February 2009 Grocery Challenge

pink_numbers

There are tonnes of ideas on the feed family of 4 on £20 for a month thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333

jakesmummy86

Thanks a lot! x

angelnikki

Hi! Just had my MrT delivery. The total came to £87.40. This included £12.81 on wipes/nappies, £11.89 on toiletries and £6.38 on household stuff. So only £56.32 was spent on food. I got some Princes tuna for 69p, Anchor spreadable 500g 2 for £3, and Pampers baby wipes bogof.

Under budget so far :cool: £164.83 / £350

Off to update my siggy...

Nikki x

dealwithdebtdot

Hi and welcome.

It might be helpful to know what sort of food you all like.

You have £5.00 a day, that's not too bad honest!

I would suggest making a meal plan, doing a list and checking if you can afford it all on mysupermarket.com. (if you shop in supermarkets!)

Focus on cheap cuts of meat, mince (bulked out with lentils/oats), ham hocks, chickens are great when you s-t-r-e-c-h them. (roast, then rissoto/pie, and then chicken and veg soup from the carcas).

Pasta and pulses are brilliant generally.
The plate pies thread has a lot of ideas.

One of my favourites at the moment is tuna fishcakes (mash, spring onions, sweetcorn, and tuna there is a lot more potato than tuna) served with salad, or even baked beans.

Veg chilli is great too (make it without the chilli for the little one? take out his portion, and then whack in the chili). red split lentils, value mixed peppers, onions, value tomatoes a few oats (makes it a bit more creamy), sasoning to tatse ..I like cumin and oregano.

You could also do a list of what you have in the cupbaord already and see how you can use that up and not use up your budget so much!

purpleivy

WHy not post what you have? People here are always helpful with meal suggestions when posters do this. I have often been tempted to do that!

I will always try to think 'what can I make with what I've got?' rather than 'what shall I buy to eat this week.

jakesmummy86

Hi thanks very much, I know £5 per day is very generous however this also has to cover nappies for the rest of the month as well as the usual toiletries and cleaning. I already buy the cheapest nappies from Tesco's and I find they are quite good! I'm sure we can do it, just need some tips and a little push!

Thanks again x

LoopyLinz

jakesmummy86 wrote: »

Hi thanks very much, I know £5 per day is very generous however this also has to cover nappies for the rest of the month as well as the usual toiletries and cleaning. I already buy the cheapest nappies from Tesco's and I find they are quite good! I'm sure we can do it, just need some tips and a little push!

Thanks again x

Hi

As a few others have said I would start by posting what you already have. You will be surprised how much people will be able to come up with!

Could I suggest that maybe you deduct from your total the cost of your nappies, approx toiletries and cleaning products? Then you will have a better idea what can be spent on food. HTH

Linz xoxox

nmlc

Evening all,
Ymmymummy05
"I accidentally got creme fraiche instead of cream cheese for the icing on the cake - what can you cook with creme fraiche as I've never used it before?"
I use creme fraiche in sauce's, it's a really good ingredient as you can heat it and it's doesn't curdle or split. I make a creamy tomato pasta dish, the original recipe was with double cream but I replaced cream with creme fraiche and it tatsted no different! Also I use it if I make cheese/white sauce again I replace some milk with creme fraiche. If you use low fat creme fraiche it's also quite low in calories. It can also be used instead of cream for pouring on desserts. I've never tried to whisk it up to thicken it, I don't think that would work. HTH.
Have now had 2 NSD's in a row, even went into Mr T's today and didn't spend anything!
Hope you are all well, keep safe.

katholicos

Buy a bottle of stardrops (80p or thereabouts) and you can forget about buying a lot of other household cleaners.

Beki

You think you've got it bad! lol.. I've got just under £65 to last until 28th feb, to feed 2 adults, 2 children (10 and 3), 1 greedy labrador, 8 chickens, 1 pony and 2 goats LOL... *starts madly rocking in the corner* :rotfl:

Admittedly, the hay and goat food has already been bought so i'm cheating a bit there by saying that lol

But my point is.. it's definitely do-able! Look through some of the threads on here (the store cupboard challenge is a really good one, as it the £20 for a month thread), and you'll be just fine Honest! xxxx