January 2008 Grocery Challenge

witchypoo

Been to shops and bought some top up items I needed:
painkillers,
bread flour x2
bag of free yeast from ASDA bakery (free!!)
cereal
bread to freeze in case I run out of HM bread
spinach
pears
apples
bananas
juice
milk
ice lollies on offer

So I spent £11.26 on that lot - plus a bunch of other stuff to serve for dinner with daughter's takeaway pizzas, but that comes off the Treats budget - not that I have a treats budget per se, I just want to see how much we spend on extras through the month although birthdays don't come along every month thank goodness!
We also got a dvd for £3 in ASDA that we couldn't resist, a 2 disc edition of Royal Tenenbaums. I say that's less than rental prices and I did want to see it again soon - plus we can sell it on if we decide not to keep. False economy maybe, - so anyway I decided to start another section on my spendingdiary for Entertainment. Yes I have got a bit obsessive with this tracking malarky!

Keiss_21

Hya Folks

Haven't posted for a couple of days. Have updated sig to reflect total GC spending..not too great, we'll see how we are at the end of the month.

Have decided to finish week on 27/01 as started on 31st Dec, making it a 4 week spend. This is also closer to pay date, so probably better all round.

We had a NSD yesterday, and I made loads of bread, soup, muffins and flapjacks...that'll keep the boys fed for a few days!

Had to pop out today for onions, carrots, sprouts and courgettes from our nearest greengrocers...came to £2.34!

I had used all my veg at the weekend in my bung-er-all soup. The 4 courgettes and a bunch (8) of carrots with tops on were in a bag for only 50p! So now I can make spag bol and meatballs...will freeze what we don't eat tonight. One courgette will go in the spag bol, the rest DH can make use for prawn & courgette curry later this week.....yummmmm! We have left over chicken from the casserole and will probably make fajitas tomorrow...this GC challenge is great fun!

At last got DH to think seriously about our finances this weekend. He is off to transfer our cc debt to a new 0% deal...the present one is running out at the end of this month. Next is the car and house insurance...slow but sure, we are getting there!

Must go and get all this cooking started...keep up the saving!

Frugaldom

Well that's the first fortnight over and done with and I am still well within my grocery budget. However, I still have crammed cupboards because I hate missing bargains and tend to bulk buy them, so it's not only catch-up on the obverall budget time, it's catch-up on the use-by dates on back of cupboard goods. I read the old thread from 2004 and was quite surprised at how many prices were still the exact same...

Noodles - I buy 20 packs (curry flavour) at a time for £1.60 from Somerfield
Spaghetti - 500g pack 17p
Pasta shapes - 500g pack 20p
Tin tomatoes - 19p

Beans, bread and tuna have certainly increased but there are still plenty of options available for doing a cheap menu :j

Next month is diet month for me - I always choose the shortest month of the year for the get fit/lose some weight after the festive feed-fest :rotfl:

oldMcDonald

Those of you who get free yeast at supermarkets, do you just go to the bakery section and ask for yeast? What do you say to them? Have you ever been refused?

Can you use fresh yeast in BMs, or does it have to be used in hand made only?

from an OldMcDonald who is trying to pluck up the courage to ask for some yeast at her local ASDAs!

tattycath

oldMcDonald. I went to my local asda and asked for some fresh yeast and they said all their bakery stuff is cooked from frozen and they didn't have any. The asda I went to is quite small, I shall ask at the larger one next time I go. I have just been to morrisons and meant to ask there but i forgot!!!

Atalanta

Over the past week I've spent £54.74 - stocked up at Lidls and 3 trips to the local shops. ( I find I spend less overall if I go every 2 - 3 days as then I only buy what I really need, so even though prices may be a bit higher, it seems to even out. )
I've now spent £232.23 out of my month's budget, which I think sounds worse than it is, as I've already counted the cost of my fruit and veg boxes for the whole month.

halia

total a bit mroe stocking up today, went to the co-op with a list of 5 items (milk, cheese, bread, fruit and tea) and came out having spent £15 but all an half price stuff.

Pretty chuffed as that inc,
1 bottle of white wine
2 beef steaks (massivly reduced to 63p - will cut up and use in stew)
loaf of bread
400g cheese
bag of grapes
bag of satsuma's
4 kiwi fruit
2 tins soup
2 litre milk
tray of on the vine cherry toms
box of 80 teabags

fruit always gets eaten up in this house, toms will go nicely with wednesdays tea as a salad, wine was a 'treat' will last two nights and then get used in a white wine sauce!

target for month £250
spend so far £181

orchid-96

A nsd for me today hurray:j just had spaghetti bolognaise cooked in my slow cooker (only the 2nd meal I have cooked in it), I thought it was lovely but dh said it had a funny taste :mad: he is still a bit poorly though so hopefully that is why...My twins and ds ate it and I have enough to freeze for another meal each for me and dh and another 2 meals for the girls so all in all good value...

I used the frozen healthy eating mince from Tesco for the first time and am really impressed...I fried it off before putting in the slow cooker and there wasn't really any fat on it at all...I don't think there is a massive saving on the fresh steak mince though (the frozen was 500g for £1.79) as I usually get 2 for £3.50 of the fresh, however I love that fact you can cook it from frozen, much easier than remembering to get the mince out of the freezer beforehand...

Have a good evening all...

Angelraesunshine

Oh dear well i went to mr T today, took my list knew what i needed to get ( is ds bday in a few days so needed party food for that too) and i did stick to the list until i got to the sweetie aisle and then i saw them the cadburys creme eggs and the mini eggs mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and oops they just fell in to my trolley and i did not feel bad about it until just now and writing this up and i realised that i spent £7.19p on them:eek: naughty angel, so i have decided i am blaming the DH as the the creme eggs are for him is fav and if i did not buy them for him i would not of bought the big bag on mini eggs (was far better value for the big bag then it was little bags lol) for me, though i will use them for the DS party this weekend too so long as i have not eaten them them all by then.

Did get lots of milk as it was on offer at £1 each so i got 8 but it does have to be kept in the fridge it is not allowed to be frozen so now no fridge space.

£25.26 left for the month but i really SHOULD not need much more than a few bits of fruit and veg and maybe potatoes nearer the end of the month

carolt2

Hi folks, just thought I would pass a tip on for people who like curry but not sure about quantity of spices.

My OH told me about a product call maysan curry paste ages ago. He gets it for me from the market when he visits friends in liverpool.
It comes in a 448g pack costs about £1.50 per pack and comes in 3 curry strengths. mild, medium and hot.

All you do it weigh 3oz (75g)of product and add 1 pint of water to it. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
It thickens as cooking but i tend to add extra cornflour if not thick enough. You can cook vegetable/meat first, then add paste and extra water.
This gives enough curry for 2 hungry people.
Have worked it out and this block shoud do 6 lots of curry. Which works out at about 25p per curry.