January 2009 Grocery Challenge

ceridwen

I'm a bit confused about how many people need feeding here? "Nappies for two" and the oldest child you mention is 3 . Can you clarify how many of you there are - presumably 3 children?

thriftlady_2

ceridwen wrote: »

I'm a bit confused about how many people need feeding here? "Nappies for two" and the oldest child you mention is 3 . Can you clarify how many of you there are - presumably 3 children?

She says she is a mum of 2. 3 year olds are often still in nappies -2 of my 3 were;)

Ess-six

Oh dear - I've already spent over a third of my months budget :eek: - and only a week in! I suspect I may have set my budget a bit too low - I jumped in back at the level I'd got to when last doing the challenge in June - so I may have to cut myself a bit of slack this month.

I'll have to look in the deep recesses of my freezer to see if there's anything I can use that I'd forgotten about!

I'm also struggling to read the all of the posts - and they are full of inspiration, I need to get organised on that front as well.

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Still covered in snow here and its -15 again -if you are brave/daft enough to step outside (hubby )... Im so glad that I have plenty of everything in as there is NO way Im going out in this... Im going to curl up on the sofa and get some more x stitch and kniting done (on xmas pressies No. 4+5 now )

Dinner tonight is going to be sausages done in the remoska with plenty of onions and carrots, then mashed potato/swede, brussels and peas .... I will do extra veggies/mash and then tomorrow we will have bubble n squeak possibly with some of the roast beef or pork I froze at the weekend

In a bizzar way Im hoping this weather lasts (apart from loving snow) It will encourage me to stay in and not spend anymore:rotfl: ..still have over half the budget left and most of what I have spent is on stuff for future months..and we are half way through our month -so pinkies crossed folks

Hope everyone is doing well -have a great day folks

sistercas

I have just registered with ' spending diary.com' I am amazed at just how much i am spending:eek:
honestly it makes you realise where all the money is going.
its the 'little shop' in between the main shop for bread or milk etc that I forget about. i am astounded.
I have decided just to monitor it this month and then organise a plan of attack to defeat the extra little spends :rotfl:
also looking at approved foods/ crags website. there seems to be some bargains on there . thanks for posting this website ( whoever did)

lauradora

£20.54 spent so far at Aldi

Benmollymoo

Yes my eldest didn't potty train until 3.5 (and we had to take him off to Dairy for 3 months to get there) and wasn't dry at night until 6. (His little sister was dry at nght before him).

I got a load of unused motherease nappies on ebay for a good price.

kunekune

Yesterday was a NSD apart from my bus fare. At home today, so no bus to pay for. Should be another NSD. Have lunch in fridge (leftovers from last night) and dinner planned. I have posted my food stocks on the storecupboard challenge, and they are MASSIVE. I think my Feb challenge will be to only buy fruit, veg, bread & dairy. It would mean a lot of beans and pearl barley but I can live with that!

mummysaver

Good morning!

Doesn't sound like your lo is too fussy, he seems to eat a range of foods, just might not be what you fancy eating week in week out though! How about when you cook a meal he does like, freezing a small portion of it for him, then when you have something he isn't keen on he can eat his ready meal? I know you said you had a small freezer, but child sized meals don't take too much space and at least you won't have to have the fight over dinner, by dinner time I was on a very short fuse when my four were little!

For ideas on meals and how to stretch them have a look at Mbaz's feeding a family of 4 for £20 for a month thread, it has loads of great ideas on streeeeetching mince and everything else! The rubber chicken thread is also good for new ideas.

Some people find meal planning works well and helps them budget, others prefer not to! I meal plan around what I have in, so make a list for the extras that I need, plus store cupboard ingredients that I've run out of (toms, pulses, beans, flour, butter, etc), and when I shop I keep an eye out for any bargains (part of my budget is allocated to whoopsies and reductions in my mind), then these are incorporated into the next week's meal plan. As you don't have a big freezer this might be more difficult, but you could still swap around meals to make use of reductions.

I find Somerfield are great for meat reductions, turkey legs are almost always reduced in there, and these can be used for loads of things, and they are nice and simple to pop in the oven and roast, or just cook in the slow cooker.

Tesco is usually good round here for veg and dairy reductions, so it's worth finding out where the reduced sections are if you don't already know - reductions are meant to be done around 12, 3, 6 and 9, depending on the size of the store. In my local it's about 5-6pm, in the one I work in it's usually around 7.30-8.30pm for the final reductions.

For toiletries it's always good to pick up the things that you need when they are BOGOF, and most things go in cycles, especially deodorant and baby wipes. So it worth buying the extra one or whatever and allocating to part of the next month's budget.

As for using reusable nappies, I used to do this when we were at home a lot, and then used disposables when we were out, great as a way of money saving. Also worth investigating cheaper brands if you don't already use them. And when mine were getting ready to be potty trained, as I guess your lo will be soon (unless he's like my dd1 and very stubborn!) then I put them in value nappies from Tesco, they were good enough to stop leaks, but held the wee against the skin for long enough that my kids knew they were wet and they weren't keen on the feeling, so became keener to use the potty! If you do want to use reusable nappies it's worth checking if you can get a grant - some local authorities do these I think, or having a look on freecycle.

Good luck with your budgeting x

Boodle

The things you list in your "non-junky" list for what your little one eats sounds great! I'd stick to this stuff as much as possible and sounds like a healthy enough diet to me! Actually, I have just noticed you say for the "junky" food, you make your own anyway, so as long as you are doing this I can't see the harm in making chips and chicken for him occasionally.

I have started using dried milk in my tea and coffee as can't tell much difference. Only buying fresh milk for my daughter is really going to help the budget. Try sticking with seasonal fruit and veg and cheaper options - some types of apple are 6p, some 22p each in Asda, for example.

I find meal planning really helps. If you check out the meal planning thread you will get lots of tips for budget but yummy meals. I also find that checking my shopping list online before I go helps to give an idea of what it is going to cost and can then adjust if needs be. If you purposely try to make a couple of dinners "budget meals" this should help. We like to have chilli but find we actually prefer it without the meat which can be just too rich - I just heat up a tin of chilli beans (same price as other tinned pulses) with a tin of tomatoes and a tin of SP kidney beans and there is always have enough for me, hubby, toddler as well as enough to freeze for the next week. It is absolutely yum with rice and broccoli (frozen SP stuff) on the side.

I like to make double of some things so that the next week I just have to shove them in the microwave for 10 minutes which is a lifesaver for lessening the stress-load. If you work a couple of those make double nights every week, you will always have a couple of "ready-meals" on hand.

Re-usable nappies would make a great saving, also using just cloth for wiping the babies clean (if really yukked out, keep some wipes just for the number 2s.) A drop of stardrops in the powder tray and white wine vinegar in the fabric softener tray saves a lot for the regular washing of LO's clothes and nappies! Trust me - it won't smell of vinegar and I find stardrops seems to keep the colours in my dark washes better than washing powders. If you don't like stardrops for cleaning sinks and baths (like me :eek: ) then try the local pound shop - I get the all-purpose Flash spray cleaner at my nearest.

Look out for free or cheap activities for the little ones. Toddler groups and such can be expensive. Why not check out the library for free storytime sessions (most have these for under5s) or just go along and bound to bump into other children with their parents - they tend to always have toys and will def have a children's book section. Instead of expensive soft play, etc, go along to your nearest park for a run-and-climb-about session for free!