August 2012 Grocery Challenge

jasmin10 · 4 August 2012 at 10:01PM

OM gosh how many posts do I need to catch up on

. Sorry I have been awol, had a rocky week

Although DH has been supporting my GC as he likes and knows how much money we are saving (£200-£300)(which we dont have and was going into our overdraft), he has begun having the odd money - dont like frz carrots, dont like frz broccoli, cauli etc. I have explained that if I buy frozen it last longer and it is cheaper. The last straw was the day before my birthday (30th), he said he wanted to go to Mr M's to get me some flowers for my birthday. I said he really didnt need to but he said that the DD's wanted to. OK I said but please dont buy any food. OK now I know, withhind sight, I completely over reacted. But when I put my heart and sole into doing something like the GC I go for all. Anyhow he came but and said that he had bought some toothpaste (we didnt need any. So I went off on one. Why have you done that I asked, because it was half price and was only £1, a pound I said I get our for 45p. Then he said yeah and you can f***in well tell as it dosent clean your teeth - I went mad, completely flipped. Anyhow to cut it short I cut my nose to spite my face and walked out going to Mr M's with the attitude, right your want these things I will get them.

An hour later and £164 lighter I came home with allsorts. I have worked out that if I can make this last til 24th I can still come in on budget. A week I have put together meals for the coming 7 days but thats it. I cant believe after spending all that money I am struggling to put together meals to last a couple of weeks. I have £33 out of the budget left this will be for milk and any other odd things we need. I have already begun a list as I need eggs and sausages from Aldi tomorrow. The sausages will give me enough for 3/4 different meal.

Cant get over what I've done. Guess I have made my bed and I need to get on with it

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending · 4 August 2012 at 10:08PM

NickJW wrote: »

I also thought TheThriftyScrimpers has been hacked - I'm glad it's not just me who thought it! :o

Ah - my meal plans are only like that because I have something left from one recipe so go searching for another recipe to use up what is left, end up buying something else, then need to find another recipe to finish off using the other thing. The cycle goes on for a while sometimes, and I often wonder if I should 'calm down' and have easy weeks. It would probably be better for my budget!

I agree with Mr W - I also like the fact that their essential range is just as good as the finest range in Mr T for instance. I would NEVER buy value meat, but essential meat is fine, and more importantly (for me), it's nearly always British meat. The double delivery will set me up for sure this month

At a loss as to what to do today - the house is cleaned and I was going to venture out, but don't need the SM obviously, it's raining outside and my friends are still in bed because they went out last night (I didn't bother and had an early night because I had a heavy weekend last week!).

Think it will be an internet day/Olympic TV day until lunch, unless the weather improves when I will venture out.

Hope everyone is well.

NickJW wrote: »

To give you an example - if I had these ingredients I would probably make courgette and potato rosti cakes . I've made mine with sweet potatoes but I'm sure regular potatoes would be fine.

Root Veg + Potato rostis

2 medium parsnips (about 350g in total), peeled and grated
1 medium sweet potato (about 300g) (could probably use real potatoes) peeled and grated
1 medium carrott, peeled and grated
100g plain flour
1tbsp finely chopped rosemary
salt and pepper
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tbsp sunflower oil
25g butter

Put grated parsnips, potato and carotts in a bowl and toss the flour, rosemary and salt and pepper through. Add the beaten eggs and whisk well. Divide into 8 even sized patties about 10cm and 1cm think.

Get a baking tray lined with baking paper buttered up.

Pre-heat oven to 180 Celcius/Gas Mark 4. Then heat half oil and butter in a frying pan over the hob medium heat, put patties in (in batches if necessary) then gently cook for 3-4 mins each side, turning carefully until golden brown. Transfer to the baking tray, then bake for 15-20 mins or until cooked through

Serve with runner beans, tomato and chilli (you could subsitute the chopped tomatoes with garden tomatoes in a blender if you wanted to: HERE. A dollop of creme fraiche would also go down nicely too!

Thanks for the recipe and the info about Mr W's essential meat :T.

jasmin10 wrote: »

OM gosh how many posts do I need to catch up on . Sorry I have been awol, had a rocky week

Although DH has been supporting my GC as he likes and knows how much money we are saving (£200-£300)(which we dont have and was going into our overdraft), he has begun having the odd money - dont like frz carrots, dont like frz broccoli, cauli etc. I have explained that if I buy frozen it last longer and it is cheaper. The last straw was the day before my birthday (30th), he said he wanted to go to Mr M's to get me some flowers for my birthday. I said he really didnt need to but he said that the DD's wanted to. OK I said but please dont buy any food. OK now I know, withhind sight, I completely over reacted. But when I put my heart and sole into doing something like the GC I go for all. Anyhow he came but and said that he had bought some toothpaste (we didnt need any. So I went off on one. Why have you done that I asked, because it was half price and was only £1, a pound I said I get our for 45p. Then he said yeah and you can f***in well tell as it dosent clean your teeth - I went mad, completely flipped. Anyhow to cut it short I cut my nose to spite my face and walked out going to Mr M's with the attitude, right your want these things I will get them.

