February 2009 Grocery Challenge

Can I join please?
I've never done anything like this before

I'm going for £300 for Me, husband, 1 child, 1 dog (dalmatian) 3 cats, 2 rabbits and 2 hamsters...

Have spent £205 already and get paid on the 25th...

The butcher van at our local market has been there for years. All of our market traders are regulars but its a tiny market in what was once a village. Ive now found a very local shop who has recently taken on a butcher in the vg shop so they now call it a farm shop. They do 2 FR chickens for £10 and all of the meat is local. When I need some, later in the month I will try them. I did look atAsda FR yesterday but the ones they were doing at a good price couldnt be found. I did notice lots of tins and sauces have doubled in price. Glad I still have my stock of 5p curries!!!
I have a loaf of bread in the oven now and DH requested ?I make some nofat teabread or similar as "you know how we all love it".
I made jellies the other day. I put them in the teacup I dont use(we use mugs) so they are asier and dont ake up too much room in the fridge. I do 4 cups to a 1 pint jelly but for little ones you could do up to 6 cups.
Not a clue yet what is for tea-well it wont be lunchtime anyhow! Its always the same when DH is on nights as our time schedule gets messed up and I was out most of yesterday so I didnt do any housework(what bliss).
I may do some twinks also or some peanut butter cookies for dd for lunches. I rarely buy crisps these days.

Different_Corner said about frozen chips and potatoes and felt a bit guilty?
I can make chips but always buy frozen ones-and potatoes for the other cooking methods. No harm in being a tired mum and wanting an easier route. We dont have to do everything from scratch all of the time-don't feel its a waste or feel guilty. Im sure lots of us buy both without giving it a thought(well I certainly do).

Everyone
I know alot of us have been going on about buying from local butchers etc... I was wondering what anyone thought of those big vans than go to carboots/markets?

Hmmm, I wonder if I was one of the ones 'going on' lol!
I go to our local butcher down the road mainly because I know they are good quality and I like to support local traders. The prices for meat can appear more expensive than supermarkets (exp if you get whoopsies from s'market!) however the butcher wins every time on quality for me. We don't buy as much meat as we used to, but make good use of what we do. Similar to what angelnikki said earlier, we have a diet which has variety (i.e pork, poultry, red meat, vegetarian, fish) so paying for decent meat does not make a huge dent in the budget. I also trust them as they have been there for a long time and are, to me, part of the community. They also have a nice selection of fresh veggies and fruit too. There are also butchers in the bigger town which I frequent too when through there. TBH I do go to Tesco for certain things, although I am finding more and more I buy from local butcher and grocer, as well as Coop (great offers for me right now. eg 5 Muller Corners for £1.50 v Tesco 4 for £2.00!), and the Tesco list is getting shorter!
I would agree that if you see regulars at the van and are sure that the meat is stored properly and not dodgy in any way then it might be a good place to shop (I am sure that there may well be a few dodgy dealers out there, esp in recession times when money is short for consumers!).
x
ETA Just been in the Coop for some more Muller Corners and also some of their 'Everyday' Full Flavour cheese, which seems decent value. Certain raw meats are on 2 for £5 (4 Tractor Mark pork chops/350g diced Elmwood chicken/chicken fillets*/chicken mini fillets*). There are possibly more varieties included in larger stores.
* I cannot remember the exact pack sizes of the chicken fillets/mini fillets but it was less than the 350g pack size of the diced chicken (thats why I got diced ).

Hi everyone

I've been MIA on the grocery challenge since end of November, I think. I would like to rejoin as the holidays etc are now well done with and over lol.
Back to the real world. I've been moneysaving but not really had time to catch up on MSE. It's taken me about two hours to read all the posts and it's really got me motivated again.

I've also been thinking about buying meat, veges and eggs from other sources, not keen on supermarket stuff anymore. I've decided that I'd rather eat less meat and eggs and buy better quality stuff.

This year I'm trying a different tactic. Mrs Mc I've allocated £ 150for February and have used up £135.53 so far. I've decided to stock up on my staples and will then allocate £33 per month from March. My yearly budget has always been £480 so I'm still doing the same but allocating it differently. As there's now only 10 months left I will devide it up into 10, so hence the £33. Sorry bout the waffle lol.

I've got my months meal plan all sorted out and have cooked meals for the rest of the month, till the end of Feb. My month runs from the 23rd Jan to 24th Feb.

Thanx guys for all your ideass and encouragement, and good luck with all your planning and budgeting.

Cheers
Casper
x x

Please can I join up? I'd like to try for £200 for February for 2 adults & 2 children. My DD has school dinners, do I include the cost of that in the £200 do you think?