February 2009 Grocery Challenge

rosieben

s4aRainyDay wrote: »

Hello! ...
this is my first post, i've been reading the other months challenges and thought i'd start ( a bit late i know!) ...

Welcome RainyDay, MrsMC will be along to add you to the list no the front page. Good Luck with the challenge!

my dsis bought me 4 tins of baked beans on offer today :dance: Fish for dinner tomorrow, maybe a fish pie, and a veg stew with dumplings for Saturday and Sunday. I've got some lovely fresh farm eggs so I think boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast tomorrow

orchid-96

Flat Eric Don'twotty too much about yr overspend - just sit down and work out a meal plan and work out how many meals etc. you will get for what you bought - and if you were mislead on something, take it back for a refund :mad: I would do this out of principle......The main thing is you are aware of what you are spending, which before doing the challenge I certainly was not...

Thanks TheBees I will have a go with that casserole,sounds gorgeous...

I have been thinking today, that I might be trying to manage on too strict a budget as I don't want my kids to suffer (lack of vits etc.) but having said that they are probably having better meals now and less rubbish as I have been trying to bake more so that must be better eh!!!

what do others spend per month with 3 young kiddies and a fussy dh? I would love to know....

angelatgraceland

Well I spent loads today! however-it was planned(well most of it)
Went to Iceland and spent £25 on party food which is gonna last until at leat tomorrow night as it was DD birthday today. Also gave her money for her present. Wentr to Waitrose and got their cheap bread and fruit n fibre. Then went to Co-op for birthday cake(she wanted a yucky sweet, shop one)
I popped into the farmshop/butchers to look around again and noticed theat the FR chickens which were being sold for 2 for £10 had 12th Feb label on them. There were 5 chickens and that is the same as 2 days previous so I was cheeky and asked if they would be reducing them. He said yes-he would reduce to £3.50 each so I offered him £15 to clear his shelf and he accepted so I got FR chickens for the price of value caged. No idea what they weigh-I must weigh one. They also had chicken pieces-wings legs and breast at £4.99 per kilo. I asked how much breasts were so he had to make a phonecall to find out. 4 breast for £3.50 so I asked him to pick out 3 nice big ones. Also got a dozen FR eggs which is why I rally popped in-£1.99 so I did very well methinks-even tho its £18.50 I didnt plan on-it will keep for about 6 weeks. Also went in Somerfield and did well with my Lurpack vouchers. I bought the 500g lurpack on halfprice offer and they accepted my vouchers for the small size "light". I was gonna play dumb if they didnt. Also got rid of a couple of vouchers in Waaitrose. On top of that I got my refund for my prescription now Im exempt so a very sucessfull day!

greent

orchid-96 wrote: »

I have been thinking today, that I might be trying to manage on too strict a budget as I don't want my kids to suffer (lack of vits etc.) but having said that they are probably having better meals now and less rubbish as I have been trying to bake more so that must be better eh!!!

what do others spend per month with 3 young kiddies and a fussy dh? I would love to know....

I have 3 DC (11, nearly 9 and 3) 2 of which are fussy/ 2 big eaters (although 1 is obv a fussy big eater!) I couldn't do £200 month - I spend between £40 - £50 on milk alone, depending on how long the month is. And chickens etc are always 'happy' chooks, although try and stock the freezer if I see offers/ reduced items which are happy. DH is semi- fussy.

I bake lots of goodies, make most meals from scratch (although we have oven chips - well kids have them once a week) and sometimes bake bread (DD won't eat it, DH will sometimes eat it) My grocery budget also includes takeaways (inc food on the go if shopping in town, but not proper meals out (but these are rare), pet food/ hay/ wood shavings etc for guinea pigs (getting through lots of hay in this weather) and nappies for potty-reluctant toddler (although got most of this month's free from a mum I know who is managing potty training successfully! :money:Result! )

Oh - and this month I'm spending even more on milk - along with tea bags and sugar as we have builders in for 8 weeks. Min 2 builders per day, has been up to 7 - with on average 4 cups of tea each per day......:eek:

I tried £400 last month, but just went over so went up to £450 this month. Should be ok. But in may last year we spent appx £750:eek: :eek:

We have another babe due in May but GC should be unaffected for a while - will be bf and nappy cost will be replacing the current toddler nappy cost (he WILL be out of them by then :rotfl: . I also have some washable nappies for baby to go into when a little bigger (have used them with thsi one but freecycled them and then got these the other day)

greent

Kiwisaver_2

How utterly depressed am I? I managed to do well again this week and stay away from the shops for the entire week and then 'bang' $194.86 gone, just like that. :mad: The shop was a mad house too and very stressful - I could quite easily have slapped a few dozen obnoxious people.

