April 2008 Grocery Challenge

findingmyfeet

hi jackie_w - dont use the rice.....fine if it had been in the fridge overnight but can cause mega food poisoning if not refrigerated...i know i've had it. had a month off work last year...campylobacter... horrendous little germ. never again.
And can i be thick and ask what onion lorne is ?? never heard of that before.

Angelraesunshine

Wow Mr T arrived last night and i seem to have food coming out of my ears, my new kitchen cupboards are full to over filled and both freezers are full and the fridge is all but full. though i have only spent £132.61.

Thanks to everyone here i am now the owner of soya mince & marigold vegetable bouillon

now got to re arrange the kitchen to fit everything in was too much to do last night lol.

findingmyfeet

mandy_moo - potatoes should be fine as long as they are in a cool darkish place and they are in paper sacks thats fine. or you could stick em in shed or garage too(but then you risk the little borrowers -mice) . Always kept mine in the house.

MSHAWX

Wow, just updated my March challenge and now found you all over here.

I've been so busy I've not had time to post recently, but have to say that the HM hobnobs (with cinamon) and tortillas are fantastic - so easy.

Didn't quite make the March challenge but the positive side is that it is so much better than this time last year. I think the expectation of better weather makes me feel much more positive and I've now started growing the vegetables for this year - that's one of the reasons why I've been so busy.

MrsMC can you please put me down for £100 for April. The stock cupboards are coming down but the freezers are very full and I need to work my way through them before this years vegs are ready to be frozen.

If anyone has spare apples in the summer -try making apple juice (in some places you can hire a crusher). It freezes beautifully, and tastes so much better than shop bought stuff. I make gallons of it and it's always popular on a nice day. I musn't get too enthusiastic - its not summer yet.

GFN123

Is it too late for a total newbie to join in?

I seriously need to cut my food budget, I did post yesterday on the board & got some good advice, so I'm raring to go! Currently I cook for myself, my friend every other day & my OH when he visits. I must spend at least £200 a month on food, probably more. If I could join the challenge it will give me some great motivation. I have plenty of food to use up in the freezer & cupboards, I just need to get to grips with meal planning & not buying random impulse stuff I don't need when I do shop :rolleyes:

If you would count me in for April, I'd like to set my target at £150. I hope to get it to under £100 in the longer term.

I did a shop yesterday & spent £40, hoping to not visit the shop at all for at least 10 days if I can.

I am also hoping to actually get on with my job rather than spend all day on here.... is that a challenge too far??

clair2305

....is £60. I spent £14.10 in Tesco's, £40.90 in Aldi and £5.00 in Costcutter on the Charmin 9 rolls, 2 packets (18 rolls) for £5.00 - which should keep us going for April and May.

It's market day today, so I'm going to buy veg n fruit from there. Anyone have any ideas what freezes well? Am definitely buying mushrooms, peppers, prob aubergines, does anyone know how well these freeze and what else freezes well.

I'm a fortnightly/monthly shopper and have signed up for £130 this month, so not doing bad. We already have lots of freezer stuff so I reckon this month will be easyish, it will be May/June that's may be a bit harder as things run down.

One disappointing thing though, in Aldi's last nite there were no frozen sausages, no potato waffles, no frozen lamb mince and no baked beans!!!! All this means I will have to go to Sainsbury's!

Sunnyday

scotrae wrote: »

Remember me from January, full of newfound MSE enthusiasm and hubby's ingenious meatballs and veggieburgers? Unfortunately I've been busier trying to develop new business and supply teaching to bring the pennies in since then and wasn't organised enough to keep track of every penny. We have still cut back and had a budget figure in mind (approx £40 a week) but haven't kept receipts and records. I've done well in recent weeks with Flogit, surveys, Quidco and have started to ebay too so we're saving lots on our 2007 spend, softening the blow of me not being salaried. Unfortunately, our fridge freezer has quite literally fallen apart over the weekend so we need to get the new one and can't shop around if it means more than 48 hours delivery delay.

I'm starting again for April though and shall keep track of it all, starting with last weekend's shopping.

Welcome back Scotrae :wave:
I did wonder where you`d got to. How could we forget you especially as your DH`s meatball recipe is one of our favourites (we live on em lol)
Hope to see you back posting regularly now that you`ve got things sorted.
Good luck.
SD

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Hi everyone, just got back from my boys play and had to get more milk :rolleyes:and newspaper £1.79 and treated myself to a meat loaf from the butchers for dinner tonight £1.50. Had a quick look at the charity shop near me and picked up a great book on food processors, bargin at 10p:j, I was after the recipes really, so will have a good flick later.
Could anyone give me some ideas for pears. We have a big pear tree and apart from eating these and stewing for yoghurts, I not sure what else to do. Any ideas would be most appriciated. Anyway have already changed sig to include todays spend.

findingmyfeet

welcome GFN123- hope you enjoy the challenge, only been doing it myself for march but already getting a strange sort of buzz in myself for doing it...weird. Just thrown my fairy cakes in the oven and scones lining up nicely waiting to go in next. if i had thought about it first i could have put several things in the oven together but silly me started with 2 items needing totally differnt temperatures...I live and learn. good luck all.

Keiss_21

Hya Folks

Just popped in with update on spending. Have enough food for this week up to Sunday...must plan the next three weeks meals. Just getting a few things this afternoon before going in to work @ 5: raisins (muffins & flapjacks), yoghurts and boxer shorts...both for DS2...a growing boy! I have tried giving him HM yog, but no can do!

Total for food and cleaning stuff so far, since 21/03 is £190.21. This is very good for me...though really high compared to some of you wonderful GC champions on here! At least I am managing to cut down on what I used to spend...slowly but surely!

As you can see I have failed really badly the last two months...so if I can keep to approx £400 this month, it will be a miracle, a 5 week month too...aaaregggh! The boys have also been on holiday the past two weeks, and have been munching their way through all my home baking! They are back to school tomorrow...yippeeee! (2 mopey teens, so good to get them out of the house again!)

Now off to do some more College work....have a good day and rest of week.

M