An hour later and £164 lighter I came home with allsorts. I have worked out that if I can make this last til 24th I can still come in on budget. A week I have put together meals for the coming 7 days but thats it. I cant believe after spending all that money I am struggling to put together meals to last a couple of weeks. I have £33 out of the budget left this will be for milk and any other odd things we need. I have already begun a list as I need eggs and sausages from Aldi tomorrow. The sausages will give me enough for 3/4 different meal.

Cant get over what I've done. Guess I have made my bed and I need to get on with it

* Hugs* Jasmin10 - don't be too hard on yourself - we all flip and go mad occasionally - it's very frustrating when OHs don't seem to get the point of the GC :mad:. It sounds like you are sorting it out by trying to meal plan anyway. If it helps, the '£7 meals for a week' thread referred to above may give you some cheap suggestions.

Make-it-3 · 4 August 2012 at 10:23PM

Jasmin10, think you may have been a bit hard on hubby, he was trying to GC with the toothpaste and its very difficult, supermarkets try to suck you in to get you to think something is a bargain.

jasmin10 · 4 August 2012 at 11:12PM

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Jasmin10, think you may have been a bit hard on hubby, he was trying to GC with the toothpaste and its very difficult, supermarkets try to suck you in to get you to think something is a bargain.

I know, hind and all that. I think it was just with his moaning about other things it tipped me when Im trying so hard.

Never mind, I need to chill. Still emnu plan is sorted for this week, will deal with the ones after when they come.

Yes the meals for £7 is a fantastic thread, I have subscribed to it and will catch up on all the posts npw that I have finally caught up with this one :T

Have a good evening everyone, night night.

Baileys_Babe · 4 August 2012 at 11:31PM

Today I did the weeks shopping:
H0me Barga!ns £10.05
Ald! £7.80
Lunch £9
Afternoon tea £11.10
£37.95/£310

Bluegreen143 · 5 August 2012 at 12:21AM

Aw Jasmin10 sounds like a horrible fight and of course it makes it even worse that you've spent so much money on top of it, hope you manage to stretch all your purchases out!

Most importantly, hope you and your OH have made back up - totally get where you're coming from as I do over-react to my OH's unfrugal ways too (he is so frustrating at times!). Hopefully he starts to appreciate all your hard work a bit more as there's nothing more frustrating than putting all that effort in to cut costs for your family and not be appreciated :grouphug: but I'm trying really hard to remember with my OH that there's no point saving lots of cash if our relationship goes down the tubes because of nagging/fighting as I'm trying to cut our costs to make our life better, not worse! Hope this all makes sense.

No spend day for me today :j and also made my first ever HM quiche (caramalised onion and cheese) and it was seriously scrummy - served with a nice salad and a second salad made with roasted carrots & chickpeas and dressed in lemon juice/toasted cumin seeds (bit random but realised I didn't have enough normal salad so had to improvise)! Apparently OH is not that keen on quiche, who knew?! But he did eat it all and was impressed at how professional it looked apparently :rotfl: Couldn't resist a piccy:

EDIT It's a shame OH is not super keen as there is three lunch sized portions left, there only being the two of us... I really liked it but might be a bit sick of it by Tuesday lunchtime!!

Baileys_Babe · 5 August 2012 at 12:31AM

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

EDIT It's a shame OH is not super keen as there is three lunch sized portions left, there only being the two of us... I really liked it but might be a bit sick of it by Tuesday lunchtime!!

You can freeze quiche : )

[Deleted User] · 5 August 2012 at 12:35AM

soworried - i would be proud. My daughter runs a mile from the reduced section & i really don't know where she got that from - shes going to uni this September - so shes gonna be in for a shock if she don't wise up.

Jasmin10 omg your post made me laugh so much. I know where you are coming from with taking it serious, i nag the kids to have snacks, sandwiches etc when they are peckish outside meals and get wound up if they use stuff that can make a meal, i think i go too far, but it does take me over. I think your hubby was trying to be thrifty, but probably hasn't reached your level. Don't worry about the overspend, we all do it and like you said you are quids in since you started, so already you are in front.

Bluegreen143 · 5 August 2012 at 1:02AM

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

You can freeze quiche : )

Thank you!! Great tip! Do you you just defrost and eat cold, or would you reheat in oven? I suppose it makes sense since you can buy frozen quiche lol.

Soworried · 5 August 2012 at 7:16AM

Thankyou Save dosh, I am proud really.

Jasmin, I couldn't help but laugh at your post, sorry. x If you get stuck for meal ideas with it all then just post.

Bluegreen, that looks lovely. You can post it to me if you are not eating it.
You can eat frozen quiche cold once you have defrosted it or you can warm it through in the oven if you would like it warm.
Has anybody heard from flo? I am missing her posts.:(
I have pulled waffles out for breakfast today. For lunch I have pulled out some ham and pea soup. Dinner will be curry with the last of the left over chicken, mushrooms and onions, served with rice and prawn crackers.
Today will be a spend day as I am going to treat myself to a bottle of wine while I watch the tennis and my husband to 4 cans of what ever is on special. :j

I will update my total later.
I hope everyone has a low or no spend day. x

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

August 2012 Grocery Challenge

Comments

Categories

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