January 2011 Grocery Challenge

happycrafter_2 · 21 January 2011 at 11:44AM

my friend does a similar recipe to the apple braid and puts in left over marzipan from when she ices her Christmas cake, its delish. thinking about making the cheese and onion version as having a girls night in tonight.

cha97michelle · 21 January 2011 at 12:22PM

Just looking at my budget and we have spent £181.91/190 on food, cat food and toiletries. This means i have £8.09 left and 10 days to sort everyone out.

I think this is going to be tough but do-able. I will need more milk and some fruit for the pack ups, but i think if i made the bread i might get away with it. We do have some part baked baguettes and also some naan breads in the pantry, so i would maybe only need to make some rolls for DHs lunch or get organised and bake the baguettes so they had time to cool .

Oh if i only didn't love my bed so much i might be more motivated to get up and do it.

If i am struggling then i have £5.50 of clubcard vouchers but i would rather save them for deals.

kippers · 21 January 2011 at 12:29PM

helen_jelly wrote: »

Please please - we do not fail, we look at what we've done, we learn and we move on - everything we do is a "learn" for us - never ever a fail, this is a challenge - long term - we will never get it right the first, second or third time. Minnie2 - you are doing so well, you are looking at what you spend and learning about your shopping habits, it took a while to get it wrong so it will take a while to get it right, please be proud of what you have done so far, you are getting it right, right, right. Take a big breath and start again. I get it wrong nearly every month but always start again, so do lots of other people on here!! We are always here to listen and help, use us as your sounding board and keep on trying - lots of hugs, Helen x

:T:T:T
Good post helen jelly, it sums it up well

gdyr1945 wrote: »

Realy feel like swearing*******:mad:. My mother gave me some cherries, which I love but don't often but 'cause of cost and I have broken my front tooth on a stone! Have to see if I can get emergency appointment at dentist tomorrow. That will be a fun (and probably expensive) way to spend Friday.

Will probably feel very sorry for myself tomorrow.

You poor thing, i'm thinking of you

Picklepud wrote: »

Just wanted to say hello I joined in November and did ok completely lost the plot in December and am trying to get sorted thinking of January as a getting phyced (sp) up and am going to join whole heartedly into the February Grocery Challenge.

Got some great whoopsies tonight that really spurred me on roll on 1st feb

Well done all of you you are an inspiration.....

Hi Picklepud, welcome back

Well, my new GC officially starts on Monday but i can't have the car to go shopping then, so i'm going tomorrow and taking the money from my Feb GC, just two days early, as i know i can't get through another week without doing a big shop.

This time though i have my shopping list ready and i've checked on 'my supermarket' and i know where i need to go to get the cheapest things and offers...so i am ready and armed for Feb's grocery challenge!

Hope everyone is well.

By the way, if anyone is interested, there is a thread now on the food shopping & groceries board (under the quick grab it while you can board) about shopping in bulk-the thread is called:

'with competition at a peak between supermarkets, are you stocking up on the deals? '

..it's an interesting read and people are now posting good offers for bulk buying. Hope this helps someone.

OrkneyStar · 21 January 2011 at 12:30PM

cha97michelle wrote: »

Just looking at my budget and we have spent £181.91/190 on food, cat food and toiletries. This means i have £8.09 left and 10 days to sort everyone out.

I think this is going to be tough but do-able. I will need more milk and some fruit for the pack ups, but i think if i made the bread i might get away with it. We do have some part baked baguettes and also some naan breads in the pantry, so i would maybe only need to make some rolls for DHs lunch or get organised and bake the baguettes so they had time to cool .

Oh if i only didn't love my bed so much i might be more motivated to get up and do it.

If i am struggling then i have £5.50 of clubcard vouchers but i would rather save them for deals.

