February 2009 Grocery Challenge

Hawthorn

There are a couple of changes I could make to that - do you use the carcass as stock at all?
I would make soup with stock from carcass, and any bits of meat left hanging on to it. Add dumplings for stodge.

Do you pad your meat out at all (meaning mince) Adding oats or lentils can really stretch it. A pound of mince does six of us, and sometimes with some left over (I have stretched it to twelve meals before LOL, simply by adding oats/lentils/veg/beans)
I would scratch the value meat for sandwiches, honestly - I find even the value stuff is expensive, full of salt and water. Each to their own, but I only get it occasionally. Instead, we have cheese, eggs, salads, leftover meat from roasts, etc etc.
I think when you're on a tight budget, you have to make those calories come from good stuff
Was it Weezl who did the lentil pate? I intend on making some of that too.

As far as many OS'ers go, I reckon, if they're anything like me, they have a good stock behind them now, so you can get stuff on offer, without hurting the meal plan.
For example, I just bought £80 worth of wash powder, for £40 - BOGOF. So, I won't need to buy any for a while now - this means I can get extras with the money I would have spent, to top up my stores. If I see good offers I can use, I will buy the essentials only (fresh stuff) and spend more than normal on the offer.
Anyone seeing my trolley would probably think I'm very strange, but this enables us to have a good diet, for much less money than if I did a meal plan, and bought only the stuff on it for that week - does that make sense?

That's how I do it anyway - our budget for groceries (including dog food and toiletries/cleaning products etc) is max £250.....usually nearer the £200 mark for six of us - two adults, two teens and two under tens (and a crazy dog)
I couldnt' achieve this if I didn't have a good store behind me. So, to get to this level, my advice is to look at what stuff you eat, and maybe spend a fiver more, say, purely for the storecupboard - it will soon build up, and then you will be able to gradually take up more offers.
It takes time

caramia1812

OMG - I have £147/month left to feed me and 3 cats and buy household essentials. I can't remember when I last bought anything to wear. I get cast-offs from my sisters and my mum & dad buy me other essential things when I need them i.e. knickers, tights etc. I can't get on to a DMP as CCCS and CAB claim I can't live on this.......I have done and will continue to do so but I am beginning to think I am wasting my time tbh. CC's won't play ball with me after a year's arrangement with them so I really don't know what to do now. It seems this last year has been for nothing as I am right back to where I started last year.

Beki

caramia1812 wrote: »

OMG - I have £147/month left to feed me and 3 cats and buy household essentials. I can't remember when I last bought anything to wear. I get cast-offs from my sisters and my mum & dad buy me other essential things when I need them i.e. knickers, tights etc. I can't get on to a DMP as CCCS and CAB claim I can't live on this.......I have done and will continue to do so but I am beginning to think I am wasting my time tbh. CC's won't play ball with me after a year's arrangement with them so I really don't know what to do now. It seems this last year has been for nothing as I am right back to where I started last year.

don't really know what to say, other than (((big hugs))) xxxx

Penelope_Penguin

caramia1812 wrote: »

OMG - I have £147/month left to feed me and 3 cats and buy household essentials. I can't remember when I last bought anything to wear. I get cast-offs from my sisters and my mum & dad buy me other essential things when I need them i.e. knickers, tights etc. I can't get on to a DMP as CCCS and CAB claim I can't live on this.......I have done and will continue to do so but I am beginning to think I am wasting my time tbh. CC's won't play ball with me after a year's arrangement with them so I really don't know what to do now. It seems this last year has been for nothing as I am right back to where I started last year.

I'm not sure I'm understanding your post properly. Have you posted you SOA I'm a CAB money adviser and will gladly give you my opinion, if you point me to it.

Penny. x

Allegra

I've gone over, and there's still 10 days to go. Not impressed....

inamess200

Well have just updated my spreadsheet and have spent £279 already:eek: maybe dropping to £250 was a bit ambitious - i have cupbords full of stuff but am going to be short of fruit and milk . What i have noticed is meal planning has gone by the wayside and food bill has crept up so I am off to inventory the freezer and cupboards and plan some meals for next 2 weeks - should be able to get by spending very little so hopefully will come in under £300 for the month.:rotfl:

DdraigGoch

"What i have noticed is meal planning has gone by the wayside and food bill has crept up" - this is precisely why I fall down, IAM. Thanks for the reminder to get back to proper housekeeping practices.

TrixieB

Right I had a good old turf out of the cupboards and freezer and listed everything that was in there ( whilst also washing cupboards and tidying!) really recommend doing this you'll be surprised!

Sat down and made a meal planner of just what I have left and got 9 days evening meals sorted from that which surprised me, thought I would manage to scrape 3x meals- ok some days we are eating different things but who cares?) so I have been able to just do a Tesco order of the essentials, milk, veg, cereal, cleaning stuff etc which came to £35inc del. or thereabouts, ( which seems a lot actually!!) waiting for final value when delivered.


Will update tomorrow evening when I know how much it was

Won't need to buy anything main meal-y till 25th Feb, so am hoping to come in a bit under my budget for this first month doing this yeeehaaa!

S_Wales_Saver

More spends today. Went to MrM to get the only cheap cat food our 4 will eat:rolleyes: Inevitably spent more, however got woopsied bread, rolls and chicken breast. Birds Eye fish large pack (6 pieces) for £2.99, the 2 piece pack was £1.79. Got lots of fish but too good to miss. Should have plenty in freezer & cupboards to last to end Feb apart from milk and fruit. We are going out tho on Fri for DD1s b'day . :T Anyone know how expensive Strada is? Booked by DD2 who is as frugal as me so should be OK lol

JayneC

HI all,

Spent today preparing my tiny little veg plot and planting veggies - carrots/onions(a bit early really but we'll see)/garlic and moved my raspberry canes into the ground so got more pots free now. Planted some early potatoes too in big pots and have seeds ready for next couple of months - beans/peas/cucumber/courgette/lettuce/toms/radish/broccoli/spring onions also got a trough for my kitchen window sill for lettuce and radish. I'm all excited now - just hope I get a reasonable crop! I'm thinking of getting a small pear tree and plum tree to grow in pots too. I ahve an apple tree in a pot but it doesn't bear much fruit (2 apples last year, lol) but hoping it get's better with age!
Didn't do my usual batch of Sunday baking as was so busy but managed an apple and banana crumble for after tea. Roasted a huge pork shoulder joint (half price from Tesco) for tea that should do at least another meal and sandwiches for the week too.
Must do some more baking in the week. Have some time off for half term so I should have time-well I say that but I've got so much planned I bet I don't get half of it done, lol!!
See you all soon,

Jayne x