February 2009 Grocery Challenge

Different_Corner

Morning all
We have a local farm award winning shop and our Farmers Market is the the one frequented by Hugh FW on his River Cottage jaunts. I find both expensive compared to our butchers and green grocers.
I agree with TheBees on building a rapport with the butcher.

Haven't done a proper shop yet this month, mainly because all the mouthwatering recipes at the beginning of the thread have mr spoilt for choice, think I had so many windows open browsing the thread yesterday I could feel a draught !

I have spent £15.23 though, which looking at the items was a waste. I bought Maris Piper potatoes and frozen chips. I detest oven chips, but the fast food, Friday tired Mum monster kicked in. Thing is it's silly wastage when I'm capable of chip making !

I really neeed to change my shopping habits to get acheive this target, I'm always dipping in to MrM's and I really don't like the shopping experience there, always find it cluttered and stressful.

So off to MRT's for a good solid quality shop.

Flat_Eric

OH has just left for a day's walking :eek: so a nice quiet day at home for me meaning that I can have some time to plan my menu for the month. Hoping that by doing this I can also work out what I will need from the shop each week and therefore come in under budget for Feb.

Am thinking of having a delivery from a local organic fruit and veg place and I am also thinking about trying my local butcher. not sure if this will be more expensive than buying from the supermarket but will be interesting to see how the quality compares.

My cupboards, freezers etc remain well stocked so time to really make headway into them and use up what I have. (I keep saying this but I really must!) Threat of redundancy at work so must be extra careful and watch those pennies, will be interesting to see just how little we can live on :j

Have a good day everyone

elaina79

Hi all welcome to February :eek: , soon be christmas again at this rate.

My budget for this month is £380. This is for 4 of us but we are getting a few baby bits every now and then and a few items will come with our shopping, also hubby is gonna try to give up smoking again :T , so will be getting him boiled sweets to help.

Good luck everyone.:beer:

Sunny_Angel

Hi Everyone,:hello:

Please can i join in this month?
I am allowing a budget of £300 for me, DP and three children. It is to cover food nappies toiletries etc although not petrol. We have fairly well stocked cupbaords and freezer after doing a cash n carry trip 2 weeks ago so hopefully it will be feasible. Off now to do a menu plan before a juant to Mr M for the fresh stuff. Hopefully having "comitted" on here will help me to stay on budget.

Please add me in at £300 for Feb!

nickynoo08

Morning everyone,
did my first mini shop of the month last night. I told OH he could have a treat or take away tonight while he's watching the superbowl and he said no!! I was totally shocked. Normally he would of had a take away pizza or curry plus, larger crisps, chocs etc, and would easily of cost £20. Instead he asked me to pick up a pizza from s.field, i was getting a few bits anyway coz there is no way i'm going shopping over the next few days. Ended up spending £12.80 inc promo's and staffy d.
The talk we had last week must of done some good;)
Thanks to everyone that commented on longlife milk. My dad picked some up for me on friday for little un to try. He hasnt noticed the difference, thankfully so i should be spending a little less on milk this month. OH said he WONT drink it. He said he lived on it when he got his first place and its horrible. I also used it when i was at uni and never had a prob with it. But hey ho one step at a time with him. Maybe i'll try decanting it into a our 'normal' milk bottles n see if he notices. What he dosent know wont hurt;)

Lifebegins_2

Hi there :hello:

I'm a newbie. Please can I join this month?

Feb budget will be £100, for me DP, 1 child and 1 dog.

Lisa xx

sparklymessygirl

Please put me down for £160 Mrs M. I have started into this pot already and only have about £85 left so I'm glad it's a short month!

Sparkly

Girl_least_likely_to

Morning everyone :wave:

Went to Asda last night for my 1st spend of the month. Spent £42.30 and have got enough F&V, milk, juice, bread and yogs to last the week. Clover is still on offer at £2 for a huge tub, Asda own teabags are on speacial at 240 bags for £2, Cathedral City Cheddar cheese is £2, I will need all of these later in the month so got them now as Asda is not a shop I visit often. I seemed to get quite a bit of carp for OH's carp box, hoping he'll make this last and I won't have to get much more until next month. Also got the bacon, sausages and other bits I like from Asda and stuffed them in the freezer for later in the month.

What shocked me is that sliced meats have gone up again :mad:. 2 packs of 175g ham and beef are £4 for the 2, I swear they were £3.50 a few weeks ago! Who was asking about gammon joints for cooking, slicing and freezing? I'd be very interested in how this works out as the packs I bought would only last 4 of OH packed lunches. Which gammon joints should I be looking for? I'd love to hear some feedback on this, I feel £££'s are to be saved! OH does get cheese, egg or tuna in his butties too but cold meats are so expensive! We don't have many leftovers from big joints of meat as we don't have a "sunday roast" that often so should I be thinking about roasting a joint specifically for my purpose? Feedback will be very much appriceated

Meanwhile I've had to jig my meal plan for the week. Tea is at MIL's this evening so the roast chicken can stay in the freezer and tomorrow's leftover chicken risotto has become something else from the freezer. Not a bad start to the week then .

Hope everyone has a good week

panambi

Hi, I am new to this and would like to join, £200 for pregnant me, hubby and two kids (8 and 6). Will try and go through all the posts and tips later, this is a first trying to stick to a budget so will see how it goes but normally buy in Asda (most Smart Price products) and sometimes Netto (they are the only two close by). I am trying to buy a pack of nappies every now and then for when baby comes in May, most other baby stuff I got off Freecycle. Looking forward to this challenge and to have something left over at the end (hopefully!!!).

kunekune

My goal for this month is £410, which is £450 minus last month's overspend. My freezer is not as full of meat as it was (I didn't buy ANY in this week's shop) but it's still full - each time I cook a vege meal, I seem to end up with another meal-sized amount to freeze, so one of this week's challenge is to try to end up with less food in the freezer at the end of the week than I started. Though I may not succeed because there were lots of yummy root veges in my ocado veg box, and I need to plan how to use them.

Yesterday's shop (minus wine & cider) was almost exactly £90. I stocked up on toilet paper, tissues, kitchen towels and wipes for my son, so probably won't need any more of those this month. Last month I tried to do one really big shop but it didn't work because we still needed small amounts of stuff each week, and there isn't anyway in walking distance where I can get it (the co-op is being rebuilt, and the temp co-op is more like a Spar only with less variety!). So we ended up going to Sainsburys in the next town anyway, which defeated the point.

So the goal this time is to spend 75-100 each week, enough for cheap delivery, and spread the big items (eg, I'll need coffee next week) evenly. I'm limiting the bread order to 3 loaves and any more than that, I'll make! I don't like breadmakers but have been experimenting with a Grant Loaf and that came out really well last time, also stayed fresh for 3 days which is pretty good.