March 2008 Grocery Challenge

annie123

Went to my local sainsburys savacentre to night after work to do my first big shop of March total spend..... £23.76.

My large trolley was empty, why?
because they are remodeling the store and I cant find anything:mad:

It is now so big that I felt like I was a gatwick airport walking to gate 28:eek: to find the butter!

I don't want a 'bigger better home ware department' I want to buy food.:mad:

after walking around the new sainsburys 'airport' trying to find things for 45 mins asking assistants only to be told that 'xyz does not have an allocated self yet and will be available again soon madam' Madam was was ready to thump something!

Yes I didn't spend much, but I didn't get any food either and I now will have to go to tescos tomorrow after work.

Rant over. Feel better now:o ...off to update signature

purplevamp

countrymusicfan wrote: »

I would love to try desparately but I am already buying value products and using the recipes on this forum and trying so hard to save but not managing at all. Any help please

Do you make a list when you go shopping? I find this helps quite a bit, also if you do a meal plan for the week/month and just buy the things you're planning to cook.

HTH

skintscotslass

annie123 wrote: »

Went to my local sainsburys savacentre to night after work to do my first big shop of March total spend..... £23.76.

My large trolley was empty, why?
because they are remodeling the store and I cant find anything:mad:

It is now so big that I felt like I was a gatwick airport walking to gate 28:eek: to find the butter!

I don't want a 'bigger better home ware department' I want to buy food.:mad:

after walking around the new sainsburys 'airport' trying to find things for 45 mins asking assistants only to be told that 'xyz does not have an allocated self yet and will be available again soon madam' Madam was was ready to thump something!

Yes I didn't spend much, but I didn't get any food either and I now will have to go to tescos tomorrow after work.

Rant over. Feel better now:o ...off to update signature

Annie, I know exactly how you feel. I nipped into the new Asda when it first opened, for a pint of milk and a cake. I was there for hours!!!!! Should have had a pedometer on to check the mileage :rotfl:

icandream

Hi everybody
Just read thru, and popping my head up to say I was so pleased with the meal this evening. I've written out a basic menu plan for the next week, but am treating it loosely, as suggested earlier. It has helped so much to focus me. So tonight we had chicken risotto, with the left over roast from sunday, plus onions, leeks, and chicken stock from the sunday roast as well. With HM bread. All loved it, it felt as if it cost practically nothing, and two of the kiddies are taking the remainder in for their packed lunch tomorrow. So all going well here. I'm keeping track of the spend, and since 28th when we started, it's £48. Hopefully we'll make it! Good luck all, and thank you for all the recipe ideas.
Only prob is, we get thru the hm bread so much faster then shop bought, so not sure I'm actually saving money on this!

TheBees

Evening all

MrsSnowy - I know what you mean about cramming loads of things into your day off! On my Thursdays off I find myself rushing around shopping, cleaning, bulk cooking and doing loads of odd jobs. Sometimes I go back to work on a Friday for a rest!:rotfl:

Popped to the co-op for some bread, skimmed milk, bananas and dutch crispbakes which I enjoy as my evening snack (only 1.5 ww points for 3). No bargains worth having so I was pleased with myself walking out with just the things I needed. Planning on a NSD tom as I will only be going to the shop for our free weekly paper.

Feeling a bit grotty with an infected wisdom tooth but too afraid to have it taken out so having to grin and bear it (and poking it about with a cotton bud to get the gunk out!!!! Yuk!) :eek: Bet that's put you off your food!

See you all tom.

Sunnyday

:wave: Everyone,
I`ve just edited my sig for week 2 of my March challenge.
I was hoping to catch up before i posted but as i`ve spent the last two days reading i decided that i`d post first cos at the rate this thread is moving you won`t hear from me until May :rolleyes:

I`m trying to sort out next weeks meal plan out but keep getting distracted as i`m soo busy at the moment i have little notes everywhere and pockets full of paper

Off to bed now so night all, hopefully i`ll be all caught up with everyone by the end of tomorrow.
Lots of luck chaps and chapesses.
SD

Cleosmum

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Near £7 a month :eek: my word I spend not much more than that each week for myself :rotfl: . I don't have to worry about bedding all that much thank goodness as I have lots hehe. For treats I've been giving them dog treats as my parents let me have them for free and the rats like them. So far for food they've been getting oats, rice, pasta, veg peelings and bits of fruit aswell as a few dog/cat/ferret biscuits and sunflower seeds. I am going to buy some rat nuggets from pets at home to give to them at every meal to suplement what I give them to. Does this sound okay to you or should I be getting more only rat kind of food for them?
I've made them a few hammocks from an old top I used to wear for PE at secondary school which they like and I collect ALL toilet/kitchen rolls I can for them for toys and chew toys (they do have a chew stick to make sure their teeth stay short mind). I am very creative when it comes to saving money (will even be making them a bigger cage that will easily fit 6 soon and then after a while one that could easily fit 9 rats lol and only for 2 rats. The first one will cost me about £30 and the second about £20 as I will be destroying an old wardrobe to do it). I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can for them so if you think I can improve with anything please help me out as it would be apresiated.

If you get any left over chicken bones they love those, great for the teeth and they love the marrow. Generally rats love anything but steer clear of anything citrus. If you google you can find lists of things rats shouldnt eat, but if they were out in the wild they would just get on with it, so maybe us humans are being over cautious on occasion lol. I have some fleece here and Im going to attempt to make some no chew type hammocks using net wire, hopefully it will come out ok and save me a fortune in hammocks lol. Bedding wise I only use Carefresh, helps with odour. I dont use woodshavings as it causes respiritory problems in rodents, otherwise it would be tons cheaper. Sounds like you are doing it all right, and your rats will be well at home in their converted wardrobe lol.

angelnikki

Hi :wave:
I had my first big shop of the month delivered tonight and it came to £57.97! I was expecting it to be about £70! DS's Nappies were out of stock though, so I'll have to get some another time. Just updated my sig.
Night everyone!
Nikki
x

JayJay14

Well I've just got back from taking DD1 home from her job at Asda - I could have bought about 10 roast chickens for 50p each but I drew the line at 3, as I didn't have too much cash on me and I had a few other things to get.
So tomorrow I will be slicing, dicing and freezing plus simmering the bones - my OH is a big soup fan so none of it will go to waste.:D

I made a toad-in-the-hole for tea tonight and as usual overdid the yorkshire pud mixture, as I was making the extra dozen small puds for the freezer I realised that before the challenge the leftover mix would have ended down the sink. As it was we were also using up leftover mash (DS is not a jacket spud person) and gravy. In the past I would probably have chucked it after a few days of moving it arround in the fridge.:rotfl: :rotfl:

Tomorrow I have a meeting with my senior manager to give me the latest info on when my post will be redundant. Fingers crossed.

weezl74

Hiya, just popped back to wave, and hugs to all who need them, and a quick update. Spent 67p today. Updated my sig accordingly. Reckon I've got all the meals covered for the month, so maybe just milk to buy. Here's hoping I can stick to my budget.

Tonights tea was liver casserole, dal and rice, due to my having learnt the joy of labelling a little too late into my OS days of batch cooking and freezing! Still, OH not too peturbed, especially when we had HM chocolate brownie ice cream for pudding. Yom, Yom!

Night all, Sweet dreams and hope you all manage your challenges, well done so far.

Weezl x