April 2008 Grocery Challenge

JennyBee_2

Hiya! Thanks for all the Birthday wishes!! I'll post the recipes for the fruity cookies and lemon drizzle cake this evening, but the choc fridge cake is SO easy and very yum!

2 bars dark chocolate
1 bag mixed berries (I bought mine from baking aisle in Asda - although you can chuck in any dried fruit you want!)
Digestive biscuits.

Melt the chocolate and mix in the fruit and broken biscuits in whatever quantities you want. Chuck it in a baking tray (I line mine with baking paper so it doesn't stick!) and leave it to set.
Cut it into squares and eat!

Spent £9.71 yesterday on milk, bread, eggs and toothpaste. Am going to be baking olive oil and rosemary rolls this weekend which I haven't done for a while!

Whoever it was that asked about the breadmaker, I don't have one and making it by hand is really simple and gets rid of a lot of stress!! Very satisfying )

Bargain_Rzl

I am struggling a little with the my storecupboard challenge, and it's all due to my mindset :rolleyes: I have to keep reminding myself of the difference between actually needing something, and buying it because I am planning my shopping as if on autopilot :rolleyes:

For example, I'm thinking that I NEED tonic water, frozen peas, root ginger, new potatoes and butter.

I don't NEED tonic water - if I've nothing to mix with gin and I fancy a drink, there's plenty of wine.
I don't NEED ginger. Not this week anyway. I'm not going to have a suitable time slot over the weekend to make the recipe I'd be buying it for, and all the other ingredients will keep until next weekend.
I don't NEED frozen peas. I've got it into my head that that's what I eat with HM fish pie or macaroni cheese. But I've got a perfectly good head of broccoli in the fridge which would be just as good, and won't keep forever.
I don't NEED butter. I could just not do any baking this weekend. But I've got other ingredients which won't keep, so I'll be buying the butter.
I don't NEED new potatoes. I've got pasta, bulgar wheat, couscous...

The whole point of being so frugal with my GC this month is so the stuff in the cupboards gets used up - and I keep nearly sabotaging it.

Oh well... onwards and upwards! I suppose I've just cut my potential spend down from about £4 to under £1 just by talking myself out of all the above except the butter

chimp_choker

Cleosmum wrote: »

(£1.50 on cream cakes, bad for purse, bad for diet).

......but absolutly gawd dam lovely........

jessica_rabbit_3

We have eaten out a few times this week as we have both been on 'holiday' - i.e no work!!
had pizza express one night, polish restaurant one lunchtime & cooked breakfast in the cafe next door & sushi last night. However, I'm including this all as our entertainment budget, as we went to 2 art exhibitions free at the Tate, as I know a buyer for the Tate and spent nothing else this week on entertaining ourselves (a huge improvement for my DH!)

Just went and did our shopping before the rent is due, so spent £13 in Iceland, including washing powder and £8 on the market on fruit and vegetables and eggs.

Went and stocked up for the week

teedy23

spent 41p on flour to make sauce for fish pie. It,s dwindling away but today recieved £6.00 from Persil due to leaky capsule, cheeky beggars implied that I was perhaps being too rough with them. What do they think I was doing, swinging them round my head and jumping on them pre-wash.

izoomzoom

OMG, I have got to the end .

Last went shopping on Monday, and was as sick as a dog yesterday. I didn't even have the energy to feed my baby, so ended up calling DH to come home from work. Wasn't very popular as the Area Manager was around.

Anyhow, feeling weak but better today, and my little bug has even kept me out of the shops today - although we are desparate for milk and bread now. Ds wanted a snack this afternoon, and I normally let him have 1/2 a sandwich but we only had Duck bread left.

Will ask DH to get some bread and milk tonight on his way home, and then tomorrow I am going to have to do some groceries. Going to have HM pizza at a friends tomorrow, but it is my 'night' so I need to get the ingredients in, and DS2 has a dbl birthday party to go to too. What to get 6y girls ????

candygirl

Been to ALDI today and got a few veg bits, bread and milk for £17.73.That will do me till next week, as my cupbaords and freezers full now.No work on the horizon as it's school hols so money is very tight at the mo, hey ho:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :eek: :eek:
Will be doing some more batch cooking in the next few days, to tide me over, and might even try WEEZL'S lentil pate, it looks yummy

Purple_Sparkles

Well I've spent £10.15 in Lidl loads of fruit/veg most of it is 1/2 price and I'll freeze what I can of it, the rest was yogurts and bread flour. Milkman was £5.68. I've just updated my sig and I'm still below budget. I'm planning on doing some batch cooking this weekend and have all the ingredients I'll need stocked in my cupboards/freezer. I think I'll manage to keep to budget even with 2 weeks + to go.

Savvy_sewing

So many entries. No time to read them today. Just to say that I have spent a furter £14.12. I bought a meat pack from the market £10.00 bacon from a farmer £1.50. 3 large Peppers, (market still) £1.04. And 2 cooking oils from local shop when I forgot it on my big order (oops) £1.58.
Just had grilled lamb chops from the butcher marketstall pack, very nice. Not sure of the exact value. Got 2lb lamb chops, 2lbs Pork chops, 2lbs Pork sausages and 2lb of Chicken quarters. Hope thats a reasonable price?
Try and catch up with all on the thread over the weekend.

cheerfulness4

Just got back from Morrisons and spent another £29.87 on some fantastic bargains. The reduced section had lots of 'real food', as opposed to expensive ready foods, reduced to silly prices, ie. £3.69 to 45p etc. :eek:

Lots of 'best of' yoghurts reduced to 9p so have those frozen up now. Happy days!

Big mix up at the till with the whoopsy labels and they ended up letting me have over £4 of food free. Deserve it for all the time they took sorting it.. they just seemed to want move us on rather than get the right amount sorted. Fine by us!

Anyone know it Sainsburys still has their cravendale milk on 2 for £2 ?