March 2008 Grocery Challenge

KITTY_2-2

:hello: Morning all.

Hope no one suffered any damage with the winds. Storms didn't hit us last night so what's left of the fence is still standing :T

Managed another no spend day yesterday so that's 3 so far this month. If I can not spend for 1/3 of the month I should be well within my budget. I've had to put in an order to Mr T but did it through mysupermarket, got loads of ipoints and used a £10 off code found on the forums. So I expect final total to be around £80, that does include some pet food which is from a separate budget, so will need to work out what the human cost is when I get the delivery tomorrow night. I think my running total will be about £160 :dance:
I used to be able to spend that in one go :eek:

Have a lovely day everyone and (((((hugs))))) to those who are in need :grouphug:

mikeD

Hi Folks, hope everyone is well.

An NSD for us today. Bought some cream yesterday for tea but didn't use it as we had some creme brulle from last week so used them up.

Could whoever posted the recipe for Hobnobs please point me to the post as I can't seem to find it. PM me if you like. Everybody seems to be making these and is saying how tasty they are :beer:

Thanks for the Muesli recipes but no thank you very much. Many years ago we bought a packet and after one helping threw the contents away and ate the packet Much tastier :rolleyes:.

Love the FM

LouiseJ

Hello MikeD

Here is Twink's Hobnob recipe
8oz sr flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda
mix flour, oats and sugar, melt marg, syrup and water in a pan stir in bic soda and add to dry mix, mix well, make smallish balls and put on greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork, 180oc for 15 mins, cool on the tray, you just want them golden in oven not brown

Enjoy xxx
Jouise J

bails

Blimey, how many pages?!:D

Just reporting in to say I didn't spend anything last week, v chuffed So I've got a tiny bit over £100 left for the month - could this be the month I actually make the challenge?;)

We discovered a little market just up the road this weekend, didn't buy anything as didn't need anything but checked out the prices and will definitely be getting things from there in the future - cheaper and less packaging!:T Won't buy eggs though as they're No 3s (battery right?)

Off to catch up with everyone now, hope you're all having a good month so far.

patentgirl

Afternoon everyone
Havent managed to get on here since early sat morning and this thread has grown by about 7 pages! went to M & S on sat and got some of their value mince and a few other bits spent £5.52 and few more bits in iceland so will update total soon it will be a struggle but hoping to keep in budget for rest of month, noticed before work down to only 2 toilet rolls so will have to pop out and get some from local shop will cost a bit more but wont spend anything else while I am in there.
keep going everyone

mumzyof2

bails wrote: »

Blimey, how many pages?!:D

Just reporting in to say I didn't spend anything last week, v chuffed So I've got a tiny bit over £100 left for the month - could this be the month I actually make the challenge?;)

Off to catch up with everyone now, hope you're all having a good month so far.

I just noticed your sig and if i have this correct that PB means Pigsback...then am i SEEING correctly... over a thousand pound???????????? How did you manage that?

Justamum

Just updated my signature. It's very obvious where I can make the most savings! I think I'll stick to £300 a month for a couple of months, but try and reduce the completely unnecessary snacks (which includes snacks out and crisps and choc etc for the house). If I can manage that over the next couple of months then I might reduce my target.

mouche

Hullo all,

Just wanted to update you on this weekend's Asda delivery and cook fest.

It was my first Asda delivery & it was very worthwhile since it cost £53 as opposed to the £70-80 we end up spending if we go ourselves. The only thing they substituted was whole okra for sliced - and they only sent 2 packs instead of 4 but I'm not too upset since I'd overestimated the capacity of my freezer & I would not have been able to fit 2 extra packs in! So freezer & cupboards are full and hopefully we can last till the end of the month buying just a few more bits and bobs (mainly frozen garlic which we use a lot of in curry & which our local Asda stocks but the online store doesn't :rolleyes:).

OH had Saturday off and batch cooked a HUGE amount of pasta sauce. Enough for at least 10 meals I should think. Plan on taking that to work for lunches this week. Can't fit it in the freezer though, so hope it doesn't go off in the fridge. Sunday, I made chicken curry (2 portions), mushroom & pea curry (3 portions at a stretch), dal (4 portions, possibly more). So I hope, together with the pasta sauce, that's this week's meals taken care of, since we will be eating out 1-2 days this week (have mystery shopping in pubs scheduled but not sure if we want to go in this weather - it's pouring in West London).

Also, I am very proud of myself for baking a batch of biscuits! I spotted a book called '1001 desserts for diabetics' in the library & since OH is diabetic & I'm overweight, it seemed like manna from heaven! I didn't rush out to buy ingredients for the first recipe I liked but hunted till I found one for which I had everything at home. This turned out to be Chocolate Shortbread Squares. They weren't very shortbready but they were YUM! I love making desserts but havent been able to due to OH's condition. He can have these though provided he keeps the portion size down.

Have decided to make a dessert every weekend and will probably need to spend a bit to get the basic ingredients in. But have done so well on the grocery shop so far, I think I can give myself a little treat!

redsquirrel80

weezl74 wrote: »

Morning all,

Waves all round.:hello:

Wanted to fill you in on how I got on with my weekend make/bake freeze fest. Freezer now contains:

• 4 portions tomato dahl,
• 5 portions corned beef hash,
• 9 portions beef and onion pie (would've been 10, but OH snaffled one!)
• 7 portions penne pasta.
• Also made a big batch of chicken curry with coconut in the SC from a whole Halal chicken, but haven't put it in the little tubs yet!

Good times!:j

Hope all your budgetting, meal planning etc is going well. We can do it! Together we're an army!

Weezl x

Hi Weezl, just wanted to say wow! at your total - you're feeding two people for what I'm trying to spend for one! I noticed from an earlier post that you average it out over three months which I think is a really good idea - any other tips? Where do you shop?

I know that it doesn't necessarily cost twice as much for two people as it does for one, but that is a fantastic achievement! :T

witchmabel

Well blow me if I didn't spend £107 at Mr Sainsbury on Friday night :eek:

My budget will be blown this month then - so it's damage limitation for the next fortnight. (I start the next month's budget on March 21).

Only consolation is I've got some nice bits and pieces in the house - and bar some fresh veg/salad and milk shouldn't need to spend anymore.....

Hope you're all doing better than me!

Witch M