April 2010 Grocery Challenge

missy_dee_2

Hi all

Just a quick update. Spent £21 in several small spends this week - really just essentials as main meals came out of freezer. However I seemed to have got back in to the bad habit of buying sarnies at work rather than making my own/taking in soup etc.:( I need some inspiration!

I've now got £24 to last me till Friday so should be okay. Plan to buy a chicken for tomorrow lunch- have left over chicken curry on Monday. Got a HM chilli in freezer for Tues. Wed will be cod (from freezer) and Thursday veggie pasta. Friday is take-out night:j. So I really just need a chicken, veg, fruit, milk, catfood, stuff for work lunches and maybe a few tins of tomatoes/beans etc - oh and some loo rolls.

Going to have a real think about my target for May as my freezer stock will be low but I reckon I could save at least £15 a month if I make my lunch for work so I'm hoping that will allow me to re-stock the freezer a bit - ideally on reduced bargains!

Anyway - have a lovely evening everyone.

Dee

earthmother

Spent about £30 this morning on milk, cheese, fruit and meat that will see us through to Wednesday at the least. That leaves me with £28 to finish the month off - we'll need bread as I only have enough for tomorrow, but the freezer is fully stocked, so other than that it'll just be more milk and fruit on Wednesday and something for DS1s birthday tea on Saturday (which I forgot to budget for ) - that might put me a little over, but hopefully not by more than £5.

tessie_bear

hi...just had lovely chicken for tea...always tastes better when its reduced...i am going to use the other half in a pie...rubber chicken u cant beat it

going to have a bbq tomorrow...and need to do a meal plan for next week... i find the best wayfor me to plan was to sit and make the mummy of all lists of all the food we like to eat......once list was done i pinned it to the fridge and then each week i write out the meals for a week....what i fancy and what is in the house that needs using up
hth

tess

BlimusOreilly

£5.86 spent in Mr M's last night - lots of whoopsied cold chicken and ham and bread but then I also bought some smoked salmon trimmings and cream cheese and plum tomatoes to go on the cheap Ryvitas from AF!!
Will go and update sig now.

Winchelsea

Two days without buying any groceries - been eating out of the cupboards etc, e.g. today we had -

Lunch - hm bread sandwich with sardines and lashings of salad, followed by fresh fruit

Supper - a sort of vegetable pancake (normal pancake batter with egg) containing leeks sweated in butter, half a tin of peas (other half in yesterday's meal) and grated cheese, served with hm potato wedges and salad - a different one from lunch. No dessert, as FULL!

It looks as though I might not be too far off target by the end of the month - have £16.66 left, but still have to pay the milk bill, but with being away AND cutting it down (as have been doing the diluting whole milk trick) it may come out OK.

Go to stay with friends in Manchester for 5 nights starting Tuesday also, so will get fed! (Should have gone last week when the planes were grounded! They live only 15 mins walk from the airport - it would have been nice to have peace and quiet! Actually, it's like a second home to us, so we don't notice the planes that much - and in any case the house has 2ndary double glazing, i.e. 3 layers of glass.)

highland_fling_2

Good morning everyone,

cold, wet and miserable here. Have brisket in slow cooker and I am making white choc and rasp cheesecake for pudding.

I am slowly working my way through some of my stores.

Have been strict with my spending this month and only been buying as and when I need something.

Hope everyone else is managing to stay within their budgets.

vodkawitch1

£25 over this month and still got to get to 30th! Still i am learning and I do spend less than I used to.:eek:

Changingme

Morning everyone shopped yesterday and am over budget by £8.89 but should not need any more shopping till next Saturday. I noticed that shop in town has 4 pints for a pound so will start trying to get milk from there each Saturday so could save a least £6 a month .:)

cookie9

£10.30 here for milk and fruit and veg. Could be on target this month as had an extra week volcation at all inclusive hotel so little spending.

BigMummaF

rachelmk wrote: »

....Does anyone else have trouble mealplanning?....but am struggling for ideas so we're not eating similar food all of the time....

Raising a hand here I'm sure there's things we haven't eaten for months but I'm blowed if I can think what they could be..
I don't do a 'Mon is egg & chips, Tues bangers & mash' kind of plan tho. I write down 1>28/30/31 one side of the page, then mark in Fridays [a strange day as folk never know what time they'll be home :undecided], Sundays & any day when I know a quick meal is needed. At this time of year, Fridays are going to be either salad, stir fry or something on toast. Sundays will be a roast of some sort, while quick meals will be to reheat a lasagne or cottage pie, or something with chips.
Those are all marked in first, then I fill in the spaces around them, trying to not get all beef one week, all poultry the next & all cheese another! I don't stick to it as such, but when I'm stuck for something I've got it there as a prompt.
This also allows freedom to take advantage of those too-good-to-miss whoopsies that can't be shoe-horned into the freezer however much you try :whistle: Just this week we had a lovely piece of lamb that would not have appeared on the Plan unless it was someone's birthday

I've got some receipts to total up but fear I may be very close to the wire. I'm not too troubled as I've stocked up on lentils & things, but was :eek: that our toothpaste has gone up 6p in one fell swoop. If you've got 8 items in your trolley like that, it's the same cost as a value sliced white loaf..scary prospect..