May 2008 Grocery Challenge

kiwi88_2

BigMummaF wrote: »

Have a good holiday Kiwi--altho it's nice to have someone else worry about the menu & washing up, I still prefer the freedom of self-catering. I wouldn't ever be ready in the mornings to have breakfast & probably like where I'm visiting to be back in time for dinner:p

Thank you BigMummaF and that's exactly why we go self catering Some day we'll treat ourselves to a fully inclusive in one of those over the water cabanas in the Mauritius, yeah right first come within budget on the grocery challenge :rotfl:

:T CONGRATULATIONS MUMMYGEMS :T

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there Ess-six

you are welcome.... my lovely mum gave me that tip -mine of information that woman is... if its gardening or cooking and i know it..i probably got it from her :T any that don't get the little spur just throw away as they are useless.... can't believe i have that many through..there is only me that loves em...shame eh ..hubby isn't keen on them, butternuts or sweet potatoes.. but im trying to grow all 3 and lots of them-what goes in his soups for his winter lunches at work he will never know :whistle:

Fi27

Congratulations mummygems on your 'ickle bundle

Funny, all this baby talk lately is makin me broody! And that has NEVER happened before :rotfl:

Razra please post your garden pics, i would love to see 'em. Am planning a few raised beds myself if i ever get rid of the weeds! Got a few tubs on the go just now - put flowers in them, how silly! Shoulda planted lettuce.

Gunsandbanjos I buy the rowan glen butter too and their 4 pack bio yoghurts @ £1.07 and the cheese is good aswell. I do all my baking with the butter and it always comes out fine.

Fi x

skintscotslass

SuziQ wrote: »

one special needs still in napies at night,cost £5 per month

Hi SuziQ - should you not get your nappies supplied? My cousin is in nappies and my aunt has had them supplied since she moved to a different council area. Her previous HV either didnt know or didnt bother to tell her. Maybe worth checking out? My aunt is also getting cavity wall insulation which will help with the heating bills. I'll try to find a link.

Sunnyday

Well the soup is now in the pressure cooker and i`m waiting for it to come back to normal pressure before i open it.
i didn`t put any potatoes in and decided on tarragon and basil for the herbs an a bit of garlic.
It smells delicious so when its cooled and blended i`ll see what the verdict is.

The bounty bites are in the fridge and tomorrow i`ll cover them in chocolate, i must confess to eating the rest of the tin of condensed milk though:eek:
i`d forgotten how lovely it is
SD

Poosmate

Evening all,

My first GC is coming to a close, just 3 days left.

It's been a funny month for me. When I joined up for the challenge my lodger had just come back having split with his gf so the budget was for 2 adults. He was here for the the first week of the budget then went back to his gf but was back here again after only one week! He stayed for 2 weeks and left again today to go back to his girlfriend.

I'm so glad I didn't go shopping yesterday otherwise I'd be left with food that I'd bought for him and I would not be a happy bunny! Although, having said that, when he comes back now I refuse to buy food that only he would eat. Learned from my mistake when he left the first time and I had loads of beans, chips and curries to eat!

Anyway, as I knew I couldn't rely on is money on account of him keep going back to his gf I decided to invest it in coffee and toilet rolls, so last weeks shopping included £10 of coffee (Nescafe - I know not very MSE but I have tried other coffee and although I am poor, Im not destitute enough to give up my Nescafe) and £6.something for 24 toilet rolls. So at least I know I won't have to buy coffee for about 3 months and toilet rolls for about 5!

Talking of toilet roll! It was disappearing fast since lodger came back - what on earth was he doing with it? Anyway, another roll was finished yesterday afternoon so I decided to put one out for just him to use to see just how long it would last. I had my own - I have hayfever and a very bad cold atm so have one close by me anyway. I started a new one for myself anyway for experimental purposes. He came home last night, it was after 9.00pm because Pushing Daisies was on. He told me he was going back to his gf today. He left today at 2.00pm. So the toilet roll experiment had to be abandoned. I took my toilet roll upstairs and to my horror I discovered that he had used at least half of his toilet roll literally overnight!!!! I had used about 2mm of mine!! Who uses half a toilet roll in 17 hours especially when 6-7 of those hours are spent asleep?! The mind boggles!!

So, when lodger wants to come back I'll have to put a condition on his return that he buys his own toilet roll so he will realise how much it costs and how much he wastes!

Having !!!!!ed about him I must admit though that yesterday he paid for a chinese takeaway for my birthday (mine made tonight's tea as well) and he did bring home fish and chips twice.

Anyway, that's what's been happening in Poosworld this May. June is going to be bad - salary (May 28th) is 2 days short due to strike action in April. oooh scary!

