April 2008 Grocery Challenge

sashanut

Thanks MrsM & everyone for the soya milk tips - she does tend to like Alpro - because it comes in a 'light' version...in the scheme of things I don't think that makes a lot of difference, but maybe I will try filling her empty carton with the 'other' sort, see if she notices??

BTW when I was in Mr T's yesterday, they had big boxes of 6 fresh mangoes
for £3 if anyone needs them. We now have 15 mangoes in the house - most will be made into my easy mango & ginger chutney. This is a double-edged sword as they like it so much they eat it from the jar on its own, it lasts no time at all!!

newlifeahead

Just a little update.

I had to give my son 50p for when he went to out of school club on Tuesday. This had to come out of the grocery budget as I didn't budget for anything else. Manged to save £16 anyway as I cancelled out of school club for today.

Had a no spend day yesterday. :j

Paid the milkman this morning £3.30. Hoping to not spend anything else today.
DS1 is back at school on Monday I have got a couple of slices of bread in the freezer. How long can you keep bread in the freezer for? The use by date was 31 march will it still be ok to eat once defrosted the night before?

WelshWoofer

Thanks Nicky!
I'm off to the shops at lunchtime to get some parsnips! Have some potatoes that look a bit sorry for themselves so will do for using up with the soup.
Will let you know how I get on!
Thanks again
R

ifonlyitwaseasier

sashanut wrote: »

Thanks MrsM & everyone for the soya milk tips - she does tend to like Alpro - because it comes in a 'light' version...in the scheme of things I don't think that makes a lot of difference, but maybe I will try filling her empty carton with the 'other' sort, see if she notices??

BTW when I was in Mr T's yesterday, they had big boxes of 6 fresh mangoes
for £3 if anyone needs them. We now have 15 mangoes in the house - most will be made into my easy mango & ginger chutney. This is a double-edged sword as they like it so much they eat it from the jar on its own, it lasts no time at all!!

can we have the recipe for that? i love mango chutney and if i can make my own i'd save a fortune! :T

findingmyfeet

morning all

Nicky1306- i always freeze my scones when i have baked them, they always come out ok for me- also frozen them on a tray raw ready to bake.

newlifeahead- freezing bread- i was once told you could freeze bread for upto a month. I have always stuck to that and its been fine but dont know if its ok for any longer. It never gets the chance to stay any longer in this house 2 very hungry teenagers!!!!!!!!!!

BigMummaF

I must be quick cuz I don't know when t'net will cut me off again:mad: Wish I could live with a little less technology sometimes:o

But eeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwww **as in John Travolta singing Summer Nights ** BREAD MAKERS!!!!!I made my first loaf--a large--Tuesday morning, & have made another 5 XL since:eek: The offspring have been demolishing them virtually while still baking:rotfl: I've managed a sample but nowt else Got a bit concerned about changing brands of anything cuz I'd bought Allinsons Premium flour when it was on offer with a view to baking by hand & clocked the usual price at £1:35 or something, but used the Lidl one yesterday & to my thinking it's sooooo much a better taste:D

As another GCer did, I went to Mr M....pasta 19p & specials on pre-pack bacon [BOGOF] & braising steak [£1 off per kilo?] plus Marmite @ £2:07 helped me part with almost £18; then saw the Marmite was 13p cheaper in Lidl so got another there to help up the total to over a tenner:o I'd get hung, drawn, quartered, boiled in oil & eaten by red ants if we run out of the Mighty Marmite:p A stop at our little discount outlet for loo rolls etc took another £13; 91p for blu-stripe crispies for baking & 18p:T for a spoon rest from MrT & I should only need stork & milk for a while .

All in all I spent £62:01 BUT! There's a deal in Dyas for those wind-up torches £3:99 ea or two-4-£7 & three will be put away for crimbo cuz they'll be :money: not needing batteries. There was also another £3:99 for a fly killing thingy:mad: Any ideas what I can use instead of the stinky chemical ones?

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Quick update ... I ended up going to the Naffi on a "whoopsy hunt".... after deciding last night that -"I'm sure if there is anything really good -i will find room in the freezers somewhere"

Picked up :-

• 2x3 litre fresh milk @ 50c the 1 and 2 litre bottles were the same price
• 2x2 kilo navel oranges @ €1
• 2x3 peppers @ 50c
• 500g baby plum tomatoes @50c
• and best of all -6x250g lean back bacon medallions @ €1

so i spent €10.50 but it should have been €39.99 :j the bacon won't get used this month -but it was too good to miss and by some miracle i have managed to re-jig the freezer and get the bacon and 1 bottle of milk in :rotfl: but now im SURE that i can get nothing else in either -well until i take something out
The navels won't last long with me in the house, and we eat loads of peppers...so now have 9 in the fridge..3 from my last lot of whoops that are still perfect ...
Hubby is now making noises about us needing another freezer at this rate but i think im going to hold off until we move back to the UK as if the army move us from here we don't know if we will have room as at the moment the chest freezer and hubbies beer fridge/my overflow fridge are in the basement and the fridg freezer in the kitchen... mind if needs be i will get my chest freezer put in a spare bedroom ....
right i had better get off... have a good day everyone

pinkcloudnine

Last night ,first shop of the month.NO BARGAINS IN MR T!! & hardly any fruit & veg worth bothering with.
Managed to only spend £24, but with MOC & BOGOF's it came down to £12.60!!!! :j This included 2 bags of compost reduced to 80p each & DH insisting on buying enough paracetamol to last a lifetime & 3 packets of plasters!!!! He was very embarassed when I handed over the MOC, the SA was more than happy to take them, even comenting it was great to be able to save money!!
Will use Farmfoods for crisps, sugar[ 10p cheaper then Mr T] frozen veg, & the best toffee ice cream for 69p for 2 litres.:D
HM coleslaw & omelette for dinner. B&B pudding for DH.Toffee ice cream for the rest of us!!!!!!
Used cash for the first time aswell, amazing how you don't want to part with those crisp notes!! Tempted to put the pound coins into my sealed pot, but worried might run out of money before end of week.
Right , back to the ironing! xx

frankerooney

My dh was disappointed to find no bargains in Mr T this week too. He went at the same he goes every Monday eve (prob about 8.30pm); there were yellow sticker items but at half price rather than a few pence like they were a few weeks ago. He's been disappointed the last few weeks, I wonder if the management have changed their policy.

By the way, I recently cottoned on to the fact that the 4-pint bottles of milk are gradually changing to 2-litres (i.e. less than 4 pints). Am I the last one to realize this? I was thinking for example that Tesco Pure at 1.29 was cheaper than the standard brand at 1.34 but the 1.29 bottle is only 2 litres so works out more expensive per litre. :eek: Sneaky!!

gunsandbanjos

Agree about Mr T's reductions! Was in recently and some of the yellow stickers on had literally pence off the price meat going out of date that day had 7p off the price!