March 2008 Grocery Challenge

kazmeister

Previous spends £214 and added to that today by £32 so only just under budget. Fingers crossed that it stays that way (and that OH stays away from tekko!)

FZwanab

Fi27 wrote: »

Hi


Anyway, total spend £76.72. I'm determined not to go back to supermarket through the week as that is what i find bumps my weekly spend up.

DS did me a spread sheet on the computer so i can easily track my spends over the month, bless him :A


Fi

I have started using https://www.spendingdiary.com to keep track of my day to day spending and it has a really helpful feature of monthly reports and you can see how much you spent on food, house etc.

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Hi there everyone.
Many thanks to MrsM and the others for the warm welcome. I think I will stock up on the basic things, like flour, milk, cereal, a few tins etc and see how I get on. Will still keep to the £300 budget to start with and see how I get on. Roll on the 28th..

kittynortheast

Thanks Mrs M put me down for £350 for April (LOL!)
5 week month so still have another week, haven't updated my sig yet- -daren't to be quite honest! I bought loads of bargains last month for this month so I officially only had to buy perishables - where (apart from it being a 5 week month) have I gone wrong???? I've still spent more plus all the bargains last month. I need a strategy....

funkyfunkymonkey

Peanut Butter Cookies


Ingredients


125g / 4 ½ oz butter softened
150g / 5 ½ oz chunky peanut butter
225g / 8 oz granulated sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
150g / 5 ½ oz plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Demerara sugar (optional)

• Lightly grease 2 baking trays
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and peanut butter
• Gradually add the granulated sugar and beat well
• Add the beaten egg a little at a time until it is thoroughly combined
• Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into the peanut butter mixture
• Bring all of the ingredients together to form a soft dough, wrap and leave to chill for 30 minutes
• Form the dough into 20 balls and place them on to the prepared baking trays, about 5cm/ 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Flatten slightly with your hand
• For a crunchy bite and sparkling appearance, sprinkle with Demerara sugar before baking
• Bake in a pre heated oven, 190 oC / 375 oF/ Gas Mark 5, for 15 minutes until golden brown
• Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and leave to cool.

FFM

mrssnowy_2

Thanks Mrs M,£200 GC for me again please.

Not going to do so much cake/hobnob baking this month as they taste too good,and have put on a few pounds !
Overspend this month-will update on 31st.
2 lots of visitors haven't helped,but it was nice.
J

Telute

I've been following this thread for the last month, while trying to keep a spending diary before joining in. Could I join for April with a budget of £250? I know this is decadent since there's only me, but it would be a reduction on this month. I have a bad habit of shopping without planning which needs curbing.

Fi27

FZwanab
I have started using www.spendingdiary.com to keep track of my day to day spending and it has a really helpful feature of monthly reports and you can see how much you spent on food, house etc.

Thanks for that tip, i had a quick look and it looks really good. Will be giving it a go!

JillD_2

I'd like to rejoin for April, we get paid around the 20th, so any day now, so April begins now for us.

Our spending has gone crazy since Christmas. We had our 3rd baby in September and as I look after the finances, they got in a right state because I had no time to do them. Also we were suffering from sleep deprivation and too-tired-to-cook-or-meal-plan syndrome, so we haqve spent a ridiculous amount on takeaways and eating out, The only reason we could afford it was that DH, who has his own business, reclaimed some money that we put into it years ago. Stupidly I didn't immediately transfer it back to a savngs account and now it is all gone. Frittered away and nothing to show for it. I could cry. In fact I am. I am gutted that we've just wasted it. We could've used it for so many sensible things, I am so annoyed at myself. Got those familiar feelings of panic about it as well.

Anyway am going to try and rein it in a bit this month. We are here for 3 weeks of the month and away for a week which will send it all out of whack again but lets try anyway.

Will set myself a shopping budget of £350 for food and cleaning stuff and nappies - 2 adults, 3 children - 2 in nappies and one in pullups at night.

Moniker

funkyfunkymonkey wrote: »

Hi Moniker, I live in a hard water area too. I put a stainless steel mesh in my kettle which rattles around as the water boils and stops the calcium carbonate from depositing on the element. I rinse the kettle out on each use and don't have a problem with scale build up. There is a certain amount of scale but my kettle has survived for years (poss 5 to 10??? really can't remember when we bought it).

Kettles also don't cost that much to replace these days - so you might find it cheaper to try one of these meshes and if the scale builds up in a couple of years then buy a new kettle. Drinking hard water doesn't present any health issues, but some filters remove the chlorine which could leave the water unprotected from bacteria.

The type of mesh that I use is similar to this item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kettle-descaler-Wire-mesh-Stainless-steel_W0QQitemZ250228456051QQihZ015QQcategoryZ20634QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


FFM

I used to have one of those (still do in fact) but water is so hard here it doesn't make a lot of difference, and the water tastes nicer when filtered. I didn't know about removing the chlorine though. None of us have been ill as a result though and I have been filtering the water for more than 10 years!

Cheers

Moniker