March 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • nannygladys
    nannygladys Posts: 3,048
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    Well another 4 week period has come to an end today and I have done really well for once:T but Im going to try the postponing shopping for a couple of days and hopefully by Xmas I will have the extra in another purse to spend then. I will menu plan on Saturday when Im not working and until Monday can still eat out of the freezer and cupboards, its the sweet things I miss the most and sometimes the homemade cakes dont really cut the mustard but I will keep at it as its good for my weight loss as well.

    Anyway I have had my dinner which was beans, egg and chips havent had that for about a year and throughly enjoyed it:) so off for a look around the site
    Jxx
    2024 is going to be a positive year for me, and it's starting now!! 
    Buys: All budgeted and paid by cash!
    Jan - fridge/freezer
              Hoover
    Feb - milk frother, curtain pole x2, roller blind, toilet seat, bath sink taps, kitchen sink waste unit and an extra double electric socket.
    March - raised bed for garden, 

  • Epic Fail for me again - 3 months in a row. :mad::eek::mad:

    And....
    I still have another week to go. However my next shop day is on friday 30th which is payday, so may be able to start next months. Won't declare just yet though as that is tempting fate.

    I have a plan for my future GC budgets, which i will keep mulling over for the next week and see whether i will go with it for the new month.

    On the plus side (is there one!! :D ) i know in the past i would have just been spending all over the place doing 3 big shops a month and lots of top ups, going into my OD all over the place too, as i had spent all my wages by week 2 so was living in OD and CC. Now as we are not trying to live particularly frugally but just trying to watch where my/ our money goes I am trying not to be too hard on myself as i am still spending less than i would have been doing last year.

    Well done to those of you that are staying below your budgets. I am really impressed with the achievements of people on here i still have a lot to learn. :D

    Hopefully be back next week to start April's GC.
    SPC 14 Target £200 /
    Debt: £11850
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    Anyway I have had my dinner which was beans, egg and chips havent had that for about a year and throughly enjoyed it:) so off for a look around the site
    Jxx

    Sometime it's the simplest meals which are the most enjoyed!!

    Well done for doing well this month.

    I don't really know how I've done this month, as it all went to pieces when I did dd's party at the beginning of March. I think I'll try and look through the account later, and list the spends, then allocate some for party and some for gc. At least it'll all be listed then...

    NSD today, no time to go shopping even if i'd wanted to! Hoping to stay atrong tomorrow when I drop the children off. My list is only small, and I have £9.02 a$da gift card, so will cover most if not all of that.

    My two are just having tomato soup with grated cheese and bread to dunk for dinner tonight, it's our 'simple night'. I shall have pasta with sauce and grated cheese later when they're in bed as I need a rest this evening, so I'll put on a dvd, eat my food and veg out.

    Only one more day to get through until the weekend now guys!

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • hex2
    hex2 Posts: 4,736
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    Epic Fail for me again - 3 months in a row. :mad::eek::mad:.

    It isnt a fail - it could be much worse. Be realistic, do you need to change your habits or increase your buget?
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need' Marcus Tullius Cicero
  • elsiepac
    elsiepac Posts: 2,550
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    A day early technically, but have done my main Week 5 shop. I had a couple of extras in there so am looking now at coming in only just under budget this month. Still, massive savings on what I used to spend (just remembering the days of my £200 budget just for me!)

    I went to A1d! and I bought...
    1 bag 3p (d'oh, every time!!!)
    Frozen med veg to go with the lentil pie I'm having later in the week £1.49
    2x 4 pack baking potatoes on Super 6 so total 78p
    1x 1kg onions on super 6 39p
    1x mixed peppers, £1.19
    1x hazelnut wafers to try (they are YUM!) 59p
    1x Ch0ceur Almond Milk Choc bar 99p
    1x box multigrain hoops for breakfasts to use up my almond milk since it's useless in coffee! £1.05

    So a total spend of £6.51 to add.

    The only thing I may end up buying will be some kind of milk product if I run out towards the end of next week, but if I get real milk and keep it to 1 pint then I be under budget... fingers crossed! (may end up "borrowing" some of mum and dads...tee hee hee :p )

    LC

    Mar GC: £69.18/£70
    Week 1: £14.47/£9 <-- over by £5.47 :eek:
    Week 2:
    £8.40/£9
    Week 3: £
    6.60/£9
    Week 4:
    £8.37/£9
    Week 5:
    £8.51/£9
    Stores: £22.83/£25
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing [email protected] views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
    GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-13
  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030
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    edited 22 March 2012 at 6:53PM
    We had this for dinner last night AND tonight as they enjoyed it so much.