Thank you so much for running this challenge it has kept me so focused and I'll definitely be in for June. I'll post my total and my new budget for June in a couple of days.

Hope you all had a good month and kept the GC faith!

Best wishes to you all

Poo

annelouise_2

Hi all,

Really glad I came across this site.I have been fervently following it for May 2008 with a budget of 220 euros's approx £151.50.

Armed with my spiral note pad,calculator and menus I am sooo enjoying this.

Having moved to Spain 6 months ago to await my OH last year in the Army after serving 24 years in REME,I am sofocussed on shopping daily and freshly for just what we need.

I have 3 children - DD 9,DD 8,DS 4.

Since the beginning of May 2008 these are the things I have achieved from following this way informative thread -

Stand on loo rolls
Freeze all left overs
Planted lettuce,courgette,tomatoes,cucumbers
Collected plastic containers to propagate them in when ready
Baked Twinks Hob Nobs in about 5 different varieties depending on what's in the cupboard,baked eggless chocolate cake,baked parmesan thins,baked meringues,apple and courgette muffins.
Slit open almost finished cream products
Bought Star Drops 54p - somewhere in Middlesborough when visiting UK
Bought a giant muslin to do makeup removing with DD E45 cream
Unplugged ALL unused appliances overnight
Saved washing up water for plants
Made own Alioli
Planned June 2008 menus - subject to changes - seasonal
Bought generic Orange Fizz for 33c a litre for party
Bought SSki milk and watered it down
Baked birthday cake for neighbour instead of buying present
Madelazy garlic from bulk bought cloves
Only using 1 tablespoon of washing liquid for washer - found scoop in kitchen drawer - it works so far
Bought Fave perfume successfully on ebay
Packed beach picnic for kids
Unplugged PC once fully charged daily
Had on average 2-3 NSD per week
Shared this website with 2 good friends
Bulk bought packed lunch generic staple - juice cartons,croissants
Skyped instead of txtd
Entered 5 competitions
Sent off for more than 10 freebies
Ebayed 20 items - have a healthy £70.00 in Paypal
Washed ,Ironed and need to photograph another 50 items
Bought DD 9 School Summer dress on Ebay or £1.27 inc P & P

I am feeling so so proud and frugal with myself.

I have also lost 6 stone 1 lb in 2 years and 2 months and have another stone / 13bs to go to goal at December 31st 2008.:A

So I will post often and be converted to all the best ways thanks to you all.

Well it's late and I've just packed the lunch boxes up,set my alarm as it's no Bank Holiday for us tomorrow- it's back to school and I'm off to bed.

Mrs M June 2008 Grocery Challenge put me down for 210 euros or £144.20.

annelouise:D

KITTY_2-2

Welcome Annelouise :wave:

Most people do much better than me so I'm not the best person to offer any advice but I'm sure you will find that we're a friendly bunch here on the GC. Someone is always available with a tip or helpful comment and I've found the only silly questions are the ones you don't ask

Best of luck with your life in Spain - I could get quite jealous as I love the way the Spanish always seem so friendly and laid back. I'd move there myself if it wasn't that DS needs the medical support we get here.

Take care and keep posting.

annelouise_2

Still here as it's great to keep up to date with all different challenges.

Will look into how I proceed with prett visual weekly amounts tomorrow.

G'nite all
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
annelouise:rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Hello and welcome annelouise... my hubby is REME too:T done 22 years and now doing an extra 5 woohooo

Well everyone the weather is tipping it down at the moment, and far from being annoyed at it.. I woke up and thought "haaaa no need to water the veggies" then of course i got excited as it means its not warm.. which means i can use some stuff out of the freezer rather than do salads -which means i can put off doing a salad top up shop for a few more days :j ... so i have taken some HM sausages out of the oven and will cook them in the oven with onions n carrots, do some steamed potatoes and veggies... think i may even swipe the spinach out of the garden that is trying to bolt :rolleyes: ...have set some more though
Does it sound mean that im hoping its miserable for a few more day so i can get the Hm soups out of the bloomin freezer for hubbies lunch :rotfl: well it would be nice to make a bit more space..i have cream of leek n potato and cream of broccoli in the freezer in the kitchen -plus other various odd tubs... just a bit overcast all week would do

I have just unearthed my old fashioned cash box...one of those long ones with 6 compartments and slots in the lid I have decided to divide my budget into weekly chunks and then at the end of each week anything left will get put into the end section and i will start each week with the same amount, then at the end of the month i will tip out what is in there and put it toward xmas...
right i will get off for now..have a great day everyone... nearly a nice fresh month to start again :T