January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

FurryBeastOz

Second NSD in a row. Yay.

Zed42

Evening all,

Well we were vaguely on track, but have plummeted off the rails with a bang.

I've got the 'flu and it's all gone to pot, with DH getting take outs and spending a fortune on cold relief. Both of these things meaning, I'm over my aim for this month and not due to end the month for another 2 days.

On the upside, we have spent 35% less than last month.

I think I was being a little optimistic for the 1st month, so I am going to adjust my goal for next month and make sure I have some prepped meals in, so that if I get sick again like this (or other things ... cos let's face it, life always throws a curveball when we're least expecting it!) we're not caught out.

I have absolutely no idea what we'll do for dinner either tomorrow or Wednesday, but I'm just in the process of placing a grocery order for delivery on Thursday.

We have enough raw ingredients in, it's just the energy part which is lacking.

Hope everyone else is feeling brighter ?

lynnejk

Evening folks

Sending you some gws vibes Zed and hope you're soon feeling better

Managed another NSD here today and planning one t/m

Hope you all have a super Tuesday
Lx

FurryBeastOz

Need F&V and some household stuff today. Will try hard not to get scared by emptier shelves and do a major re-stock. I have a list. Just need to stick to it. I'm deliberately going to go in my lunch break, without the car, to minimise the risk:D

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Hope you feel better soon zed

Got to nip out for milk and bread this morning.

Used up the last of the veggie meatballs last night with a sort of casserole with cabbage and mash, it was really nice for a throw together that had no real recipie
Plan to make a veggie lasagne tonight so Dh can have left overs for tomorrow's lunch.
Hope all are well

elsiepac

Franalamadingdong wrote: »

Today's been a horrible day and it's not going to get any better throughout the week, or any time soon. Still under budget so that's something

Sorry to hear that, hope things improve for you soon. Anything we can do to help/take your mind off? :grouphug:

Hope you feel better soon Zed

Last night I used my soup maker for the first time! My aunt (who is 80) has a bit of a thing for gadgets and the home shopping channel lol, ordered it a while ago and never used it. She mentioned it when I was over there before Christmas and I said to her how I wanted one and they were really goodand she should use it! well the next day she phoned my mum and said did I want it! So I ended up with a brand new soup maker for free! I sent her a nice thank you card in the post
Anyway, I have tons of veg that reallyneeds using, so trying to have veggie soups this week to use up! It doesn't fit in as much as I thought it would so had less variety in there than planned, but lesson learnt! So last night was red onion, garlic, potato, broccoli, a stock cube and "North of the Border" seasoning which my parents brought back from New Mexico for me. It was very pleasant and was nice to chop veggies, then walk away for 23 minutes and get other stuff done, then come back to hot soup!

t14cy_t

spends of £6 yesterday on fruit. x

pajama

Just done my last shop of the month and spent £32.64 in aldi and £19.73 in b&m. Bill was so expensive in b&m as I had to buy dishwasher tablets but it's a large packet and will last me a couple of months.

Not totally finished with shopping this week. I need to call in the local butchers and get a large pack of breadcakes, eggs and a peppercorn sauce so should not be a large spend there. Signature updated with todays receipts.

Florence_J

sitesafe wrote: »

Another thing I might have mentioned is porridge - I used to buy the OSSimple sachets where you add milk and microwave. I don't have a microwave here. Anyway I bought 500 g of SBs porridge oats for 80p and if I use 2 5grammes per portion (it's 23 grammes in the sachets) that gives me 20 bowls of oats for 4 p each plus of course milk extra. It's just the hassle of cooking on an electric cooker instead of a microwave that's the inconvenience but the porridge tastes the same and whether, by the time you've switched on the cooker just to heat up a bowl of porridge through, it ends up costing the same as the sachet/microwave method due to the cost of the fuel, remains to be seen....but it's the only option i have for cooking at the moment...
Remainder to do this week's shopping with is;
GC Jan - £110.71/£130 = £19.29 for next 9 days!!

Hi, not sure if this would help or not. In Jack Monroe's second cookbook she has a recipe for instant porridge which is essentially any porridge oats and milk powder, which you mix together in a big tupperware and then just fill a bowl with what you want and pour boiling water on it.

I used to swear by this for work. I used one of those soup mug tupperware things, filled it up to about half way (I am very hungry in the morning) and then pour the water on top from the kettle at work. You only need a small bit of water, when using milk I would normally put in enough to cover the porridge but with water that would be far too much and would be more water than anything.

I don't do any specific measurements, just one tub of Mr T skimmed milk powder mixed with 1kg bag of Mr T basic oats.

I say I used to swear by this as I recently did it again and I think Mr T may have changed the recipe for the milk powder as it was unbearably sweet. If you have a sweet tooth you may be ok with it

Franalamadingdong

I hope you feel better soon zed. A 35% drop is amazing! I aimed to drop my shopping by a third when I started. You should be proud.

How did the lunch break shop go furry beast?

Sounds like a win Elsie! My mum and dad are about to give me a denby dinner service because she wants a new set. Thanks for the concern, it's to do with my job. A friend thinks it's a case of bullying in the workplace, but it's really complicated and I'm unsure. I've been so miserable about it all and full of anxiety I'll be going to see the Dr. Unfortunately, before that I have an appraisal at work, but I'm not sure if it is a true appraisal or some sort of disaplinary action. I've written how I really feel so may find myself out of a job come Thursday!

No spends today. I was supposed to shop tomorrow but I'll be helping at my parents' again so I doubt I'll get to the shops. We should be able to make it to the weekend on what we have in to be honest. It's a bit annoying because I wanted to do a bulk shop next Wednesday, so I'll have to be careful to not over-buy.