March 2015 Grocery Challenge

Hallo all,


Thank goodness the new month is here!


Big thanks to Zippy, Coxy and Solstice for keeping us all going!


Please can I be put down for £100 in March; I am now making better use of the health insurance rewards scheme I am part of by topping up my Boots gift card with £40 each month which covers wonder bairn's formula plus the odd toiletries/medicines I get or a little treat depending on the month. Therefore I am dropping this from the GC. Also I am starting to drop formula in favour of whole milk as its often a struggle to get enough formula in to wonder bairn now and she much prefer's food/cows milk so the only purpose it serves now is a bedtime bottle really so soon the biggest part of this expense will go - yay!


The March GC month runs Feb 25th - March 24th for us and we have wonder bairn's first birthday(!!!!) on March 26th for which we will do a little party at home (usually bf's side drags us all out to the local carvery but we want wonder bairn to be used to celebrating at home with everyone's favourite foods). I would usually budget for this in the GC however I am now making better use of my expenses from work and as such have allocated some of these to the party budget


Bf should be going back to work after all from tomorrow so that will limit his constant snacking too thus saving a bit


Bf doesn't eat breakfast and I have continued buying his cereal bars out of habit but he has stopped eating those most days too now so I will drop those all together and make him flapjack/similar if requested.
Wonder bairn and I have cereal (wheat biscuits, hot oats/ready brek usually) and I have lots of oats to use up so I am going to buy some natural yogurt and frozen berries to make myself overnight oats
Lunches; bf always has the same (ham and smoked cheese sandwich, packet of crisps, biscuit or malt loaf) so that's easily done. Wonder bairn is either fed at nursery or I leave bits (Tuesdays, Wednesdays I leave stuff, Mondays I'm home with her, Thursday and Friday nursery feed her). She's really good and pretty much eats anything I leave so again easily sorted - trying not to leave her sandwiches everyday so something she has cold penne or sausage rolls. Starting with more variety as she has finally cut a tooth to use hehe. I have soups, salad (pasta or veg), frittata, jacket potatoes etc. Purely based on what's in/what I fancy. The frittata is a new thing - trying to make my own tonight!
Fruit/veg wise bf is fussy and I have to practically force stuff down him. Wonder bairn and I like more variety. When possible I like to visit the market in our township - If I time it right and go around 1/2 pm I can get loads for under £5 and it all lasts go through plenty of salad at the moment too as wonder bairn has cucumber chunks, baby tomatoes etc chopped up with either lunch or tea (sometimes both)
Tea: I am making a meal plan to stick to. It's very important we plan ahead for most of the week now as we are so busy again. Wednesdays will be slow cooker days as we aren't home until gone 8.30pm (I feed bubs at training) and Mondays need to be quick teas. I have some staple meals and want to move away from a few of the convenience foods we've been having so I'll post my plan/s at some point!


I have a till spit for £3 off a £20 spend at Morrisons which I got today and they have some good offers on at the moment so I will go and buy some bits from there. The rest I may get from ASDA as a change from Tesco just to compare quality again (Tesco fresh stuff not as cracking recently) and I can get a discounted card for ASDA from the health insurance rewards scheme I believe

Can I join again at £200 for the month. Only spent £145.35:j this month so the rest goes in the holiday fund.

Good Morning Chaps

Well, I've decided to keep my budget the same at £350 purely because I've had to buy a few "big ticket" items this month and we have a week off together.

I had my first spend of the month on Monday at £75.06 - this included some of those bigger items but most of them were on offer. Mahoosive pack of loo rolls, dry cat food, clingfilm (why is this so dear?!) and wine for a dinner party we were attending.

I really need to reign in my personal spending at work though. I just nip upstairs to the canteen and get a quick pot of Angel delight (if my baby doesn't come out butterscotch/banana/strawberry flavour I will be surprised) and whatever else I fancy. Its never much, but over the week its adding up. Therefore, for Thursday and Friday this week I am going to try NOT to buy anything at work and will report back next week (I'm working from home today so shouldn't need to buy anything).

Thank you to all who keep the thread running.

Almost another month so can I set my March budget for £200 please.[/COLOR]

I have been told by doctors that I must eat more protein but also need to watch my cholesterol so will have to see if this normal budget is going to support this or if I will have to increase it. Any meal ideas xspender would be very welcome however I can not eat any type of pulses as they make me ill. Need to read a few things about what to eat as at moment can only think of meat, cheese, fish, nuts, grains and eggs and yet there must be more out there plus I don't want to increase my weight if at all possible. (Don't want much do I) :rotfl:

Woop woop an nsd day here I am going to need quite a few. I made this for dinner tonight it was amazing I am loving jack monroes new recipes.

http://agirlcalledjack.com/2015/02/04/pappa-al-pomodoro-italian-bread-crusts-and-tomato-soup-32p-vegan/

I plan to do it with pasta tomo