January 2009 Grocery Challenge

MoneyQueen

Hello everyone...

I haven't had a very good week... I know I didn't have to goto Supermarket before Friday, but we actually went yesterday and I have spent another £16.89... and that too mostly on junk..:sad:... taking the total for January till today to £76.43... Need to be really tight for the rest of the month..as we have 2-3 friends visiting us next weekend and I have promised them some good chinese food (home cooked obviously :rolleyes:)

Have updated my signature

rosieben

I've spent £45 so far this month, and another small shop to pay my dsis for when she finds the receipt, probably about £20. I shouldn't need anything else except fresh veg and fruit so I'm hopeful this month will make it.

Those of you who are making budget :T

and those of you who are not, give yourselves a pat on the back for effort - and remind yourself how much you were spending pre-GC?

greent

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Scottish meat is yummy . If you ever see Orkney meat, then try it, cos it is scrummy. I was not a red meat person until I tried Orkney Meat lol

Shall keep an eye out - although the likelihood of finding it here in the south west (just) is low I'm not a red meat fan (I don't eat beef/ steak unless minced ) and eat lamb maybe once a year. I *do* eat pork (couple of times/ mth) . DH likes scottish steak though

greent
x

Rainbow_Butterfly

Thanks all, some great ideas there.

I love roast chicken, but can mever find one for less than about £4 in tesco. Any ideas where else one might be cheaper?

xx

leiela

Hi both me and my husband are heavily into weight training, and as such we both have very high protien diets, which cycle on and off low carb depending on the stage of training we are at.

We don't do atkins, personally i don't like the quality of food and find i get much better results from clean foods, Lean meats and good fats.

My tips are as follows.

Eggs ... eggs are your friend, they are cheap and they are pure protien and fat.

nuts / seeds are great and cheap sources of protien and fat, you can get huge bags from places lidl.

Find a local butcher, shop around it's generally much cheaper to buy cuts of meat from a butcher than it is from the super market. I buy 10 lean steak handmade burgers from my butcher for £3.50. there are no added carbs 100% steak with just herbs and spices for flavor, and these are 150g eat which is about 40g of protien per burger. I also buy 4lb of steak mince off him for £4.. which i can easy make 4 meals out of.

hunt around for bargins in places like asda things that have been cut in price as there sell by date is due buy in bulk and freeze.

Im finding i can feed a family of 4 on £50 per week, even though me husband is fully low carb for 6 meals a day atm, and im eating 8 times a day.. bettween just the adults we eat 1kg of meat a day!!! not including eggs / protien powder etc it can be done you just need to shop around.

OrkneyStar

canidothis wrote: »

Hi, I would like to stop using supermarkets as often as I do, I will use the local butcher and fruit and veg shop and will have milk delivered. But where do people buy things like toilet rolls, coffee, teabags, tins, etc??

I have this problem too .
I tend to buy things like t-bags and coffee at the Coop, still a supermarket but one which has been loyally serving islands and rural communities for years. Toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, cleaning stuff, tins all come from a combination of Tesco, Coop, Lidl and local shops (local shops have surprisingly good offers sometimes).
I think we are very lucky here, although only Coop, small grocers and butcher (in terms of food) in my local town the one 15 miles away has loads of local shops, butcher, baker, Coop, Tesco, Lidl.
Some things are harder to get in the small shops though.

TheBees wrote: »

Orkney Star - I'm also making an effort to use the local shops. I used the butcher and f&veg shop last weekend and hope to do the same this weekend. Our town is going to turn into a ghost town if we're not careful - woolworths has gone and the holiday camp closed down which means hundreds less people in the town spending. Local businesses are really struggling.

Yes, and once they are gone they are gone! Tesco is good for some things, I just worry there is such a reliance on it. I know some people have no option, or others simply prefer everything under one roof, so I am not making a dig. It's just that if we don't support our local shops they will soon be gone, and that will be a sincere loss.

Anyway you have all no doubt heard enough of my voice for now!
Hope all are well and take care everyone.

redmel1621

Hi All

Since Tuesday I have spent another £29.59, almost £10 of that was on complete rubbish...ds1 has guitar lessons on Tuesday at 4pm, which doesn't give us enough time to go home and back again after school, so we end up just roaming over the road to the shop and buying pasties, sweets, pop etc...I will have to come up with a plan to combat this!!! although it won't be so bad in the warm/dry weather because we can just hang outside on the grass and play are until he goes in.

I have updated sig and have almost spent the budget already, I still have 15 days to go till the next month starts for me. I really need to try and adjust the way I have shopped for next month. I do feel like I have wasted a fair bit of money on stuff we haven't actually needed, or could have got cheaper.

Mel x

maltesers_2

I follow a similar diet and also feel much healthier for it.

We grow all our own fruit veg on allotments and have some stored for winter in the freezer. I have started sprouting seeds on the windowsill and this provides a nice addition to salads in winter.

I use a lot of cheaper cuts of meat - lambs liver costs about 60p for 2 people from Tesco butcher counter. Belly of pork in a piece cooked slowly (about 4 hours) is cheap and delicious.

I have kippers for breakfast quite often and as a pate for lunch(full of vit D and omega 3) you can buy 3 small fillets in a packet for about 70p at tesco and freeze them separately if you don't want them all at once. Keep an eye on the Tesco reduced area fish is often reduced much more than meat and is a superb source of protein.

Most farmer markets and farms sell free range eggs much cheaper - these will keep for 3 weeks so it is worth a special visit.

Somerfield also do lots of deals on meat, often at a better price than Tesco, BOGOF gammon steaks etc. Check out the bargains at Madabout Bargains
http://www.madaboutbargains.co.uk/offers/Off_Your_Trolley.htm
where you can compare prices By store: Tesco Sainsbury's ASDA Iceland Co-op Somerfield Waitrose Morrisons

Sylvan

Hi redmel.

Do you pick him up in a car or on foot? When I had to take the boys into town to hand over to DH in a car park (so I could start work as he finished:rolleyes:) I used to make food for them and put it in flat tupperware bowls with lids, but it may be harder if you're on foot (don't want to ruin his street cred:D). What about a sandwich and some fruit?

OrkneyStar

Can you have liver on Atkins diet ? If so it seems to be cheaper, and if you are not put off by the fact that it is liver!
Also have you looked in Lidl, as they often have nice cold meat selections for cheaper than Tesco ?
Or ask your local butcher for a cheaper cut of meat and do in Slow cooker (or on hob over low heat for a long time) ?
Can you buy chicken legs/wings instead of breast meat ?
As someone else said look for reduced meat.
Also frozen meat can be cheaper than fresh stuff.
What about Avocados instead of meat ?

hth