I menu planned within an inch of my life and still had a big list for visitors arrival on Tuesday. They must NOT eat anything 'off-plan'. :rotfl:

I'll still have a few more 'bits' to get on Monday as I'd like to top up on fresh fruit and they have special requirements for bread and milk.

Going to have a bit of a bakeathon this weekend and make sure we're fully loaded with extra cake and lunchy / snacking things, so hopefully we'll last the week without more shopping.

Still looking very tight and much closer to budget at this point of the month than I am comfortable with.

jtb2412

Well I'm within an inch of my budget this month. Stuck to my list more or less (just some extra cheese which is on offer and it's long dated (April) so bought another two. We get through quite a bit so it will save me money eventually.

Also bought a bottle (or two ) of wine for tomorrow night. We thought we'd have a nice meal at home (with the kids :rolleyes: ) instead of going out and spending a small fortune. I can't help thinking that a meal out for 5 of us would equate to a week's worth of shopping so am very reluctant to go and eat out atm.

So, i'm probably going to go over buget this month but not too concerned as I know our summer month spends will be very low indeed (grow our own veg, salad, fruit etc). Can't wait for the warmer weather to get here so I can stop spending ! lol :rotfl:

Have a lovely weekend everyone xx

dreamingofmoney

Hiya all
Well we are in the middle of feb and so far so good :rolleyes: i am about £23 under my half way budget (if that makes sense), so hopefully that will mean more money in my holiday savings.
We are going away for a couple of weeks in march, do you adjust your budget or keep it the same so it looks like you have spent less, all spendo'd etc accounted already for my holiday?
Dreamer

Mellika

Question: What works out cheaper over the long run, bags of frozen mixed veg, or buying fresh veg, blanching and freezing?
(not taking into account any offers or whopsies)

yummymummy05

mellika - frozen broccolli/cauliflower/carrots cost about £1/kg so I guess if you spend less than that on fresh veg you'd be quids in!!

orchid96 - I used to spend about £300 for two kids (ds3 and dd7months) ds is very fussy, and dh is anti veggi meals (he complained that I cut him down to 1 burger with his chips and salad!!!) I'm trying to get to around £220per month but those offers keep on creeping in!! (plus we get kitchen roll/loo roll and tea bags free)

Can anyone help - my butcher does a freezer pack for £40, does it sound good value?

2lbs Lean Mince, 2lbs stewing steak, 3lbs sausages, 4 chicken legs, 4 Pork Loin Steaks, 1lb back bacon, 6 English Lamb Chops, 4 Chicken fillets,
1lb lambs liver, 1 whole chicken, 1 pork roasting joint, 12 large eggs

Also I can get 2pt blue milk, 4pt green milk 8 yogurts delivered for £5.14 - it is £1.19 a week more than going to the shops but am undecided if it will pay me to do it in the long run?

Sorry for the ramble - am off to put the Liver and Onion in the slow cooker!

orchid-96

managing (just) to keep up with the posts on here, had to go to Morrisons for something else for dh buffet today (forgot parmesan yesterday) whilst in there I picked up a loaf (white bread, have brown at the moment and the kids just aren't digging it!!) also got 4 packs of supernoodles (£1) and some whoopsied baby broccoli for 27p so will update sig...I meant to have a nsd today but would have needed to go out for some sort of veg tomorrow anyway so can hopefully do a nsd now tomorrow instead....

greent I think I may be a bit low on my budget so will see how I go..However I don't include milk in the budget (spend £3.90 per week as I get it delivered) I get whole milk and water it down a bit, also pick up an extra milk now and again in grocery shop for the freezer as I sometimes need a bit more...I decided not to include milk as It is unchanging but if I buy any more it is then included in the budget iyswim...

I also don't include alcohol or takeaways (but have set a separate budget for them so don't spend willy nilly on them).