June 2010 Grocery Challenge

sadsadjenjen

Hello all
Declared May at £420.00 well over board:mad:

Put me down for £350.00 for June

I have been away. So far so good I have spent £180.00 of my budget so far but only need to top up fruit and veg and some housey stuff so looking to be on course for June.

kunekune

First shop of the month, and it was more than I had intended - £160 (that includes wine). However, it was less than I usually spend (about £200), and it included food for a special meal. Hopefully I can reign it in next week. When I look at other people's meal plans, our food is probably more fancy, but I think the big thing is that my average cost for a bottle of wine is around £7 and we're, ahem, not 'light' drinkers. The other downfall I have is over-ordering fruit and veg, so I'm going to keep a closer eye on that this week. I'll probably re-do the menu plan once the food is here, in order to maximise supplies.

kunekune

Just had a freezer stocktake and found some real odds and sods, including one completely UFO (it seems to have rice & mince in it though). And the last of the Christmas turkey and some manky gammon. The good surprises were a large piece of monkfish, some pork fillet and a small bag of lamb mince. The chicken fillets, chicken livers, trout and mackerel weren't a surprise. I also located a tin of sardines, a tin of mackerel and some tinned tuna. I've looked through my recipes/internet and have found some good ideas. So I'm back to the drawing board for this week's lunches and dinners, to try and use up these bits (need the room for the ice cream bowl anyway).

So far I've come up with -

use the monkfish as part of a curry meal, probably tandoori it and have it with a bean or veg curry and rice
the turkey & gammon in white sauce as a pie
the lamb mince will make another curry meal if I do meatballs in a sauce, and again have a second bean or veg dish on the side
there isn't a huge amount of pork fillet but I could do it chinese style and have it with fried rice
the sardines will make a nice pasta lunch for me
the canned mackerel could make fishcakes for the children on a day when we're having curry

My dilemma is the chicken livers .... there are too many for one meal in the box. My favourite ideas are spiced chicken livers with salad and a chicken liver risotto I found. But once they are defrosted they will have to be used up. So should I make chicken liver pate instead and get lunch and a light main meal out of it?

Keiss_21

kunekune wrote: »

My dilemma is the chicken livers .... there are too many for one meal in the box. My favourite ideas are spiced chicken livers with salad and a chicken liver risotto I found. But once they are defrosted they will have to be used up. So should I make chicken liver pate instead and get lunch and a light main meal out of it?

kunekune - if your livers were frozen raw, then you can re-freeze them when they are cooked...whatever recipe you use....just an idea!

So today is the 5th of June and I have already spent 2/3rd of my GC budget :eek::eek:, really not sure how that happened! Mind you, the freezers and cupboards are bulging...only F&V, milk and eggs to get for the rest of the month (I wish!).

Mind you, that does include £42.24 on bread-making stuff from Claybrooke Mill. Was looking for their dough improver, but have ordered loads of their organic flour...the order comes to 16.4 kg in weight!!!. The delivery is £9.95 up to 20 kg, not great, but not too bad I suppose. They don't have a shop, and are too far away, even if they did. Can't wait for it to arrive!

We go through 4 loaves a week, so it will keep us going for a bit...just have to work out where I am going to store it all ! I have a few tubs which held fat-balls for the birds, so they will be useful. I already use one for my 5kg of Jumbo Oats, so another few will make a nice tower in the kitchen!

Right off to get some gardening done...still smiling at the nice cheque I got from the tax-man this morning....over £4000!! :eek::eek: Still unsure how I managed to overpay that amount (I didn't earn that much last year!! ). Won't go overboard though..have loads of debts to clear...but might invest in some icecream!

WelshWoofer

Been to do the shopping and as an experiment I have bought all F&V at the greengrocers, meat at the butchers, milk and smoked sausage at FF and tinned, frozen etc at Mr S. I usually just go round Mr T's with trolley flinging things in even though I write a list.

