February grocery challenge

Galtizz

I went shopping on Saturday - £22.58 at Lidl. This included some toiletries (which should last at least a month). This should last 2 people 2 weeks for all meals i.e cereal, homemade soup (for lunch) and dinner. I made the menu plan out before I went and stuck to it rigidly. I'm hoping it will save me a fortune. I normally pop into Lidl 2 or 3 times a week to 'top up' what I've got. I normally spend under £5 but I often buy things I think I need because I can't remember what I've already bought. I'm hoping to go back to the store cupboard challenge at the end of the 2 weeks for a week so I'm hoping to live on no more than £25 for 3 weeks (but there are only 2 of us)

catznine

I got last weeks bill down to £4.50 as I only needed some milk, 6 eggs, loaf of bread and some cheese! I still have lots of tins in the cupboards and plenty of "surprises" in the freezer :eek:

spidystrider

Well, I definitely would love to join in this challenge, but I'm not holding out to much hope. I am struggling to stick to £75 a week for 2 adults and 3 children. We're all vegetarian, which you would think would be cheaper but it doesn't seem to work out that way. I also use about £10 worth of vouchers a week, but am lucky if the £75 covers my bill. I seriously need help!
Allison

jazzyjustlaw

Justine


I am a veggie too although there is two of us we seem to be able to get away with between £30.00 and £70.00 per week depends. I do make a menu each week sometimes for two weeks. My partner is not a veggie but is on a diet and quorn and similar products are low in fat. I make things like quorn stew with dumplings of course at that goes for two days with us prob only one meal for five of you. You probably do that already. Quorn is of course dearer with that mince. Asda do a big bag of pasta and we have at least one past bake a week - veggie of course. Veggie spag bol is good and we like a veggie goulash. I bet its hard keeping your children interested in veggie food. Tell me what things to you could spidy?

Justine

crana999

spidystrider wrote:

Well, I definitely would love to join in this challenge, but I'm not holding out to much hope. I am struggling to stick to £75 a week for 2 adults and 3 children. We're all vegetarian, which you would think would be cheaper but it doesn't seem to work out that way. I also use about £10 worth of vouchers a week, but am lucky if the £75 covers my bill. I seriously need help!
Allison

Hi Allison
why dont you try keeping a record, as far as you can, of what your family has for meals in a week, and posting that and your shopping list? I'm sure we can find some suggestions for you :-)

tiff

Alison, do you plan your meals for the weak? I'm not an organised person so found it a real pain coming up with 7 meals for the week but once you get your head round things it becomes easier. I tend to have roast chicken on sunday and the left overs with bubble and squeak on Monday. If there is not enough chicken leftover, I make it into chicken curry and make a side vegetable curry to go with it. (I know you're veggie). Then Tues we have jacket pots and salad because my son and husband both have football. Weds we're having savoury pancakes with cheese and potato filling with salad. If we didnt have pancakes we would have had omelette or frittata as eggs are cheap. I have a cupboard stocked with pasta and rice, lentils, chick peas, noodles etc and as long as we have veg I can easily make something out of that. Also stock cubes and herbs and spices are handy to keep in.

If you are stuck for any veggie recipes, there are loads on here www.vegweb.com. Its an American site but easy to adapt recipes to English.

I spent £45 last Friday on shopping for the week. I know now that some of that I could have done without as I havent used it yet and dont think I will until at least Thurs when I go shopping again. I think this weeks shopping bill will be less than last week, I am amazed at how much money I am saving since doing this.

I have found that eating more vegetables and less meat is actually cheaper - weird?

jazzyjustlaw

Good idea and that last post should have read what type of things do you cook.

Justine

jazzyjustlaw

Does anyone else have any low cost veggie recipes?

Justine

spidystrider

Hi there, thanks for the advice so far. I'll definately have a look on that recipe site tiff, always looking for new ideas. I do plan out my meals sometimes, but don't stick to it. I think that is my main problem, I am just not consistent. One week I'll do quite well then the next, I'll let it slip. We've only been veggie for just over a year now and although I enjoy the food, it's been difficult at times getting into the swing of making veggie meals from scratch. I do cook a lot of pasta, stir-fries, pizzas and buy too many ready-prepared foods like Cheese Crispy Pancakes, veggie hotdogs, lasagnes etc. We also love Quorn and it is more expensive than meat. I know I need to start cooking from scratch but I'm not that great at cooking. I do find cooking with Quorn mince really difficult and always find it tastes like rubber bands ( not that I've ate any rubber bands ). I find that ready made veggie mince dishes taste great, so it must be something I'm doing wrong. I could really do with going on a vegetarian cookery course. I am sure my family would thank me for it!

crana999

hi, what kind of recipes are you looking for? soups, stews, pasta- and rice- based dishes are all cheap, do you like those?

spidy - how about you could have a challenge not to buy any ready prepared foods like t hose for one week and see how that goes?

I'm veggy and a student, I share a tiny kitchenette with 3 others - its amazing cooking facilities are 2 of those hobs that plug into the wall, a fridge and a microwave - we are also banned from frying anything or even owning a frying pan!!

I cook a lot of things ahead so that I can dash in in the middle of the day or starving hungry after all day in the lab and just microwave something..hehe... so I can suggest some good "cook ahead" things for you if you like!!

Ahh, having an oven/grill/freezer/being able to fry..you dont know how good you have it actually, not having those things means a lot of convenience food is really not convenient - so I don't buy it - for example since I don't have a freezer I have to eat whole packs of Quorn etc till they are gone (v. boring!), I can't cook chips or frozen pizza or other oven convenience foods...

Have you tried any veggy recipe books (try the library)? a lot of them use fancy/expensive ingredients - the ones with kids meals are usually better as are any ones for students. https://www.beyondbakedbeans.com is a good site that ties in with the cookbooks of the same name and has loads of recipes for students. I'm reading "more grub on less grant" from the library at the minute, which also has lots of veggie meals, although there is also a completely vegetarian version (library didn't have that one!)

I can share some of my shopping lists with you if you like and what meals I made, although it is a bit confusing because I usually start the term with a small "stash" in my storecupboard but then replenish it through the term.