    I seared a 1kg joint of lamb (well a 600g and 400g joint as per my earlier post :) ) in my griddle pan and put it in the SC on a bed of sliced onions. Put 10 cloves of crushed garlic in a bowl with a tsp of cumin, tsp of olive oil, juice of a lemon and a grinding of salt and pepper. Mixed it together and smeared over the lamb.

    Make up 500ml of lamb stock ( I use Bisto Best and if you don't have lamb then veg stock is fine.) Add 6-7 tbsp of tomato pur!e, a tsp of allspice and a tbsp of sugar and stir it together then put it in the SC. Put a cinnamon stick in as well.

    I served this with broccoli and green beans and fresh baked crusty bread to mop up the sauce :D

    That did us for two days running.
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030
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    rosieben wrote: »
    hello GC'ers! <waves>

    sorry I've not been around much but I've been fully occupied making deocrations for my son's wedding next month. The end is in sight so I hope to be back within a few days and will catch up on all the recipes.

    Hope you're all winning the battle of the budget :)

    I think that you can be forgiven for being MIA with that reason :D

    Hope everything goes well on the day, please let us know as we are all very nosey and we all love a good wedding :)
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • hex2 wrote: »
    It isnt a fail - it could be much worse. Be realistic, do you need to change your habits or increase your buget?

    Thanks hex2, i think the budget needs increasing to be honest, but i started low ish because if id set £200 - £250 to start with i'd have just spent that and felt that i was doing ok, doing it this way i seem to be spending around the £180 - £200 mark, so i think i need to set that for the next few months and see what happens.

    Our situation is that Hubby is in the forces and is only at home at weekends, so we eat pretty well at weekends. I think to make up for his dreadful choice of food in the week and my eating for one in the week, (usually HM ready meals). I currently budget between £150 and £180 for all food, toiletries, cleaning products, bunny bedding and food.

    My plan for the next couple of months is to budget £150 and to use £50 from our joint account to bring our budget to £200. I am going to do a medium shop at the beginning of the month and then weekly top ups. I am also really going to focus on MENU PLANNING TOO.

    Sorry for going on, i am just trying to get it all clear in my head.
    SPC 14 Target £200 /
    Debt: £11850
  • FrugalLina
    FrugalLina Posts: 466
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    Elsiepac, I see you are trying out different milks and I thought I would tell you about some discoveries I have made. For some reason (while I was unwell and my appetite sunk) I really went off meat and dairy, so ended up switching to soya milk (light) which is really nice, but I only have it on cereal or in my tea.

    But then, someone told me too much soya isn't good for you and as I eat other soy products, I decided to try other milks and I really like Almond milk, Oatly and Rice dream. Trouble is, they are pricey.

    I have discovered online that you can make your own - google it and give it a go!
    31.5/100
  • elsiepac
    elsiepac Posts: 2,550
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    FrugalLina wrote: »
    Elsiepac, I see you are trying out different milks and I thought I would tell you about some discoveries I have made. For some reason (while I was unwell and my appetite sunk) I really went off meat and dairy, so ended up switching to soya milk (light) which is really nice, but I only have it on cereal or in my tea.

    But then, someone told me too much soya isn't good for you and as I eat other soy products, I decided to try other milks and I really like Almond milk, Oatly and Rice dream. Trouble is, they are pricey.

    I have discovered online that you can make your own - google it and give it a go!

    Thanks FrugalLina - I've basically really put myself off milk recently with all my reading ready to go veggie after I get back from South Africa.

    I have nothing against soya milk EXCEPT it separates in coffee and that turns my stomach as much as curdled milk (I've never been a huge fan of milk hence this change anyway - I'm not going vegan though, I love cheese!).

    So soya is out.

    As Mr T have had the tall litre cartons of milk substitutes on offer at £1 recently, I figred it was the best time to try.

    I've had great success with K.a.r.a, which is coconut milk based (I adore coconut and if you try it on its own it does taste of coconut! Happy days!). It goes beautifully in coffee, however I'm using teeny amounts, the coffee looks black and yet it's really creamy.

    Hence I continued my search and bought two cartons of Alpr0 almond milk. Mistake - this does the same as soya milk except even worse and not only separates but also sinks to the bottom and then you stir it and it rises up... anyway, won't try that in coffee again! On the upside, it's very tasty on its own, so I am happy to use it up with cereal.

    Moving forward I think I'll just stick with K***, it's tasty and it works however you use it. Annoyingly cannot afford to buy them now while on offer, and so dreading the price going back up to £1.39.

    Swings and roundabouts though, I'm using less than half what I would of normal skimmed milk in my coffee, which I was buying min. 2x 2pints @ 89p a week, so it actually works out very roughly the same.

    I would be interested to try r1ce dr3am though - I've heard rice milk is nice... do you know if it separates in the hot drinks like almond or soya?

    Thanks,

    LC
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing [email protected] views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
    GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-13
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