February grocery challenge

stellagypsy

Thanks for the advice. Been having a talk with OH and he has thrown me as he seems strangely agreeable to my suggestion that we have to "do something" about this - or rather not to be obstructive to me doing something. I have started keeping a spread sheet to see where the money goes - I think this will be vey enlighening for both of us.

pavlovs_dog - a good point, that is what I aim to do with him but it is hard work, he can be very unreasonable at times (all part of the learning difficulty, unfortunately.) It is the local uni he has got in at so he says he will live at home initially, which will save me a few bob. He is a reasonable cook, he would never starve, but has no idea about the cost of anything.

elona

I agree with the comments made about Aldi - their stuff is really good quality and much better value than anywhere else.

If you do not make a big thing about shopping in cheaper places and just call it using up stuff and clearing out cupboards - freezer etc so you can have a better idea of what stuff you already have - do not make a big deal about what you save because then they will think of it as "cheap stuff" which is fatal.

If you have to give an explanation of why bills are less say you have been using up stuff and using special deals ( do not mention cheap shops).

I did this with my husband and he cannot work out why we are eating better- just enjoys the food.

Have a look at the thread on slow cookers and the recipes as it has some great ideas that will save you time and money.

Hubby now comes home and goes straight to slow cooker - face falls on the rare occassion that thre is nothing in it. Caught him eating curry at 7a.m. as it had been in slow cooker overnight

fazer6

Jazzy, from your shopping list a few things could be altered to save money.

Use your market/greengrocers for fruit and veg and only buy what's in season as it's cheaper and will need less artificial help to be ready now so you get more flavour and less chemicals.
Noodles for 21p, tesco value are 8p (not sure if they're any good but am trying them this week). Have you tried asda's own (200% brand satisfaction guarantee if you don't like them so no risk of wasting money there).
Pizza - Make your own using whatever crinkly veg/leftover meat you have. They're probably healthier and cheaper, they use up whatevers left in the fridge, and they're so much tastier.
Pasta bake and Domio £1.68 - tinned toms are 17p a can from aldi, use those with herbs and whatever veg you have instead. I bet dolmio has artificial flavourings and stuff in it so you're healthier using tinned toms or pasata.
5 soups for £2 - you can make a massive pot and freeze it in individual portions if your hubbie has a microwave at work. Once again that's healthier as it'll get rid of more artificial flavourings and salt and stuff you get in pre-prepared food.
Veg stir fry £1.58 - if you'd bought a cabbage, used a carrot from the veg pack, a pepper and some bean sprouts you'd've been able to cook double and freeze half and spent less money I think.

I plan religiously what I'm having each week and so I buy veg that'll be used in all the meals that week. Do you ever find that things go crinkly in your fridge and you throw some bits out? when it comes to that chop it all up for soup, or chop it and freeze, then add it to a caserole when you need to pad it out.

Try to plan and cook more from scratch (saves time in the long run if you cook double/triple portions), you can cut out processed food which is more expensive and unhealthy.

crana999

all food is made of "chemicals"

(I'm sorry. I can't help myself, I'm a scientist!)

fazer6

OK sorry I mean artificial flavourings and preservatives. And by processed I meant anything pre-prepared like dolmio, shop bought burgers, shop bought soup... On top of the artificial flavourings, preservatives and factory floor sweepings pre-prepared food also contains higher levels of salt and sugar. But couldn't be bothered to type all that out.

I think I was long winded enough without adding all that!

crana999

sorry, was only teasing! you made some great points there

(don't get me started on "organic" food )

r.mac_2

well, it hasn't gone as well as I had hoped this month!

Basically, my new freezer arrived and I went a bit mad filling it up. I don't eat what I would consider freezer food i.e. processed things like fish fingers - I just use it to freeze extra portions or uncooked meat, bread on offer etc. Anyway, I got lots of reduced items and went a bit mad at the meat counter!!!

I spent about £45 and filled it completely, which included a couple of luxuries. The good news is that what is in there will feed me for a long time and are good staple basics. I also have a store cupboard full to bursting with tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, chickpeas, pasta, lentils, noddles, cous cous, rice, rice and more rice!!!!

The only thing I have to buy is fresh fruit and veg. So it is back to the store cupboard challenge for me!!!!

nicki_2

I'm going to make the effort to try and cut our grocery shopping for 2 adults and a 3-year-old to £40 a week. It was £60 but since then our daughter is no longer wearing nappies/trainer pants (she's fully toilet trained now YAY!) so that cut £10 off it there. It's still £50 a week and I'm looking for otherways of cutting costs. This week I am going to go down to the DIY shop and get a big bag of multi-purpose compost and plant seeds/plants in my now empty plastic storage boxes (or at least they will be by Friday *wink* and then I can drill holes in the bottom for drainage) so I can save money later in the year by growing my own veg in particular potatoes & carrots which we seem to buy on a weekly basis.

I'm going to post my shopping list (minus the one offs that were bargins to be used for daughters birthday cake - left overs from Xmas that Asda are trying to clear out) when I can find it and any suggestions will be gratefully received.

fazer6

nicki, I ordered some seeds last week from http://www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk they're really quite cheap and have a superb selection. I ordered some herbs from them last week as I want to have my own fresh herbs, I'm also going to make some planters from leftover wood and give herb gardens to everyone this year.

Do you have any friends who are also going to grow their own this year? My mum starts off green beans and her friend starts off tomatoes and they swap plants (I get a couple for free too so I plan to give them some herbs in return). Also if you get a compost bin (free from some local councils) then you can reduce your kitchen waste and next year you won't need to buy compost. Apparantly spare tyres are good for growing potatoes and I'm sure your local garage will give you some free.

LearningToSave.

have only got to page 8 of reading so far so apologies if someone else has aleady mentioned this.the people that re-fill their hubbies shower gel.....have you tried lidl's?? my hubby gets a sport one(in clear/whitish plastic bottle with bluey label) its only 33p for a similar if not slightly bigger size than tesco's own and it is gorgeous. my hubby does know about it though but we both agree it is a gorgeous man smelling one and far superior to any other shower gel including the branded ones such as lynx etc.
hope this helps some.
i intend to read this thread and follow it but not join in as month is half over now........will you be doing this again next month??