I am pleasantly surprised at the difference in cost - I only spent £38 on everything. My shopping is usually about £50 (when I'm being careful) - I did take out £40 cash to pay for everything and perhaps that made me more conscious of what I was buying but I didn't scrimp on what we normally have.


My main acheivement was the F&V - for exactly £8 I got....

• bag of cherries
• 10 big satsumas
• 2 big onions
• 3 big baking potatoes
• 2 apples
• 5 bananas
• 2 peppers
• mushrooms
• 2 big punnets of sweet green grapes

I think that's quite good value for money and I felt quite pleased that I was supporting a little local business.

I did also get things like shower gel, washing up liquid and deodorant at Mr S so it wasn't strictly a food only shop - just a normal shop for me. I'm also including £2 for 8 cans of diet coke at Farm Foods - I usually would pay for these out of "my" money.

So £38 for the lot! Chuffed!

cw18

Thursday and Friday were NSDs for me.

Made a start on a meal plan for the rest of the month last night, taking the 'main' part (ie. meat portions) from the freezers which are bulging at the seams. So I've been out today for the few bit I need up to and including Friday.

Went to A!di for milk, and picked up my lettuce, cucumber and vine tomatoes from there as well. Then Mr M for bananas (pack of 6), satsumas (bag of 9) and apples (4 individual), which worked out fractionally cheaper than at A!di - even if only after allowing for my staff discount. While there I also picked up a tub of spread - could probably manage without needing a fresh tub until early next week, but didn't want to risk losing an NSD later this week just for that


Total spend today came to £8.49


Shouldn't need anything else this week until Friday (milk!)

recovering_spendaholic

Hi - I am still getting used to this challenge so apologies if I keep asking stupid stuff! I have found that I am already reducing the total amount I am cooking for each meal so that my portion sizes are better - I used to cook loads and often threw leftovers away. I wanted to ask what you all include in the GC? Some of your targets seem really low to me and I just can't imagine ever achieving anything like them. There are three of us and a dog and I am including:
all food(including eating out or cups of tea/coffee in cafes etc)
laundry stuff
dog food
toiletries
loo roll and kitchen roll
bin bags etc
hairdressers visits
newspapers and magazines
cinema visits
birthday cards, gift wrap etc
"feminine hygiene" stuff (this costs me loads as we are three females!)

What do you all include?

I need to get some bread and salad stuff today but am hoping to limit it to that as my Sainsbury's spend and save (£10 off £50) isn't valid until Monday.

OrangeFairy

recovering - I include food, toilettries and kitchen items such as bin bags, kitchen roll etc.

If for example we make a one off visit to get BBQ stuff to have people over then i class that as entertainment as we are feeding other people.

I don't include cards and gift wrap as that comes out of my presents money. If i get a present, or card while food shopping i minus it off the total of the receipt. I dont include hairdressers or cinema visitis. Cinema would be out of our entertainment


Not doing too badly so far. Need to get potatoes and milk this week and that should be it. The week after shouldn't be too bad. Should just be milk and veg again. Need items for a chicken and bacon lasagne on the last week of June but that is the only 'big' expense.

cw18

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

all food yes
(including eating out or cups of tea/coffee in cafes etc) no ('anything else' or 'social life' budgets)
laundry stuff no ('toiletries/cleaning' budget)
dog food no ('dog food' budget)
toiletries no ('toiletries/cleaning' budget)
loo roll and kitchen roll no ('toiletries/cleaning' budget)
bin bags etc no ('toiletries/cleaning' budget)
hairdressers visits no ('anything else' budget)
newspapers and magazines no('anything else' budget)
cinema visits no (would come under 'anything else' or 'social life' budgets, but I don't go)
birthday cards, gift wrap etc no ('presents' budget)
"feminine hygiene" stuff no ('toiletries/cleaning' budget)

basically, my GC budget over covers food/drinks consumed at home (or taken to work/on walks as snacks)

WelshWoofer

Recovering - I count all food, drinks, household stuff (cleaning, laundry and toilet roll etc), toiletries, dog food but NOT wine/beer.

Going out comes out of a different pot!