April 2010 Grocery Challenge

WelshWoofer

Well, I've been and done the last shop of the month and am over the total budget by £11 - not too bad I suppose but still over.

I have plenty for the week and a few bits that will last longer so shouldn't need to spend anymore.

Have a had a chat with OH about grocery spends and he agrees that we're not going bonkers with food but it's just soooo expensive!
I plan to do a big shop next week and stock up on stuff and OH has agreed to pay for the butcher meat (he's the only meat eater) out of his own pocket so I'll have to think about the budget and adjust it accordingly. We'll see....

Does anyone else have trouble mealplanning? I'm good at planning and sticking to it but am struggling for ideas so we're not eating similar food all of the time. I'm not overly creative so am at a bit of a loss for things for a change. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated for a meat eater (who will go veggie occasionally) and a veggie?

Thank you!

wssla00

If away this week, so hopefully no spends I will need to buy my meat at the end of the week so it's there for Tuesday and order some cat food and cat litter and that should be me

Have a good week all!

jackieglasgow

Oh this week has been a struggle, well the whole month hasn't been great. Fuel alone will be over £300 for this month as OH has been using my car for work, which I know is false economy, but his hours have meant we had no choice. Food bill for the house is under strict control, at £127.12 so far for the month, including the dog's food, but again OH has been spending more then planned at work. Will need to be stricter about what he has and maybe trying to persuade himt o take "pocket money" and his crcd for emergencies, and leave the debit card at home, as I know he won't use CC for small purchases. I did my first approved foods order last night, and got some brilliant buys for only £20, which will go into May's budget.

Spiggle

KITTY wrote: »

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my joining MSE ... My debt is all at manageable interest and payment levels, and the total is reducing nicely. ...
Sorry this has turned into an essay but please wish me luck. Kitty x

Hi Kitty,

Firstly happy anniversary, :beer: secondly congratulations on getting your debt sorted, :money: thirdly I have a tendency to the 'essay' too so you are not alone and finally GOOD LUCK! :A

Spigs

ellemm

rachelmk wrote: »

Does anyone else have trouble mealplanning? I'm good at planning and sticking to it but am struggling for ideas so we're not eating similar food all of the time. I'm not overly creative so am at a bit of a loss for things for a change. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated for a meat eater (who will go veggie occasionally) and a veggie?

Thank you!

I know what you mean, I too struggle to change our meal plans as OH really only likes red meat. He doesn't like anything spicy, so no curries or chilli, won't eat rice, not keen on pasta, struggles with vegetables, only eats chicken at a push and has gone off fish too.
So if he had his way he would eat steak, beef stew, steak pie and brown mince with chips mostly oh and regular fry ups obviously :eek::eek: - no wonder he had a heart attack 2 years ago.

I have managed to get him to have a beef stir fry with noodles occasionally and he will also now and again have lasagne but on a week to week basis it's a nightmare.

A couple of successes have been meatloaf made with pork mince and lamb and feta burgers using lamb mince obviously.

As for me I would eat curry every night and sometimes do :rotfl::rotfl:

Check out the thread "cook something different" might give you some inspiration, it did for me.

S_Wales_Saver

Well I've been sabotaged by my OH!!! Very little left, but doable til the 31st then he went out for bread this morning, decided that he didn't need to buy any cos there's one in the freezer....and bought 2 tiny packs of RASPBERRIES.....in April!!! :mad: "On special offer" Yes but still £4.00 for 2 tiny punnets...the air miles alone make me cross.

Will still need a loaf before the end of the week and milk and fruit for packed lunches and just got £8.56 left Off to update my siggy with a very long face.

Long_tall_sally

Feeling rather cross now. OH went out this morning & bought potatoes & veg for the roast dinner that we were going to have tomorrow due to his kids coming unexpectantly for dinner. No sooner had he got home when eldest son texted to say he wouldn't be wanting dinner after all as he was playing cricket all day and then youngest son who has been here since last night announced that he was having lunch at his Mum's after all as they were now going out after lunch. The joint of meat is already defrosting & to make matters worse, OH got baking potatoes at twice the price instead of normal ones by mistake.
I have told him that I am not best pleased at a)being messed about and b) failing again at my grocery challenge because of the messing about! Will update signature shortly.

Bluefire

Declaring at £88.67/£90 for the month, so although not miles under at least it's within budget. I think a £30 weekly spend is probably the lowest we can go without actually changing our how we eat. I'm currently on Slimming World and as we all know, healthy food isn't necessarily the cheapest. This month has also had the added expense of starting to provide my OH's lunches as well (he's always bought out before) but I'm slowly working out ways to make that cheaper - locating where does the cheapest ham, using a cheese slicer to cut the cheese thinner so it lasts longer etc.

Sympathies to all those being sabotaged by their significant others; I wage a constant war with mine regarding grapes and strawberries in particular. This week he was told to find the money for the latter out of his own pocket after returning from the supermarket with some; his second large punnet of the week! Plus our local market which had only been running for 6 weeks has now been cancelled (due to it being too popular if you can get your head around that) so no more 75p punnets for me
Anyway, it's a 5 week month for us in May so could you put me down for a budget of £150 please?

Keiss_21

A busy spending day yesterday: physio followed by a day out with a friend.

We went to a garden centre (got some pressies - birthday and Xmas:eek:), They weren't excessively dear, but fun and quirky. Then it was off to Dunelm Mill, for lunch (yummy..belated birthday meal for friend) - £10.12 for the two of us, water, toasted panini/sandwich with salald and huge slabs of homemade cakes!! Really pleased with this.

Bought some things too, a frying pan for DS1 (back to Uni tomorrow), a couple of pillows to cover (Anniversary pressie for sis & her DH, already have the material) and three btight colourful fleeces (£3.99 each) to make a bag and some arm-covers for my dear friend's wheel-chair. She is 90 next week and it's hard to get things for her that she need and has room for (she is in a nursing home now). I will have tons of fleece left, so I can see a few more pressies being made for birthdays and Christmas. On the way home we popped into Aldi, the greengrocers and Mr T for some food and a TV guide.

All this spending has left £11.66 for the rest of the month...should be do-able as we will only need some milk, eggs and veg before then...famous last words!! The fridge, freezer and cupboards are pretty ful, so we should make it.

Have a great weekend everyone...I am nursing a painful toe (worktop off-cutt fell on my foot last night! :eek:), so I am going nowher for the next few days...at least that is the plan!

oceanspirit

I've not done well this month either at keeping up with the thread or my spends in general. Have just added up and i'm at £60.47 which is £10.47 over. My new month starts on Wednesday 28th - it will be a 5 week month for me.

I like to eat healthily and I'm finding that there are not as many whoopsie bargains on the veg as there have been in the past and on days when there are some yellow labels, the produce has been left too long and is mouldy or squashy.

One thing i must tell you all which I found shocking in Mr T this week :mad:. If I had bought 300g mixed nuts from the stand by the fruit and veg the price was over £3 yet by buying it in the wholefoods section it was £2.22 for the same size bag! You have to be so with it when you are shopping to make sure you are not being taken for a ride!