April 2012 Grocery Challenge

abitofhelp · 10 April 2012 at 4:03PM

kittywight i agree with you that a bargain on meat and cheese helps, i enjoy whoppsie shopping though unless i stick to just looking for yellow stickers my shopping bill tends to go up, bought enough ready sliced meat fro asd@ last week to keep oh in lunches untill the end of may ( i did leave plenty on the shelf). also the stirfry packs were reduced to 10p so i have 5 of them in the freezer. having one of them for tea this evening and the left overs for lunch tomorrow.

hex2 · 10 April 2012 at 4:23PM

jumblejack - I liked the tomato story with your children. My mum did similar things and we are all quite into food/cooking as a result.

I have to go into the city early for the next three days and kill an hour before work. Am dropping off next to big T, and work near S and A. I am so tempted to go and get the good value bits from each rather than do one big home delivery.

Makro have 907g frozen cooked king prawns for £4.99 - huge bag. Will get some more if I have a chance as we had some at the weekend and they are nice. They also had very reduced frozen food - like big bags of oven chips for 38p.

Florenceem · 10 April 2012 at 4:48PM

zepsgal wrote: »

Well, Im up to £161.28 :mad::eek:

I mean honestly, there is TWO of us plus a small dog. TWO OF US!! That's a shocking amount of cash to have spent since 30th March.

Don't get me wrong, cupboards fridge and freezer are all full, so all I need is maybe a bit of fresh veg later in the month, but still

We went to the local chinese supermarket on Sunday, spent £28 odds. I had taken my bagged 1p's and 2p's etc to the local shop and cashed them in, had £30, so this paid for that shop. Still counting it in my budget though. Did get some cheap noodles and a nice big bottle of sweet chilli sauce, can use for dipping or for cooking with. And we got some nice dim sum type things.

Dog food and coffee, another £12 for that. DH bought us a takeaway from the chippie on Sat night (naughty) and then we bought pizza's for dinner last night (another £4 for two of them)

Which is ridiculous, as I could have easily have made dinners from what I had both nights. I'm just sick of being the only one that ever cooks. I'm the only one that shops, I try to meal plan, but..... I don't know. Sometimes I deliberately don't make dinner, don't plan anything, don't defrost any meat, just to make a point to DH. Not that it ever works. We had 'words' about the cooking/meal planning etc at the weekend. He says that I have taken control of it all, he doesn't want to interfere with my plans. My point was that the only reason I do everything is because he does nothing :mad: Last time he went shopping on his own he spent over £25 on ONE meal :mad:

Rant over lol

Do you both work full time? If so the jobs should be shared equally. Mr F works - abeit from home - I am just his very part time clerical assistant so I do all the jobs.

Florenceem · 10 April 2012 at 4:50PM

euronorris wrote: »

I've done this before, and it's pointless. The man will even sit there and complain that he's hungry!! :mad: To which I reply 'Well make some dinner then.', and he replies 'There's nothing to eat!'!! Infuriating. There's plenty to eat. What he means is 'There are no ready meals that I can stick in the microwave for five minutes, and then eat out of the plastic pot it came in so I can also avoid washing up!'. :mad::mad:

Drives me nuts!!! After quite a few arguments about it though, we've come to a small compromise in that, if I don't feel like cooking, he'll pay for us to order a takeaway that night (we can usually make it last 3 nights! They send so much stuff!). This is what I did on Saturday, but with McDonald's. I needed to go out and get a few bits, but my stomach was cramping and I was generally feeling low and down and irritable. So I just asked OH if he would treat us to a McDonald's as i was not going to cook. And he did.

I do wish he'd just cook more often though. Firstly, the number of meals cooked by me, and paid for/ordered in by him, is not split equally. I still do most of the work on that front. And secondly, I don't want to have to eat junk food, just to get a night off from cooking!! Though, he does sometimes make scrambled eggs on toast, or beans on toast too, but usually after I've moaned at him for ages and made it clear he'll go hungry if he doesn't cook!

Again - are you both working full time? Mr F works long hours - I don't so - I do all the meal planning, cook all the meals and wash up.

Florenceem · 10 April 2012 at 4:51PM

jumblejack wrote: »

Still piping hot! A bit of buttered wholemeal toast and a sprinkling of parmasan.

Verdict: mmmmmm

Looks lovely but - I don't eat soup.

Florenceem · 10 April 2012 at 4:54PM

euronorris wrote: »

Mine impressed me in the early days with his stir fry dishes! One of the few things he still cooks (when pestered), cos somehow I do it wrong! haha

Most infuriating thing for me is that, sometimes, he complains that something isn't as crispy as he'd like it, or it doesn't contain the meat he wants etc! :mad::mad: He doesn't do it very often though, as I invariably respond with 'If you don't bl00dy like it, then don't bl00dy eat it! I am not your personal chef here for you to pass judgement on! Just be grateful!'. Grrrrr, that one really gets on my wick! I think he enjoys winding me up! No, no, he definitely does! :rotfl:

Feel very blessed with Mr F - always compliments me on meals - gives points out of 10 - usually 200+. Yes we are still daft after 14 years of marriage - intend to keep it that way!

jumblejack · 10 April 2012 at 5:04PM

Here is tea. Veggie curry made with whoopsied veg of course.
Salad is also whoopsied.

kittywight · 10 April 2012 at 5:27PM

heres tonights supper
xx

Spiggle · 10 April 2012 at 5:29PM

Hello All, :hello:

Back from my hols and we've today done our first shop of April GC. The total was only £12.49, not bad as it includes another beef joint from Coop as its the last day of the reduction, but the other expenditure in the sig is the stuff bulk bought earlier in the year and allocated across.

I really feel for you zepsgal and euronorris. Your stories make me very grateful for my OH who does all the cooking and washing up here and is gradually getting back into doing the shopping again too (within very strict rules mind!;)). The other side of the coin is though that we both work (virtually) full time and he wouldn't know the first thing about money, banking, finance, insurances, etc. I do the household cleaning mostly but he'll do the odd wash of clothes and put it on the line or get it in as he's doing at this very moment!

We've always described ourselves as a team and we just each play to our strengths and likes. He's learned a lot from me on how to cook and he enjoys it. I can do it but don't enjoy it and would rather be fiddling with bank accounts, spreadsheets and keeping the admin in order. :think:

FrugalLina congratulations on a wonderful achievement! :T

What a wonderful way to spend some time with the little ones jumblejack, really made me smile. :A

Right sig is up to date and I'll see you all later.

Take care,
Spigs

mummyyof5 · 10 April 2012 at 5:32PM

Survived Meadowhall....and remembered catfood...£5.16 for 12 tins...also nipped into W**sons and Savers...£2.50 and £4.00 respectivally

Chicken kiev,rosemary potatoes and salad for tea and DD1 cooking so even better.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

April 2012 Grocery Challenge

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free