Grocery Challenge - February 2012

XSpender · 23 February 2012 at 10:38PM

I have decided to set my budget at £90/wk this month so a total budget of £360 from yesterday until 21st Feb as I will have 4 Fridays in that period.

HelenJelly - No need to add me to the front page I will keep track in my signature. I just like to post it then my budget has been recorded and have a target to achieve.

Spent £16 in Mr S on chicken soup and lucozade for poorly DH and some quorn, rinse aid and a few bits I can't get at Ald1 including some biscuits for the joiner who fitted shelves in 2 big cupboards for me today so I can store all my baking and cooking equipment and food stores:D £1.62 also spent on teas at work.

These spends have come out of the £90 I took out in cash yesterday. I have put this is in a seperate purse and am hoping this method will help me stick to the budget.

Most of the fruit and veg I bought last week is still sat there as DH has tonsilitus so hasn't been eating and I can't be bothered to cook for myself so have been eating stuff from the freezer.

Herbyme · 23 February 2012 at 11:11PM

Hi all,
Result yesterday, 2 FR chickens from Ald1 for £2.50 each, what a treat!:j Nice too, no nasty skin burns on legs etc. meal plan now rejigged, roast chicken last night, curry tonight, still plenty in the firdge for another meal and carcasses in the SC for more stock. Also made beef stock from the huge amount of free bones from the farm shop, strained it thro an old napkin and boiled it down to about 1/2 a pint of really really concentrated viscous liquid. Ideal for adding to all sorts of things. Whole house smells of it!

To the OP (can't recall who) who said in Jan (I think) that they freeze portions of chopped onion, celery, carrot etc for base for cooking - had to laugh as M%S have exactly that now in their freezer section :rotfl: about £2.50 a kilo which I have to say is not cheap. this is from me who does buy chopped onions at about £1.50 a kilo cos it saves so much time and fuss.

Just over the £500 mark with not much left to buy till the 29th. Not running on fumes really, and pretty well stocked with many things, so far so good. Oddly the cats don't like the Amaz0n Sheb@ (exact same variety they usually eat) which is tricky as I bought 32 packs.:eek: I am not happy about the fact that the Ald1 chickens worked out far cheaper/100g than the Sheb@.:eek: Maybe we should feed the cats real meat rather than cat food? How weird to pay more for it than real chicken, when it's so gross.

I agree with those who say that doing a big 'monthly' shop in the first week of a month blows the budget. It's that feeling of release from the shackles of the end-of-month situation, I think. I will try the idea of taking out the week's money in cash in a purse, I now have a separate one tho as it's also black I can never find it in my bag, which goes down a storm at Ald1 as they're rushing me thro! Talking of which, haven't trieed it yet but the other bargain there was Macon Villages at £4.99, can be £7.50+ so if it's nice, will stock up a bit. One of my faves. Have stuck to the '2 dry days a week' thing so far this year though, pathetically proud of that!

Had an interview today and should get some freelance work out of it, no guarantee of hours but a good chance, and a good hourly rate at least. Things may be looking up!:D

Gnight all

DundeeDoll · 23 February 2012 at 11:36PM

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ideally I'd like to stock up on whole chickens as love the amount of meals you can get off one - but they take up sooooo much room in the freezer so will have to wait and see once the re-jig has happened.

If I can get them on the 4 for £12 offer that would last me a good couple of months and would help balance the books a bit!

Just a thought, could you cook them, carve, strip and freeze? Mind you, probs make quite a bit of stock. But would be able to freeze in bags which might fit better (i put mine in bags in containers then remove from container whn frozen)

elsiepac · 24 February 2012 at 12:21AM

carolinerunner wrote: »

Hi all,
Result yesterday, 2 FR chickens from Ald1 for £2.50 each, what a treat!:j Nice too, no nasty skin burns on legs etc.

I think I'm just being naive here as I really don't buy meat that often, but what do you mean by skin burns on legs? I first assumed it was something to do with how they were reared, but then realised they are FR, so I'm completely confused!

Now down to 4 bread rolls in the freezer... (I made 8)... I had mine for lunch, but then mum and dad both broke their diets tonight with a cheese and onion roll each... I had two out on the side for me for the next couple of days and they haven't got any bread in due to this stupid no carb diet, so of course I gave them my rolls. So took one from freezer to defrost to have with my Sweet Pepper and Tomato Soup for lunch tomorrow, leaving the 4. Feel slightly cheated after all that kneading! I SOOOOOOO want a bread maker!

True NSD for me today which was nice

Night all

LC

Florenceem · 24 February 2012 at 12:25AM

Had to spend on shopping today - £6.92 so I have altered my sig.
For dinner we had cheese and onion pastie with roast potatoes/carrot/onion/ swede.

I have three days left of my month to achieve my target NSD.

Lovethenight · 24 February 2012 at 12:42AM

Florenceem wrote: »

The photos is of my dinner - Mr F doesn't have to wait but he does.

I also really enjoy the dinner photos

Your plate always looks so lovely and with loads of veg:A

elsiepac · 24 February 2012 at 12:51AM

Florenceem wrote: »

Had to spend on shopping today - £6.92 so I have altered my sig.
For dinner we had cheese and onion pastie with roast potatoes/carrot/onion/ swede.

I have three days left of my month to achieve my target NSD.

Looks lovely as usual! May I ask... I've noticed you quite often have onion in with your veg medley, which had never occured to me before... how do you cook it when you do it like this? Is it all boiled together or some other method?

Thanks

LC

tigerfeet2006 · 24 February 2012 at 1:25AM

Dinner tonight was GF sausages with herby gravy, served with what should dhave been potatoes, carrots and butternut squash with honey and thyme roasted in the micro ( my micro has convenction and grill and combi as well). I went to put the roasting tin in and it was too big, the door kept popping open. So I had to put it on the hob and do them that way. Took an age but they tasted ok. Empty plates all round anyway

we had pineapple chunks for pudding.

SAVVYMUMMY_2 · 24 February 2012 at 7:39AM

Good morning all, haven`t been on for a while, but have kept a note of my shopping spends. Updated siggy and so far spent £230.25, for this month, but will have to update with the butchers bill a few days into march. i`ve been trying to run the cupboards and freezer down, just to use up the old stuff, still a few bits to use up, so will only need to get fruit, veg, bread and milk, I hope.

Well done everyone.

MunniMuncha · 24 February 2012 at 9:14AM

Mr M have just launched a new range called M Savers where everything is under £1; here is the link if you would like to have a little peek!

http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Our-food-ranges/msavers/weare1pound

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Grocery Challenge - February 2012

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