March 2009 Grocery Challenge

JayneC

Hi everyone,

I seem to have taken a hefty chunk out of my March budget already but have got all non perishables for the month (I hope).

Been to grocers and butchers today and succumbed to pester power and bought DS2's lunch from the bakery too (maybe I should deduct it from his pocket money;)). Total of £28 but should have at least 2 weeks worth of meat.

have also planted some more seeds today so hopefully won't have to visit the grocers quite so often when they start growing! Not sure I can stand the suspense:D

Will get on with my batch baking this afternoon and hopefully it'll last more than a couple of days this week. I'm going to have to ration it out! DD3 helpfully suggested I should allocate a cake tin to each person and divide the goodies up between them so someone (OH:rolleyes: ) doesn't eat more than their share!!! I'll let you know how I get on.

Coolmum66

Hello to everybody on the challenge - yay new month!!!!

Please put me down for £180 for March - please and thank you!!

Have booked Asda delivery for Tuesday evening - with free delivery. Am hoping this will cover all dried, frozen and most of the fresh stuff for the month. The plan then is to top up at supermarket near work (in lunch hour - so no time to wander round!) or in town at weekends.

Hmm - we''ll see!

Good luck to all

Take care

Coolmum. xx

Rowan9

Hi - can I please be added for £200?
March is a long month for us as DH is home for the whole time (I'm pleased to say!!). I have quite a bit still to use up in the freezer though - some cooked chicken, some roast beef left from Christmas which will have to be used while it'#s still ok, and other bits and pieces of frozen cooking - some labelled and some surprises!
Many thanks, and good luck for this month everyone!
w

fletch3163

Hello everyone

Never posted here before but lurked plenty. It is with some shame that I come here today. I've just gone through the statement and we've spent a scary amount of £581.21 in supermarkets for a month:eek: :eek: . I'm feeling oddly deflated about it because I truly thought we (I) knew what was going on and though there were massive savings being made. WRONG!!

I've a lot of soap powder, cereal, etc in my store cupboard under the stairs and my small freezer (which is in the shed - none in the house) is full to the gunwells but I think it's mainly chips, etc in there:o . Pardon the pun but it's usually feast or famine with me. We either eat well or eat stupidly badly. Can't find the middle ground. DH is the fly in the ointment actually. DS and I are easy to please but HE feels duped if it's not a full course. The man's weird!

So, in order not to sabotage my efforts I'm going to pledge £450 for the month of March. This is still too much for me, DS and DH but it does include lunches (nightshift equivalent) for all of us.

I work up to 50 hours a week so preparation is key. I need more ideas for freezable stuff.

Good luck and I look forward to spending the month with you :T

belfastgirl23

Wow this thread seems really short for it being started a couple of days ago :j

Anyhow just declaring a target of £140 for March. It is a long month with five weekends which I always find tough, and I do intend to do a big lidl shop sometime during it -have been out of lidl staples for weeks now. And I've already spent £21 at M&S today I went in when I was hungry. You'd think I'd know that was bad news by now...

Good luck to everyone

S_Wales_Saver

Hello again all and a big hi to all newbies. I have declared on the Feb thread under budget (just LOL) and I'm ready to start on a sparkly new thread.

March should be a doddle:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: (famous last words) There is easily enough meat and fish in the freezer to last the month and wine/cider in the fridge , so bread, milk, F+V inc some frozen, cleaning stuff, and baby formula and jars (not worth making when they are not with me all the time) I will buy meat/fish if whoopsied or v good buy and need some staples as well rice, pasta and oats, and I will get some red lentils + soya mince for bulking and soup mmmm lentil soup.

This is my third month on the GC and I am beginning to clarify my thinking somewhat.
1) I am staying with a set amount each month, rather than cutting down further. The excess (hopefully) will be shown as a seperate amount, after the months budget amount and will be used for stockpiling.
2) Any meals out will be from a different budget, although takeaways will remain.
3) I will carry on buying happy eggs, and convert to all happy chicken.
4) Am going to plant grow bags with salad stuff for the summer.

I'm sure these plans will be modified further as the year goes on, but planning with the ability to be flexible seems to me to be the way to go.

OrkneyStar

Hi everyone,
We are still on an annual budget (see below **) of £2500, but seeing as there is a new thread I will post here now. This is for 2 adults, a 20 month old DS (who is now in disposables) and 1 cat, and includes all food, toiletries, cleaning products and pet food. All beef/steak/sausages/50% of bacon is local, chicken is Coop Elmwood (at the least), Pork is British, veggies are 25% local and I do bake/cook a lot from scratch. I also take advantage of whoopsies when I can!
So far we are on track.
Mealplan went a bit to pot as I have tonsilitis and not much of an appetite, although the only thing I have ditched was my beef and green pepper noodles as the noodles would not freeze well! DH liked it though and so it was not a complete waste. Todays planned roast chicken will likely be cooked tomorrow (its still in date for then) and just have soup or pasta tonight.
Anyway good luck everybody and welcome all newbies.
** a 54 week year lol as had a bit of 2008 and will have a bit of 2010 just to avoid Christmas day week starts etc!

S_Wales_Saver wrote: »

...and baby formula and jars (not worth making when they are not with me all the time)

Just a thought, you could batch cook a couple of different meals and freeze in ice cube trays/yoghurt pots depending on age of baby. Much cheaper than jars and you know exactly what is in there!

Toonie

Can I please be put down for £100 this month as I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks and the holiday money is coming out of a separate pot.

Good luck to all

S_Wales_Saver

Much cheaper than jars and you know exactly what is in there!

OrkneyStar you are quite right of course. When mine were babies I cooked most of their food. The difference is I am working fulltime now, and seven month twins are a handful even for an experienced Grandma :eek: I think I shall try cooking some of our veg without salt and putting some aside for them, would baby food jars (glass) work in the freezer do you think?

OrkneyStar

S_Wales_Saver wrote: »

OrkneyStar you are quite right of course. When mine were babies I cooked most of their food. The difference is I am working fulltime now, and seven month twins are a handful even for an experienced Grandma :eek: I think I shall try cooking some of our veg without salt and putting some aside for them, would baby food jars (glass) work in the freezer do you think?

Oh I hope you didn't think me cheeky , twins sound.......erm,......fun!!
I struggle with one DS lol!
I have never frozen glass jars so not sure, I used to use little plastic tubs.
I think you can freeze glass but the advantage of plastic was it could be defrosted in m/wave if need be (I preferred not to do this but sometimes my baby brain meant I forgot to get the stuff out in time!...o/n defrosting and hot water heating is best I think).
My DS used to love mince, carrot and sweet tatties or steamed chicken, mango and parsnip (mushed up of course!) at that age.
Good luck with the babies .
(PS Sorry folks to have posted 2 times today already ).