudder, even though we're not overlooked in summer. So there'll have to be a trip to L!DL too, to top those up. Bother...

ETA: the reason I was putting stuff into the freezer, when I found the lamb shanks, was because I found 12 bantam eggs in a flowerpot in the garden after getting back from the market this morning. So OH & I, the only two eating at home this evening, had "Stolen-Nest Omelettes" for tea, using the eggs (cracked individually into a teacup before adding to the mix, just in case) two shallots, scraps of leftover ham, a handful of frozen peas, a handful of market-bought "cooking" cheese and two elderly, somewhat over-ripe tomatoes. Served with home-made baked beans left over from yesterday; I was quite proud of that for a frugal meal!

tumptyteapot

Ohhh, I'm so proud of myself!
Yesterday we had home grown courgette cooked in the oven - first dipped in flour, then egg then polenta and oatmeal (it should have been breadcrumbs but I didn't have any).
I saved the leftover flour, polenta and oatmeal and made staffordshire oatcakes - really easy - just add warm milk and water, yeast and sugar, whisk up and leave for an hour or so then cook in a lightly greased pan like a pancake - they taste like a cross between porridge, pancakes and crumpets.
The leftovers from the courgette side dish, that I've thrown away many times in the past, made a nice substantial brunch with smoked salmon trimmings and scrambled egg. I'll make that again!

Florence_J

Good work everyone, the Grocery month threads are among my favourites on this forum.

Oceanspirit - I like what you do about showing how much money is wasted when food is wasted. I used to work in catering and each job had a 'Waste' Book-sometimes a sheet, sometimes a diary, where you had to record the amount of food that was wasted and the value of it. Now each year I buy a very cheap diary and keep it in our kitchen and write the food waste in that. I'll admit I'm not the best at updating it, but it is a good way to record the money that is going to waste.

thriftwizard

Florence J, I've just mentioned this last post on the "What can be done to reduce food waste" thread - it's a new idea to me, and rather a worthwhile one!

Gipsy_Danger

Spent £31.14 in Aldi today, that should us through to next Thursday

guccigoo

Ok I've got a Mr T shop coming tomorrow which comes to £57.24, I will need to go to Home Bargains at some point for cat litter,bottled water and also sawdust. I've been a bit slap happy and haven't been keeping a record of small spends so I'm going to guess and add another £20 on top. Will remember next month to write everything down.

just_trying

Kids and oh away doing the shopping. It came to just under £50, miracle as he let the dds do the shopping with a rough list, includes washing powder, fabric conditioner etc. So very happy with this.

My back is not good, barely walk. So cheap shop and get to rest, win, win.

I've had 2 abnormally cheap shops for us this month so far, yeah.

Matody

I went out today with a friend, she drove and paid for parking so I paid for coffees.. spent 5.50 but the tea room we went in was fantastic, worth every penny.

Also went to Tesco for milk as we almost out, bought stuff in for tomorrow so spent 10.30 ... so hoping I get an NSD then.. budget going good

lynnejk

Evening folks


Just 79p on milk today


Hope you all have a super Saturday and that we all see some sunshine
Lx

WantToBeSE

There is a fete going on in town, with a Farmers Market. So i walked up and got a fresh loaf of bread.
£2.50!! It had better taste good!