Re: the bread thing, would the kids/OH take wraps ? They are simple to make (sure there is a recipe at the start).....they are lovely filled with egg mayo, cheese, chicken (not all at once lol) or tuna if you like that ?
Just a thought x

Moniker · 21 January 2011 at 1:08PM

Afternoon all! Did not mean to shop again this week, but realised that one of the rellies coming at the weekend is on a gluten free diet and had to rack my brains to think of a suitable pud. I have decide to do Delia's Vanilla Cream Terrine - which I have made before - as I have some leftover hm blackberry sauce in the freezer which wil go well with it. Unfortunately it meant having to buy a big pot of double cream and some Greek yogourt - so today isn't a NSD.

Have up dated my sig. Off to get lunch for me and DH (probably beans on toast) and need to catch up with all the washing I have accumulated this week. I don't understand how two people can create so much!

Have a good rest of the day folks.

Moniker

scotsaver · 21 January 2011 at 1:20PM

Hi everyone - a NSD for me today.:j

Dinner tonight will be the usual for Friday, Fish, Hm chips and mushy peas. Once I've used the last of the fish tonight I'm going to explore the fish counter at MrM's for next Friday, want to try some different fish after watching Hugh's fish fight programmes on Channel 4.

Have checked the fridge and we are ok for milk, fruit bowls are full and have veg for the weekend so hoping to stay away from the shops all weekend, fingers crossed.:p

Thanks to everyone who has been posting recipes this week, we have a great collection now.:) Thanks also to rosieben for collating them all for us.;)

nmlc · 21 January 2011 at 1:49PM

Afternoon all

Just a update on the spends, have been to MrA this morning, spent rather more than I'd hoped to, but bought a few items that were on offer and that we would have needed within the next couple of weeks. DW tablets were on offer, half price, so too much of a bargain not to buy today. Bought DH some bottled beers that were on offer at £1 per bottle, and I broke a baking dish I use a lot and so managed to get a replacement - so although spent more, all good things that will be used and not wasted. Will need to be careful as this is week 3 for us, so last weekly shop is next Friday - but am going to try really hard to stay within budget, have menu planned, cupboards are pretty full and am doing some cooking/baking this afternoon/tomorrow morning.

Have a good weekend everyone, stay safe and well.
nmlc

cha97michelle · 21 January 2011 at 1:51PM

The kids would love wraps, and they eat at home anyway as DS1 does morning nursery and DS2 is only 2. DH is harder. He will eat them but they need to be very filling. I will definitely look the recipe up as we do like wraps.

Sandwich filling wise i have a lot of eggs as my mum gave me 12 she had going spare yesterday, and some bacon the MIL gave us, so i was going to do egg and bacon with mayo. I also have a huge block of cheese and the usual jam, lemon curd, marmite.

We have plenty in if i think about it. I think i will probably make a big batch of carrot and lentil soup over the weekend and do me and the kids that for lunch for a few of the days. It is only when the kids need a lot of my attention that the plan falls apart.

SuziQ1962 · 21 January 2011 at 2:04PM

Just done next weeks shop at L**l,and have spent £41.19,have in theory got everything I need for next week though may need to get more milk and yoghurts for packups as they didn't have any I fancied,and have a fair bit in the freezer and cupboard that can be used.
Have succeeded in the challenge as our month runs from 26th and have a bit left over,next month will try again for £300!
I can't believe that a bit of simple planning has got my shopping down from over £100 a week to between £50 and £60-going to see if i can do it anywhere else

lisa83546708 · 21 January 2011 at 2:37PM

hello all!
im a little new at this, but have been reading the boards rather than going out and spending at lunch time which has been a real spur on for me and DH to cut down on how much we spend on food!!

for now, we are allowing ourselves 1 main shop which is delievered and £40 per week on those other weeks.
this also includes going out, presents and take outs.

so far, not too bad... will relook at the budget and decide on a smaller amount for just food and keep a little other money for the rest as this is not always needed every week!!

staying at my PC is def better than wondering around the town centre!
bought a note book last night to keep track on food spending starting from tomorrow....

keep well everyone and thanks for enteraining me

:T

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Comments

Categories

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