March 2008 Grocery Challenge

Kaz2904

Well I know I'm over budget but tea for tonight is supposed to be haggis, mash, swede and carrots.
I've got the pots and haggis in the steamer but the carrots have turned to liquid so I've slung em. (I hate chucking out food grr!). I can't find any swede and I did find a bowl of pasta and cheese sauce in the fridge.
DD and DS want that for tea instead of haggis so I'll let them have that. Dh can have haggis and mash with frozen veg. I'll have a nice sandwich with salad as that's still in the fridge with the bacon joint.
Then tomorrow we'll have the leftover haggis fried off with mash and frozen veg. Quite handy because DH hates leftovers so he won't really be eating them will he?
I still have more than half of our porridge left so won't need to buy that. There is a loaf of nasty bread in. Half a packet of shredded wheat- DS (4) has been having 2 each morning for breakfast :eek: growth spurt alert!
I've a fair amount of food in the freezer too.
Tomorrow is my last night shift so I've got 8 days off then.
I will inventory the freezer so that I can get DH to get involved with the meal plan. I think it will need to include something along the lines of some tortillas as I have the recipe now! I've still got about 6 bags of bread flour and an almost full tin of yeast.
I think I will set Aprils grocery budget at £200. It will be for a 31 day month and is already £10 down.
I don't need to buy washing liquid or fabric conditioner yet because I haven't opened what I bought last month. I may or may not need loo rolls as I have an unopened pack of 18. I don't need dishwasher tablets or washing up liquid either.
I will last without buying tea bags but I might need to get coffee. I hope to limit it though. I want to use up the stocks of filter coffee I have in and just need to pull my finger out and be a little more organized.
DH is pretty good really, if I give him a small list of stuff to achieve then he will often do that in the evenings while I'm at work but he doesn't tend to do the washing or drying or ironing. Over the weekend he's done the washing and changed DS's bed but he's not put any away so I can't yet get to the BM.
I'll spend the day in bed on Weds which will mean a lateish night for me Weds. Hopefully I'm able to get caught up on everything that night so I can try and get some stocks done ready for the new month!
It'll be nice to have some goodies in and some ready prepared in the freezer so that I can just use the oven full without having to make loads of things.
I need some baking trays as I only have one which is ancient. I think I'll get myself some non stick ones. I did have a silicone one but it was neither use nor ornament! It went in the bin eventually as it would not come clean so I couldn't even use it as a pan rest!
I think the main reason I came on here was to say I didn't think I needed to spend anything else this month but I got all excited about next month!

Hugs to those feeling down, tomorrow is another day.

mumzyof2

just come on to say... farmfoods cheese and ham packet pasta is so nice that ive just made it stretch to me and my 2 kids hehe. We had a big dinner and snacked most of day so only a light tea

Savvy_sewing

mumzyof2 wrote: »

bails wrote: »

Oh man, just had another look at our figures and we are seriously skint! :eek: Been back through to see why, so now really need to be a scrooge til 1st! quote]

Im glad im not alone LOL :rotfl:

I think I am relating to that!. Thought that things were going well, but when I looked at the bank statements, I realised that perhaps I have overspent a tad!. Being bankrupt going overdrawn is not an object. No credit cards etc to fall back on. so its a stock take of the cupboards and a look to see if I can get back on track with the produce I have. I will be scouring all of the recipes that are on here. Perhaps getting a file would be the answer. And use all of the general genius that appears on this thread and the storecupboard challenge.
Would be a long month this month too.

Atalanta

Hmmmm, I am not doing as well as I had hoped as we are going away for a week at the weekend, so was hoping to still have £100 left out of my budget to cover that, as it will be nice to have a few treats. It's self catering so will still need to pay for 3 meals a day, but as it's basically a free holiday (staying in a flat belonging to relatives) I'm considering helping my budget along by allowing £50 or so from my "holiday" account ( I pay £100 per month into a savings account to cover the cost of holidays and Christmas).
I've edited my signature but as soon as DH gets in and can stay with the kids, I'll have to go to Somerfields to stock up on a few bits and bobs...
Well done to everyone who's on track.

cheerfulness4

What an interesting idea making cheese!

Another 48p spent today on squash for the kids.

Sig updated.

Keeping_Positive

NSD here

Been good and used up two left over pork loin chops for kids and some casserole that had been living in the freezer for a couple of months for OH and me.

Frugaldom

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

OH and its not just the Asda sultanas and currants that are cheap - if I remember correctly the mixed fruit (inc peel) is 21p and desiccated coconut is 11p - there may have been more types but I didn't buy them.
HTH someone.
MrsB.

I'll be next to an Asda superstore on Easter Monday! Assuming it's open, I know where I'll be heading! :j

JayneC

Hi again everyone,

Thanks to Mrs M and Bugs for the Tortilla recipes. Think we're going to try them this week.

I'm thinking of making some sort of chicken and rice concoction tomorrow as I have some cooked chicken that will need eating. I decided to try and be imaginative for lunches instead of sandwiches everyday so I cooked a load of chicken thighs and drumsticks and also made some sausage rolls - But DS2 has announced that he only like these hot, so it's back to sandwiches then . Ever feel like you can't win?

Spent 95p on 2 pints of milk today ( and 30p on a kit kat but I've decided that's coming out of the petrol budget cos i got it at the garage;) ). Will be lucky if that sees us through breakfast but only had £1 in my purse, so it'll have to!

It seems like everyone is flagging a bit at the end of the month so hugs to all :grouphug: keep it up we're doing ok.

weemissy

Hi everyone
Was going to say that my thanks button had disappeared but I've now logged in and it's there hadn't noticed this before. The millionaires shortbread stories made me laugh :rotfl:. We had sausage casserole made in the SC tonight it was yummy, but there is sauce left (sausages all gone) so rather than throw it out (as I would have) I've put it in the fridge and will have it with pasta for dinner tomorrow. OH looked at me strangly when I said this but it's only veg, sweet potato, tinned toms and herbs - is this safe after something has been in the SC to reheat like this? I will make sure it's really hot and none of it's been reheated before.
DD had someone at the nursery doing dvd's of them - £20 just like that, can't not buy it as we have 2 of DS from nursery, Off work next week, torn between going in for overtime, or just chilling out, organising recipes, trying out caramel shortcake, tortillas etc, spending hrs on here and spending money at shops - think I might go in.
Got washing out today :j
Hope you have all had a good day.
X

Frugaldom

JayneC wrote: »

... It seems like everyone is flagging a bit at the end of the month so hugs to all :grouphug: keep it up we're doing ok.

If only it was 'the end of the month' then we could start again with a new budget. I've got 2 full weeks still to go on this one, as I work from the first day to the last day of the month and I went over last time - the shortest month of the year, too! :eek: